VoIP News

Most consumers have heard of Voice over IP these days, but only a small percentage use it for their primary phone line.

When average consumers research VoIP on the internet, they are often daunted by the confusing myriad of startup companies offering various types of IP telephony and “digital phone” services. Sure, these services seem like a great deal, especially for long distance calls, but severing your relationship with the faceless yet reliable phone company that you’ve dealt with for years or even decades can be a scary idea.

News of SunRocket’s recent bankruptcy and Vonage’s ongoing legal problems have made customers even more cautious when it comes to next-generation phone companies. To assume that the entire VoIP business is unstable or “a scam,” however, is an unfair generalization. These companies are doing just what every telecommunications carrier does: provide phone service for a monthly fee.

For those who want to save money by migrating to VoIP, it’s good to start simple, by checking out a VoIP comparison service like VoIPAdvisor.org.

VoIP Advisor provides a simple comparison table outlining the key features of five leading pure-play VoIP providers – Vonage, VoIP.com, Lingo, Via:Talk, and Packet8.

All five companies have their strengths and weaknesses, in terms of both price and features, but the owners of VoIP Advisor seem to have picked VoIP.com as their top all-round recommendation. In fact, they’re even generous enough to give new VoIP.com subscribers a free $25 sign-up bonus, which undoubtedly comes out of their own referral commission.

In addition to the comparison table, VoIP Advisor offers a quick run down of the advantages and disadvantages of IP voice technology. They’re claim that “digital lines increase the quality of your calls” is a little bit questionable, in my opinion, since this really depends on the network being used. One thing I would have liked to see is an on-site rating interface allowing existing subscribers of Vonage, VoIP.com, Lingo, Via:Talk, and Packet8 to provide feedback on each company’s call quality.

VoIP Advisor could also use some kind of “About Us” page, where visitors can find out more about the people running the site, and contact them with questions and concerns. Given that the owner of the site claims to be a “VoIP Advisor,” some personal details and contact information would inspire greater visitor confidence.

All in all, I find VoIP Advisor to be a useful and accurate reference service, and definitely worth looking at if you’re a VoIP newbie. The site is very basic, and shouldn’t be the only factor in your decision to embrace VoIP, but it’s a good place to start at the very least.