Top 3 Residential VOIP Services

By: Arthur Deats

If you are tired of paying your local phone or your cable TV company a fortune every month for plain old telephone service while at the same time paying for high speed internet, you should consider a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone. There are 3 worthy VOIP services to consider; The magicJack, the Oooma, and Vonage. Each of these services offer dramatically lower telephone costs by using your high-speed internet connection.

The magicJack is a small device about the size of a pack of gum that plugs into your USB port of your computer. You plug your regular phone line into the magicJack and you are good to go. Cost of the magicJack is currently $40 plus shipping which covers you’re first year of calls to United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Subsequent years are $20 fee. With the service you get free call waiting, free voicemail, and free caller ID. The downside of magicJack is that your computer must be turned on for your to receive your calls. If it is not turned on callers will receive your voicemail. Also, 911 is supported but you must register your address with magicJack so they know where to send help and remember your may need to turn on your computer to make that 911 call. All in all magicJack has a very good residential VOIP solution.

Ooma’s model is very different. Ooma is a device that plugs into your high speed internet and offers VOIP without using a computer. So its always on even if your significant other took their laptop to work which is a big advantage. Ooma also looks very cool – almost as if it was designed in Cupertino. And they charge for those good looks – a basic model is $250 but that covers lifetime US service. The free service includes basic features such as voice mail and caller ID, plus a virtual second line, so two people can make calls at the same time. International calls are said to be “next to nothing.” Oooma also offers Premier service which is $9.95 per month which has some cool features such as a second line, 3-way calling, call forwarding.

Vonage is the best know residential VOIP and is similar to Ooma that you do not have to have your computer turned on. Vonage offers free unlimited calls around the world for $24.99 (not sure how that is free but that is their slogan). You get a lot of extras with Vonage, including call waiting, caller ID, visual voice mail (messages are transcribed and sent to you by email or text) and even weather alerts. Your callers can also save money, since Vonage offers unlimited virtual phone numbers in most area codes -- plus local access numbers in many parts of the world. This means friends and family can call you from distant areas without paying long-distance charges.

Article Source: http://www.factly.com

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