VoIP Review

VoIP Review: MagicJack – Skype – Vonage

This post will share a VoIP review of three different companies rates. A long time fixture of the VoIP industry, Vonage provides various services for various rates, some of which vary in cost over time. Rates for Vonage start at $17.99 monthly, and can go as high as $34.99 a month. Much like Vonage’s status as a fixture of the VoIP industry, Vonage’s prices have remained quite fixed over time, and continue to be competitive in the VoIP industry.

In contrast to Vonage, the MagicJack service which is a relative newcomer to the VoIP industry has proven to be innovative in price and service packaging. With a low cost of $39.95 for both the MagicJack unit and a year of service, and a $19.95 yearly bill, the MagicJack service already beats Vonage hands-down in regard to service price. Adding to MagicJack’s value is the fact that service includes free long distance calling to the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. On top of long distance services provided by MagicJack, the MagicJack service also includes free directory assistance, phone number assignment, call waiting, voicemail, and caller ID.

While MagicJack and Vonage have only long-term service rates, Skype provides service on both a monthly and “Pay-As-You-Go” basis. With rates from 2.1 cents per minute for Pay-As-You-Go, Skype’s short-term benefits are quite apparent. More so, Skype presents itself as quite the competitor in regard to their monthly service plans by providing services starting from $2.95 a month for domestic calling. Along with their domestic (US & Canada) plan, Skype also provides country-selective services at the cost of $5.95 a month.

Skype’s ‘Unlimited Country’ plan allows the user to select a country in which they can make unlimited land-line calls to for the duration of their month subscription. Skype’s third monthly option is the ‘Unlimited World’ plan, at the price of $12.95 a month, Skype provides landline calls to over fourty countries worldwide. Along with the capability of being able to make telephone calls, Skype also provides the capability to make free PC-to-PC calls which also include video services.

Overall, in the competition between VoIP services, Skype provides the most cost-efficient plan without many frills. MagicJack meanwhile provides the most cost-efficient price which also includes a wide range of special services. Vonage, while being a long-time leader in VoIP services has fallen behind with their use of excessive prices, for services which are now common-place and can be delivered at lower rates by their competitors.

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VoIP Review: Comcast

We currently use Comcast voice over IP home phone service and have for over three years. We were a little reluctant to sign up for this service at first, but after reading a voip review we realized that at the price offered to purchase it along with our cable and internet service, this was worth a try.

We have been very satisfied with this service and would recommend to anyone thinking about purchasing. The call clarity is just as good as the company advertised and the features that come with it are great as well. We get free long distance to anywhere in the continental U.S., free caller id, and free voicemail included with our service.

The long distance is a great feature for when we need to call family and friends and want the reliability missing from our cell phone service. We make frequent calls, and as I stated before, the clarity and reliability is great. We also love the caller id feature. Not only is the caller id like traditional phone service, but we have it set up to show up on our television screen so we do not have to get up to see who is calling while watching our favorite TV shows. This feature can also be easily turned off if this is not an option you think you would like.

The voicemail on Comcast that we receive is also a great feature. We don’t have to worry about the aggravation of a traditional answering machine to receive our calls that we do not want to take or calls that we receive when we are not at home. We only have to set it up once, and it continues to capture any messages, and it is very easy to use. This technology is truly amazing and a very great idea that telecommunication companies have developed and started offering.

Now that we have experienced the reliability and convenience of voice over IP, we would never go back to traditional assigned cable pair phone service. I would definitely recommend this service to anyone thinking about changing their existing service, or looking to choosing a service for the first time. We have been very pleased with our service, and we are sure that other people will be pleased as well.

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