Subscribing to a VoIP service would mean substantial savings on call costs, particularly for domestic and international long distance calls. As VoIP offers features such as caller id, call waiting, three-way calling and voice mail which are standard features in regular telephone lines, there will be minimal adjustment problems you’ll have to deal with when you switch to this new technology. However, before you point your browser to the webpage of any of the VoIP service providers available on the web and subscribe right away, take a few moments to read the following important considerations that will help you decide which provider to choose.
Step 1.
Compare the prices offered by each VoIP service provider. Some providers like Skype and Googletalk offer PC-to-PC calls anywhere in the world for free while PC-to-phone calls are charged extra. It is in the latter that you should focus: the location of the phones you would normally call and the duration for those calls will determine which package would benefit you most.
Step 2
Decide whether it’s time to ditch your regular phone line in favor of VoIP. You should know the advantages and disadvantages of using VoIP: will the savings you’ll derive from this service be enough to compensate for the occasional glitches, such as poor sound quality, which are normal in this still-evolving technology?
Step 3
Check out the provider’s after-sales service. Ask around or you may even try calling the VoIP’s customer service on your own, to see whether they are friendly or not, how long they put subscribers on hold and if they provide satisfactory answers to inquiries.
Step 4
Check out the different features offered by the VoIP providers - some offer call waiting, fax, caller-ID, voice mail and call minutes for free while others add charges for these. You need to decide if you need these features and if you’re willing to pay extra.
Step 5
If you want to keep your current phone numbers, see which of the VoIP companies will allow you to do so. This is important for people or businesses which have thousands of contacts which would be near-impossible to notify of any number change.
Step 6
The nature of internet phones makes it difficult to locate users geographically. Thus, emergency services like 911 normally can’t locate where the call is coming from, especially if the caller is unable to provide an address. You must ensure that the VoIP provider has emergency calling features, such as the e911 emergency-calling system available in the US.
Step 7
Get a little technical and learn about the security and privacy of your calls. This is important in some business environment but critical as well for people who value their privacy. Some providers use compression and encryption techniques to protect consumers and prevent eavesdropping or tampering.
