Because of the quality and reliability of Vonage, I was able to save money by switching to a less comprehensive cell phone plan and using the home phone more often. The amazing part is that the cost is less than half of what it would cost monthly for a land line from the phone company, not to mention saving on the costly installation fees. I’m not the most technologically inclined person out there, so when I received the Vonage adapter and instructions in the mail, I was immediately concerned about being able to set up the service. It did take me a few tries, as I needed to rearrange some of the electronic devices in the living room to see what needed to be plugged into what.

All in all, though, the setup process was relatively painless. When I called in to Vonage in order to set up and activate my account, customer service was very friendly, patient, and cheerful. Nowadays, most calls to a customer service hot line involve 10-20 minutes of hold time, but not with Vonage. They answered my call immediately, even though it was 8 PM. At first, I was skeptical about the quality of a VoIP phone service, but the call quality with Vonage is as good, if not better, than a traditional landline phone. Unlike cell phones, Vonage doesn’t drop calls or have difficulty getting through to another party during peak usage.

The only negative I’ve ever experienced with Vonage is that they’re not particularly effective with sending a bill out to you on a regular basis. At one point, I hadn’t received a bill for almost 6 months, despite giving them my correct e-mail address. (They do not send paper bills or statements via mail, in an attempt to keep costs low.). By the time I’d received a bill, it had added up to a fairly hefty amount. However, many customers may see it as a plus that Vonage’s billing is somewhat erratic; they’re definitely not the sort of service to disconnect your phone when your bill is two weeks overdue. I truly can’t recommend Vonage enough. If you’ve got a decently fast computer, cable internet, and don’t mind keeping your telephone close to the computer, you have a very good substitute for the traditional landline, minus the long distance charges. Especially if you’re like me, young and on a budget, but with friends and family you’d like to feel free to talk to as often as possible, Vonage is a must-have.

There are many service provides that can be found on the internet for making calls, all you have to do is to fill in the registration form and create a user name and password to log into the application , once you are logged in, you can start making calls to anyone in any country. There are many VoIP service providers available today, the rates may vary from provider to provider and the VoIP rates also depends on the type of plan you select, doing a good search through the internet you can pick up some good service providers and compare the rates , then go for the best one you think is worth for you.

One top provider in the world is Phone Power they have only one unlimited offer but four billing plans. The latest offer doing the rounds from Phone power is a yearly subscription fee of $199.95 and the second year comes absolutely free, this service is on a promotional offer and it comes along with features like Unlimited calling US/Canada, plus 60 min/month free international calls, and all this for $199.95 per year, this is a super offer and nobody should miss.

Another service provider is Skype, they are free to use , easy to download, skype to skype calling is absolutely free, you can call anybody with a skype id and talk for hours, calling a land line or mobile phone with skype is easy, all you have to do is select a proper plan, they have excellent customer service, i just got a three month unlimited calls package (US and Canada) for just $14 for three months, it is easy to use and the service is great.

Vonage is another service provider and can be used for small to large businesses and as well as for a home, they cost $24 per month and you can have your own number and call almost any country unlimited, special rates differ depending on the services asked for by the customer. $24 per month is not too bad because the calls are unlimited, they also provide a caller id so you can keep track of the calls you receive, you can keep a track of the voice mails and much more.

These are a few service providers I use for making VoIP calls, there are many more service providers and can be found on the internet, so take your time to compare and then choose.

The Pro package costs $34.99 a month and includes unlimited local and long distance calling to United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and unlimited land line calling to a few places including France, Italy and Spain. Finally, the world plan, which I chose costs only $24.99 a month with unlimited calling in the United States and unlimited calling in over 60 other countries. For me, this was an absolutely fantastic deal no more worrying about using expensive phone cards all the time when needing to get a hold of one of my relatives.

In order to receive this service, you need three things: a fast internet connection (DSL, cable ..ect), a phone, and a special phone adapter that Vonage gives you. Once you have these three materials, set up is very easy. Just connect the adapter to your internet and then connect your phone to the adapter.

I was very surprised at how easy this process would be. Once I switched over to Vonage I was concerned about keeping my phone number but that was no hassle at all. Vonage let me keep my number for no extra cost.

My first test call went better then I had expected it to be. A lot of people were saying how internet phone services have low quality of sound and have a lot of interference. I was a little skeptical at first but am so glad that I decided to go through with it. Call quality was crystal clear, no different then my old phone service. I was able to call all my relatives in Brazil for no extra cost. I couldn’t believe how much money I was saving by switching over to Vonage. Just on phone cards to call different countries, I’d spend over 20 dollars a month.

Now, with this World Plan, my VoIP rates are only 25 dollars a month. Out of 5 stars I’d rate it a 5. So far no problems and customer service seemed very friendly and helpful.

Similar to e-mail and instant messaging, since this service is provided through the internet the associated costs are much lower than it would be over the regular telephone network. Monthly calling plans in North America are purchased for around $20 (e.g. 500 minutes of outbound calling anywhere in N.A.) to $30 (unlimited in N.A.) Costs per minute for overseas calling are also much lower than traditional phone services.

This product is similar to Skype, which is another service that is used to transmit audio via the Internet. In Skype, the user is typically interacting while stationed at their computer and has an interface which combines audio and video with instant messaging and other features (e.g. games.) They are also usually contacting other Skype users who are also stationed at their computers, or must pay a small per-minute fee to dial ‘regular’ phone numbers.

However, with Vonage the user is interacting in the traditional methods they are used to, i.e. picking up a phone and dialing the phone number they are trying to connect with, or answering the phone when it rings. The Internet aspect of the conversation takes place ‘behind the scenes’, with the telephone connecting to a router, modem or other device, which is then connected to the internet.

Vonage users are known to experience issues with call quality, particularly when using their internet bandwidth for other purposes (e.g. downloading or uploading music/video) while talking over their Vonage device. The most common incidence of poor call quality is a complete lack of sound, not being able to hear what the other participant in the conversation is saying – or if anything has been said at all. This is a particularly frustrating experience, but can often be remedied by decreasing the bandwidth load, hanging up and calling the person again.

Another common occurrence is very loud static, which again is sometimes remedied by calling the person again. For this reason Vonage is not usually recommended for business or professional uses. Technical support for Vonage is reached by their 800-number, although paradoxically it is often difficult or impossible to receive this help when it is needed (as the phone and/or internet problems may preclude the user from using their phone.) It is also particularly troubling to ‘diagnose’ the problem by telephone, as there are usually steps involved that necessitate re-starting your router / modem, which terminates the support call and makes any inbound/outbound calls impossible for a short period in the best scenario. In a worse scenario, if the troubleshooting methods disrupt the internet connection or Vonage device connection to a greater degree, the user then has no method to re-establish contact with technical support.

As with other VoIP systems it is recommended that it not provide your sole source of telephone contact, for such situations as described above, or more urgent emergency/safety reasons. Vonage stores information in its databases relating your phone number to a physical address in case of such emergencies where 9-1-1 can then be alerted of your address (a service built in to traditional land-line service.)

However, with Vonage this address that 9-1-1 would be alerted to may not be the correct address if it hasn’t been entered accurately, or been updated if the user has moved. The reason people use Vonage in spite of any quality issues and technical difficulties is particularly because of its low price, as well as its large presence / monopoly in the market.