The VOIP Provider Guide

VoIP.com is one of the few original VoIP services that has found decent success and remains near the mid to top of the pack even today. A long time competitor of Vonage, VoIP.com has enjoyed prolonged success by offering slightly cheaper services, affordable international rates, and a decent selection of plans. However, recent months have seen the same kind of service degradation that threatens Vonage’s position in the Broadband VoIP market.

First the Good Stuff
VoIP.com has a nice selection of services to choose from. Upon initially visiting their website, you’re given the opportunity to make one free phone call from their webpage to get a feel for their call quality and service. The free call is what you could expect from a free call in terms of quality, but it is a nice touch when deciding who to work with.

Their international rates are all decently competitive, ranging between 1.7 cents for most of Europe and 15 cents for calls to India. Additionally, the standard plan, offering unlimited calls at $19.95 a month is a good deal and includes Canada. They also offer a yearly plan, reminiscent of SunRocket’s ill-fated annual upfront payments, for $199/year.

Offering many of the mainstay features that are hit and miss with other VoIP services, VoIP.com ensures that everything you need is in front of you. You’ll receive softphone support from your computer, a network phone adapter so you can use your existing telephone, and numerous standard features such as call waiting, caller ID, and enhanced 911.

Generally, VoIP.com has all of the necessary features covered and is on paper a solid experience. Their price points are competitive and they do not offer too many different plans so as to confuse potential customers. Customization is limited however and certain international rates – for countries not initially listed - can be slightly higher.

And The Bad
Unfortunately, it is not the features or the plans that cause the most problems for VoIP.com customers. In recent months especially, complaints over service and quality have increased as the user base has grown. Foremost, VoIP.com is known for its relatively poor customer service. While many customers can expect some degree of indifference and slow response from a major corporation, VoIP.com has a habit of taking a decently long time to send necessary equipment in the mail and offers instructions that are rudimentary at best.

Certain steps in the setup process may require customer service assistance, another aspect of the company which is sorely lacking. With slow response and fuzzy answers that often serve to confuse users more than assist, VoIP.com will be a decent enough hassle just to set up and get started with.  Additionally, customers have complained repeatedly about shady cancellation fees and problematic service reports. Often, VoIP.com will claim service is working well when it is not, charging the fees regardless. It is possible to get fees refunded, but it is much harder than it should be if you decide to end your service prematurely.

Quality is largely hit or miss. The adaptor is a problem from the start, but for those that get it installed and working properly, the call quality is generally decent. However, for some individuals, call quality has been known to be sketchy at best, occasionally losing strength, signal or calls altogether.

The Bottom Line
VoIP.com has a few years and few hundred thousand customers under their belt to work with and learn from. Their plans and call quality are generally acceptable and for those that do not experience any problems that are considered out of the ordinary, VoIP.com will likely be a good choice that will work well as a home phone service.

Unfortunately, it is very rare that no problems out of the ordinary occur. For that reason, VoIP.com is hard to recommend over other services such as VIATalk or VoIP Your Life. With indifferent and sloppy customer service, poor equipment and unclear instructions, VoIP.com is a dice throw. While you could easily be pleased, you could just as easily end up angry and without phone service.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 9:11 am and is filed under VOIP Provider Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.