Choosing a VoIP provider may not be as simple as it sounds. This article offers tips on how to choose a VoIP provider, depending on on whether you are using Softphone VoIP service or hardware VoiP services. Find out how to chooise the best voice over IP to suit your needs.
Choosing Two Different Kinds of VoIP Providers
Choosing a VoIP provider can take multiple directions, and we’re going to discuss two in this article: one is choosing a free softphone for VoIP using your computer, and perhaps a headset or external microphone; the other is choosing a VoIP service that provides a connector that links your existing broadband connection to a phone that you own or buy or that the VoIP provider supplies.
How to Choose a VoIP Provider for Free Softphone Service
When you’re choosing a free VoIP provider for calls, you need to:
- Select a service that is designed with your computer operating system.
- Select a service that the people you want to be in touch with also use.
- Find out which services work well in your particular setting and circumstances—when relying on a free service for business or any other essential type of communication, having a back-up is a good idea. Note that service may be fine when you’re talking to a colleague in Sydney, Australia, but not work when you’re trying to communicate to someone much closer and in the US. This is part of why testing and backups are important.
- Consider the features that the service provides. With softphones, you may find that you get access to Instant Messaging (IM) and even IM forwarding, videochat, multi-way conferencing, file transfer, screen sharing, and desktop sharing. Some of these features may actually make using these services more desirable than using a hardware phone.
- Consider whether purchasing an external microphone or a headset would make enough difference in your experience to make it worthwhile.
VoIP providers to consider include AIM, Google Talk, iChat, Skype, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger.
How to Choose a VoIP Provider for a Hardware Phone
In choosing a VoIP provider that provides you with an adapter that turns your broadband Internet service into a phone line for existing or new phones which you or they provide, you will, of course, want to check cost, but also look at features and bundles. If you need a virtual fax service, for example, it may be worth getting both together. If you want a cloned second line—which can be a real asset—you want a provider that provides this feature. Call forwarding is pretty standard, but PhonePower has a feature called Failsafe call forwarding, which—in an outage during which you cannot receive phone calls via the Internet—will forward your phone calls to a number you designate, a service that could be very important in an emergency.
Features such as Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call Return, Simultaneous Ring, Speed Dial, and the ability to keep your existing phone number are fairly standard, but the non-standard feature of US-based technical support for all avenues (phone, Live Chat, and email), which is not standard, could be the key one for you. So check around.