I switched to VoIP, or internet phone service last year and saved 90 percent on my phone bills.
I used to pay $50-60 per phone line each month. Now I spend about $5-6 per month, per line.
I chose CallCentric VoIP service. Their low prices, quality of service and outstanding technical support have made me a very happy customer.
I followed CallCentric’s recommendation and bought my equipment from VoIP Supply, another excellent company.
There are many guides to switching from plain old telephone service (POTS) to Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, so I’ll just give a basic introduction. CallCentric and VoIP Supply have more information, you can search for “voip” on the internet, or read the Wikipedia article here.
VoIP sends your telephone calls over the internet instead of over dedicated copper wires and fiber optic cables owned by the phone company. You need 1. high-speed internet service, such as DSL, Cable or Fiber, 2. a telephone adapter, such as the Linksys PAP2T, 3. Your already installed phones.
You connect the phone adapter to your router, disconnect the phone line from the phone company to your building, and then plug the phone cable from the phone adapter into any wall jack. All phones will then use the phone adapter to make calls. The phone adapter is like a mini-telephone switching system in your facility.
I plugged all of my internet and phone equipment into a uninterruptible power supply (UPS) so my service is always on. My cable internet service has UPSs on their system so our cable stays on for at least 12 hours during a power outage.
My internet phone service has been significantly more reliable than my old phone system, which went out frequently.
CallCentric has many features that make is vastly superior to POTS. Here are some features I have grown addicted to: 1. Voicemail is sent to me via email; 2. I can block dozens of phone callers to filter out junk calls – CallCentric calls this “Call Treatments”; 3. I have my primary line redirect to my secondary line if I’m on a call. If the second line is also in use, the call goes to voicemail. There is never a busy signal.; 4. If power goes out for days (ice storms, usually) my calls are automatically routed to my cell phone.
I have a web-based control panel and can change any of these services at any time, from any location.
VoIP service is a great tool for small businesses, and also works great at home.
The money I save on phone service more than pays for my high-speed internet service. That makes good business sense to me.
