A few months ago I compared my three-year experience with Vonage to my 6 month experience with Skype. After my Skype phone died, I decided to try VOIPo, the new VOIP service from HostGator, and wanted to share my experience with them.
VOIPo customer service can't be beat. Though it's not available 24/7 (only 9-7 Central, M-F), they're really good. Minimal hold times, the reps are technically competent, and they speak to you without a script, just like you're a real person. The few times I spoke with Vonage customer service, they were always trying to sell me some additional feature that I didn't want.
The prices are pretty similar. I give VOIPo a slight edge here, but only a slight one. It takes a little work to cut thru all the verbiage to get to the real price of the service, but once you do, you find the following:
- VOIPo's introductory rate comes out to $11.25 a month, once you include the $36 annual taxes and fees, and assuming you buy a whole year of service at one time.
- VOIPo's standard rate comes out to $19.67 a month, again including the $36/year taxes/fees and the annual contract, though according to VOIPo existing customers can always take advantage of any special promotional pricing that's being offered. So if the $11.25 a month price is available, you can always buy another year (or more) at that price.
- Vonage's standard rate for its most popular plan with an annual contract (which they call Annual Prepay) is $239.99 a year (including all taxes and fees), which comes out to $20 a month, almost identical to VOIPo's standard annual price. Though Vonage publicizes this plan as costing $24.99 a month (with no annual contract), my experience with Vonage was that once taxes and fees were added in, that price was never less than $30 a month for me; if you get this plan with Vonage, I definitely recommend the Annual Prepay option.
When it comes to call quality, I found Vonage and VOIPo to be almost identical. Both provide high-quality sound, every bit as good as any standard landline. They also both have a nice online interface which you can use to check voicemail, set call forwarding, etc., though I found VOIPo's to be much simpler and easier to use.
Bottom line: I like VOIPo and plan to stick with it, though Vonage's features, quality, and prices are comparable, especially if you go with their Annual Prepay option.
I suspect at some point my wife and I will drop the landline altogether and just use our cell phones, but right now it's still handy to have a VOIP home phone line, especially since a) I work a lot from home and b) we have three teen/pre-teen sons and don't plan on getting cell phones for them.
Related posts:
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
These services are good for the consumer but there are much better options for businesses.
Hi,
I think VOIPo's price is much better than Vonage's. I left Vonage because of its practice of ever increasing funny fee structure. My 500-minute plan has gone from about $12 (fees taxes included) 5-years ago to $26.50 (base rate is $17.99, rest is fees and taxes). You do the math.
I signed up with VOIPo one-month ago after 5 years with Vonage, prepaid for two years. It cost me $8.25/month everything included. Plus an hour of free international call.
I cut my monthly phone bill by about 70% moving from Vonage to VOIPo. I wish I had done it sooner.
If VOIPo can keep this pricing structure. I don't ever plan to move to another provider. I did a lot of research before I made the move to VOIPo, some providers out there maybe still a little cheaper. But I am happy with VOIPo's service at this price point.
I must disclose that I am not a high volume user. With cell phone, work phone, internet chat, email all part of my regular communication tools, I use about 300 minutes a month on my home phone.
Hi Don,
It's good to hear from others who appreciate VOIPo. I plan to stay with them as well.