Which is the cheapest VoIP provider? Good question.
Right now, the cheapest provider of unlimted United States and Canadian calls, listed on voipreview.org, is TelTub, followed by VoIPo. After that, Phone Power, VoIP.com, and ViaTalk. After that, there are providers like phone.com and ITP and Vonage. We don't include magicJack in this; they're more of a hardware VoIP solution, rather than a pure VoIP service provider. Skype is more of a calling card provider, which is why we haven't included them, either. But yes, they are one of the cheapest VoIP providers out there.
But say you're looking to at anoher VoIP provider. How do you get the cheapest VoIP?
That's why we've come up with four pieces of advice about how you can find the cheapest VoIP. Check back after the table.
A contract with a voip service provider is a great way to secure the cheapest VoIP. Here's an example from Phone Power:
Phone Power Premium Monthly: $19.95 per month
Phone Power Premium 12 Month: $16.95 per month
Phone Power Premium 24 Month: $14.95 per month
Phone Power Premium Annual: $8.33 per month
All these plans offer the same exact thing: unlimited calls, bell, whistle; you can check the finer details of the offer by clicking their ad above.
The important thing is that if you sign a contract with Phone Power, you pay $3, $4, $10 less when you make a committment. You get the second year for free with the Premium Annual Plan, which is why it costs $8.33 per month. If you cancel your service before that free second year starts, you're paying $16.67 a month for the service (so, a little less than what you would pay per month for a 12-month contract).
If you want to get the cheapest VoIP, sign a contract. If you're concerned about cancellation fees or quality of service, sign up for one month, pay month to month, and see how the service works - then pay the $200 bucks for a year at a discounted rate.
2. Cheapest VoIP gives you unlimited calling
Let's compare some of phone.com's plans (they're a good stand-in) to get the cheapest VoIP. Say you use 550 minutes a month. That's 16 minutes on the phone every day.
With phone.com's monthly 250 plan, you'd pay $9.88 a month for the service, plus $11.70 for additional minutes (charge at $0.039 a minute) for $21.60 a month, total. With phone.com's monthly unlimited plan, you'd pay $19.88 a month. If you talked to your aunt in Pennslyvania for 3 hours, you would have to worry about paying an extra $7 for the call.
Because unlimited calling plans always cost the same amount, they're a good way to get the cheapest VoIP per minute.
Make sure you look at your usage before you sign up. If you only use 100 minutes a month, an unlimited calling plan is not the cheapest VoIP option.
Also, these are just internal calculations. Compare the relative cost of VoIP (in this case, 4 cents a minute) to the cost of long distance/extra calls from big telecommunications companies (6 to 10 to 15 cents a minute).
3. Cheapest VoIP has the cheapest international rate
Free long distance is cheaper than paying for long distance; the cheapest VoIP always has free long distance.
The cheapest VoIP will also have the best international rates. On a lark, I checked ITP, ViaTalk, and Skype's international rates for calls to Afghanistan and Germany. The rates:
Provider
Afghanistan Rate
Germany Rate
ITP
$0.4900
$0.0290
ViaTalk
$0.4310
$0.0365
Skype
$0.3700
$0.0230
Skype has a 4 cent transaction fee per call (without a subscription). All prices are US dollars.
ITP and ViaTalk also have unlimited international call plans; ViaTalk additionally offers 60 minutes of free international calls a month.
If you call internationally, the cheapest VoIP gives you great international rates.
4. Cheapest VoIP gives you good, reliable service
Check out the user ratings, especially the reliability rating. Check out legal documents (like a VoIP provider's terms and conditions). Find out which VoIP provider will give you good service; that will be the cheapest VoIP provider. Why?
The better a VoIP provider is, the faster and easier to use their service will be. You won't have to cancel service, you won't have to spend hours on the phone with customer service, you won't have to worry about your service not working.
Looking for a cheap VoIP provider for your residential phone service? Look no further! Voipreview.org has a list of cheap VoIP providers available on our comparison table below.
Some of the plans offered by residential VoIP providers are lower than $10 a month. Compare that to expensive landlines for your long distance service, and you will see how cheap VoIP can be.
The VoIP providers listed below have plenty of great reviews, and do not sacrifice the quality of your telephone calls for the price you pay.
You will have high quality phone calls with your VoIP service provider. You will not get dropped calls just because you are paying less; you get the same reliable VoIP service that others receive.
How VoIP is so Inexpensive?
The VoIP market is very competitive. Cheap VoIP plans are a result of the different VoIP providers wanting your business. Each offers various discounts and deals to entice you. As a consumer, you have a great deal of power.
Long distance, in particular, is cheap with VoIP because VoIP uses the Internet to transmit voice data between locations. Once the data reaches the local telephone network of one of the callers, it is switched through the public phone network, resulting in a cheap local VoIP call rather than a more expensive long distance call from the landlines
Typically, you should expect to pay between $10-$20 a month for unlimited domestic calling, along with the features offered by your cheap VoIP plan.
Your price per month also depends on how you order your plan. Cheap VoIP plans come either without contracts and a per-month payment. The cheapest rates, such as the price offered by Phone Power, come when you pay for a two-year plan.
If you want the flexibility of paying monthly rather than for a yearly plan, or without a contract, expect to pay a little bit more. It's not too much, maybe an extra dollar or two a month.
VoIP is still cheap.
More Cheap VoIP Alternatives
Looking for an even cheaper way to call friends and family? How about calling for free? This isn't a joke; calling for free with a VoIP service is an option that is available to you through user-to-user calling plans.
Some VoIP providers, such as Callcentric, offer free user-to-user calling and softphones with their service. Try Callcentric's IP freedom plan with some friends or family if you're not convinced yet. You can always call people that are not VoIP users by paying for minutes (just a few cents per minute – seriously), and it's a great way to get your feet wet with VoIP calling.
Cheap VoIP Service is A Few Clicks Away
You now have the basic run-down of how residential VoIP calling can be so inexpensive.
If cheap monthly plans for unlimited long distance calling sounds good to you, then check out our comparison tables between some of the cheapest VoIP plans available!
If you are paying more than $30 per month for your phone bill, you are paying too much! Check out our affordable residential VoIP comparison table below to review and compare the cheapest VoIP solutions for your home phone service. The providers below offer high quality, reliable digital phone service that saves you up to 75% on your monthly bill. Our comparison table gives you specifications to the provider’s monthly fees, setup fees, and details to save you hundreds per year by matching you with the ideal provider for your every need. Interested in one of our featured providers below, but need a little more information? Simply click on the provider’s review tab to see what their customers have experienced, and how they rate them in the VoIP community.
