residential

Net neutrality isn't just a concept to fight over in the US, nor is it only about controlling peer-to-peer traffic. VoIP, video streaming, and p2p are all subject to throttling by Internet service providers. While the FCC nudges cable giants to adhere to its net neutrality policies (made effective in late 2011), what has Europe been up to?

Blocking VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) and peer-to-peer Internet traffic is common in the European Union, said E.U. regulator BEREC, leading to calls for an E.U. net neutrality law.

Last week, the FCC stepped up to regulate VoIP, especially in the case of emergency systems. While VoIP providers may not like the new requirements, the FCC is slowly integrating VoIP as an official telecommunication medium. Not to mention, consumers need the protection and access to good emergency systems "in times of crisis."

The Federal Communications Commission has decided to require all interconnected VoIP service providers to report network outages in much the way landline and cell phone service providers must follow.

Happy Valentine's Day (or 'happy' Singles Appreciation Day, whichever). According to Rebtel, lovers are using mobile phones more than any other medium in order to get in touch. In their survey, 56.8 % of respondents said their significant other would not be around, and 86.6 % of those said they'd contact them. Of course, this is Rebtel, so assume that most of the sample group were using Rebtel for international mobile service anyway.

ITP is offering international travelers a new way to call home: VoIP. Apparently it works both ways, too, for domestic users with international contacts. If you get ITP, add-ons for travel start at $1.99 per month, such as Global Cell service.
If you want to use a softphone program to receive calls on your PC/laptop, it's an extra $9.99 a month with 250 minutes of free calling.

Skype, the ever-popular VoIP service, has a flaw that allows malicious users to track other Skype users' location and p2p sharing activity. Apparently, you can obtain another user's IP address during a call, or even through a brief call without an answer.

"Even when a user blocks callers or connects from behind a Network Address Translation (NAT) -- a common type of firewall -- it does not prevent the privacy risk," according to a release from NYU-Poly.

Facebook, Microsoft, and Skype are now closer than ever. Facebook has had video chat from Skype for a few months, but now Skype users can call Facebook users and vice versa. Facebook users can call from their internet browser and the new version of Skype (5.7 beta) is compatible with Facebook chat.

Virtual phone numbers are very useful for receiving long distance calls on your phone or they can give you the ability to make long distance calls without being charged by your phone company. But before we get into all that, let me explain exactly what a virtual phone number is and then why you need to get a virtual phone number.

Landline versus VoIP: Which Is Better?

VoIP is traditionally marketed as an affordable alternative to a traditional landline. But how does VoIP match up with your landline? How does each type of service benefit you, the consumer?

In this article, we look at the differences between a landline and VoIP.

What is a Landline?

A landline phone is a traditional telephone that connects one phone to another with an actual, physical phone line.

In 2004, the VoIP industry started growing, very quickly. It hasn't really stopped since.

2004 was VoIP's year of inception for a few major reasons:

• High speed Internet was much more commonplace.
• Vonage started its advertising blitz.

Vonage: A Primer

Vonage pumped millions of dollars into a brilliant advertising campaign – and it worked. Thousands of people switched to Vonage from their old school, PSTN-based phone service providers.

Unfortunately for those users, Vonage wasn't prepared for the onslaught of its customers. We've got almost 500 reviews of Vonage's service – and most them detail long waits on the phone with customer service, excessive cancellation fees, and overall bad experiences.

The reason Vonage continues to grown is the bottom line: they're cheap. (The advertising doesn't hurt, either. ) Vonage World is only $14.99 for the first three months, and then $25 a month after that. It's not a bad deal – but there are other deals out there. You also don't have to deal with Vonage's customer service reps, frequently ripped on our website. That's something to be said.

Read Vonage Reviews.

Residential Competitors to Vonage

We've got a few details on some VoIP providers in serious competition to Vonage below. Residential first, then business.

• ITP
• Phone Power
• ViaTalk

Vonage's Standard Offer

We're going to compare the competitors above to this offer from Vonage:

Vonage World:  $14.99/month (3 months); $24.99/month afterward; $39.99 disconnect fee

Unlimited calls, plus unlimited calls to landlines in up to 60 countries (some cell phones included)

Vonage Competitor #1: ITP: Internet Telephone People

ITP Residential Premium Unlimited: 2 months free through VoipReview.org. $19.99 a month afterward ($16.58 a month for 1 year). No disconnect fee.

Unlimited calls. Free Phone Adapter and Router.

ITP also offers a global unlimited plan that costs the same amount as Vonage but offers more than 60 countries of calling.

Vonage Competitor #2: Phone Power

Phone Power Premium Annual: Prepay $199 for 2 years. $8.33/month for 2 years.

2 lines. Unlimited Calls. Free softphone. 1 hour of free international calls.

Phone Power also allows you to add Global Calls to 55 countries for $7.95 a month. Total, that's $16.28 a month for unlimited global calling – and that's for a long period of time.

Vonage Competitor #3: ViaTalk

ViaTalk VT_Unlimited: $8.47 a month for the first 3 months, $16.95/month that.

2 lines. Unlimited calls. 1 hour free international calls.

ViaTalk Unlimited also has a ViaTalk World upgrade: You get 1200 international minutes to 60 countries for $8.95 a month. That's right, a whole 48 cents more a month for the first three months. After that, the price increase to $16.95 a month.

Business Competitors to Vonage

Vonage also offers a small business plan, too. Business plans are a little more difficult to compare, since there's a lot more variation. We'll compare the unlimited offer cost for five other VoIP providers.

• Jive
• RingCentral
• Vocalocity
• Apptix
• Nextiva

Vonage Small Business Premium Unlimited: $49.99 a user. $199.96 per month, plus taxes and fees. Equipment not included. (Must use Vonage phones & adapters)

Other Costs: $29.99 activation fee per line, $39.99 disconnect fee per line. $119.96 to activate; $159.96 to cancel.

Fair Use Limit: Not spelled out.

What you get: 4 unlimited phone lines, plus dedicated fax line (500 minutes). Unlimited landline calls to Italy, France, Spain, UK, and Ireland.

Most of the VoIP providers below offer a large variety of features, including auto attendants. If the VoIP provider doesn't offer an auto attendant, I'll let you know.

Jive

Jive: $30 a month per phone.  $120/month for 4 users, plus taxes and USF. Equipment not included.

Other Costs: $200 system setup and $200 phone setup. $400 to activate. No cancellation fee.

What you get: 6000 pooled minutes, unlimited extensions, voicemail, call queues, etc.

Fair Use Limit: 1500 minutes pooled per phone. Extra minutes over 6000 total/month are 2 cents a minute.

Jive is one of our favorite hosted PBX providers because they do things so simply. Literally, what you see here is what you get. It's transparent and up front, which is NOT similar to Vonage.

RingCentral

RingCentral 4 users: $99 a month for 4 users. Additional lines $24.99 (up to 20 users; beyond that you pay $20 a line). Equipment prices vary; for the test plan I chose equipment cost was $396 for four Polycom IP321 phones.

Fair Use Limit: Pay per minute rate if you use more than 98% of RingCentral customers.

What you get: Unlimited Calls. Unlimited faxing. 4 lines. 2 toll free numbers (1000 toll free minutes)

RingCentral's an excellent choice for a new business. New numbers are cheap ($5 a month) and the toll-free minutes and free faxes are quite useful.

Vocalocity

Vocalocity Unlimited Extension: $29.99 per user per extension plus taxes and fees.  $119.96/month for 4 users.

No setup or cancellation fee.

Fair Use Limit: 6 cents a minute over 3000 minutes a month

What you get: Unlimited calls to the US and Canada. Vocalocity's user portal. An auto attendant.

By visiting Vocalocity from voipreview.org, you'll get a 25% discount. Vocalocity also gives a decent discount on Cisco IP phones, so that's worth checking out, too.

Apptix

Apptix Business Unlimited: $24.99 per user per month. $99.96 a month for four users (plus taxes and fees). Apptix sells Polycom phones, but at prices too low to show (which means way below MSRP).

No additional fees.

Fair Use Limit: No Fair Use Limit. Don't try to run a call center, though.

What you get: Unlimited Calls. A free auto attendant.

Apptix is a relative newcomer to the VoIP fold. However, they provide a ton of other hosted services and Apptix Voice appears to be really good. Give them a chance; their prices are quite low!

Nextiva

Nextiva Office: $99.80 a month for a 4 user phone system. Toll free minutes are 2.5 cents a minute. Equipment not included.

No additional fee.

Fair Use Limit: No conference calls or call centers. Don't call substantially over the average use.

What you get: 4 local numbers, 1 toll free number, 1 virtual fax number. An auto attendant and unlimited US calling.

Nextiva is our last competitor to Vonage in this article. But they're certainly not the least. Not only do they have a large body of reviews but they also have consistently high rankings.

Search All Providers

Not satisfied with these eight Vonage competitors? Go ahead and look at all the other VoIP providers we have listed on this site.

Search All VoIP providers

For many people around the world the days of paying exorbitant long distance rates are over.  That is because millions of broadband Internet users are discovering that they can maximize their Ethernet connection by adding Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony to their regular Internet service.  VoIP allows people to send long distance calls over the Internet, bypassing regular public telephone lines and saving up to 80 percent on long distance charges.  VoIP works by instantly taking the words you say into the telephone and compressing them into voice data packets, wh