VOIP Reviews and Ratings

Click a Flag to Translate This Page		Suggest This Page to Others

Though we try to provide an up-to-date comparison and review of VoIP providers, the deals in VoIP space change very often. So, please confirm and verify details independently. Calculations are approximate. We are NOT affiliated with or promoting any VoIP company.
Tier 1 VoIP Providers	ATT CallVantage, Cable Companies
Tier 2 VoIP Providers	Packet8, Vonage, Verizon VoiceWing
Tier 3 VoIP Providers	Lingo, VoicePulse, Viatalk, Skype/Yahoo
Tier 4 VoIP Providers	VoIP.com, Vonics
Yet to be Reviewed	magicJack
VoicePulse Review: We give them 3 stars. They seem to be a very small upcoming company with a small customer base. But they are also one of the few VoIP companies making a profit. Strangely, they don't have a toll-free number. When we called them, their menu system was oddly loud with a terrible echo before we reached a bored customer service rep. If that's the quality of their "corporate" number, what quality can we expect ? All calculations below exclude taxes and fees. VoicePulse website: http://www.voicepulse.com Calculation for the Unlimited Plan if you cancel service after 4 months $25/mo. for 4 months + $30 activation + $10 shipping + $0 termination = $140 Calculation for the Unlimited Monthly Plan if you remain a customer for 2 years $25/mo. for 24 months + $30 activation + $10 shipping = $640
Skype / Yahoo: We give them 2.5 stars. You can download free Skype software (http://www.skype.com) and yahoo messenger (http://messenger.yahoo.com) to make free calls to others with the same software. You have to pay to call regular phones. This type of service used to be unique at one time but now tons of companies offer software (e.g. Microsoft Netmeeting, Earthlink, Google Talk, AOL instant messenger) with same services with almost the same set of features; skype is the most popular with yahoo coming a close second. Yahoo now offers web messenger too, which means you don't have to install yahoo messenger on your computer. You could instead go here and enter your yahoo id to chat/make voice calls. Since you are calling from a computer to another computer or regular phone, the call quality is not the greatest. When we use these softwares, we remind ourselves that the quality of service is reflective of what we are paying for it.
Viatalk Review: We give them 2 stars. They seem to be a very small upcoming company with a worrisome small customer base. Beware of their 2nd line free offer. 2nd line is NOT the same as a 2nd number. They have lots of fine print e.g. you lose half of unused balance if you cancel after 14 days (Yukkk !) + activation fee, shipping charges etc. All calculations below exclude taxes and fees. Viatalk website: http://www.viatalk.com Calculation for the Unlimited Monthly Plan if you cancel service after 4 months $23/mo. for 4 months + $30 activation + $10 shipping + $0 termination = $132 Calculation for the Unlimited Yearly Plan if you cancel service after 4 months $199/yr. + $30 activation + $10 shipping + $0 termination - $66 (half of unused balance for remaining 8 months) = $173 Calculation for the Unlimited Monthly Plan if you remain a customer for 2 years $23/mo. for 24 months + $30 activation + $10 shipping = $592 Calculation for the Unlimited Yearly Plan if you remain a customer for 2 years $199/yr. for 2 years + $30 activation + $10 shipping = $438
VoIP.com: We give them 1 star and intend to stay away from them. This company has significant negative reviews from customers. Some people gravitated towards this company, lured by the slick website and attractive prices. VoIP.com not only has poor quality adapter that keeps rebooting itself, poor voice quality, dropped calls and non-existent customer service, they also have their own definition of "unlimited". If VoIP.com feels that customers have exceeded their daily/monthly minutes, they are switched to business plan. An excerpt from their terms and conditions reads "...any monthly usage that is more than five times (5x) the average monthly usage of a voip.com customer shall be considered to be commercial or other non-residential use subject to the terms of this provision." How are we supposed to know the average monthly usage of a voip.com customer ? In any case, how is the plan unlimited if VoIP.com is limiting the customer minutes and how does anyone exceed unlimited minutes ? WEIRD ! Customers also claim that this company has lots of fine print and despite a flat-fee plan, they receive different bills each month. Fax option is not available. VoIP.com is alleged to charge customers cancellation fee in violation of their own policy that states that cancellation fee will not be charged if the customer cancels due to problem with the quality of service. We are staying away from this company.
Vonics: We give them 1 star and intend to stay away from them. The Vonics plans look great and include a free virtual (second) number. They don't have a contract or termination fee. Customers can receive prorated refund if they cancel prepaid annual plan. Fax is supported for an additional monthly fee. Now, this is where the party ends. Vonics charges about $20 every time you want to change your rate plan. We have been unable to speak with customers or find authentic reviews. Unlike any other VoIP provider, Vonics seems to have way too many 2-3 sentence positive reviews written in bad english. There is an odd kind of regularity with which reviews were posted, as if someone gave themselves an assignment to write a positive Vonics review everyday. Majority of these anonymous reviews tout the excellent voice quality, superb feature set and superior customer service. Many reviews read more like advertisements rather than honest opinions. That's strange by any standards. Even the best known companies like Vonage, Packet8 and Cox don't have such stellar reviews. We get an impression- as we suspect you will feel too - that all these positive reviews have been written by a small set of people- maybe company owners and/or employees. The few reviews that are detailed speak of poor quality adapter that keeps rebooting itself, poor voice quality, dropped calls and non-existent customer service. Some customers mention long hold times and then speaking to the same person everytime. When we tried calling them to set up new service, we were on hold for a while after which we received an automated instruction to leave a message. All this further strengthens our suspicion that Vonics may be a small operation that is trying to project itself as a successful large company. We are not yet dismissing this company but at this point we don't have enough authentic information to make a determination.
Click here for reviews and rating of : Vonage, magicJack, Packet8, CallVantage, VoiceWing and Lingo
VoIP Basics	What is VoIP? What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of using VoIP ? What are the Average Costs Associated with VoIP ?
Please read the disclaimer (link below)