VoIP
MyVoIPprovider.com – Everything You Need to Know About VoIP
First things first: what is VoIP?
VoIP stands for "Voice over Internet Protocol", also called "Internet telephony" and "Internet calling". Basically, when you get VoIP, you are getting a phone service that relies on the Internet instead of on traditional copper telephone wires.
Voice over Internet Protocol is a cheap way to make phone calls. Residential and business customers report spending 80% less on their monthly phone bills when compared to traditional phone service.
While prices vary between services, choosing the right VoIP service provider for your needs can save you a small fortune every month. Find out how to save money with VoIP today.
Our site exists to help you find and interact with your VoIP provider.
Picking Your Provider
There are hundreds of VoIP providers to choose.
In January 2008, we had identified over 1400 international providers for the residential and small business market, such as RingCentral. That doesn't even include wholesale VoIP providers or large-scale business phone service providers.
Most VoIP providers offer cheap international rates and their service is very reliable. Finding the right VoIP provider is a time-consuming search, so we've tried to make finding your VoIP provider a little easier.
How to Find Your Provider Using MyVoIPProvider.com
- Topical Comparisons
- Top 100 VoIP providers list
- Complete VoIP Provider Directory
If you know which specific type of VoIP product you need, you can visit the individual page on that topic (small business VoIP, SIP trunking, IP PBXs, etc).
You can also check out some VoIP reviews to see what kind of experiences other customers have had with service providers.
Topical VoIP Comparisons
We compare business VoIP providers, residential VoIP providers, mobile VoIP providers, PBX providers, SIP trunk providers, etc to help you understand the differences between the services.
We try to make sure that all of our topical VoIP comparisons are fair to the providers and to you: we compare providers based on comparable plans, though some providers may offer cheaper plans or plans with different features and options for different prices.
For instance, the prices and plans displayed on our business VoIP page are priced per user per month and all offer some kind of unlimited calling (or an equivalent).
Top 100
Interested in which providers are in your country? We have a list of the Top 100 VoIP providers in the world.
The list is pretty business VoIP-focused and oriented toward paid VoIP services over free VoIP services.
VoIP Provider Directory
Our complete VoIP provider directory is company names and company blurbs.
The directory is very useful for finding out which type of service each VoIP provider offers, which country they offer it to, and some other pertinent marketing information.
Free VoIP Service
You'll probably notice that we tend to support paid VoIP services. Skype and Google Voice are great services, but they have limited use and aren't as feature-rich. Also, unfortunately, most free services tend to have a catch or limitations.
Different Types of VoIP Service
Knowing the key differences between VoIP service types will make it easier to choose the right plan. There are several different ways to differentiate between VoIP services:
- Free service
- Paid Service
Within the paid VoIP service section, there are other types:
- Flat-rate VoIP services
- Per-minute VoIP rate services
These differences relate to how the VoIP service is billed. Flat-rate services charge a flat rate per month (usually this is subscription-based service). Per-minute services charge a per minute rate to call a certain destination (on top of that they may have a specific fee associated with opening an account).
There are also the different categories of services that VoIP providers offer. The major varieties of service are:
Residential VoIP plans are geared toward homes that want to replace their POTS ("plain old telephone system") service. You can use your touch tone phone with an analog telephone adapter (ATA) or get an IP phone when you get a service plan.
Business VoIP plans are geared toward businesses. Business VoIP tends to offer the most varied applications of VoIP technology because businesses tend to require more from their phone systems.
Wholesale VoIP is designed to be sold to carrier-level services – that's the VoIP providers themselves. If you’re a VoIP provider who needs minutes, check out wholesale VoIP providers.
Types of Business VoIP
Basically, business VoIP providers offer some variation on the private branch exchange (PBX). A PBX is the brain behind your office VoIP system. It connects your extensions to each other and to all external phone lines. You can also use a private branch exchange to set up an auto attendant, a voicemail server, or a call queue for a call center.
"Hosted" means you lease the exchange from a VoIP provider, which provides you virtual access to the PBX; IP PBX refers to an actual computerized system in your office. Virtual PBX is usually a stripped-down version of a hosted PBX, usually used for call forwarding and mobile applications.
Mobile VoIP refers to available mobile technology (it tends to go hand-in-hand with virtual pbx), especially smart phone applications.
SIP trunking is a specialized application of VoIP that allows you to replace analog, POTS phone lines one by one. SIP trunking works with analog or IP PBX set ups.
