Residential VoIP

Residential VoIP: the new Home Phone Service

What is Residential VoIP?

Residential VoIP is modern home Internet phone service. Residential VoIP allows callers to use the Internet to make phone calls, which can save them hundreds of dollars a year. Another option is business VoIP, an Internet phone service for your office.

Home phone service with a VoIP provider is much cheaper than the landline provided by a traditional phone company. Many traditional providers already use VoIP for their home phone service, even if they haven't told their customers.

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Provider	Plan	Monthly Fees	Setup Fees	Intl Rate /min	More Info
3.875 2 reviews  Add Review	ITP - Premium Unlimited 2 months free. Unlimited calls. Interested? Residential. USA, CAN, PR.	$ 8.32	free	-NA-	Details
0 Add Review	VoIPo Home 2 years for $129. $6.21/month. Residential VoIP USA, CAN	$ 6.21	free	-NA-	Details
0 Add Review	$6.25/month Home Phone Service Unlimited USA & Canada calling Free hardware Residential. USA	$ 6.25	free	-NA-	Details
0 Add Review	Phone.com - Unlimited Monthly Pay much less for so much more: Voicemail alerts to SMS and email, ring any number or just forward to your cell ph...	$ 6.99	free	-NA-	Details
0 Add Review	BroadVoice Unlimited World Unlimited international calls to 80 countries. Residential VoIP USA	$ 24.95	free	-NA-	Details

1: Any listed international rates reflect provider's rate for Mexico. Taxes and fees may apply. Listed prices do not reflect all pricing options available from providers.

The Difference Between Residential VoIP and Landline Phone Service

How Residential Voice Provides Better Service than a Landline

Residential VoIP is different than a landline in several ways:

• Residential VoIP is cheaper than a landline
• Residential VoIP uses an internet connection directly
• Residential VoIP comes with many added features

Residential VoIP costs less than a landline because it uses the most modern technology for home phone service. Instead of using an old, expensive copper wire network, residential VoIP uses Internet networks to route calls. The Internet is a more cost-efficient way to transmit calls, which makes it cheaper for providers to transmit your calls..

Also, residential VoIP providers don’t charge extra for long distance phone calls. Since VoIP uses the Internet to transmit voice data, it can bypass long distance phone service providers and make every call work like a local phone call.

In terms of cost comparisons for home phone service, VoIP costs between $10 and $20 a month and a landline costs between $20 and $40 a month. Sometimes, you can get prices per month of much less than $10 a month if you're willing to prepay for a year or two.

Residential VoIP also directly uses your internet connection, so you get savings right away. If you use a landline from a traditional phone company, the home phone provider may use VoIP (and probably does) to make a call but they don't pass the savings on to you.

Residential VoIP providers also offer many helpful features that traditional providers do not. For instance, most residential VoIP providers offer an online account management portal.

Online account management is the VoIP equivalent of an online banking portal: instead of balancing your checkbook every month, you can check your balances online. The same thing works for residential VoIP: you can monitor your usage, make changes to your account, pay your bill online – do everything that you need to do over the computer. You don't have to wait for the phone bill to come every month – you can monitor your usage in real time.

And now many VoIP service providers also offer mobile VoIP apps for smartphones. This is a great way to save money on your cellphone bill in addition to your home phone bill. Most of the time, you have to download the mobile app separately, but more and more VoIP service providers are starting to include their mobile services, or offer them for free.

How Landlines provide better home phone service than Residential VoIP

Residential VoIP does have some disadvantages when compared with a landline:

• Residential VoIP might not work when the power is out
• Residential VoIP needs high speed Internet
• Residential VoIP needs new equipment

Since residential VoIP works over the Internet, it might not work when the power is out. That's because Internet service usually runs through an router or a modem that needs a power supply. You can solve this problem, though, with a battery backup for your Internet line.

Also, some residential VoIP providers, such as Phone Power, offer a call forwarding service known as Failsafe. Failsafe automatically forwards calls to your cell phone in the event of a power outage or network outage.

Residential VoIP also isn't a completely independent service: residential VoIP does need high speed Internet in order to work.

However, the low monthly cost of home phone service with VoIP (compared to traditional landline service) means that you'll save a lot of money overall. After all, $40 a month for high speed internet and $40 a month for local landline service compares pretty poorly with $40 for high speed internet and $15 a month for unlimited local and long distance calling.

Residential VoIP does need new equipment in order to work correctly: either a analog telephone adapter or an IP phone. Basically, you need something that can translate the sound of your voice so that it can move over the Internet.

Usually you can convert a traditional home phone to work with VoIP by using something called an analog telephone adapter (ATA). Most residential VoIP providers will offer you this equipment for free, with the cost of your subscription. If you'd like to purchase your own analog telephone adapter, they run between $25 to $50.