There are various basic selection strategies to choose the best VoIP service provider tailored to your needs.
- If you live in a country with fierce competiiton between Broadband or VoIP service providers, such as the UK, Germany, Canada or the USA and you only make local or national calls then it is fairly easy. Use our database to choose the cheapest monthly package, which suits your calling needs. This could be either a Pay-as-you-go package or a package with 250, 500, 1000 minutes or unlimited calls per month. The differences in price are not that big, making the selection process a little difficult because of the wide variety of options.
Check to see that the 911 service is offered and even LNP (Local Number Portability), letting you keep you existing telephone number. Most US Broadband VoIP providers offer a free ATA when you sign up, but check the fine print. Some charge you a high cancellation fee if you have not subscribed to their service for 12 months or more. Others let you bring your own device (BYOD). This gives you the flexibilty to change VoIP providers if you are not satisfied with a particular service.
Maybe even choose a VoIP provider with a special offer (first month or even two months for free) to test their service for a month before taking the final decision.
- If you live in a fiercely competitive country and tend make quite a number of international calls then you would have to change your selection criteria. Make a list of international destinations you call most frequently and check to see if any VoIP service provider has a monthly package, which includes these countries. A few VoIP providers offer package deals with a selection of 20, 30 or 40 countries and destinations included. This may become a little pricey, so again think about the amount of calls you make on a regular basis.
Should you only make calls to a one or two international destinations then the selection process becomes far more simple. Use our VoIP search engine to find the broadband provider with the cheapest call rates to a certain country, check their packages and sign up.
- If you live in a country with very limited competition or even Telecom monopolies then you may want to choose a PC to Phone provider, such as Skype (not the cheapest, but the best known), Stanaphone, VoIP Buster, Globe7 and others. There are hundreds of VoIP companies out in the international market and making your choice is quite difficult. Again draw up a list of international destinations you call most frequently and if you wish test the cheapest to see if they are up to your expectations.
There are various other options to consider, depending on which country you live in.
You may want to choose a provider offering a virtual number in a certain country. This would allow you to publish and use this number although you may be thousands of miles away. For example if you have a virtual number in Switzerland your customers and friends can call this number in Switzerland and your phone will ring wherever you are in the world. This is a very interesting feature and only possible with VoIP services.
If you make regular conference calls, then you must ensure that your VoIP Provider offers this facility.