VoIP Providers Comparison - Vonage, LINGO and Packet-8
Friday, July 7th, 2006
The high maintenance cost of infrastructure of the legacy system has led to considerable increase in the call costs, especially the long distance calls. The higher cost regime has eventually led to a situation where large companies such as the AT&T have monopolized the telephonic services. Smaller companies have no standing in the business, as they cannot meet the high installation costs of the legacy system. VoIP is an open architecture system having ample opportunities for up gradation, unlike the legacy system. As such both major and small telecom players can enter into voice services by deploying the VoIP system and its applications.VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service is just not a stand-alone opportunity, though for the end users there is just the VoIP service provider in the picture. The valued chain, which provides the customer an excellent service, include Internet service provider, phone retailers and whole sellers, gateways providers, PSTN carriers, GSN networks and countless software based services. The VoIP system is an inter-dependent network system wherein a failure of one link leads to customer dissatisfaction. In the present era, there are many VoIP service providers in the market, giving the customer an opportunity to choose the best one. A few eminent VoIP service providers including Vonage, LINGO and Packet8 are discussed in the following paragraphs.
Vonage
Vonage is presently a leader among the VoIP service providers. It is proud of its esteem clientage of 7,500,000 customers. For having a Vonage connection, the customers need a broadband connection, preferably cable-based. The tiny box sent by the company is to be plugged into the telephone and cable modem or DSL. The customer straightaway gets access to his telephone through the computer and the broadband connection. Vonage VoIP service is preferred over others for its cost effectiveness.
Vonage offers several attractive packages starting with a basic plan of 500 minutes at the cost of US$ 14.99, followed by an unlimited offer of US $ 24.99 wherein unlimited calls can be made to anyone in USA or Canada. The standard features of Vonage VoIP include Voicemail, Caller ID, Call Forwarding, Call Transfer, 3 Way Calling, Call waiting, Speed dialing, etc. The additional features are Virtual phone numbers, Fax lines and toll free features. Vonage VoIP service is undoubtedly the best alternative to regular telephone lines.
Lingo
Customers making frequent calls within US, Canada or Eastern Europe get an attractive deal from lingo service provider. A home plan for $ 21.95 a month is offered by Lingo for unlimited calls in the USA, Canada and 17 other Western European countries. The Lingo VoIP has as many as 26 standard calling features including Voicemail, Caller ID, Call Forwarding, Call Transfer, and 3 Way Calling etc. Lingo’s plans are more popular due to providing of two phone numbers per account and charge of a nominal fee. The first one is for people in your area and second number known as the “Universal Phone Number” is for friends, business associates, and family members in other states or even other countries.
Packet8
The VoIP service provided by Packet8 is quite similar to that of Vonage. The basic important difference being that Packet8 uses the different voice processing interface box. The interface box provided by the Packet8 has the light on it, which glows up when there is a voice mail waiting for the user. Packet8 offers only one residential VoIP long distance calling plan and which is unlimited. The cost of the plan is $19.95 and allows unlimited free calls in US and Canada. Packet8 also offers unlimited calling plans to both Asia and Europe. There are several business plans offered by Packet 8 at very competitive prices. The standard features offered by Packet 8 include Voicemail, Caller ID, Call Forwarding, Call Transfer, 3 Way Calling, Call Waiting, Speed Dialing.