VoIP Service Provider A vs. VoIP Service Provider B
by Gobala Krishnan
Published on this site: July 14th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
While doing research on the Internet, I realized that most
people are absolutely confused when it comes to selecting
a VoIP or broadband phone service provider. I can't say I
blame them either, when you consider that there are now thousands
of companies out there with as many different service plans.
What I often come across though, is the question "Is
company A better than company B?". To be honest I have
no idea how to answer that question. All I can offer is a
simple guideline that can help you discover the answer for
yourself. Here it is.
- Where is the company located?
Does the location of the company matter? Perhaps not, if
the service provider is located in the same country as you
are. However, if you have been offered VoIP or broadband
phone services offered by foreign companies, it probably
WILL matter.
The danger in subscribing to companies that don't have a
presence in your country, legalities aside, is the quality
of the service. Imagine making a call from Malaysia to your
friend in Singapore. Now imagine your call being routed
all the way to the US or Australia before it is routed back
to Singapore to complete the call. Physically, this takes
less than a second, but the consequences are sometimes obvious.
More often than not, you get a delay in your call. If you
understand communication, you'll understand than even a
one second delay before hearing a YES or OK can make all
the difference in your sales talk or discussion. The solution?
Make sure your VoIP service provider has at least a few
gateways located in your region, and most importantly, your
country. This would reduce the distance the call is carried
and usually result in better call quality.
- Are the call plans unique?
All VoIP service providers out there suffer from the same
symptom - the need to differentiate themselves. That's the
reason why you get 100 different plans from 10 different
companies. Understand, though, that they are all basically
the same thing.
So if water is water, how do you choose when you flip open
the refrigerator door in that 7-11 store? Is it the color
of the bottle or the price?
The same question can be asked when choosing a VoIP plan.
Choose what appeals to you, but don't get carried away by
all the "Unlimited calls" talk. Understand that
any VoIP provider worth their salt can offer you unlimited
calls from one ATA (analog telephone adapter) to another
ATA that they own, for free. However, consider this - how
many people you know are using an ATA from the same company
you are?
Making unlimited calls to regular phones, though, is an
entirely different ball game. Not everyone can offer you
this. Vonage for example, can offer you unlimited calls
in their business package, to US only. For unlimited calling
to Asian countries, the only company I know of that can
do this is TelExtreme. Here's a complete "VoIP A vs.
VoIP B" type of comparison chart if you really need
it:
http://www.mybusinessvoip.com/compare
- Quality - who owns the technology?
I am not an advocate of buying from the company that everyone
is buying from. You know, companies like Vonage and AT&T
CallVantage. I'm not an advocate of "following the
crowd", but in some cases, the crowd may have a point.
Most of the smaller VoIP providers don't own the technology.
Why should they, when they can get the whole deal at wholesale,
and all they need to do is put their brand on it? This works
for the short term. For the long term, however, such companies
have no way of ensuring the stability or quality of their
service.
Bottom line - find out if the VoIP service provider owns
any, or all, of the technology behind the service they provide.
A "cut and paste" company comprising of different
ATA manufacturers, different call routers and different
gateway providers may not survive in a few years when the
VoIP industry matures. You can count on that!
- What’s in store for the future?
In plain words, why spend on a VoIP provider that is limited
to just making calls, especially when many of them already
have video and data applications in the works? Packet8 already
has their own video & voice over IP plan, and many others
will follow suit. “Triple Play” as it is called,
will soon be available, so make sure that your VoIP service
provider has this in store for you. More importantly, it
should be available at little or no extra
cost.
Gobala Krishnan is a small business entrepreneur
and publisher of the "VoIP and Me" newsletter, designed
for smart entrepreneurs who want to avoid all the technical
jargon and get straight to the information that really matters.
Learn how you can drastically cut communication costs by 70%,
get more customers and expand to new markets using VoIP at
http://www.MyBusinessVoIP.com
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