The Best VoIP Provider for You

One question that often pops up when choosing a provider is: “What is the best VoIP provider?” Unfortunately, there are too many factors to consider to simply pick one reigning provider. What you can do is ask yourself the following questions to help narrow down your search:

In which country are you located?

How will you use the VoIP provider's service?

How many users will have access to your phone system?

How many phones/devices do you plan on connecting?

How many international calls do you place every month?

Do you have specific features you need to use?

How much are you willing to pay?

Choosing the Right Type of VoIP Service

There are four major types of VoIP service providers:

Choose the service that is appropriate for your calling needs. Residential VoIP plans are cheaper than business VoIP plans because: (1) they have fewer features and (2) residential phones are used less frequently than business phones. Don’t use a residential VoIP service for a home-based business unless you’re willing to pay overage fees or to have your VoIP service canceled. VoIP providers are serious about enforcing their Fair Use guidelines.

Wholesale VoIP services are good if you need to run your own service provider, set up a calling card, or run a call center. Note: most business VoIP providers can offer some kind of call center software.

Number of Users and Number of Phones

Know how many users/phones you will have on your VoIP phone system. Most business VoIP providers charge per extension, so knowing how many extensions you will need is important for determining which VoIP provider offers you the best deal.

The number of phones is also important. If you have phones in your conference room or your break room that are not used very often, you probably don’t need those phones to be fully-featured extensions.

Features and International Calls

Each provider will disclose international calling rates on their website and a list of features on their website. We give a standardized list for each provider (with explanations on our VoIP Calling Features page) but providers experiment with different features all the time. Check their website (using a link on their details page) to verify how each feature works.

You can use our quote request form at the top of the page if you’d like us to pair up with providers that best fit your needs. Unfortunately, we don’t generate quotes for residential VoIP providers at this time. Still, whether you’re looking for residential or business service, you can rest assured that you’ll save hundreds to thousands of dollars a year once you’ve switched to IP phone service.