Friday, December 09, 2005

VOIP

I've been semi-paying attention whenever I see people posting (here and here) about VOIP. "Semi" because I don't have DSL, and don't want to spend money on DSL, so VOIP isn't really an option for me right now. But I currently spend over $100 a month on phone costs, mainly because I make a lot of international calls. I use a cheap calling card and I have an AT&T plan with great international rates, but now that I've started to hear about VOIP with all-inclusive international plans, such as Broadvoice, I'm starting to wonder if I could do better.
I suspect it is still not worth it for me at this point. The added cost of DSL might outweigh the phone savings. Or would it? DSL costs seem to keep dropping... I think I will put this on the back burner again for a while, but after I move next year, I will have to look at it again and analyze all the costs. I will probably be getting a cell phone via work, so that will cut down on some of my phone costs. And VOIP at home won't help me with international calls made on a calling card from my office. But perhaps it is time to take the next technological step with my home set-up...

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Great blog :)

From what I've seen, DSL is down around $20/month now, and Broadvoice (nice find, btw) is $25.... so you'd be saving yourself some serious cash switching to VoIP.

My family uses Vonage currently - if you do switch, let me know how you like the Broadvoice service.

Anonymous said...

I pay $14.99 for my dsl from verizon. Along with my a phone line that I never use, internet costs about $38 a month with taxes. Maybe it will save you money.

Anonymous said...

Another vote for shopping around. Many DSL providers are now about $25/month, and they have different levels of speed and price.

My VoIP is cheaper than even the basic flat local plan from the phone company, with no long distance, no calling waiting, no caller ID, no nothing.

Anonymous said...

If International is what you want, I agree with hazzard. Go for Skype. You can even get video. It's even cheaper if you convince the people on the other end to get Skype also - FREE!

Anonymous said...

Take a look at AT&T Callvantage - they are not as cheap as Vonage and probably Broadvoice, but they give you the same calling card like ability to get their VOIP rates while calling internationally from other telephones...

Caitlin said...

I have been wondering about this for you since you first started posting your phone bills. I bet some sort of broadband wouldn't be that expensive and would open you up to other phone savings...like skype and/or VOIP. If you can get a cable bundle package for broadband...well you might start cooking with gas...for under $100 perhaps.

You can keep your AOL email addy if you have broadband for about $10 a month I believe (or drop them altogether)

youuu can do eeeet!

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