Something to talk about the Phone Company

Is the old Phone Company dead ? How about the VOIP ? Are people switching to ditching landlines and switching to cellphones ?  Well the answer is no for all.  People are still using a combination of all .However it is worth mentioning some of the cost effective VOIP services

My first choice narrowed down to Ooma , a Palo Alto , CA  based VOIP company which provides lifetime VOIP for a one time equipment fees of around $200 . Most of the Online retailers and Electronics stores sell the equipment. I have been happily using Ooma close to 2 years without any problems and I found it much better than the previous VOIP phones from Packet8 and Vonage . I cant comment on the Customer Service because I never had to call them which indicates the quality of the service.

I have also used the phone while traveling and it worked like a charm.  I noticed comments when they started the company is not going to survive as they dont have  Business Model. Well they are still in business, got a fresh funding, and have a premium version with added features and of course lot of happy customers.

‘The second service worth mentioning is magicjack. They charge $19.95 annually and the equipment costs around $20. While it is cost effective, the USB powered devices need to be connected to the computer all the time to work. I also found frequent issues with Windows Vista. I in fact bought two of them and one stopped working after  a while. But again it is very handy device when you are traveling domestically or internationally.  For international travelers it will be more useful have an US number handy.The clarity is not as good as Ooma.The product is going out of shelf very fast. Both are useful to home customers and small businesses.

I found both the services to be good in some way or the other. There are more worthwhile phone services like the Google voice to add . I would be covering that later.