This is the second article in the Can You Hear Me Now? Series of blog posts in which I embark on a journey to find the most cost effective home office VoIP plan for my computer repair business.

In the first article of this series, I made a case for why I feel VoIP is the right choice for home office small businesses.  Now that I’ve narrowed down my choices to a few commercial providers, it’s time to really dig in to each one, cut throught the noise, and find the right plan for me and my business.

I’m going to do this in the style of a good ol’ fashioned smackdown!  I’m evaluating each of the providers I’ve chosen with the same set of criteria, rating each aspect with 1-4 stars and then tallying the total at the end.   Please note, this is all very subjective and based on my personal opinions only.  The winner of the smackdown may not necessarily be the best VoIP plan for you (and may not end up being the best plan for me either). You can find a list of the specific plans I’m comparing in my previous article.

Features

The most important features in a VoIP plan for me are call forwarding, voicemail, and softphone.

Vonage
Call forward and basic voicemail are free.  Softphone and visual voicemail are extra.
Skype
Call forward and softphone are free.  Voicemail is an extra $1.70/mo.
Lingo
Call forward, softphone, and voicemail are free.
Voip.com
Call forward, softphone, and voicemail are free.
ITP
Call forward and voicemail are free.   Softphone is extra.
Voicepulse
Call forward and vociemail are free.  No softphone option that I could see.

Reputation

This part of the showdown is pretty straight forward. I visited 4 review sites and took the average rating from each site for the various providers. These reviews came from trusted professional sources like Cnet and Businessweek as well as from consumer review sites.

Vonage
Skype
Lingo
Voip.com
ITP
Voicepulse

Customer Service

This morning I tried calling each of the providers to get some extra information and clarify things for the purposes of this article. While I understand customer service levels are usually much better for prospective customers as opposed to current customers having and issue, but I still think first impressions in this category can say a lot about the company as a whole.

Vonage
Vonage was by far the most helpful company that I called. They answered all my quesitons and were very transparent about all the extra fees they charge.
Skype
Skype doesn’t appear to have a phone number to call to ask quesitons. They offer online support, but I would have had to fill out a form and wiat for who knows how long. I gave them a 2 out of 4 because they have such excellent online FAQ’s and informaiton that I was able to get most of my questions answered on their website.
Lingo
Lingo was very helpful on the phone. I spoke with someone from customer support by accident, but he happily helped me out with my quesitons about the different service plans.
Voip.com
The number provided on Voip.com’s website was out of service when I called it. Not a good sign…
ITP
ITP operators only work Monday-Friday. I’m calling on a Saturday. Luckily, I got most of my answers online.
Voicepulse
Voicepulse operators only work Monday-Friday. I’m calling on a Saturday. Luckily, I got most of my answers online.

Price

All of these are not including the cost of the phone hardware.

Vonage  
Initial set-up price: $66.50.  Monthly Price: $49.99. Vonage does require both the set-up fee and initial month fee up front.
Skype
Initial set-up price: Free.  Monthly Price: around $10. It’s hard to say how much Skype will cost in the end because all of it’s features are paid for ala carte. The monthly price I quoted here includes unlimited SkypeIn and SkypeOut calls to domestic land lines and cell phones.
Lingo
Initial set-up price: $39.95.  Monthly Price: $79.95. After speaking with customer service, I found that the unlimited calling is only for landlines. Calls to mobile phones cost a fraction of a cent per minute, but still, I have a feeling I’ll be receiving plenty of calls from mobile phones.
Voip.com
Initial set-up price: $29.90.  Monthly Price: $34.95
ITP
Initial set-up price: $44.90. Monthly Price: $44.99
Voicepulse
Initial set-up price: $39.98.  Monthly Price: $45.99

Final Verdict

1. Skype (3.12 avg)
2. ITP (2.87 avg)
3. Lingo (2.75 avg)
4. Vonage (2.62 avg)
5. Voip.com and Voicepulse (2.4 avg)

Looks like Skype came out on top thanks to their super low prices, good reputation, and decent selection of features. But is this the right plan for my business?

Stick around for my next article in the series in which I’ll reveal which plan I chose. I’ll also be discussing the host-your-own and open source options which some of my readers brought up in the comments of the last article.