Voice-over-IP service has finally become a viable alternative to a fixed landline. We look at some options and alternatives as I search for my perfect provider ...
Voice-over-IP service has finally matured to be usable on day-to-day basis by an average consumer. New offerings are popping up almost every day. The Vonage ads can be seen everywhere. I'm not sure if the savings offered are as much as it's claimed, if anything at all, however VoIP gives you a full number portability and several funky features (like full logs of all your calls, pay-as-you-go services, vmail-2-email capability, etc).
The purpose of this posting is to roughly present the alternatives available in the Canadian market. We focus on the Canadian market due to legal issues w.r.t phone number portability. I don't think it makes sense to transfer your Canadian phone number to another jurisdiction which has different laws, etc.
If you're looking for new VoIP service, you're probably better off to go with someone well known like Vontage or Primus .. but then there is no savings compared to a standard land-line. So what's the point of VoIP? For the same money, I think a standard land-line is definitely better than any VoIP. However, if you are looking at saving money, then the smaller companies offer better value. One thing you trade in for your savings is the reliability of your phone line. With VoIP don't expect the phone to be there .. if it's working, be pleasantly surprised. The only other advice I can give is to go and read read read and educate yourself. Here are some links:
Canadian source of VoIP hardware - store.voxilla.ca, canadianvoipstore.com(NOTE: canadianvoipstore.com ships from USA causing duties, etc. To be avoided if possible. thx ukie)
another newcomer - acanac.ca (Short review: used it previously. Decent VOIP service quality, especially if switching to the G.729 codec. Cheap prices. Have online forums / community support - excellent feature. Most interaction with customer service is via trouble tickets. Most of the time the trouble tickets get resolved fine, especially if you remember to include the last 4 digits of your CC with any major requests. Sometimes your request will get lost and no one will have any idea what's going on. Phone support is useless, stick to trouble tickets for as long as you can. The billing department is HORRIBLE. Make sure you get a confirmation of your cancellation request via an online ticket number. Fax your written cancellation request. Don't forget that they WILL charge you again, since they can, in the next 30 days.) - (My itemized review of acanac's voip service)
italkbb.com (aimed at the Chinese community. Offers $25 unlimited plan)
[update 7] Apr 2007
voipgo.ca ($25 for Unlimited calling, $17 is you go through voipreview.org - to be confirmed, terrible signup process - seems very manual and takes a lot of time, undisclosed porting fee for LNP, no forums, unresponsive support, sound quality so-so, often a lot of jitter on the voice stream) - (My itemized review of voipgo's voip service)
netfone.ca (seems new owner since 2006 ??. Reseller of voipportal.ca - offers BYOD, $25 unlimited plan, but the terms are somewhat cloudy thus suspicious)
*** link2voip.com ($10 for unlimited DID .. long distance is cheap too. Have a support forum - yey!, but no LNP ... booo)
vif.com (BYOD, $20 unlimited, $20 cancellation fee???, $30 phone # porting fee, obviously new to VoIP since the signup page still has no mention of it)
uvoipia.com (BYOD - must provide MAC, $25 unlimited US/Can, LNP)
reliaclear.com ($15 for unlimited Canada, $25 unlimited N.A., no BYOD indicated on website, claim no disconnection fee. Apparently you can BYOD, however, they highly recommended that you do not as ReliaClear will not offer support for your device. There are NO account set up fees, activation fees, contracts or deposits. They do charge $1.49/month for E911 services and $0.99/month for Regulatory Recovery Fees. There is a cancellation fee, but it only applies if the ReliaClear ATA is not returned within 14 days of cancellation. There is NO charge for LPN's and they can take your request at any time (not just at signup).
[update 9] Jan 2008
www.comcanada.ca (new Canadian voip provider- Vancouver based. Seem very friendly. $20 for 500 minutes, $35 for NA unlimited. Their plans include minutes to Italy, France, Spain, UK and Ireland. Definitely offer BYOD. Unclear the status of local minutes, LNP, or other long distance rates. There are also mentions of contract and no contract on their TOS page, but it's unclear if their plans are contract or month-to-month. Need to follow up.)
[update 10] May 2008
It's been kind of quitet in the VOIP arena .. have not seen any newcomers. e911 service definitely got it's share of (bad) publicity, but other than that not much. Oh yeah, please update your addresses with your providers. We don't want to repeat tragedies like the one in Calgary.
[update 10] July 2009
It's become a positively boring time in the canadian VoIP market
Google Voice is finally somewhat out. Hold the parade .. US only for the time being.
I like tables, did I mention that? I like when companies get into them and clearly show you what the features and benefits of each offering are. Some examples :
Finally something that's interesting. Why don't these companies advertise?
velcom.ca seems to have some compelling plans. $15 unlimited Canada and $20 unlimited NA. Includes Voicemail, Caller ID, 3 Way Calling,
Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, 3-Way,
Call Return, Do Not Disturb, Call Records,
and I guess e911. I will contact sales for connection, cancellation and phone number transfer fees.
I tried signing up for Netfone.ca and they immediately charged my credit card and then refused to activate my account. I waited more than 4 days and spent many hours following up with them. All they did was make excuses and say they have "Rules and Procedures" instead of just activating my account.
I finally threatened them with a chargeback if they didn't activate my account, and now the have finally agreed to give me a refund after they have wasted 4 days of my time.
I have Acanac voip service since Feb and the service is awesome. The connection and voice quality are excellent.
All i like is the unlimited calling to USA/Canada. Is sometimes useful in some circonstances.
I recommend the sipura adapter, it’s relatively easy to setup and it includes a router and Qos.
They offer good features with no charge,but they could have more. They could work better for international calling. You know i have most of my family living in France and is not so much funny to always recharge your "prepaid" card through a call center.
BTW. This service worths your money. I highly recommend that service. it’s a bless !
Just so you know canadianvoipstore.com is not really Canadian company is based in Buffalo, NY - and you end up waiting for ya package for a long time and have to pay duties on top of that..
I have Acanac voip service since Feb and the service is awesome.
Netfone.ca engages in fraud
By: WK (Guest) on 19-08-2008 17:18