Internet Phone Service vs. Land Line Phone Service

Jul.03, 2010 in Technology and Gadgets

VoIP phone service, also known as broadband phone service, works by hooking your phone to the internet. Your telephone calls are then sent over the internet as small bits of information, called packets, instead of sending them over a regular phone wire. This type of phone service has the following pros and cons:

Internet Phone Service Pros:
• You can save at least 25% on taxes and fees alone.
• Some unlimited VoIP calling plans include all of Asia.
• Some unlimited VoIP calling plans include all of Europe.
• Landline phone numbers can be ported to your VoIP account.
• Voice-mail, Caller ID and other calling features are usually included with each plan.

Internet Phone Service Cons:
• Internet telephone service goes down when your internet goes down.
• 911 doesn’t work on your internet telephone service when your internet service is not working

Landline telephone service is where a dedicated line is installed in, or on your house by a phone provider. While cable carriers do install phone service into homes and offices, they provide what they call “Digital Phone Service”. Digital phone service is just another name for internet telephone service. Landline telephone service has the following pros and cons:

Landline Telephone Service Pros:
• Landline telephone service is technically more stable than internet telephone service.
• Your landline phone number gets put in the Yellow Pages, while your internet telephone service phone number doesn’t.
• Regular phone signals, overall, are more clear.
• 911 service works without any input from the user.
• You don’t have to have high speed internet service to have land line phone service.

Landline Telephone Service Cons:
• Taxes and fees can easily be over 25% of a landline phone bill.
• Long distance plans cost more with a landline account.
• Local and long distance phone service, plus an extra line for dial up internet service, cost more than high speed internet service and an unlimited VoIP calling plan.

While trying to be fair with the pros and cons of landline phone service and internet telephone service, it is getting to the point that the only reason to still have a landline phone plan is because you either can’t get high speed internet service, or you really, really like to make sure the sound of your call is good. But, with most people now using either land line phone service, or cell phones, trying to get the last 1% of call clarity isn’t worth isn’t worth all of the extra money you’ll have to pay each month.

If you are interested in comparing internet telephone service and land line phone service side by side, visit calling-plans.com and use the rate calculator on their home phone service page.