What is the cheapest way to get VoIP in the US?

Question

I've been looking in to using VoIP for my house. I don't mind paying money for equipment, but am trying to avoid as many monthly charges as I can. Free is best, and I think it might be possible if I used a seperate carrier for incoming and outgoing calls. The only thing I'm concerned with is that I want my inbound number to be local so that when people call me, they won't have to pay long distance charges.

I've heard of using GrandCentral to route calls through a local number to an SIP number, but unfortunately that beta is closed. The only other similar free service I have found is IPKall.com, but their area code would be long distance (Washington area code).

I have a number that is within my area code from Briing.com that I can forward to any land line. If I got an Washington number from IPKall and had my Briing forward to that, does anyone know if that would charge my callers long distance? Does anyone have any other free inbound voip setups in mind?

Answer 1

If you can learn to configure your own Linksys ATA phone adapter, you can use very low cost Pay-As-You-Go VoIP services that do not require contracts.

If you don't have a router, then the Linksys SPA2102 is a good choice (Router-ATA combo).  I use the Linksys PAP2T-NA behind my NAT-Router. Both are unlocked and fully user configurable with VoIP two lines, which allow you to subscribe to two VoIP services simultaneously.

I configured my ATA Line-1 for InPhonex and subscribe to their LiteLine service for $7.95/month.  That includes a local are phone number of your choice.  All incoming calls are free, outgoing calls are 2.5 cent/min anywhere in USA/Canada/UK.  e911 included.  All other bells and whistles included free.

You can also buy ATA's from them.

Then I configure Line-2 for service with CallCentric.  Local area phone number is only $1.95/month + 1.5 cent/min incoming calls + 1.9 cent/min outgoing calls to anywhere in USA/Canada/UK.  All bells & whistles included free.  Calling Card access also available.  Or use your CallCentric phone number as a local calling card gateway to make LD calls cheap from any phone or cell.

I also use Les.net and Voip.ms as optional LD VoIP services.

All these services are BYOD and pay-as-you-go... no contracts.  They can all be configured into configurable softphones from your PC if you sometimes want to talk using a headset while working on your PC.

My preferred configurable softphones are OpenWengo and 3CX.  InPhonex and CallCentric also provide optional down-loadable softphones for use.

Which ever way you go, fully test the VoIP service of your choice to make sure it is fully satisfactory... before pulling the plug on your Telco provider.   That is what I did.  I pulled the plug on my Telco one year ago.  I am now saving big bucks over what I used to pay for phone service.

For completely free (nothing to buy...now or later) while still in Beta test is EarthCaller.  Make free calls from your PC with headset to anywhere in USA/Canada.  Runs from your web browser.

As far as forwarding calls, you always pay the forwarding charges.... not the caller.

Answer 2

The cheapest right now would be the MagicJack!!

I also use 3 different GrandCentral numbers ( while you still could get them) so friends can call me for free!

Answer 3

Right now the cheapest is Magic Jack. I recently got one myself, 1 month ago, and it has worked well so far. For unlimited calling at $19.99/ year, yes per year, you cannot go wrong with it for a cheap phone service.

Answer 4

You should check out this website.  http://www.5linx.net/stephanie.  For just $24.95 you can make unlimited calls anywhere in the US plus Canada, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Spain, France, Portugal and China!  Check it out or email me with any questions.