Packet 8 VoIP - Internet Phone Comparison

 There's no doubt in my mind. Of the services I've used, Packet 8 is by far the best VoIP provider out there. Say's Russell, in an article Making the Jump to VoIP by  Russell Shaw. Packet8's several monthly plans include the $39.99 Virtual Office, with auto attendant and conference bridge, the $29.99 Freedom Unlimited Videophone, which includes a full-motion real-time video phone made by Packet 8 owner 8x8, and Packet 8 Freedom Unlimited. Freedom Unlimited allows unrestricted free calling throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as to all Packet8 subscribers in the world.

 Packet 8 requires a little extra to install, but it is worth it. Packet 8's kit comes with a proprietary terminal gateway. You just Plug it into your PC using a Ethernet cable (supplied with kit), plug in your electrical cord, and the plug your telephone into the gateway.  The best thing about Packet 8 is its superior configurability for home and office networks. If you want to use your Packet 8 service on more than one phone line, buy a multiple analog jack extension connector and then plug it into the gateway phone jack. This connector will let you to use up to three phones on one Packet8 line.

 To compare services, see the  internet phone services table from Russell Shaw's article on Packet8 You'll see that one thing that's not included is a rating of voice quality. This is because Russell found very little noticeable difference in call quality among those services.  You may experience an occasional garble call or an echo, but Packet8's proprietary equipment operates best on even the slowest of connections, compared to Vonage. It seems that the Packet 8 service uses up less of your internet connection's bandwidth than does the Vonage service. Packet8 say that the phone uses about 17kb of bandwidth upstream and downstream, and suggest not using it on lines slower than 64kb for best quality. Vonage recommends a minimum line speed of 128kb. According to Russell, a recent TomsNetworking poll had almost 50% of respondents choose "hardly ever" as their answer when asked how often they had problems with their Internet Phone Service.

 According to Russell, Packet8 gets his vote as the best of this bunch tested, as it does mine, it has the best quality and uses less bandwidth.  But he cautions, it is only a taste of the variety of VoIP plans and providers out there. New providers and pricing are appearing constantly. So if you've been waiting to try the new internet phone providers, don't wait.

 
Table 1: VoIP Service Info