Hopefully by reading the earlier parts of this guide you now have a greater understanding
of what VoIP is and how it works. So should you opt for VoIP internet phone instead of a
landline? This section will help you decide.
Which should you choose - VoIP or a landline?
The choice between VoIP and landlines is not as straightforward as it may seem given the
huge gulf in costs of landline calls by comparison to the cheaper VoIP services.
The main reason for this is that some VoIP services won’t offer the same features you
would expect from a traditional landline. For example, some VoIP providers still will not
allow you to call the emergency services and some international destinations are restricted.
Furthermore, if you were to suffer a power failure or a loss of internet service you would
not be able to use VoIP – or even inform your ISP that the service was down, unless you
had a mobile phone.
In addition, as most people have ADSL broadband, you will still need to pay line rental.
As a consequence, at this stage, most users cannot dismiss landlines outright – and instead
prefer to use VoIP to complement their home phone service.
Certainly VoIP can be hugely beneficial when used in this manner. If you have a
family or friend overseas, the ability to call them, free of charge, whenever you want,
should not be underestimated.
Think about your current phone bill. Do you make a lot of international or long distance
calls? Are your bills high? If so, VoIP could offer you large savings even though you will
have to pay a set monthly fee to use an IP phone.
At the moment therefore, it seems that VoIP will be used alongside landlines and not as a
direct replacement. However, it’s clear that VoIP technology is already useful and may very
well soon be the standard in all homes.
