At work, we just recently signed up with a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider. At first, we were hesitant to use a technology that we thought was still pretty new. Even though it was made in the mid-1990s, it's pretty old in terms of technology. Still, there were a lot of worries about how well it would work and how to use it. Voice Over Internet Protocol, which is often shortened to VoIP and pronounced "voyp," was not known to anyone in the office before.
At first, things were frustrating, but we quickly learned that you shouldn't connect VoIP to an internet connection that isn't reliable. Also, we quickly found out that using VoIP to send faxes was not going to be easy. On top of that, we signed up for a service with a company that wasn't very helpful. Just recently, a very upsetting situation was put to rest. After using VoIP for a few months, we saw a difference in our bill. We signed up for auto-bill pay, and when we looked at our bills, we saw that the amount we were supposed to pay each month had gone from $39.99 to almost double that amount. When I called our provider, they told me that they had given us a "free" extra line when we signed up. But after a few months, the offer was over, and the second line wasn't free anymore. The situation was made even worse by the fact that there was a cancellation fee for the second line, which was around $40.00. After I told the shy operator what was going on, he realised it was a scam and agreed to drop the cancellation fee. But we still had to pay almost $100 for that second line.
This experience left a bad taste in the mouth of our business. Not so much because of VoIP, but because of our VoIP provider. We should have done the research needed to find a good VoIP provider, which was a mistake.
During this whole process, we called other service providers, and we quickly realised that we had picked our voice over IP provider too soon. These other businesses seemed to be twice as nice and a much better deal all around. But doing this research was like putting salt on a wound that was already open.
When we were looking for a provider, we only looked at the top three VoIP services. After a quick look at each company, we made our choice. Part of the problem was that we made our choice too quickly. We did this because we were a new business that needed a phone number fast. It was more important for our customers to be able to reach us by phone than to do a lot of research on voice over IP providers. On top of that, we had to make ads and get business cards made. We needed that phone number quickly because so much of our business depends on it. So far, that hasty decision has cost us an extra $100 and added stress from having to work with a company that isn't very friendly.
I'm writing all of this down so you won't make the same mistakes I did. When we were having trouble with our current VoIP provider, we found out that there were a lot of smaller companies that sometimes offered more for less than what we are paying now. If we had just done a little searching, we would have found this out and saved ourselves a lot of trouble. I wrote this cautionary tale to encourage you to look for these smaller, less well-known service providers.
Things are getting a little bit better now. But it still hurts to pay our provider every month when we know there are other companies that would be happy to do the same job for less money. We would stop using our current VoIP provider if they didn't make us afraid. Worry about having to do it all over again. Not only would it cost money to cancel their service, but we might have to go through the headache all over again. I know it's the way of a coward, but it's easier than the other way.
It's been great to use voice over internet protocol. We get voicemails as emails, and if we have to leave the house, calls can be sent to our cell phones. I wouldn't want anything else in the office, as far as I'm concerned. I only wish I had chosen a different VoIP service. The good news is that you can still, and in a year or two, so can I. So do your homework and find the best VoIP service for you. You won't regret it.
