First let me say that I’m relatively new to the regular replacement of a home phone with a VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol. I was not one of these uber tech pro’s who wanted to get their hands on this stuff the moment it came out. However, this allows me the advantage of being able to compare from a very practical standpoint; from my own experience of switching between the traditional, old school way of viewing telephone communication to one of the popular VoIP options, namely, Skype.

Second, let me say that I absolutely in no way am being endorsed by Skype or any one to plug this post. This is just little ol’ me!

When I first started telecommuting, I was trying to make do with as little expenses as possible. I had a cell phone plan with Verizon in which both my husband and I SHARED 450 minutes, and the bill came to about $45/month. We did not have a home phone, and paid about $30 a month for high-speed internet since we were both students and that was a necessity.

I started doing freelance writing in the next year and figured it was crucial to have a home phone with unlimited long distance to do so. In my area, this was also provided by Verizon, and came to about $90 a month.

Sometime later, one of the companies I worked for asked me to up my minutes on my cell phone plan and to bill them monthly for the difference, so we canceled the home phone/long distance plan.

That worked okay for awhile, however paying bills paperlessly, we often neglected to print out the statements and mail them in for reimbursement. On top of that, I had moved cross-country and was using a lot more minutes for family and friends, not work, so billing for the $50 a month reimbursement seemed a bit unethical to me.

So, at any given time, in order to have unlimited local and long distance, whether via home phone or cell phone or a combination of both, we were paying anywhere between $100-150 monthly. Some of you might find that cheap, other’s have been bundled with this or that and pay slightly less than this.

Enter Skype.

I started with the basic free Skype. What this means is that business colleagues, family and friends who also have a Skype account can chat or “call” eachother’s Skype account for free,-anytime, all the time. I bought a headset and enjoyed phone conversations at my laptop. But after a bit, I thought, hey, what if I want to call people’s cell phones and landlines, whether they are on Skype or not?

Skype Pro offers just such an option- for only $36 a YEAR, I can now “Skype Out” call landlines and cell phones nationally for nothing extra per minute, no fees, nada. (International rates aren’t bad either!) Follow the Skype Pro link for more info.

Then I got to thinking- okay, for $3 a month, I have unlimited Skype Out calls, local or long-distance. But what about if people need to call me? Do I want to always answer my cell and say, “oh, can I call you write back with my Skype account?” It is not likely I will always remember or find it appropriate to do so.

So why can’t I just have everything a home phone can do?

Then I saw that with a Skype Pro account, you can get your own online number (which is a local telephone number!) assigned to you, with voice mail and everything, with a 60% discount. (Follow that link for more info). I paid the $24 dollars for the YEAR to have the telephone number, and now can pass that out as my home phone number and any one can call me too!

Let’s recap- previously spent $100-150 a month on features such as local, long-distance, a phone number to call me for free and voice mail, (including the various cell plans I tried).

Now- I am fulfilling my contract with Verizon and am back down to the 450 shared minutes for $45/month bill. This is used for when I am out of the house and emergencies (Skype does NOT call 911).

Then for another $70 a YEAR ($5.83 a month- any telephone providers willing to go THAT low for ya?!), I have replaced my home phone with Voice Over IP.

I should mention we also use a Skype approved cordless phone at the house- therefore I can walk around, cook dinner, whatever while on the phone, just like if I had a home phone. Factor the cost in for a phone if you plan to do this, but remember you can use this for years to come too. (Though the online number link above mentions the number will work on cordless phones, so I’m not sure how necessary it is to have a skype approved one, we just didn’t have a home phone to start with.)

Quality- I have never had a problem with the quality of my Skype line, even when in conference calls with 5-10 others. However, sometimes one of their Skype lines is really fuzzy, though I am pretty sure its their headset. When people call me and I’m cooking dinner as referenced above, they are often surprised if I tell them I’m using VoIP. I have heard nothing from callers but that it sounds just as good as any ol’ phone.

There are, of course, more options than Skype, but I’m really happy with the price (the cost of a coffee and scone each month!) and quality and features I get with Skype. There are also lots of extras available, including a way to use Skype to e-fax and everything!

Also, I hear from my dad and best friend about how great it is that they use Vonage for only $30 a month. Big savings, they think. Big rip off, I think.

Anyone use VoIP with Skype or another provider and care to share some insights? Chessia commented on my last post regarding ooVoo, feel free to tell us more!

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