Why in the world should you spend $100 or more for local and long-distance calling when you can get it for less than $25 a month? That's what we thought... And that's also why we decided to find you more Voice Over IP providers. Voxby seemed like an intriguing contender when we were doing our research and we saw alot of plans offered on their site, so we got researching. Here's what we learned...
What's New?
- New unlimited worldwide calling plan for less than $30 a month.
- Anonymous call rejection now available.
- Free calling to other Voxby users (no matter where in the world they live).
Star Reviews' Favorite Feature:
Voxby is one of the only VOIP services we can across that offered a plan for unlimited international calling. Yes, you heard that right -- unlimited worldwide calls for less than $30 a month. We've made single international calls that ended up costing more than that, making this a great plan for global calling.
About Voxby:
Voxby is the VOIP service of the ComFi.com Corp. The company has been providing Internet-based services since 1996, so they've had over a decade to get on top of their game and it shows. They offer some of the best VOIP services on the Web and the company takes customer support seriously.
What Voxby Offers:
Voxby offers some of the best service plans we encountered including basic, unlimited USA/Canada and unlimited worldwide calling plans that include a variety of features free of charge. All Voxby VOIP plans include:
- Anonymous call rejection
- Caller blacklist ability
- Call forwarding, return, waiting, Caller ID and Caller ID block
- Do not disturb
- Find me follow me
- Music on hold
- Repeat dialing
- Speed dial
- 3-way calling
- Voice mail
- Wake-up call features
Voxby Pricing:
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Basic phone service includes all of Voxby's phone features at a rate of $9.95 per month and 2.5 cents per minute on all US calls and international calls starting at less than 4 cents a minute. This service does require a $55 hardware fee.
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US/Canada Unlimited includes unlimited calling within the US and Canada at a rate of $23.95 per month ($24.95 activation fee) and international rates starting at under 4 cents per minute. Equipment is free.
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World unlimited includes all local, long distance and international calls at a rate of $29.95 per month ($24.95 activation fee). Equipment is free.
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"4 Life" plans are also offered. No recurring monthly payments and you only pay for the minutes you use. 4 Life plans range from $125 to $1000 depending on your specific needs.
The Voxby Experience:
Signing up for Voxby was easy, although it was a bit more time consuming compared to most of the competition out there.
First you select the city you want your phone number to be located in (you can transfer existing numbers later). There wasn't, however, a selection for the city in which we were located so we chose the next-closest one. We were then prompted to create a user account. After we created the account (using our email and chosen password) we were prompted to fill out a form with our personal information.
Once our personal information had been entered, we were taken to a page that allowed us to choose our equipment. We could choose the basic equipment for free or upgraded VOIP equipment at a discounted price. We then were able to review the details of our purchase (prior to checking out) and were given the choice of financing our activation fee (four monthly payments of $6.95 instead of one payment of $24.95) to make sign up more affordable.
After that, you're on your way to getting Voxby VOIP service. When the equipment arrives, follow the instructions (it's a 2-minute plug-n-play installation) and you're good to go.
Customer Support:
Voxby offers customer support via phone and email. Don't call the 800 number when trying to contact Voxby customer support. Instead, contact the local number and you'll be connected immediately rather than waiting for 20 minutes or more.
Email support is also helpful, but it took them 2 days to get back to us so if time is of the essence, pick up the phone and make the call. It'll be much faster and efficient.
Upside:
Great prices, plan for unlimited worldwide calling
Downside:
Call quality may vary.
Summary:
We were definitely impressed by the Voxby Voice over IP provider and think you'll find some great plans here worth writing home about. First of all, their unlimited worldwide calling is such a great feature, and it only costs you $29.95 a month (plus an activation fee of $24.95). Calls are free to other Voxby users, which is pretty common in VOIP phone services. A basic phone service plan is $9.95 a month and 2.5 cents per minute on all US calls and international calls, so choose wisely if you make alot of calls to Asia or the like.
Signing up for the Voxby VOIP service took longer than some of their competitions' sign-up times, but installation of the service should take you no time at all. Telephone customer support (not the 800 number) was friendly and efficient, but you might have a wait time on email (we got ours after 2 days). Overall, we feel Voxby could really benefit someone looking for a solid Voice Over IP phone service.