Problem: You know you want to sign up for a VoIP plan, but you're not sure who to go with. Solution: read our article comparing the major differences between Lingo, Skype and Vonage.
With the many VoIP providers out on the market today it is difficult to keep straight which company offers what services, what quality and at what prices. So for your benefit, we have gone in and compared what we consider to be the three best VoIP providers; Skype, Lingo, and Vonage.
Price
Domestic Long Distance
When you are talking price, there is no better answer than FREE. Skype charges nothing, yes nothing, to download and begin talking with your friends and family across the country. While we recommend that you go ahead and purchase a headset from your local electronics store or from Skype directly, you can make due by using the built in microphone and speakers on your computer to communicate free with other domestic Skype users.
By contrast, Lingo offers a flat monthly rate for its domestic long-distance calls, but this service is quite a bit cheaper than other telephone based VoIP providers. So, while you will be paying something with Lingo you can make phone calls not only to other Lingo users, but also to your friends and family who still use traditional land-based lines, or even cell phones, an ability not available with the free Skype service.
Price is the only significant downside for Vonage. Their domestic long-distance service is structured in the same monthly payment style as Lingo, but it comes in a bit higher. While Vonage argues that the services and quality you receive are worth the extra money, for those tight on a budget, there is no looking past this obstacle.
International and Receiving Calls
With the free Skype service you can only make calls to other domestic Skype users. To make calls outside the network you will need to purchase SkypeOut and SkypeIn. These services are quite cheap relative to other VoIP providers, but nonetheless eliminate much of the appeal of FREE. For international calls, Skype offers posted per minute rates. These rates are the cheapest of the three, sometimes as much as 50% less than its competition.
Lingo and Vonage are pretty similar when it comes to receiving calls and making international ones. They use the same posted per minute rate system as Skype, but their prices are higher. Lingo, however, includes Western Europe in its US local calling plan. This means that those Americans who make a lot of calls to Europe will find Lingo to offer some huge savings. One of the biggest advantages of Lingo and Vonage have over Skype is that included in the fixed monthly fee is call receiving and outside network calling. If you need these options, then the savings you will see through Skype are still there, but greatly diminished.
Features
One of the biggest deficiencies of Lingo is the setup process. Due to the fact that Lingo allows you to use your average home telephone (a nice feature) it requires a setup process that is more complex than that of Vonage and Skype. While this shouldn’t pose a problem for the computer savvy, some may have problems here. Excluding this, Lingo is dominant by way of features. Lingo allows you to choose your phone number from 220 area codes and even lets you create a virtual number which gives you the opportunity to have a local area code in two different cities or even countries. Lingo also offers many of the amenities of traditional telephone service such as; voicemail, call forwarding, call waiting, 911 emergency service, and 411 information service.
The biggest deficiency with Skype is the limited services it offers. Because Skype is an IM based system (it is based on communicating through your computer rather than through a telephone handset), it does offer novel features like the ability to send files while you talk and instant message. But other rather standard features like voicemail are only available by paying extra, and some, like 911 services aren’t available at all. Add this to the fact that you must start up your computer and connect to the internet before placing a call, and those customers that want a complete telephone replacement service will be disappointed.
When it comes to services, Vonage takes the cake. Easy to setup and install, and with extended features like call waiting, call forwarding, redial, and 911 and 411 service there is little that users will find lacking. And because the program comes with a cordless handset, users can continue to speak to friends and family on a cordless home telephone just as they did with their land line phone.
Quality
The price and feature benefits of Lingo are hurt by the companies repeated quality issues. As we outline in our review of Lingo, tests with the VoIP provider have been satisfactory but less than ideal. VoIP calls travel over the internet in packets of less than a second in length. So what you often experience with Lingo are very brief, but still noticeable blips of silence. This will have you asking, “what?” a little more than you would like. That said, much of the quality issues at Lingo are overblown, the quality is still quite functional and besides the minor annoyance shouldn’t be a major problem for any user. Further, the fact that you can use your regular home phone to communicate via Lingo makes the convenience of calling that much better.
On the other hand, as we explain in our review of Skype, the VoIP provider does not have any of the quality concerns that Lingo does, but only if used correctly. Because Skype runs on your computer and relies on such a fast internet connection, trying to place calls through your computer while you are connected wirelessly simply does not work. The communication slows down so much that it requires that you wait until the other person is completely finished speaking before you can begin. But, as long as you remain wired up while you are talking there are no problems and the calls are about as clear as a cellular phone call.
Quality is where Vonage really shines. As we explain in our review of Vonage, our experience with the Motorola VT1005v model that comes with the package was really superb. There were no blips or delays and the sound was perfectly clear. Because we were using a handset, communicating felt just like we were talking on a land line.
Conclusion: do your homework!
Knowing which provider is right for you can be a challenge, but if you do your homework, the decision can become much easier. Want to know more details on a specific provider? See our in-depth reviews:
