Like many in Indian Software services industry with teams in USA and servicing customers in North America, I too make many calls to US  every work week. To do this cost effectively and to have a US Phone number, the option is to use a VoIP (Voice over IP) service.

Vonage to Ooma

In my business, for last 10 years we were using Vonage.com VoIP service. For the two numbers based on our usage we were paying $80-130 per month inclusive of taxes. In the Internet world of lowering cost, this was strange, as our spends remained the same or was increasing slightly year on year. Recently we started to experience poorer voice quality, which I suspect may be due to latency in our Internet broadband in India (we are using a dedicated leased line of 16 Mbps for every ~50 users) and Vonage not being able to adjust dymanically to it. Few months back I checked out for alternatives, I came across many including Ooma.com, 8×8.com. They were offering Conference facility, Voice Mail, Business Extensions and so on. I was disappointed that Vonage was not innovating, though they were a good service, there was nothing new coming from them. (While writing this post, I checked out Vonage website, I noticed they have a new Vonage Business Portal with many new features).

In this background, on a friend’s recommendation few months back I moved my business connections from Vonage to Ooma Business. We got a new device from Ooma that supports attaching up to 4 phone instruments, unlimited extensions and other features. One by one we ported both our numbers (425, 206 Area code) from Vonage to Ooma, they guided on the process and it went well. We discontinued our Vonage subscription. Ooma currently don’t have a Mobile app for Business users. Now for last 3 months, we are paying around $58 ($40 for service plus taxes) for 2 numbers of unlimited calling to US. And Voice quality so far has been good, no complaints from users.

MagicJack

While I was using Vonage (and now Ooma) at work, I needed a VoIP connection in my house for late night calls from India. Few years back while visiting USA, I brought a MagicJack device which I had purchased for ~$50 which included a free subscription for 2 years unlimited calls to USA. Voice quality was fine, but to use it you had to connect the USB device to your PC and be running an app in your PC. This was a nuisance for regular calls. Later MagicJack introduced MagicJack Plus, which you could run without a PC, just plugin 3 cables (USB Charger, RJ11 to a Phone Instrument, RJ45 to your Network) to the device and you are good to go.  I found the MagicJack Plus device to be working fine for me, once the initial free subscription that came with the device ended, I renewed my subscription. At that time they offered a irresistible deal of 5 years unlimited calls to US at ~ $59.95, which I gladly paid.

Few weeks back the device (MagicJack Plus) conked off. I saw MagicJack was now having a new device called “MagicJack Go” for $59.95 plus taxes. It was advertised that the new device will include a one year free subscription (unlimited calls to US), but I was not sure whether my existing US number will port to the new device and whether I will get the remaining subscription period migrated from the earlier device to this new one. Anyways since a  colleague was returning from US I bought the device online.

Yesterday I connected the device (MagicJack Go) to my iMac at home, installed the app that it prompted me to do so. After logging in using my MagicJack credentials, the app wizard guided me to have my existing number (425 *** ****) ported from the old device to new one. In the process it added the remaining subscription duration to the free 1 year that came with the new device. This whole process from the time of inserting the device to making a call with the new device, was about 5 minutes. It was all self-service, no need to speak to any customer care. I have been using MagicJack for many years now, I was really surprised to see how far they have come in their online self-service and account management. In their initial days you had to literally hunt for the screen in their website to see your account details or even renew the service.

I have started using MagicJack App for Android Phone for last few months. The App has been impressive and extremely convenient to make calls even when I am not in my den. Unfortunately it has been crashing for last few days after I upgraded to Lollipop (Android 5.0) in my Nexus 5.0.

Skype Phone calls

Lastly, apart from VoIP services I use, I try to maintain a balance of Euro 10-20 in my Skype account all the time. This has been a convenient  and cheaper way for me to make calls to anywhere in the world from my phone/laptop especially when I am travelling. It is useful as well when I am outside work/home locations, using 2G/3G wireless data and want to make an outside India call. I also use it to make calls to other countries (non US) even when I am at work/home as its cheaper than the voice calls that the TELCOs charge.

 

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