Free and cheap small business telecommunications

Two years ago, I didn't know much about several telecom services that I now use regularly, so I thought I'd pass along what I've learned.

1. Free incoming faxes with eFax

   Although its not easy to find where to register for the free verson on their site, eFax offers a free fax number for incoming faxes. Faxes sent to your number get re-routed as a TIF file to your email address. The area code of the phone number is whatever they choose to give you, and you occasionally get eFax spam to the email address you provide for the faxes, but the service is quite good.

   For outgoing faxes, which I do less often, I drag out an old fax machine and plug it in.

   The net result is that I can get faxes from everywhere, and I don't have to dedicate desk space and a phone line for something I hardly ever use.

2. Cheap long distance with SkypeOut

   I only use Skype to call real telephone numbers. This is done my setting up a pre-pay account with SkypeOut. The rate is 1.7 Eurocents. I signed up so that I had a cheap alternative for international calls.

   The problem with Skype, however, is that the sound of the call is different. With my headset, it appears to pick up a lot of background noise (too sensitive?) and my voice sounds a bit tinny. Perhaps the sound quality is better, as they suggest, and perhaps I can fix the background noise with different hardware, but I don't want anyone I call to be distracted by the difference in my voice, so I don't use this service that much.

3. Comcast Broadband

   Not free. Not cheap ($43 when bundled with Cable). It was an easier and safer choice than the new Verizon DSL service offered in my neighborhood I recently moved to. I do like the fact that I could upgrade the service to double my upload speed for $10 (6Mpbs/768Kbps).

4. Vonage VOIP

   Just got started with it. I did it because I got fed up with the cost and complexity of having an MCI long distance attached to my Comcast phone service. The on-line voice mail system is probably the nicest feature. I also believe rumors that phones with WiFi built it will be able to call through it soon.

   You can register to get 911 service by the way. And Caller ID is free and fuly functional on incoming calls. When you call other people, however, they will see your number, but not your name at this point in time. From what I've read, don't expect this to change, because Vonage is "NOT a telephone company", and might not like to be one because of the regulations involved.

5. Sprint PCS

   I chose this because it was the only reliable signal from my house. Advice to people who are moving: if you can show that the cell coverage at your new location is poor, you can switch carriers without penalty ($175 per phone for Verizon). Advice to people who hate watching their minutes: apparently Sprint Fair and Flexible plan is not worth it unless you have very big swings in usage. An honest agent at the store steered me away from it.

Comments

[Edward Kiruluta]

I have been using Vonage with a Comcast Broadband connection for about 2 years now. The sound quality has been very bad for calls to the UK, Africa, India, and sometimes even the East Coast (I am in San Francisco.) I have switched to using IM and Apple iChat for most of my long distance business calls.

[Kyle Hart]

Following Sprint's merger with Nextel, I found their new monthly time-flexible plans more reasonable. See their site for details. From my perspective, I'm not so concerned about going over anymore because extra minutes are closer to 5 cents.