Internet Phone Service

It seems like everyone is trying to save a few bucks in the current economic environment, and one increasingly popular method is to eschew the high prices and hidden fees of traditional land line phone service in favor of voice over internet protocol (VOIP) telephone service.  It seems like new broadband phone providers enter the marketplace every day and this surprisingly high number of companies in the VOIP space enables customers to have the potential to save even more money by playing the service providers against one another; or, rather, customers can benefit by taking advantage of the competition that already exists between VOIP companies.

A common tenet of entrepreneurship is that if one cannot compete directly against the established players in the market, the best thing to do is to scope out and conquer a particular niche.  We see this in many other industries.  For example, in the aviation industry, small companies can compete by catering to a very specific kind of customer (e.g. budget airlines that target thrifty travelers).  Record labels who cannot take on the big studios directly in mainstream music can still profit by providing service to underserved populations, such as indie music fans.  Niche marketing is pure capitalism in action; producers look for an underserved population and try to cater their services directly to them.

Broadband phone providers understand the niche phenomenon well and many are using this technique to take on the bigger players in the residential VOIP space such as Vonage and AT&T.  Some specialize in providing custom software along with their services while others target relatively inexperienced customers by offering items such as free headsets, low cost VOIP ready routers, and perks such as the free calling of mobile phones.  Other specialized providers may take advantage of geographic preference; for example, several broadband phone providers directly target those who need to call overseas frequently by offering stellar long distance rates while paying less attention to those who mostly make local phone calls.

When looking into the various niche broadband phone providers, it is necessary to decide what features are important to you and what features you can live without.  Do you need to retain your old number? Do you require a 911 service on your broadband phone, or do you have a cellular phone or metered land line as a backup?  Buy listing your particular needs you can determine which niche you most closely align with and find the VOIP companies that service that niche.  Then make careful comparisons between the companies that make your cut before picking the right VOIP provider for you.

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