VoIP Vs. AT&T

AT&T; offers several plans, with its most basic offering minimal features and local calling, and its most complex offering unlimited nationwide calling and a dozen phone features. VoIP tends toward more flexibility -- with minimal plans for users who don't rely exclusively on their home phone for service, or do not use the phone often -- depending on the carrier you choose. The number of carriers available gives you a greater range of plans from which to choose.

The bulk of AT this includes the entire southeast, and most of the Midwest from Kansas to Ohio and Michigan. If you move on a regular basis or don't live in one of the states where AT&T; is a common provider it may not be the best phone service for you. By contrast, VoIP can be set up anywhere you can get a DSL or broadband Internet connection with sufficient speeds -- even overseas. While most residential neighborhoods should have no trouble with this, rural areas do not always have the connection speeds necessary to maintain a call over VoIP.

Setting up your AT&T; service requires very little effort: once the service has been turned on you simply need to plug your phone into any phone jack in your home. Basic corded phones may not even require electricity, making them perfect for emergency situations. In order to set up a VoIP phone, you'll need an adapter, which the telephone service provider often provides, that must be connected to your home router. If at any time your Internet or electricity goes out, your phone will be unusable.

You can find basic, inexpensive plans on either side of the fence. AT&T;'s basic residential phone service plan runs $17 per month as of the time of publication, and offers basic unlimited local calling. Further local calling plans are available that offer other features, such as caller ID and call waiting, for up to $26 per month. Long-distance plans run anywhere from $25 to $40, depending on what features you want to include.

VoIP service rates vary and usually differentiate by minutes available rather than features. ITP, for instance, offers the same features on every phone plan, with its cheapest plan running $9.99 per month for 500 minutes, $19.99 for unlimited domestic calling. VoIP service tends to have better rates for international calls as well, and often offers plans that include other countries in the calling area; for instance, Vonage has a plan that offers unlimited calling to 60 countries for $25.99. Prices are as of the time of publication.