QT Talk is Both VoIP and Dial-Around

You’ve been toying with the idea of switching your phone service to VoIP to save money and get more calling features. But now you’re in a quandary. VoIP is a landline service that needs a wire. Granted, it’s a broadband wire like DSL or Cable Internet. But you still need a fixed location to install it. What do you do when you are out and about, like you are most of the time? For that you need wireless service. Wireless and VoIP? They don’t go together, do they?

Now they do. You’re not the only one with this problem. Lots of people would like the calling features and low rates, especially international rates, that are offered by popular VoIP calling plans. But they also want these rates available on their cell phone. QT Talk says, “no problem.” Take both at the same price.

How can this possibly work? It’s a very clever system. The heart of the service is a feature-rich VoIP telephony service. The most popular option is called North America Plus, which includes unlimited calling to the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico for a special introductory rate of $12.95 for the first 3 months. Then it’s the standard rate of $19.95 per month, a great deal in itself. You also get to choose a special low rate to an international destination that includes Mexico, Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Vietnam.

Well that sounds great for a VoIP service, but what about cellular use? How are you going to call Mexico or Vietnam from your cell phone and not get a monster bill the next month?

Ah, that’s where the dial-around service comes into play. Along with your North America Plus VoIP service, you also get free access to a toll-free number that gives you the same rate that you enjoy on your VoIP. So, if you want to make a nice long call to Canada from your cell, just call the toll free number and talk to your heart’s content. It’s all part of your plan. Want to call Vietnam from your car (while stopped, of course)? It’s just 9.9 cents a minute on your cell, along with using cellular minutes.

Who is QT Talk service ideal for? It’s for residential and small business users, like home offices, that want an unlimited calling plan within the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. It is especially good if you make international calls to any of the 6 designated countries. You can upgrade your service to have unlimited calling to 35 global destinations with a service called Unlimited World Select. That’s just $34.95 a month.

How about those VoIP features? Included with your service are speed dialing, call forwarding, simultaneous ring, call waiting, caller ID, call return, caller ID block, do not disturb, last number redial, conference calls, transfer your current number or get a new one, and online account management. All this, no extra charge.

So who’s behind QT Talk? It’s QT Globe, a major international telecommunications company that sells wholesale services to other carriers. They’ve got the network in place to serve fussy telecom carriers, but they also offer retail services to serve fussy individuals and businesses.

By the way, QT Talk also offers feature rich business plans and IP telephones as well as the residential services designed for the individual, family and home office user.

Does this sound like a service that would meet your needs? If so, learn more and order your QT Talk calling plan quickly and easily online.

The Surprising Low Cost Phone Option

With all the hype over bundled services and broadband phone, you're probably thinking that only a chump would keep one of those old analog landlines. Not so fast. Despite all the heavy promotion, your cheapest telephone solution may well be that century-old technology combined with a competitive long distance service.

Perhaps that sounds outrageous, but have you actually priced out your options? To do this properly, you need two things. The first is the lowest cost local service that meets your needs. You're more likely than not to get that from your local telephone company. Depending on how many local calls you make and how long you talk, you can easily overpay by buying too much service. The minimum you need is line access, also called dial tone. It's just what it says. You pick up the phone, you hear a dial tone, and you make your call.

Next you likely need some way to make local calls. You can get unlimited service. But you may also be able to get metered service that charges so much per call or so much per minute. Sit down and figure out how much you really call in a month. It will be worth the exercise. If you make only a few calls or primarily talk long distance, you don't need deluxe local service.

You may also want Caller ID. That typically adds about $5 a month. I'd never give it up, because it helps me avoid talking to political campaigns, surveys, scams scheming for donations, and banks looking to promote yet another credit card.

Next, you'll want to have a low per minute rate long distance service. Ten years ago, switching your long distance service to save money was all the rage. Now it's something of a lost art due to the emphasis on cell phones, bundles and VoIP. Once again, before you buy too much, use a long distance rate calculator to see how much your long distance calling is really worth. Competition has driven rates down to a few pennies a minute for most calls. Even overseas calling is dirt cheap these days.

Why not just use the long distance service that comes with your local line by default? Because it's the default service, chances are pretty high that it is NOT the low cost option. It's just convenient for people who just want to call the phone company, ask to have a line installed, and dutifully pay the bills when they come in.

Hey, why not just buy one of those bundled services and get everything for one price? Once again, it sounds good, but a bundle may not be your lowest cost option. Competitive bundles give you local dial tone, a package of local minutes or unlimited service, and a package of domestic long distance minutes or unlimited service. It's really convenient because you get one bill and you know what the price is going to be every month. What you don't know is how much you could save by paying separate bills for local and long distance service.

You should also know that competitive bundles have to buy their local lines from the local telephone company. That's because by law all the analog copper phone lines belong to your incumbent local telco. So you won't be getting a break on local service. You may or may not get a decent deal on long distance service and calling features, depending on your usage pattern.

OK, then, why not avoid the copper phone line issue completely and go with a VoIP telephone service? The same discussion of paying a bundled rate for service you may not ever use versus paying by the minute applies. Also, unless you have very, very good broadband service, you'll find that voice quality suffers and you may not be able to talk on the phone and use your computer at the same time.

Certainly, this discussion makes the most sense for someone with a home office, or a small office with a couple of phones and one or two lines. Once your business gets larger than this, you should consider T1 digital phone trunks or SIP trunks to get the best value for your telephone expense dollar.