Cut Your Traditional Phone Cord: Choose a VOIP like netTALK

If you are thinking that your budget needs trimmed then consider switching your home phone service to netTALK.  There is an amazing technology called Voice Over Internet Protcol (VOIP) which allows you to run you home phone over your high-speed internet connection.  Many companies offer VOIP services, including Nettalk , Ooma, and Magic Jack.

Recently my husband and I analyzed out budget and we realized we were overpaying for our telephone service.  We aren’t big phone talkers.  We have cell phones with unlimited talk, text, and data (prepaid iPhones, of course).  Skype and FaceTime give us unlimited video calling for free.  Why in the world do we need to pay $30-$40 a month for a home phone line that we don’t use?

After wading through all the different VOIP providers, our decision came down to either Ooma or netTALK.  My husband read review after review and tech forum after tech forum.  We left the house thinking that Ooma was what we wanted to try.  However, we came home with NetTALK.  While at the store we just couldn’t justify the huge out of pocket initial expense for Ooma, plus the $39.99 number port fee, plus the extra monthly amount due each year.  It varies by state, but here it is about $4/month (about $50 a year).

We decided to give NetTALK a try first because of the low out of pocket cost and the free number porting.  We figured that if NetTALK didn’t meet our needs that we could essentially upgrade to Ooma.

Going with NetTALK was a perfect decision for us.  My husband opened the box and plugged it in to our network and then plugged it into our home phone.  The instructions send you to a web site where you enter a username and password included in the box.  From there, you set up your address (which is verified for enhanced 911) and select if you would like a new number (with a selection of area codes) or if you would like to port your current number.  We decided to port our number, which took about ten business days.

We have had ZERO issues.  We love the product and the service.  I can easily log in and blacklist any annoying people that keep calling (which I love!).  I am also a huge fan of getting our voicemail in emails.

With services like call waiting, call forwarding, Call blocking, conference calling, visual voice mail, and enhanced 911 we are missing NOTHING that our traditional landline offered.  I would say we have more features now.

We are paying $29.95 plus about $4 in taxes per year for our netTALK phone versus $30 + taxes per month for our traditional land line.  We are saving more than $300 a year.  An affordable alternative to regular phones exists!