VoIP Service

After researching my options for an Internet phone service, I chose Callcentric. I have been happy with my selection, as the feature set meets my needs and both the service and the call quality have been good and reliable. My Callcentric number serves as my primary public number and I send most calls directly to voicemail, which I then receive both in both MP3 and transcribed form via the Phonetag service. I wrote about PhoneTag in Voicemail is Dead. Long Live Voicemai. Callcentric uses the widely supported SIP standard that is interoperable with many software-based and hardware-based VoIP phones.

Features

Overall I find the pricing quite reasonable for a secondary line. The phone number, E911 cost recovery fee, and my minutes are typically less than $4 a month total. Inbound calls are 1.5 cents a minute, outbound domestic calls are about 2 cents and the international rates are competitive. The service offers a respectable feature set that includes Caller ID with Name (CNAM), call forwarding, selective forwarding, simultaneous ring, call blocking, and voicemail, which can optionally receive via an email with a MP3 attachment. The service allows you to register multiple phone numbers for $1.95 a month each and you may assign multiple numbers for the outbound caller ID, although the configuration is somewhat complicated. The basic service allows for three incoming channels. Additional channels are $1 a month. Callcentric also offers business features such as SIP trunking and calling packages for call centers, IVR services, and conference rooms. In addition to the pay per minute options,

Callcentric has a few minor downsides. Numbers cannot receive SMSs and receiving faxes requires a separate number. The address book is weak. For example, each record can only contain one name field and one phone number field, so you must create multiple records for people with multiple phone numbers. The address book does not support numbers that contain a plus or a dash, which makes importing existing numbers more difficult. There is no import mechanism for vCard files. Fortunately, I manage my address book on my computer, which is also synched to my phone, so the Callcentric address book has not been an issue.

Callcentric on the iPhone

The Callcentric setup gives me the option use a SIP softphone or a hardware phone to turn it into a real phone line should I ever choose to do so. When I travel, I use an Acrobits SIP client on my iPhone (also offered in Android flavor). Groundwire for the iPhone, is Acrobits business oriented softphone that includes call transfer and attended transfer, call waiting, call conferencing and multiple lines. The Acrobits clients work well and user interface for configuring the SIP credentials is far more usable and streamlined than other products I have used. Callcentric recently released an iPhone VoIP Call back App that is similar to many low-cost call back services, but I prefer to use a standard SIP client.

Notes on Signing Up

Callcentric accepts local number portability transfers both in and out of the service. This means you can transfer any existing number to Callcentric or take your number with you if you leave, you are not locked in. Number portability is labor intensive and thus costs $25 per number.

If you choose to say that you live outside the US when you sign up, you won’t be charged the 911/E911 recovery fee. I don’t recommend this as cannot change this option and you would need to provision a new line to enable 911 service. However, if you are out of the country for an extended length of time you may enable 911 service on sign up and later specify that you are currently out of the US or Canada. I believe Callcentric will stop charging you the fee during that time. This should give you the option to turn it back on later, where the other one will not.

Callcentric Compared with Google Voice

By any measure Google Voice is impressive. Its SMS service is particular convenient its automated voicemail transcriptions are nearly instantaneous. I find the human transcription of PhoneTag far more reliable, but it does mean there is often a five-minute delay. When I first signed up with Callcentric Google Voice did not yet offer number portability. Google Voice still has significant restrictions on number portability and only mobile numbers can effectively ported into the service Port your number into Google Voice FAQ. Additionally, Google voice does not currently offer SIP connectivity, and this is one feature I appreciate with Callcentric as it allows me to use the service as a secondary phone line and to make outbound calls with the caller ID of my public number. It is possible to use services such as sipgate or Tropo to use your Google Voice service with SIP, but this complicates the process.

In addition to Callcentric’s pay per minute plan, they offer a personal domestic unlimited plan for $5.95, and office domestic unlimited plan for $8.95, a service provider unlimited plan for $19.95, and unlimited international plans starting at $24.95. Overall, I am very happy with Callcentric’s service and I recommend it.