Canada's VOIP Pricing Landscape
With Rogers finally entering the telephone market, I thought it would be a good time to offer a snapshot of pricing details for the major VOIP service providers. I'll start by using Bell Canada's traditional local telephone service as a pricing benchmark:
- Bell charges $20 to $28 a month for basic local service. For call-answer, call-display and call-waiting, the total cost rises to $41 to $49, not including LD. A six-feature package is $24.95.
Cablecos (prices vary depending on bundle discounts)
- Rogers: $29.95 (one feature) to $41.95 (six features); 15% discount if you have other Rogers services
- Shaw: $55 a month (multi-features, unlimited North American LD)
- Cogeco: $39.99 to $44.99 a month (multi-features; unlimited North American LD)
- Videotron: $22.95 to $28.95 (multi-features, no LD); $2.95 for 100 minutes of North American LD
Others
- Vonage: $34.99 (multi-features and province-wide LD); $39.99 (multi-features, North American LD)
- Primus: $19.95 (multi-features, no LD); $29.95 (multi-features; unlimited North American LD)
- AOL Canada: $19.95 (multi-features, 60 minutes of LD); $39.95 (multi-features, 1000 minutes North American LD)
- Bell Digital Voice: $45 (multi-features, unlimited North American LD); $38 (multi-features, Can. LD 5¢ /minute, U.S. LD 7¢ );
- BabyTel: $29.95 (multi-features, unlimited North American LD)
- Sprint Canada: $19.95 ($4 for the first calling feature, $2 for each additonal calling feature; no LD)
- SpectraVoice: $14.95 to $39.95 (premium plans includes unlimited North American LD)
So what's the best deal in Canada for VOIP? Probably Primus' TalkBroadBand plan at $29.95 a month given it's feature-rich and you can purchase other services from Primus such as high-speed Internet access. A step up in the mobile VOIP market is Vonage at $34.99 to $39.99 a month. As far as the cablecos, Videotron is stll far and away the pricing leader as it aggressively drives to take market share from Bell in Quebec. The other cablecos have made life much easier for ILEC rivals with prices that analysts call “disciplined” and I'd describe as pragmatic or conservative.
July 5th, 2005 at 8:28 am
I'm going anti-Bell just as soon as I settle into my house. The reason I'm leaving is service. Bell doesn't provide any. My phone was down last month for several days. After being on hold for hours, I was told they couldn't send a technician for several days. So, let's say I take Vonage or Primus, can I expect better? Anybody tracking service with these VOIP providers?
-Randy Charles Morin
http://www.kbcafe.com
July 5th, 2005 at 9:44 am
From a price standpoint, Primus does have some appeal, but you must consider other things before you determine which service gives you the most bang for your buck.
Reliability is one factor that should be considered heavily, as is flexibility. Opting for a cable voice offering should fill the reliability requirement, but what about flexibility or even portability for that matter? Being able to take your phone with you is desirable, not being locked into a 1 to 2 year contract is great as well. Maybe I'm a happy Sympatico customer and want to keep them as my ISP. Vonage ranks high, Primus a distant second.
July 7th, 2005 at 2:46 pm
How about Sprint's Internet Phone? (Not its Home Phone, which is being merged with the Rogers product.)
July 12th, 2005 at 3:39 pm
You might want to add SpectraVoice to the VoIP mix here. I'm just testing out their service now.
January 12th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
I'm currently using Yak WorldCity Voice Over IP and I'm pretty satified with it. It replace my extremely expensive Bell wired phone line since july 7 2005. Voice quality is Perfect. I got little problem in august when I can't ear the caller but the caller can ear me but this has been fix since. Customer support is very good. They also got french technical support which I like. There is only a montly fee to pay. No installation fee. No hardware fee. With a one year subscription, the hareware is free. You can test their system for about 15$ shipping of the hardware is included and you return it at the end. The only negative thing is that I could not keep my old phone number but that is the price you have to pay when you are pioneer on the technology. Every start services are include in my 18,99$ CAN / month like call waiting, 3 way conference, caller id, voice mail…
Mat.
April 14th, 2006 at 11:32 pm
try unitz.ca, they appear superb, and great prices, with great coverage!
June 22nd, 2006 at 2:07 pm
AVOID SpectraVoice !!
so many problems….
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,16348460
http://voip-info.org/tiki-index.php?page=SpectraVoice%20Communications