Phone.com
A modern kind of phone company.
Summary
Phone.com recently returned, after a seven year absence, to the world of software applications, VoIP, internet telephone and wireless telephones. It appears to be an updated version of the Phone.com from the 1990s. Phone.com made its name in the telecommunications field more than ten years ago, and has spent the past seven years going through a series of mergers and acquisition. Today, Phone.com is positioning itself as a leader in the VoIP, Internet telephone and electronic communications markets.
The features, pricing and packages offered by Phone.com are very similar to others in the field. The best offering appears to be the Virtual Office Plan – not because it is better than similar packages, or cheaper, but because the concept and options are explained so simply on the website.
Pros
- Quality features
- Graduated plans with fair pricing
- Suited for business and residential customers
- International calling plans
- 24/7 customer service via telephone or live chat
Cons
- No information on quality of customer service or technical support
Calling Plans & Expense
The lowest-priced residential plan comes with 200 minutes and is a steal at around $10/month. Plans graduate immediately to unlimited and, as stated, even with an extra line the plan is far less expensive than some of the major VoIP providers.
Business Customers
It is fair to say that the business package is more comprehensive and offers far more compelling features than the residential plan.
- Standard phone features (i.e. Caller ID, Voicemail, etc.)
- Receive voicemails via email
- Per-minute rates are reasonable
- Cap on monthly minutes
- Multiple phone lines
- Forward voicemail as an email or text message
- After hours greeting
- Auto attendant with voice menu
- Hold music
- Incoming fax
- 800-numbers
Business plans begin with 300 minutes per month for around $15 and graduate to 2500 minutes, with three extension capability. The business pricing is a bit higher than some plans – but well within a competitive range, considering the features it offers.
Features
The Phone.com residential plan has many popular features including,
- Voicemail that is retrievable from any phone
- Online account management with complete call history
- Call forwarding
- Call waiting
- Caller ID and Caller ID block
- Do Not Disturb
- Free in-network calling
- International call-out blocking
- Access your service from anywhere on the globe
Common Misspellings
Phones.com, phone.co, phoned.com, phine.com, pone.com
Bill McD: Ordered Phone.com 200 plan 3 days ago. Received ATA via FedEx Ground in 2 days; in the mean time Phone.com was communicating with me via email as to how to use my control panel, install ATA, etc. Install was purely Plug & Play in minutes. The call quality is very near that of my landline. Great set of features. I have Verizon DSL 768/128 package. I took a phone number from them and will port my home number to them later. Overall, very impressed with Phone.com.
jack: can you use regular phones with phone.com? or do you need to get a voip phone? I always wondered how that worked becuase I have a really nice cordless phone but i would like to get voip.
Bill McD: Regular phone is fine. I use a cordless set with 2 phones.
al..: hey can we use regular fax machine with the phone.com
Gerald: No But their Virtual Office service let's you recieve incoming faxes.
Billy: I am impressed with how they got the url phone.com what a great website name. I think these guys are here to stay and and I need a virtual fax machine in the worst way.
