I’ve been a happy VoIP customer for the past year. By switching my office line to an Internet-based telephone setup last June, I’ve saved more than $700. The monthly bill for my VoIP plan is just a third of what it was with the old conventional line. Needless to say, I’m not looking back. Here’s the lowdown…

Before making the leap to an AT&T CallVantage VoIP line, my conventional phone bills were averaging roughly $90 per month, between the local and long distance service. My monthly VoIP bills are currently in the $30 range (after the initial promotional period). With the VoIP line, I have unlimited long distance and all of the geeky good stuff: voice mail, call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, 3-way calling, do not disturb, locate me, and voice mail notification via e-mail.

When I signed up for the service last year, I viewed it as an experiment. It didn’t take long for me to come to the conclusion: VoIP is ready for prime time.

The one thing I didn’t like: I couldn’t port my old number when I signed up. (I had to go with a non-local exchange, unfortunately.) But that’s changed over the past year… our local numbers are finally portable. Now I’m giving serious thought to porting the house line over to VoIP, as well.

If you’re considering (even remotely!) the switch to VoIP, be sure to check out my VoIP Plan Comparison page for the skinny on over 40 plans from 11 VoIP providers.