Service Plans
Packet8 has a rich array of service plans, including residential plans, business plans, international plans and video plans.
Residential plans
Packet8 plans for home VoIP include the voice, video and fax plans. In addition to unlimited local and long distance U.S. and Canada calling, Packet8 service plans include features like voicemail, caller ID, call waiting etc.
The voice service plans are generic voice plans, ranging from $19.99 to $49.99 a month. The Video plans include video calls with Packet8 video phone; and Softtalk, which is a softphone that operates a bit like Skype. The basic Softtalk plan is free. The Fax plan allows faxing to in-network numbers for free and incorporates the T.38 protocol, which is a good fax codec.
Business Plans
Packet8 offers three Business plans:
Virtual Office - a comprehensive hosted PBX platform, requires a minimum of three unlimited extensions
Virtual Attendant- the a la carte solution for business, can be implemented with as little as one virtual extension
Business 2000- a single-line VoIP business phone service
The Business 2000 plan costs $34.99 a year, while the other two have costs rising from $9.99 upwards depending on the different business features you choose to add to the package. The price can go above hundreds.
International Plan
This plan is called the Freedom Unlimited Global Plan and is a cheap solution for those who are frequent on international calls. In-network local calls are free. The international package is unlimited and costs $49.99 a month.
Video Phone Plans
A video phone is a phone which allows both two-way audio and video communication. Packet8 offers video phone service for both residential and business customers, with two plans: Freedom Unlimited VideoPhone and Softtalk. You need to have a special video phone to be able to use this service. Packet8 does offer such material, at a low price, or free during rebates.
Freedom Unlimited Video Phone gives you unlimited video phone calling in the US and Canada, and worldwide to other Packet8 phones. It has low rates worldwide, and includes E911. It costs $19.99 a month.
The Softtalk plans is a softphone service - you only need your PC. The Basic plan is free, while the Premium plan costs $5.99, and adds some PC-to-phone calls for 500 minutes along with features like voicemail, caller ID etc.
Review
Packet8 is a good VoIP service provider that provides great quality voice for cheap. Its good quality and low price are among its strong points. Another strong point, and a good reason for choosing Packet8, is the fact that it offers some original service plans which include interesting things like Video Phone and Fax and features like Virtual Office and Virtual Attendant.
The service plans are well designed to fit a wide range of budgets, needs and tastes. For instance, if you are a simple residential user that needs nothing else than unlimited local communication, you can go for the $19.99 residential plan. You can add to this if you want more than phone communication, for a price not exceeding $49.99. If you make international calls frequently, you can select the international package, which finally saves you a lot of money.
Packet8 business plans are complete and very flexible, allowing businesses to focus their costs exactly on what they need. The packages come with a number of extensions which can be added on at different costs. These extensions include, for example, fax extension, virtual extension etc. The Virtual Office package is very interesting in the sense that it is a hosted PBX solution including a wealth of powerful and business-class features. Virtual attendant is an automated routing solution that allows you to connect phones and other extensions to one same phone number. But if you are a business wanting nothing more than a generic VoIP service, then you can go for Business 2000, which is a flat service costing $34.99 a month.
Packet8 is one of the first VoIP providers to offer video phone service - that which allows you to view your correspondent live when talking to them. This package needs you to have a video phone, which is offered cheap by Packet8; but it also needs you to spend $300 a month for the service, which is not very cheap.
Packet8 ships an Uniden IP phone with a handset for cheap for residential users, and a video phone for Video Phone users. It offers refund within 30 days of trial. Early cancellation (before the contract time, e.g. a year) requires a cancellation fee of $99.
Packet8 allows users to enrol through its web interface, but many users have complained about poor processing and delay in providing service and shipping of equipment. Many Packet8 users have complained about the poor customer service, and technical problems.
