This type of VoIP service is well adapted for household solutions. On signing-up for the service, you are sent an ATA (phone adapter) that you plug, on one side, to your ADSL line and on the other, to your regular phone set. Then all your calls pass through this ATA.
The cost includes a once-off subscription fee and monthly fees, which are most of the time flat rates. Calls can either be made unlimited locally or towards certain predefined destinations, or the service can cover a limited number of minutes. Here is my top list of these services.
This type of service suits best for residential and small business users that don't want to feel the big difference between using VoIP and traditional PSTN. This type of service is therefore a good replacement for the PSTN. Although there are special VoIP solutions for small and large businesses, subscription/hardware based services all have business plans.
- Ability to use one or more existing traditional phones, thus a great replacement for POTS (plain old telephone system)
- No need for a PC to make and receive calls
- Unlimited calling to certain destinations; no need to worry about minutes
- Monthly bill
- Has a startup fee, including acquisition of harware (ATA)
- Service not available worldwide. Most of the time, hardware is not shipped overseas and numbers are given only to local residents.
