Choose VoIP Service and Reduce College Costs

Saving with VoIP

Are you a parent who has a son or daughter about to enroll in college or already there and concerned about the spiraling costs of sending them to college? If so then continue reading, this article could saveyou almost $500 a year on average.

Simply replace your regular phone service with a VoIP broadband phone plan and let it subsidize some of those high college costs. The vast array of features with this technology will also help make life easier for your family during your son or daughter's transition to further education.

It is not difficult to see why VoIP is experiencing such rapid growth and popularity. A regular phone service bill when you have children away from home can easily reach over $100 per month. For less than $20 per month you can get an unlimited long distance VoIP phone plan to anywhere in the US and Canada. This is all you pay each month, all long distance calls you make are free of charge and some VoIP service provider plans even include free international calling to specific countries.

VoIP Features

So what about that vast VoIP feature set? Well there are many features available with this technology, most of which are provided free of charge. The following paragraphs discuss a few of the useful features when your children "leave the nest".

One of the most appealing features is referred to as "Virtual Numbers". With this your children can call you free of charge even if you are a long distance phone call away. No more expensive collect calls on your monthly phone bill!

For example, if you live in Seattle and your daughter moves to Boston, simply add a virtual phone number for the Boston area to your VoIP service. When your daughter calls you she dials your Boston number which is a local call for her. Your VoIP service provider knows this is a virtual number so passes the call over the Internet to your main line in Seattle. Some plans include this service free of charge others have a small monthly fee, typically less than $5.

A feature known as "Distinctive Ringing" can be very useful in conjunction with virtual numbers. Select a different ring tone for each of your phone numbers, primary or virtual. This way you will know if your daughter is calling you simply by the ring tone on your phone. Alternatively use "Caller ID with Name" and see your daughter's name and number on your caller ID box. Many VoIP service providers provide this feature free of charge.

Do you find you are still inundated with calls after your daughter has left home? A VoIP feature known as "Call Transfer" allows you to answer the phone call and then transfer it to another phone number, such as your daughter's. If you would like to keep all three of you on the line at the same time, "3-way calling" takes care of this. Many VoIP service providers support this feature and it can be particularly useful if you have two children away from home and you wish to have a 3-way conversation. This saves you all time and helps to keep your family in touch with one another.

This article highlights some of the many benefits of having a VoIP broadband phone service and how effective it can be when members of the family leave home. Find the best rated VoIP providers and start saving today.