Internet Talk Is Cheap, But What People Really Want To Know Is, How Does It Sound?

August 16, 2004
By William Mauldin

Internet talk is cheap, but what people really want to know is, how does it sound? So we decided to give VoIP a real test, going beyond the usual method of just making a few sample calls.

Using an industry-approved method, we had six volunteers rate more than 100 calls over four VoIP lines, one land line and one cellular phone on a scale of 1 to 5. The tests were blind, of course, and we took the mean opinion score to come up with our results.

To our surprise, one of the Internet services actually beat the land line, something few experts had expected. Two of the other services had noticeably more glitches, like calls that went in and out of service or calls that had a few syllables chopped out here and there. Not exactly what you want for a business call.

Still, at least that's better than what you hear over a cell phone. Indeed, all of the Internet services came in well ahead of everybody's favorite punching bag-- the indispensable cell phone. "Is there an echo there?" said one recipient of a cell phone call -- prompting us to hang up, plug in our Ethernet cord and dial our neighbor over the Internet.

PROVIDER: Verizon
MONTHLY PRICE: $59.95+
INTERNATIONAL BASKET OF CALLS*: $35.80
DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE?: Yes
EMERGENCY 911 SERVICE?**: E911
VOICE QUALITY: 4.0
COMMENT: The old reliable land line was clearer, according to one reviewer, but another heard "some static."

PROVIDER: AT&T Call Vantage
MONTHLY PRICE: $34.99
INTERNATIONAL BASKET OF CALLS*: $13.80
DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE?: No
EMERGENCY 911 SERVICE?**: 911
VOICE QUALITY: 3.5
COMMENT: AT&T has been heavily marketing its new VoIP entry; we found it "a little tinny."

PROVIDER: Vonage
MONTHLY PRICE: 29.99
INTERNATIONAL BASKET OF CALLS*: 11.40
DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE?: Yes
EMERGENCY 911 SERVICE?**: 911
VOICE QUALITY: 4.1
COMMENT: Startup is biggest in this business, with 200,000 users. It even beat the land line: "Clearer, louder, no static."

PROVIDER: BroadVoice
MONTHLY PRICE: 19.95
INTERNATIONAL BASKET OF CALLS*: 10.80
DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE?: Yes
EMERGENCY 911 SERVICE?**: None
VOICE QUALITY: 3.5
COMMENT: One of the cheapest services -- but we had to buy a $50 router to surf the Web at the same time.

PROVIDER: Packet8
MONTHLY PRICE: 19.95
INTERNATIONAL BASKET OF CALLS*: 5.40
DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE?: No
EMERGENCY 911 SERVICE?**: E911
VOICE QUALITY: 3.6
COMMENT: Chipmaker-turned VoIP service: "A little broken up," said one tester, but "if this is an Internet phone, I can't tell."

PROVIDER: Cingular
MONTHLY PRICE: 49.99++
INTERNATIONAL BASKET OF CALLS*: 181.60
DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE?: Yes
EMERGENCY 911 SERVICE?**: 911
VOICE QUALITY: 2.1
COMMENT: All seemed to agree these calls lagged significantly: "far worse"
than any of the Internet phones.

*The cost of making hour-long calls to Beijing, Hong Kong, London and Moscow.

**Enhanced 911 or E911, allows emergency services to pinpoint the exact location from which you are calling, even if you can't say anything (the service may not be available in all areas).

+Quoted New York City rate for Verizon Freedom Plan, unlimited local, regional and domestic long-distance calling.

++Cost of 600 daytime minutes and unlimited nights and weekends.

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