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PhonePower Review

CW Staff

June 1, 2019

Often regarded as the most trusted home VoIP service provider, PhonePower built its initial reputation by offering one of the cheapest and most reliable services on the market. PhonePower was founded in 2005 when the VoIP industry was still in diapers. While they initially set out to offer deeply discounted plans, customers would generally expect an increase in price over time. This is not the case with PhonePower, as they have kept their costs to a bare minimum. Further, unlike industry leader RingCentral, PhonePower offers an unlimited world plan for just $24.95 per month. Even though they generally seem to cater to home users, they have great plans for business customers as well. With a wide range of features, unlimited minutes and excellent reliability, all at a low cost, PhonePower without a doubt ranks as one of the best VoIP services on the market.

Features

One of the most important features of this service is the free in-network calling. This feature allows for unrestricted calling time to any person within the PhonePower network (within the US and Canada). This can be equated to Verizon’s free calling to any other Verizon customer, no matter the time or day. Before we get to a list of the most important features, we would also like to mention PhonePower’s bandwidth saver feature which reduces the amount of bandwidth that is being used by their service by 66%. Some VoIP providers already offer this, however with PhonePower you will not see a reduction in call quality due to this feature. Other key features include:

• Unlimited minutes
• Incoming call routing
• Call waiting/hold/forwarding
• Speed dial
• 2^nd line at no additional cost
• Enhanced 911
• Mobile app
• Failsafe (redirects call in case of power outage)
• Fax catcher (sends fax to voicemail to be collected as a file to print later)
• Remote Click2Call

Additionally, one of the greatest benefits of PhonePower is that just about any feature you could ask for is offered. More importantly, knowing which features are part of the service is visibly clear. Other VoIP services will have you looking around their website trying to decipher what is offered and at what cost. PhonePower has one dedicated page listing every feature of theirs. Not sure what the feature is used for? Simply click on it and a detailed explanation pops up. Potential business customers will also be delighted to see that PhonePower has a range of packages that come with upgradeable features. This includes call hunt groups and toll free numbers, among others. They may not advertise it well but PhonePower is fantastic for any business, specifically because it allows for scalability. Upgrade or downgrade as needed.

Ease of Use

PhonePower’s system is extremely easy to use as you would expect from a leading VoIP service. The installation process can be completed within five minutes. Once installed, you will have access to the online account management system which makes using PhonePower even easier than it already is. It is there that you will find all of the features and billing information. If you need to configure your voicemail or e-mail, you will do this there as well. Additionally, PhonePower’s mobile app is one of the best apps we have used. The layout is clear and the icons are the perfect size. Navigating through the app and finding what you need, such as call log details, is done in just a few simple swipes.

Pricing

PhonePower likely has the best value in the VoIP industry. Aside from the $99 cancellation fee, it will be difficult to find better price from as large of a company, especially considering all you get. PhonePower offers 4 plans: 3 unlimited to the US and Canada and 1 worldwide plan.

Another great thing to note is that all PhonePower plans come with a full 30 day money back guarantee. There is no hassle and cancelling the service within the 30 day period is a breeze.

Customer Support

While PhonePower is a top VoIP service, their plans are extremely cheap and thus we were expecting limited support options. However, we were surprised to see they offer stand out service to their customers. You can get in touch via live chat, toll free phone or e-mail – all US based. Since they are located in California, their hours of operation (5AM-8PM on weekdays and 6AM-5PM on weekends) are listed by Pacific Standard Time (PST). PhonePower also operates a dynamic forum and there is also a helpful knowledgebase at your disposal. Moreover, if you are someone who always browses the internet, you will be happy to know that you can get in touch with a support rep through Facebook or Twitter.

Reliabilty (Call Quality)

While call quality significantly has to do with your internet connection, there are a number of things a VoIP provider can do to further enhance the call experience. PhonePower does just that by providing a list of routers they recommend with their service. They also list their service availability at 99.99% on their website. For the entire year of 2013, there was a total of 50 minutes of maintenance (or less than 5 minutes per month). There is also a section that helps you test your bandwidth to see how the service will work for you. Moreover, even if you experience a bad connection, their bandwidth saver feature should help to increase the quality of the call.

Summary

If you are a home user looking for a VoIP solution, we strongly recommend PhonePower. Their features and pricing are hard to beat. If you are a business customer, PhonePower is also a great choice as they allow for scalability, which allows them to compete with VoIP leader RingCentral. More importantly, PhonePower’s customer support is US based, which should not be understated. Overall, PhonePower delivers an unparalleled service with full functionality – one which any customer would surely benefit from.