Free VoIP services: all the pros and cons

If you’re part of a professional type of user, and you’re running a business, you’re probably wondering what the optimal solution is to meet your company’s communication needs. Sure, there are free VoIP solutions that may sound very compelling, but wouldn’t you be better off spending a little more to get a better VoIP service? This is the fundamental question you need to ask yourself when conducting business, but first it’s worth defining what the real strengths and weaknesses of the available Free VoIP solutions are.

Free VoIP service – Advantages

Despite being free, or at least as far as basic functionality is concerned, VoIP applications offer definite advantages over traditional land lines.

Free access for everyone!

Finding a free VoIP service is very simple, just search on Google, or access the Google Play Store or Apple App Store from your cell phone, and you’re done! The only difficulty is trivially in choosing the provider, among dozens of very good candidates!

Chats and easy sharing

Apart from VoIP calls, almost all free VoIP apps offer a set of additional features, dedicated to chats and group chats, through which you can also share links, photos, videos and files with other people individually or in a group chat.

Video calls

Free VoIP services like Facebook Messenger, Skype, and most other free VoIP services allow you to make video calls using your device’s camera, speaker, and microphone, unlike landline phone calls.

Conference calls and video conferencing

If you need to communicate by voice or video with other people, no problem: created the group, just launch a call from there, and there the conference call is started. Likewise, if you need to share a screen with other people, for presentations or training sessions perhaps, video conferencing is certainly an excellent plus!

Free VoIP service – Weaknesses

In spite of the undeniable benefits that VoIP communication technology allows users, there are still weaknesses and technical limitations in free VoIP services, related to particular functionalities, that could leave business users perplexed. For example, here are some of the major limitations of most free solutions.

Required to use the same VoIP App

A bit like a language, in order for two people to talk to each other in VoIP, they will naturally have to use the same VoIP communication “channel”, which is none other than the app used. So, it seems trivial to say, but a user on Whatsapp will not be able to call a user on Viber, unless both have the same app on their device and decide to use that one.

You can’t dial phone numbers (for free)

In most cases, VoIP apps only allow calls between registered accounts, in VoIP mode; but in case you want to make external calls, i.e. to landline or mobile numbers, you’ll have to buy credits or call minutes (e.g. Skype, Viber) at very affordable rates but still pay.

You can not have a private phone number (for free)

Just as calling from a VoIP account to a phone number is not possible unless you pay, likewise you cannot do the opposite. The VoIP service in fact does not assign a phone number for free, but you can get a temporary one by paying the additional cost.

Uncertain quality of internet connection

Unfortunately, any VoIP service (free or pay) pays the price if the quality of the internet connection used by one of the parties involved in a voice call (even worse for a video call) is poor. Pay versions aimed at business customers usually require less bandwidth to guarantee an adequate level of quality, using high quality codecs to compress the voice.