If you're looking for a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) solution, then you can do a lot worse than 1-VoIP residential.
It may lack the mobile functionality that Editors' Choice winner Mitel MiCloud Office has, but it still provides blacklisting and whitelisting features and web faxing features.
It also works with most headsets, which is a plus.
It may not do as much as Editors' Choice winner RingCentral Office (for Business) does, but it still provides an easy to use, cloud-based solution for your telephony needs.
Pricing and Plans
1-VoIP Residential starts at $8.97 per month for the Value plan, through which you keep your existing number and get unlimited incoming minutes, 500 outbound minutes per month in North American calling, and desk phone hardware included.
The core VoIP feature set is consistent across plans and includes:
Whitelisting and blacklisting
Anonymous call reject
Call forwarding
On-hold music
Fax-to-email and virtual faxing
Caller ID
Call and spam filtering
Call waiting
Do not disturb
Speed dial
Softphone compatibility
Voicemail
Wake-up calling
The only a la carte features are virtual and toll free numbers.
It's $2.95 per month for unlimited virtual numbers and $4.95 per toll-free number.
To get a toll-free number, contact 1-VoIP customer service to see what's available based on your custom number preferences.
Next up from the Value plan is the $17.97 per month US and Canada Unlimited plan, which gets you unlimited outbound calls in North America as well as free hardware shipping.
Finally, the World Unlimited plan gives you unlimited calling to 30 countries.
All told, 1-VoIP is among the most affordable VoIP services we've reviewed.
Setup and Interface
To set up my 1-VoIP Residential service, the company sent me a pre-configured Linksys SPA2102 adapter with a few simple ports: two phone lines, an Ethernet port, and an internet port.
Setup was easy.
Following the brief instructional brochure sent along with the adapter, I logged into the 1-VoIP web interface and filled out the 911 service form to activate E911 service.
After that, it was a few simple steps to hooking up the adapter to a phone and getting my VoIP hardware online.
1-VoIP works with whatever desk or conference phone you're currently using, as long as it has an RJ-11 phone cable.
I got an old handset from Daxdi's inventory and plugged it into the Phone 1 port, and then connected an Ethernet cable plugged into our local network into the internet port.
The Ethernet port itself is optional.
Once I plugged in the power cord and turned the adapter on, it took about five minutes to get a dial tone on the handset and for the device to register as activated in my 1-VoIP dashboard.
After that, I had no connectivity issues; the service worked without any calling or voice quality hiccups.
The Linksys SPA2102 is one of 10 supported adapters listed on the Configure Device page of the 1-VoIP dashboard.
The 1-VoIP interface itself is extremely straightforward.
When you first log in, the service takes you right to the My Account page, which lists the essentials: your username and phone number, the calling plan to which you're subscribed, the day of each month on which you'll be billed, and contact information for technical and customer support.
The platform aims to put customer service front and center, and offers 24/7 phone support for US customers.
Below that info are boxes listing any additional numbers you have registered, and a box to add paid virtual and toll free numbers.
Along the top navigation bar are six tabs: Update E911 (the form I filled out), My Account, Call Activity, Voicemail, Billing, and Configure Device.
Then down the left-hand side of the dashboard is a Features menu linking to configuration and management pages for all the features listed above.
That's the whole platform.
The user interface is a pared down version of the Mitel and Phone.com (Visit Site at Phone.com) web dashboards, and much simpler to navigate than the dated UI you'll find in VoIPstudio.
Calling and VoIP Features
As far as features go, what you see in 1-VoIP Residential is exactly what you get.
The Call Activity tab lists incoming and outgoing calls with basic stats such as total minutes, allowing you to filter by month or by US time zone.
In the voicemail box, you can sort by ascending or descending order by date and time, call time, or caller name.
1-VoIP has made some recent enhancements to the voicemail settings to allow you to not only change the password and ring time before sending to voicemail, but also whether the voicemail announces the caller ID and date/time.
As in Mitel MiCloud Office, 1-VoIP emails you a WAV file with the recording and does not provide speech-to-text transcription.
There is call recording in 1-VoIP Business, but 1-VoIP Residential doesn't offer the feature.
Call forwarding, call waiting, and caller ID are all easy to set up.
When you click into each feature page from the left-hand menu, 1-VoIP gives you instructions to enable the features by phone or simple forms to customize the actions.
For call waiting and the Do Not Disturb feature, there's a simple on/off button on the page.
The caller ID page lets you choose between showing your VoIP number on outgoing calls or leaving the number anonymous.
The anonymous call reject feature works similarly, with an on/off button to automatically reject calls from anyone who has their number blocked.
1-VoIP doesn't give you nearly as many configuration and customization options as MiCloud Office or VoIPstudio, but managing VoIP preferences with the service is about as simple as it gets.
The Speed Dial feature is a good example: all you see on the page is the numbers from one to nine, a box for the number to call, a description box for each, and the save button.
The Find Me Follow Me feature is slightly more complex, allowing you to forward incoming calls to up to three numbers.
You can set the action to ring all numbers or hunt for your current location, set the number of seconds each call rings, and whether the caller should hear ringing or hold music.
The simple form-based feature isn't as dynamic as the drag-and-drop dial plan editor in Jive Hosted VoIP ($29.95 at Software Advice) , but it doesn't need to be.
There are a couple more unique features in 1-VoIP, such as web faxing, which allows you to attach and send a PDF file to a phone number as you can using online fax services.
The white list (automatically accept calls) and black list (blocked numbers) features are also useful, with the same simple form interface for entering numbers for each.
There's also a wakeup call feature, which lets you select days and times at which you'd like to receive a wakeup call.
Simple, but useful; that's more or less the motto of 1-VoIP.
1-VoIP partnered with spam filtering company Nomorobo on its free spam filter feature, which when turned on will identify and block robotic dialers.
The service also integrates with Zimbra, an open-source email and collaboration platform.
One key shortcoming of the platform is when it comes to softphone, texting, and mobile capabilities.
1-VoIP doesn't have any of this built in, so you'll need to download one of the supported third-party apps.
1-VoIP recommends providers such as Bria, Zoiper, and Acrobits (VoIPstudio also runs its softphone and mobile app through Bria).
The company says you can configure any softphone to work with 1-VoIP, but recommends those three, and has worked on a deeper integration with Zoiper—which is free on Mac, PC, Android, and iOS—to support capabilities including SMS texts through the app.
For personal users or small businesses using the VoIP service, it's an extra step and another app they need to download compared to the seamless and powerful mobile app experiences offered by MiCloud Office, Phone.com, and Vonage (19.99 Per Month, No Annual Contract at Vonage) , among others.
Keeping It Simple
1-VoIP Residential is about as easy and reliable a VoIP service as you'll find.
The core communication features and call management are solid, and housed in a dead-simple interface offered at a low price.
The hardware setup was a breeze.
This is not a cloud-based VoIP service to match Editors' Choices RingCentral Office (for Business) and Mitel MiCloud Office on business VoIP and collaboration features, mobile capabilities, or softphone use and video conferencing.
But for the simple VoIP needs of a household or a local business, 1-VoIP is an affordable option with great customer service that gives you just about everything you need.
Cons
Doesn't have as many configuration and customization options as other products.
Missing features found in competing solutions, like web-based SMS and video conferencing.
The Bottom Line
Overall, 1-VoIP Residential is a solid Voice-over-IP (VoIP) platform.
It covers the fundamentals well, and is priced affordably.
But it lacks a lot of the features found in competing solutions, so customers with more demanding needs may want to look elsewhere.
If you're looking for a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) solution, then you can do a lot worse than 1-VoIP residential.
It may lack the mobile functionality that Editors' Choice winner Mitel MiCloud Office has, but it still provides blacklisting and whitelisting features and web faxing features.
It also works with most headsets, which is a plus.
It may not do as much as Editors' Choice winner RingCentral Office (for Business) does, but it still provides an easy to use, cloud-based solution for your telephony needs.
Pricing and Plans
1-VoIP Residential starts at $8.97 per month for the Value plan, through which you keep your existing number and get unlimited incoming minutes, 500 outbound minutes per month in North American calling, and desk phone hardware included.
The core VoIP feature set is consistent across plans and includes:
Whitelisting and blacklisting
Anonymous call reject
Call forwarding
On-hold music
Fax-to-email and virtual faxing
Caller ID
Call and spam filtering
Call waiting
Do not disturb
Speed dial
Softphone compatibility
Voicemail
Wake-up calling
The only a la carte features are virtual and toll free numbers.
It's $2.95 per month for unlimited virtual numbers and $4.95 per toll-free number.
To get a toll-free number, contact 1-VoIP customer service to see what's available based on your custom number preferences.
Next up from the Value plan is the $17.97 per month US and Canada Unlimited plan, which gets you unlimited outbound calls in North America as well as free hardware shipping.
Finally, the World Unlimited plan gives you unlimited calling to 30 countries.
All told, 1-VoIP is among the most affordable VoIP services we've reviewed.
Setup and Interface
To set up my 1-VoIP Residential service, the company sent me a pre-configured Linksys SPA2102 adapter with a few simple ports: two phone lines, an Ethernet port, and an internet port.
Setup was easy.
Following the brief instructional brochure sent along with the adapter, I logged into the 1-VoIP web interface and filled out the 911 service form to activate E911 service.
After that, it was a few simple steps to hooking up the adapter to a phone and getting my VoIP hardware online.
1-VoIP works with whatever desk or conference phone you're currently using, as long as it has an RJ-11 phone cable.
I got an old handset from Daxdi's inventory and plugged it into the Phone 1 port, and then connected an Ethernet cable plugged into our local network into the internet port.
The Ethernet port itself is optional.
Once I plugged in the power cord and turned the adapter on, it took about five minutes to get a dial tone on the handset and for the device to register as activated in my 1-VoIP dashboard.
After that, I had no connectivity issues; the service worked without any calling or voice quality hiccups.
The Linksys SPA2102 is one of 10 supported adapters listed on the Configure Device page of the 1-VoIP dashboard.
The 1-VoIP interface itself is extremely straightforward.
When you first log in, the service takes you right to the My Account page, which lists the essentials: your username and phone number, the calling plan to which you're subscribed, the day of each month on which you'll be billed, and contact information for technical and customer support.
The platform aims to put customer service front and center, and offers 24/7 phone support for US customers.
Below that info are boxes listing any additional numbers you have registered, and a box to add paid virtual and toll free numbers.
Along the top navigation bar are six tabs: Update E911 (the form I filled out), My Account, Call Activity, Voicemail, Billing, and Configure Device.
Then down the left-hand side of the dashboard is a Features menu linking to configuration and management pages for all the features listed above.
That's the whole platform.
The user interface is a pared down version of the Mitel and Phone.com (Visit Site at Phone.com) web dashboards, and much simpler to navigate than the dated UI you'll find in VoIPstudio.
Calling and VoIP Features
As far as features go, what you see in 1-VoIP Residential is exactly what you get.
The Call Activity tab lists incoming and outgoing calls with basic stats such as total minutes, allowing you to filter by month or by US time zone.
In the voicemail box, you can sort by ascending or descending order by date and time, call time, or caller name.
1-VoIP has made some recent enhancements to the voicemail settings to allow you to not only change the password and ring time before sending to voicemail, but also whether the voicemail announces the caller ID and date/time.
As in Mitel MiCloud Office, 1-VoIP emails you a WAV file with the recording and does not provide speech-to-text transcription.
There is call recording in 1-VoIP Business, but 1-VoIP Residential doesn't offer the feature.
Call forwarding, call waiting, and caller ID are all easy to set up.
When you click into each feature page from the left-hand menu, 1-VoIP gives you instructions to enable the features by phone or simple forms to customize the actions.
For call waiting and the Do Not Disturb feature, there's a simple on/off button on the page.
The caller ID page lets you choose between showing your VoIP number on outgoing calls or leaving the number anonymous.
The anonymous call reject feature works similarly, with an on/off button to automatically reject calls from anyone who has their number blocked.
1-VoIP doesn't give you nearly as many configuration and customization options as MiCloud Office or VoIPstudio, but managing VoIP preferences with the service is about as simple as it gets.
The Speed Dial feature is a good example: all you see on the page is the numbers from one to nine, a box for the number to call, a description box for each, and the save button.
The Find Me Follow Me feature is slightly more complex, allowing you to forward incoming calls to up to three numbers.
You can set the action to ring all numbers or hunt for your current location, set the number of seconds each call rings, and whether the caller should hear ringing or hold music.
The simple form-based feature isn't as dynamic as the drag-and-drop dial plan editor in Jive Hosted VoIP ($29.95 at Software Advice) , but it doesn't need to be.
There are a couple more unique features in 1-VoIP, such as web faxing, which allows you to attach and send a PDF file to a phone number as you can using online fax services.
The white list (automatically accept calls) and black list (blocked numbers) features are also useful, with the same simple form interface for entering numbers for each.
There's also a wakeup call feature, which lets you select days and times at which you'd like to receive a wakeup call.
Simple, but useful; that's more or less the motto of 1-VoIP.
1-VoIP partnered with spam filtering company Nomorobo on its free spam filter feature, which when turned on will identify and block robotic dialers.
The service also integrates with Zimbra, an open-source email and collaboration platform.
One key shortcoming of the platform is when it comes to softphone, texting, and mobile capabilities.
1-VoIP doesn't have any of this built in, so you'll need to download one of the supported third-party apps.
1-VoIP recommends providers such as Bria, Zoiper, and Acrobits (VoIPstudio also runs its softphone and mobile app through Bria).
The company says you can configure any softphone to work with 1-VoIP, but recommends those three, and has worked on a deeper integration with Zoiper—which is free on Mac, PC, Android, and iOS—to support capabilities including SMS texts through the app.
For personal users or small businesses using the VoIP service, it's an extra step and another app they need to download compared to the seamless and powerful mobile app experiences offered by MiCloud Office, Phone.com, and Vonage (19.99 Per Month, No Annual Contract at Vonage) , among others.
Keeping It Simple
1-VoIP Residential is about as easy and reliable a VoIP service as you'll find.
The core communication features and call management are solid, and housed in a dead-simple interface offered at a low price.
The hardware setup was a breeze.
This is not a cloud-based VoIP service to match Editors' Choices RingCentral Office (for Business) and Mitel MiCloud Office on business VoIP and collaboration features, mobile capabilities, or softphone use and video conferencing.
But for the simple VoIP needs of a household or a local business, 1-VoIP is an affordable option with great customer service that gives you just about everything you need.
Cons
Doesn't have as many configuration and customization options as other products.
Missing features found in competing solutions, like web-based SMS and video conferencing.
The Bottom Line
Overall, 1-VoIP Residential is a solid Voice-over-IP (VoIP) platform.
It covers the fundamentals well, and is priced affordably.
But it lacks a lot of the features found in competing solutions, so customers with more demanding needs may want to look elsewhere.
