Looking for a DID, I stumbled across »
switch2voip.us/ and found an interesting pricing model: US and Canadian users pay no setup or monthly charges at all.
Incoming calls are billed per minute at $0.0045 (Canada) and $0.009 (US). Outgoing calls per minute are $0.0045 to Canada and $0.008 to US geographic numbers. You can send an arbitrary caller ID or anonymous; incoming and outgoing channels are unlimited.
There are several gotchas:
- 911 service is not available.
- Minimum deposit is $25, though they claim to refund unused balance at any time, no questions asked.
- Balance is forfeited if no incoming or outgoing calls for 30 days, though it otherwise does not expire.
- Very spartan feature set; no voicemail or call forwarding.
- Cost of each call is rounded up to next cent, after rounding up to next minute.
- Calls to toll-free numbers are billed at $0.022/min.
- Billing starts 40 seconds after dialing, or when call is answered, whichever occurs first.
- No LNP, in or out.
- Canadian DIDs are available in only 11 major cities, though US coverage is good.
Edited to add billing on unanswered calls.