Commentary: Ooma and Vonnage offer options for attorneys.

Byline: Jane Pribek

Is it time you reconsidered your relationship with Ma Bell?

Milwaukee attorney Joseph Seifert hasn't broken it off with her entirely, but he's darn close. He's found two great, price-conscious alternatives in VoIP services, ooma and Vonage.

Seifert keeps Ma around in his downtown Milwaukee law office, Seifert Law Center, for her cheap DSL line. It's only $75 per month, and she threw in a free phone. The next closest in price was Road Runner, offering a faster connection, but at $100/month. He just didn't need the extra speed.

Seifert does use the Ma Bell line occasionally for local calls - and gets telemarketing calls on it, much to his annoyance.

Not so with his ooma and Vonage lines. But more importantly, Ma can't touch them when it comes to affordability and great service for voice and faxing.

Seifert was still in law school when he became a customer of both about five years ago. He happily and seamlessly used them as a penny-pinching student for a semester abroad at Oxford.

The sound quality is fine, and he's never had a dropped call.

With ooma, you make a one-time investment by buying the device bundle, which consists of a hub and a scout. You don't pay for monthly service.

To use ooma, you need a high-speed Internet connection and a phone line. You plug the hub into your DSL Internet connection, and the scout into the phone line.

You then go to the ooma Web site to activate your hub. Enter your hub MAC address, which is listed on the device or box. In about two hours' time, it should be ready for use, says Seifert.

If you plan on using ooma with your existing landline - some people do that to retain 911 service, or they want phone service even if the Internet is unavailable - you can keep your phone number. If you want pure Internet service, as Seifert does, you'll have to choose a new number for the interim, before porting an existing number. Or just keep the ooma number of your choosing.

And about that 911 service: Seifert says you can register a 911 address with ooma.

In order to make free unlimited calls to any phone in the U.S. with ooma, you need to be in the U.S. While it's possible to use ooma in the States to call another ooma user outside the U.S., Seifert says, some countries don't allow ooma use. Ooma does sell credits for international calling, which are reasonably priced. He tried it once, but was disappointed with the billing.

Vonnage is the better deal for international calls, says Seifert, who...