[jj1up]

I will say if your business/employment are dependent upon phone this is the one place where you shouldnt be cheap, I'm not saying spend a fortune on voice but if your livelihood depends on the phone I'd stray away from apps like google voice, skype, Magic Jack, Vonage, viber etc.... Maybe a hosted solution like an 8x8 or RingCentral would be alright as you'd have a US number though you'd still be dependent upon the data connection which in places like Philippines is hit or miss. If looking for quality calls hosting your own PBX in a data center it doesnt haven the states somewhere is the only route to go. The reason I say a data center is best because as long as you have a decent data connection where you are physically located; it doesnt have to be great, doesn't even have to be that good to tell you the truth, just something decent you are good to go. Reason being QoS (quality of service) will be handled in the data center as they will definitely have fiber no matter which you use cutting down on jitter, and latency (the two biggest foes in the world of VoIP telephony). Data centers have very stringent guidelines ie. not in a flood zone, earthquake and tornado rated buildings, multiple security check points at the one point of entry and a backup data center for redundancy at another like facility usually in a different state so if your server goes down for whatever reason your backup server is turned up and you are good to go. Will it cost more absolutely with that being said its not a fortune and if your lively hood depends on your communications surely its worth additional cost. There are many IP PBX's that are completely free ie asterisk, and many that have a free open source versions 3cx, trixvox, freepbx, vodavi with call recording features, auto attendants, find me follow me features, voice mail, smart phone apps, and fax to email capabilites. If you have any technical ability its something you can figure out or just pay someone to set it up for you. Once its in its in and changes from then on out are minor and pretty inexpensive. Not trying to piss on anyone who uses those services but I make a good amount of money from people wanting a solution with superb voice quality and more/better features to fit their business needs. Mind you I'm being very impartial here by not recommending anything specific which as a sales man goes against everything I believe. Hope this helps!