Startec Reviews and Plans

Startec Global Communications is a U.S. telecommunications provider which offers telephone, Internet and other communications services.

Startec has corporate office headquarters in Englewood, Colorado. Startec also has a separate Canadian headquarters located in Toronto.

The Startec brand is a subsidiary of AmericaTel Corporation, which is itself owned by Impact Telecom.

For what it is worth, the Impact Telecom website (which is directly linked in the company profile of Startec) has a Web of Trust (WOT) warning for a poor reputation based on customer reviews. Startec’s website itself does not have this warning, but it is worth noting as Impact Telecom is the owner of Startec Global Communications.

Startec was founded in 1989. The company profile states that their “ combined technological expertise and customer service focus make it the company ethnic customers worldwide can trust with their important calls.”

For our review of Startec, we will focus on their long-distance services and see how they measure up to GoneVoip’s top long distance providers.

Startec has pay-as-you-go, prepaid and direct dial service options. All of them allow you to make international calls from any phone including your cell phone by utilizing Startec’s CellConnect service.

The Direct Dial Long Distance Plan has a few options. The least expensive option is the Direct Dial Talk Plus Promo Rate. This plan comes in at $2.99 per month (for the first three months) with no minimum usage requirements. There is no credit card required to sign up.  Calls within the U.S. and Canada are one cent per minute. It does not say what the price goes after three months.

Beyond Canada and the U.S., Startec has rates listed for over 220 worldwide destinations. Other features included are PIN-less dialling (as detailed above), speed dial, one-touch dialling, My Account Online Management Software, online billing and “great service and rates”.

Rates will begin to vary depending on whether you are using a mobile phone or a landline. Here are some random international rates: Egypt (Mobile) - 1.9 cents per minute; Egypt (Landline) - 6.9 cents per minutes; China (All) 4.8 cents per minute; Thailand (All) – 9.9 cents per minute; Trinidad & Tobago (All) 19.9 cents per minute; Israel (Landline) – 1 cent per minute; Israel (Mobile) 3.9 cents per minute; Israel (Palestine) 13.9 cents per minute; Israel (Palestine Mobile) 17.9 cents per minute; Romania (All) 1 cents per minute. For India (All) is 2.9 cents per minute.

The Direct Dial Long Distance Plan allows you to make long-distance calls directly by simply dialling a ‘1’ for long-distance and a ‘011’ for international long distance. As CellConnect is included in this service, you are able to make the calls from your cell phone or any other phone, without using any pins. This is limited to three pre-registered phone numbers of your choice.

In Gonevoip's review of Startec International Long Distance calling plans, some of their international rates are a bit of a hit and miss. Places like Romania come in very inexpensive at one cent per minute, while places like Trinidad and Tobago are a whopping 19.9 cents per minute, even Canada long distance rate is more expensive at 2.9 cents!. Startec base plan at $2.99 per month is reasonable, though we prefer to recommend companies like G3 Telecom for your long-distance needs. We are particularly turned off by the lack of transparency in pricing, especially after the promos are finished.

Features

Smartphone App:
Desktop App:
BYOD:
Area Code Selection:
Extra Number:
Web Management:
Toll Free Numbers:
VoiceMail to Email:

Call Blocking
Conference Calling
Fax Capabilities
Fax to Email
Call Forwarding
Call Hold
Call Transfer
Music Hold
Caller ID Name:
Call Waiting:
Web Management:
Do Not Disturb:
Multiple Users:
Area Code Selection:
Extra Number:
Toll Free Numbers:
BYOD:
Desktop App:
Smartphone App:
Enhanced VoiceMail:
VoiceMail to Email:

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