Nowadays, an online search can provide information on just about anything, say on finding the best internet phone on the market.   But with so much information out there, how can one really get to the real deal?

To illustrate the point, let us go through a search engine exercise based on the keywords “best internet phone” using the 3 major search engines: Google, Yahoo, and Bing.   The search was conducted earlier today (March 3, 2010) and here are the results.

For Google (google.com), there were 149,000,000 entries for best internet phone data, with the following as the top 5 entries (websites or URLS for purposes of this exercise, and not including sponsored entries):
1. cell-phones.toptenreviews.com/multimedia/
2. www.phonerated.com/c-top-rated-best-american-internet-phones.php
3. reviews.cnet.com/best-cell-phones/
4. www.pcworld.com/…/is_an_internet_phone_right_for_you.html
5. www.galttech.com/…/internet…/best-internet-phone-service.php

For Yahoo (yahoo.com), out of 469,000,000 entries, ranked in the top 5 were:
1. www.bestinternetphone.com
2. bestinternetphone.org
3. bestbuy.com/site/Mobile-Phones-Office/VoIP/
4. answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091120035617AA6Kzve
5. amitbhawani.com/blog/best-internet-browsing-mobile-phones

At Bing (bing.com), the top 5 entries out of 169,000,000 entries were:
1. www.pcworld.com/article/115053/​internet_​phones_clear_​winners.html
2. www.slate.com/id/2121742
3. bestinternetphone.com
4. www.galttech.com/research/​internet-ecommerce/​best-internet-phone-service.php
5. www.pcworld.com/article/118734/is_an_​internet_​phone_right_for_​you.html

This search engine exercise will show the following basic points:
1. There are millions of possible sources of information online as well as offline, eg, books, product manuals, or conversations with other users.
2. The online search experience will vary depending on the search engine used and the criteria and algorithms adopted by the search engines. Also, note that there are other search engines aside from the major ones and one can also directly type in the name of a known website on the URL line (type in traffic) or go a bookmarked site.
3. The information will change from time to time as technology continues to advance.
4. The best internet phone performance, aside from the features of the phone itself, can also be impacted by the quality of the service provided by the internet phone service providers.

Of course, there is no substitute for actual internet phone experience, but hopefully this article is helpful in letting you find the best internet phone that is right for your needs.  Obviously, the best decisions in product selection come from being well-informed with the best information.