Broadvoice Service Plans
Broadvoice offers 4 service plans, apart from the BYOD plan.
All 4 plans have a one-time activation fee of $39.95, and all 25 free features are included in all 4. A phone adapter is included in all 4 plans.
- Unlimited In-State Plan
Price per month: $9.95
Unimited calling within the state you use only; calls to other states are not free but cheap. - Unlimited World
Price per month: $19.95
Unlimited calling to 21 countries, including the US. - Unlimited World Plus
Price per month: $24.95
Unlimited calling to 35 countries, including the US. - Unlimited Business
Price per month: $29.95
Unlimited calls to the whole of the US and Canada. You choose your own area code and phone number. You can also add remote offices in other cities with alternate numbers. - BYOD Plans
VoIP BYOD plans start at just $5.95 per month. BroadVoice allows you to connect Generic IP phones, the X-Lite softphone, and Asterisk@Home. You can also use your own SIP adapter or any SIP phone.
Review
Broadvoice is the VoIP service provider for international callers. It has the cheapest prices around. Since most VoIP users bank a lot on the price, Broadvoice is one of the best service providers around due to the relatively low rates it practices, both for international and local calls.
The cheap international destinations of Broadvoice include most of the western European countries and the leading countries of the East, like China, Singapore and China. Australia is there as well. So, for less than $20 a month, you can call unlimited to 21 countries. Add $5 to that and you can call to 14 more countries. I find this simply great. You can make calls to countries that are not in that list at cheap rates, which can you find here.
However, before benefitting from the cheap service, you have to incur some start up costs. When you sign in, you are sent an adapter for whose shipping you have to pay $15. Then you have to pay $39.95 to activate the service.
Broadvoice works with (and therefore supplies) a relatively wide range of devices, and offers adequate installation instructions for each of them. These are available online. The setting up is quite straightforward and easy.
The BYOD (bring your own device) plan is one thing that singles Broadvoice out. If you already own VoIP device like an ATA or a SIP phone, you need not pay the $40 plus the shipping for the company-sent devices you need with the service. You should note though that this requires you to have some skills with the device you own, because much of the installation process rests on your shoulders. Here is a list of devices that work with BYOD.
Broadvoice did lag behind with number portability and 911 features in its services, but it this is fixed now. You can keep your existing phone number when subscribing to Broadvoice, and you can have 911. Moreover, the 411 feature is free, unlike other companies like Vonage. Broadvoice's included features are now so much that it may be the one company offering the most features for free. However, it has only three features you can add on, which is quite poor relative to others.
Broadvoice account management features are very nice. You can log into your account online using a browser and manipulate the features as you wish.
Call quality is however not the strong point of Broadvoice. Many users have reported calls dropping. We can't say the quality is bad, but it could be better. Some users complain about support as well. Also, Broadvoice service does not support the use of a fax machine.
Broadvoice offers 30-day mone-back guarantee. The cancellation fee is $49.95.
The price and features of Broadvoice makes it one of the best around, since the first reason that draw people to VoIP is reduced cost.
