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The actual port took forever. I've been a BV customer for a couple years, so I don't remember the full amount of time, but it was pretty close to 30 days after providing the letter of authorization to do so. This is the only negative in my whole of experience. I use the BYOD plan, so I am currently providing my own terminal adapter, which has been extremely convenient. The base price is also $5.95 per month, which works out to $11.42 after taxes on most months. I rarely use the phone, so this inexpensive plan suits my needs quite well. Followup comments:
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Once again, there isn't much to report. On the downside, few new features have been introduced. The two exceptions are "multiline" and "multipresence" support, which allow several lines on one account/device, or several devices on a single account. These options can definitely come in handy but it would be nice to see other features that have been missing for years, such as the ability to automatically forward calls to another number on network failure, scheduled do-not-disturb, and other such enhancements. Reliability has been good. The proxy servers have issues from time to time (about once every few months) but they are usually promptly fixed. Overall, call quality remains very good and pricing excellent (despite the rate increases discussed in my last update). Bottom line: BroadVoice is still an excellent choice, especially if you call abroad a lot and the countries you dial are included in one of the World plans. As mentioned in this review's comments, the BYOD plans are also a welcome option for the technically advanced who bring their own devices. 11/05/2008 UPDATE Not much to report. Service has remained very stable. Only some very small outages that didn't last long, and that could be avoided by switching proxy servers. A couple of notes on the downside: - First, rates increased quite a bit earlier this year, under the guise of new "taxes" or "fees"--but these were in fact hidden rate increases and NOT taxes. Service is now about $32/month (not counting premium features), compared to $20 originally. (Review table updated to reflect this.) This is still an excellent value, considering the number of free countries included and the numerous calling features upon which I have come to rely. - Second, no new features have been introduced in ages. EDIT (11/08/2008), two new features added: Well, a couple of features were added the day after my review update: - The ability to add inbound numbers to the second port of supported ATAs. This means that an alternate number can be answered (on a separate phone) while the primary line is in use. A very nice idea of no great use to me but certainly of value to those who need a dedicated second line for inbound calls. - BroadVoice has also finally added the ability to manage multiple lines from one account. This has been in the works for a long time. Hopefully this means the company has started innovating again and other new features will start appearing soon! BroadVoice continues to offer excellent service with a large array of existing features and still very competitive pricing. I have many family members and friends using the service and there have been no complaints. I maintain my 4 1/2 star recommendation. -------------------------------- 02/10/2008 UPDATE Can't believe I've been with BroadVoice for over 4 years now. Following the 2005 outage, service has continued to be ideal for my needs. There have been no outages since my last update. Reliability and call quality have been excellent. My only peeve is that BroadVoice still doesn't offer the option to have all calls automatically directed to an alternate number if their network fails. Luckily there haven't been any outages, so this hasn't really mattered. After BroadVoice started offering unlimited free calls to 20 countries, other providers started following suit but, for my needs, BV remains the best value around. I don't really have anything negative to say at this point. -------------------------------- 12/19/2005 UPDATE Things have been running smoothly for the last 6 months. Excellent quality/reliability. Some new features have been added to the online portal and BroadVoice seems to have hired more support staff to deal with the growth of its customer base. No downtime in a long, long time so I am very happy. Quality of international calls definitely improved after the outage in May. -------------------------------- 05/11/2005 UPDATE BroadVoice's first big outage is over. Unfortunately the outage began right before a week-end, which must have made it harder to contain. Still, the company worked around the clock and service was restored by Monday. During the outage, I was still able to make and receive calls, though with less reliability than usual. Now things are back to normal. What impressed me most during the outage was that Support answered phone calls within 10-12 minutes, very reasonable considering there must have been a very high volume of calls. Info was also posted in the portal. Considering service was rock solid for many, many months prior to this outage, BroadVoice deserves a little slack. If anything, such an experience will make sure they are better prepared in the future. -------------------------------- 02/12/2005 UPDATE Given some of the negative reviews and updates posted recently, I wanted to update mine to report that service has remained rock-solid for me. The calling features still work, call quality is superb and BroadVoice keeps rolling out new services at great prices. Two recent examples: alternate numbers in the UK, and toll-free alternate numbers. So, here is a quick update on the new features and the quality of customer support as of February, 2005. (Original review below as well.) TOLL FREE Alternate Numbers: I just added one to my account and it is working well. The amazing thing is that it costs the same as a regular alternate number: $1.95/month, which is lower than any other VoIP company AFAIK. This includes 60 free incoming minutes (and extra minutes are 2.0¢/min, VERY reasonable for a toll-free number). There were some issues with the toll free DIDs, where not all callers were able to get through but this has been fixed. I tested my DID from numerous lines (from different providers) and can now receive calls without a hitch. Really great for friends in other states, especially those on limited local service... For those who may be interested, the alternate UK numbers are the same price but include unlimited incoming calls, just like US-based alternate numbers. CUSTOMER SERVICE. Many of the recent negative remarks concerned ridiculously long hold times. I concur that this was a problem for a couple of weeks but things seem much better now. I called several times in the last few days and got through to someone within a reasonable delay. More importantly, the people answering the phones are still knowledgeable. BroadVoice is not outsourcing its support (as of yet) and clearly takes the time to train its representatives. Email support has remained excellent throughout. -------------------------------- 11/09/2004, COMPLETE UPDATE OF ORIGINAL REVIEW In October, BroadVoice added unlimited calling to 20 international countries without raising rates, making it the best value around. Now the company has launched its brand new online portal, resolving the only other area that was lacking. The new portal: in addition to excellent online billing options (statements, payment options, etc.), the portal offers complete control over accounts, allowing users to add alternate lines, change their calling plan and much more. Of course, all the calling features (basic, advanced and premium) can also be managed through the portal, and there are extensive call logs as well as a Call Manager feature that allows for online control of incoming and outgoing calls. The whole experience is very user friendly, making this portal the one to beat. As of the date of this update, I have been using BroadVoice for close to 1 year and service is as good today as it was on day one. Prior to choosing BroadVoice, I looked at every VoIP provider on the marked. After these many months of usage, I am pleased to report that BroadVoice has gotten even better with age. There are more features, the call quality remains excellent, and the new portal makes managing any aspect of the service a snap. -- VALUE: There are many reasons to choose BroadVoice but the top one would have to be value. For the price of its competitors' offerings (or for less in many cases), BroadVoice offers a wide array of free calling features that make competing services look sparse. In fact, it seems to me BroadVoice offers more features than any other provider, most of them included with the price of service. Additionally, adding "premium" features costs much less than with the competition (for example, additional phone numbers are only $1.95/month vs. around $5-10 with other providers). BroadVoice also recently added unlimited International calling to 20 countries (as well as a new plan with 34 free countries for only $5/month more), once again placing the company miles above the rest in terms of value. For any countries not included, BroadVoice has lowered rates to match or beat its toughest competitors. There is also a new referral program that makes earning free calls easy. -- FEATURES: As stated above, calling features are numerous. Some really nice ones include the ability to check Voicemails from any phone and any computer, via the account portal. One can also receive messages by email. The online portal offers complete control over all features, including the ability to set call forwarding, toggle features on/off, maintain a list of speed dial numbers and much more. All the features I need are included in my plan, although it is worth mentioning that "premium" features (such as music-on-hold) come with an activation fee. However, the monthly fee for these services is much lower than the competition, making them worthwhile, and many features are not offered by anyone else. -- CALL QUALITY: Call quality? One word: impressive. In fact, the quality is as good as a traditional phone line both on the calling and receiving end. This is the one thing that always surprises those I refer. A special note on International calls: the quality is as good as US calls, which is nothing short of amazing, since quality can be iffy over traditional phone lines or using a calling card. -- TECH ISSUES, SETUP AND SUPPORT: Support has been impressive from the get go, always answering phone calls and emails promptly, and fixing issues quickly (usually in minutes). Setup is a breeze. My Linksys router didn't require any modifications and I was up and running literally 30 seconds after receiving my adaptor. A router is of course needed to share your broadband connection with the BroadVoice adaptor and your computer but this is to be expected. This and many other topics are covered on BroadVoice's support web site, where you can find step-by-step guides and a great deal of useful information. For the truly tech-savvy, BroadVoice is the only provider to offer BYOD (bring your own device) plans. The device in question can be hardware or software and all the necessary configuration information is provided, something unique in this industry. BroadVoice also automatically provisions your device immediately upon sign-up, so that the service can be used in a minutes. Other technical issues (codecs, etc.) have been widely addressed in the BBR VoIP forum so I won't go into any details here. One additional hardware note: BroadVoice recently started shipping a new adaptor. Small and sleek, it is about the size of a deck of cards but doesn't skimp on features. -- CONCLUSIONS: Some prospective customers may be worried by BroadVoice's low rates, thinking this might translate into poor quality or bad support. This is not the case. Quite the contrary! I think this is what truly makes BroadVoice the best value: not only is the service easy to use and feature-rich but the call quality is top-notch and support is available 24x7. Having had BroadVoice from the very beginning (for close to one year now), I continue to recommend it highly. Followup comments:
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Also i got the unlimited plan and it was added extra costs to my bill which made it a lot more expensive and it was not clear when I signed up. Lately I cancelled the plan and they charged my credit card a cancellation fee of U$32.00. Overall I give them a bad rating. I will try another comapany. Followup comments:
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We got Broadvoice to ditch our $40 Local/Long phone service (which was pay per min. long distance) form our phone co. and couldn't be happier. $26 per month includes unlimited local/long distance (US) and a second number for a different area code. They provide E911 and allow BYOD. I'm using 3CX's windows based PBX with a Linksys SPA-3102. Followup comments:
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But now for the bad. My credit card was stolen shortly before a billing cycle, so while I was waiting for my new credit card to arrive so I could update my account, the automated billing cycle failed. Despite correcting the issue *the next day* and receiving email that my account had been restored, I received notification that to continue service, I would have to fax or email (!) copies of my credit card and driver's license and/or passport, front and back, or risk having my account suspended. I responded that my credit card had already successfully been charged, and sent a response including the confirmation number from my credit card issuer. I also logged in to my Broadvoice account and verified that my service was current and successfully billed until 4/28. In the same email, I indicated that I was not going to be sending scanned copies of my credit card and passport when Broadvoice was already successfully able to charge the card (for 2 separate accounts!). No response from Broadvoice until 4/6, when I received notification that my account was suspended and could no longer make outgoing calls or configure forwarding. Inbound calls still work. On 4/22 I receive an email that my account has been canceled and the phone is dead. Note that I'm paid through 4/28. I call the support number and am told that my account was canceled due to non-payment, and the Billing is the only department that can help (only open 9-4, Eastern). The irony is, the other account uses the exact same credit card (but has a billing cycle that runs one day later, so I was able to update it before it failed). So my money is good in case, but not in the other. In any event, requiring scans/faxes of credit cards and passports seems completely out of the question. I will amend my review if Broadvoice is able to make it right (at least restore my account until I can port my number), otherwise I intend to file a complaint with the FCC Common Carrier Bureau, file a chargeback through my credit card issuer (since I paid for 4 weeks of service, but only received 1 full week of normal outbound and 3 weeks of outbound before they terminated my account). *** UPDATE *** After 3 (more) calls and a couple emails, Broadvoice and I were able to come to terms on the credit card authorization form. So my advice to not bother with emailing support, but instead use their support line. They seem to be much more responsive to phone calls than to emails. *** UPDATE 2 *** Well, they went back on their word after I provided some of the information they requested, and so I had to make 4 more calls. Finally I was told that I was "lucky" and that they would let me be their customer. They re-enabled my account (but all of the passwords had changed), and within a couple of hours my service was restored. *** UPDATE 3 *** When the billing cycle rolled around again, I discovered I was slapped with a $9.95 fee for "account reactivation." This is pretty frustrating, given that my account was always in good standing (meaning it was paid through to 4/29), and that I never canceled it. So I suppose Broadvoice has the right to disable your account after the first week of the month and then charge you for re-enabling it. I'm looking for another provider now, and am happy to pay a fee for a LNP port to get away from them. Followup comments:
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I choose BV because the price was reasonable and they let me use my own device (asterisk). I continue to use BV because they service is acceptable and the DID price is reasonable. Update Apr 2009. Broadvoice is still of value although their "taxes" double my monthly BYOD bill. I still like the free toll-free outbound and free in-bound but the surfeit of minutes on my mobile plan makes this less useful. Followup comments:
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Customer support was pretty good, but their billing department needs some fixing. The problems you have with voip is not worth the money saved. Followup comments:
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Broadvoice is a waste of money and takes phone service back to two soup cans and a string. Followup comments:
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I decided to switch services because I saw how much they charged on top of the world plan. 5 dollar fake int'l regulatory fee, plus their other 2.50 fake regulatory fee. That is false advertising IMHO, since regulatory fee would mean imposed by the government, not by THEM! Also, their caller ID service did not show names for neighbors who called.. don't know why. My father is elderly, so he would not answer the phone if he can't see the name! When dialing some numbers I would wait on dead air for 15 seconds before a ring. Faxing did not work at times, I would notice the faxmodem would not keep a connection. It works fine with current provider now, same modem too! Also, I don't understand why they do not have a US/CANADA plan. It is either just USA, or world plan which has the ridiculous $5 charge tacked onto it. Their customer service is lacking. I saw in the terms of service that you can cancel within 30 days, and if you go over 250 mins you get charged for those, no big deal. But the main website said you can cancel only if you have less than 250?? So I asked billing, and they kept saying, you cannot cancel for refund if you are over 250 mins. What kind of customer service doesn't follow their own terms of service? Not to mention it would take a full day or two to get a response. Anyway, I put in a request to be ported to voipo, and they took their sweet time with the porting, so I was out of the 30 day trial period by 4 days! I requested that they not charge me the asinine $39.99 cancellation fee due to having to wait for LNP, but again customer service was unreasonable. My father lives on a fixed income (SS) and I am a student.. so that is a big charge for me. Not to mention, now that I did cancel, they did not give me a pro rated refund for the rest of January's monthly fee ($30)?!?! I called and the CS person said that normally they don't refund part of a month, that one should cancel at the end of the month. I mentioned that this is ridiculous in the case of porting, which cannot be planned to the day, and sometimes runs late. I am waiting for a response. Now I am with VOIPO and even though there were minor hiccups, probably due to broadvoice's transfer slowness, they are great. They understand not putting hidden fees, and even offer a cloned line. They respond quickly, even at late evening hours (I thought they were 9-5 only?). Anyhow, Broadvoice seems like they are becoming like Vonage. It seems like any company that gets too big starts taking advantage of the customers. Educate yourself before you make a mistake that I did. I wish I knew of the reviews on this site before signing up for BV VOIP. Followup comments:
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I signed up for Broadvoice a week ago and have generally been very pleased with the service. I signed the Service Authorization after I signed up and sent it in only to get repeated emails that they did not get the form... I resent it 4 times as a PDF attachment and also faxed it. I woke up this morning to suspended service and was informed they actually got the form but required a copy (front & back) of my credit card and a copy of a photo ID such as Passport. Are you kidding me? This was after AMEX had happily authorized all of charges over a week ago. I called AMEX being a 30 year customer in good standing and explained what BV wanted me to do. They advised me strongly to never send that kind of information via hardcopy to anyone and questioned why it was needed since they approved all charges a week ago. AMEX then reversed all charges back to BV and will be in touch with them regarding this practice. Too bad since they seem to have decent service. Someone making policy in their billing department needs to join us in the 21st century common billing practices. Be advised. B Followup comments:
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BroadVoice
(12)
Leicester,Worcester,MA
$11 per month
about 30 days
"Very inexpensive for a light user."
"Number port took weeks."
"Awesome VoIP service!"
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Broadvoice Service Authorization Agreement
