how-to block ads
|
»next review in page
Review by surinder96 
Posted: 5 years ago
member for 6 years, 8 visits, last login: 5 years ago
 Bensenville,Dupage,IL
 $13 per month
 about 3 days
 "Reliable , Good Quality, International Call works perfect, Caller ID"
 "Portal has lesser features to Vonage, you have not control on the ATA"
 "Excellent Cost to Service ratio"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
No installation problems worked in the first 15 minutes. It had been reliable so far never missed a dial tone. Voicemail / missed call notification is excellent. International call to India worked pretty well. I called once for a customer support and the services are excellent. The customer support even called me back to see if things worked.
I would have loved if I had control on codec selection of the ATA, so that I may change the phone quality as and when my line quality changes or when calling international.
Caller ID works perfect for incoming as well as outgoing calls. I used this line for outgoing faxes as well as incoming faxes, it worked great.
I search for a VOIP provide for almost a year and was finally was giving up then I found Broadvox.
So far a happy customer and intend to make this my permanent number and replace this for my plain old telephone line.
Better than Vonage in price, equipment and quality although Vonage seem to have more features.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Broadvox Direct |
 | »next review in page (previous review)
Review by RBordley
Posted: 5 years ago
member for 9.5 years, 431 visits, last login: 31 days ago
Alexandria,Fairfax,VA
$19 per month (month by month)
about 3 days
"Very affordable; Good Sound Quality; Tons of features"
"No 911 service, will not work with Directv receiver"
"Very good alternative to replace your regular phone service."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
After months of pondering, I finally purchased a VOIP service. I order the BroadvoxDirect service on a late Tuesday evening. I received an email to confirm the order. I confirmed the order on Wednesday morning by phone. My device was shipped Wednesday and received on Friday morning at my home. I plugged the device in to my home network and within 3 minues, I was up and running making phone calls. It was just that simple. I've performed DSLReports speed test and my performance is outstanding. I was streaming music to my PDA over my wireless network, surfing with a laptop on my wireless network, and my dauther was talking on the BroadvoxDirect telephone line, and I had no problems. My ISP is Speakeasy; however, their VoIP service is $10.00 more then BroadvoxDirect.
The web portal is not bad. I'm sure they are going to add more features as time go on. My favorite features is the Click-to-call and the Family Address Book. ** Awesome feature ** Using this feature, you can place a call from your Broadvox plan from a remote location to anywhere in the US or Canada and its like placing a call from your Broadvox phone at home.
Bottom line, if you're looking for an inexpensive VoIP service, BroadvoxDirect is the provider. They offer a 14-day trial. I could go on and on about this service, but you should try it for yourself. You won't believe the quality.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Broadvox Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by marstein
Posted: 5.1 years ago
member for 5.1 years, 38 visits, last login: 236 days ago
El Granada,San Mateo,CA
$13 per month (month by month)
about 8 days
"Easy setup, great sound quality, good support"
"lost connections after 1h, web site is archaic"
"looks pretty good"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I ordered painlessly online and got the equipment a couple days later after they had figured out that the billing adress they want couldn't be shipped to. But the personnell was very friendly and knowledgeable and eager to help.
Setup cost $54.85. That includes the device and the first month.
Setup is behind a Linksys WRT54g - plug and play onto DHCP - no problems. Did my first call within minutes and to Germany at 3c a minute. That is almost as cheap as they call me from there by landline. My broadband provider is Comcast with a 3Mbps/256kbps line. The volume is louder than with my landline and the other side reported the same. I have the "High Quality" bandwidth selected - there is a "higher quality" setting as well, but the quality is very good already. I also configured the WRT54g to give priority to the Broadvox box, which should help with the transmission. When doing Netmeeting and talking on the phone sometimes you can here a very short pause.
The web site is informative but badly designed. It could be so much better. The first thing you see after logging on is a calendar of their company announcements. Who wants to see that? I want to be able to call someone or manage my phone. The phone book is basic and kind of awkward to use. I have the box plugged into the PC and the phone at the same time and use Outlook (Ctrl-Shift-D) to dial. It is hard to find instructions on their website, and I could not find out how to hang up on someone you conferenced in. In three calls to Germany after about an hour I got the "hang up or dial" tone, like when the phone is off the hook too long. I had to redial. Hope that won't happen any more.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Broadvox Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by underattack
Posted: 5.1 years ago
member for 6.4 years, 269 visits, last login: 280 days ago
Quincy,Norfolk,MA
$20 per month (month by month)
about 7 days
"easy install, loads of features, cheap international calling"
"terrible website, worse call quality then others"
"good for international calls to friends/family, not recommended for business use"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I got Broadvoxdirect (BVD) for a couple months now. So this review reflects more then just the initial install.
My Network
I use a Linux based firewall connected to a DSL (Speakeasy 6MB/768kB) and cable (Comcast 3MB/512kB). The Broadvox calls are currently routed over the DSL line, but I have used it with cable and DSL (no significant difference). The firewall is configured to provide higher priority for VoIP.
Install
Simple "plug & play". No issues getting it all setup. BVD uses the Sipura 2000 device, which is nice and small, comes with an external power brick and supports up to two totally independent lines. The device is 'locked', so you can't add a second VoIP service (e.g. FWD). But this is standard in the industry and likely done to avoid service headaches. The device feels a bit warmer then the Motorola ATA I got from Vonage. But its about 1/4 of the size.
Voice Quality
By default, BVD uses a rather high compression / low quality Codec (g 729) which requires only 30 kBit/sec. The portal now has a setting to adjust this to a 90 kBit/sec code (g 711). Using the 30 kBit/sec codec, callers describe the voice quality frequently as 'digitized and choppy'. The 90 kBit/sec codec suffers from packet loss on occassion. I do use Vonage with a 90 kBit/sec codec without issues. So there may be an issue with Broadvox's backbone.
Reliability
No issues so far. The service has been reliable.
Features
When it comes to features, Broadvox is a geek's wet dream. You can adjust whatever there is to adjust. However, a lot of features are a bit on the buggy site and don't see to work quite well. Other features are added/removed from the site as they are tweaked, reinforcing the "beta feeling" of the site (see more below).
Website
Broadvox direct is the 3rd VoIP service I am using, and has by far the worst designed web site. The web site just went through a redesign, and usability has improved somewhat. But it is still impossible to login with Konqueror (if not for the simple fact that the submit button covers the userid field). The redesign also finally did away with an Active-X control that was required to access the invoice details.
However, the user interface is still buggy and needs (lots of) work. But most of the time the website responds fast.
Security
Like all commercial consumer VoIP companies I know off, BVD does not encrypt any calls (even though the Sipura 2000 with recent firmware would be able to do this). The redesigned website fixed some of the obvious issues, like transmitting the account number in the clear on frames https pages.
Techsupport
I only used the online tech support (web based contact form). Responses where ok and came in less then 24hrs. I don't remember calling them or using the online chat option (haven't had a problem that required immediate attention)
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Broadvox Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by dkla
Posted: 5.1 years ago
member for 6.8 years, 45 visits, last login: 64 days ago
Beverly Hills,Los Angeles,CA
$12 per month
about 7 days
"Good low-end pricing; no $1.50 RRF; JGWilliams always available online... :)"
"Bad Customer Support; awkward web portal; Slow to add/fix features; unsolicited junk-faxes"
"A big diasppointment from a trusted brand-name"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I originally got Broadvox for its brand-name; they do quite a respectable business for the Business market. Their Consumer service unfortunately does not share my enthusiasm; they have promised features for a long time but they are always "coming soon". The Customer Support is practically non-existant, and I hate how they always mark an issue as "closed" when it clearly is not. The web portal started out strong but never finished with their features. That, when combined with LNP and Caller ID delays, proved to try my patience for the last time, and I cancelled my service.
It seems as if Broadvox Direct is always in "beta version" but will never get to the final release.
UPDATE: After reading other reviews for Broadvox Direct, I forgot to mention that I too had received multiple unsolicited junk-faxes on my BV line, many at 3am. Not very cool at all... 
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Broadvox Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by mlmurray
Posted: 5.1 years ago
member for 6.4 years, 740 visits, last login: 47 days ago
Dallas,Paulding,GA
$45 per month
"Good quality, easy install, good support, excellent price"
"A few hiccups regarding fax line"
"Very satisfied. They seem to work hard to satisfy their customers"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I got BVD for a remote office (small town Arkansas - 4 poeple).
Considering that the fastest speeds the cable company offers is
1024/128, call quality is unbelievable! The new DTA is set for the
g711 codec and calls sound as good, or better than, POTS. The
features are terrific, but similar to other VoIP providers.
OK here are the problems: I had to submit a trouble ticket to get
them to assign a fax number - this may be standard procedure, I don't
know. By the way, they are very responsive to thier trouble tickets,
this is the only way I've even tried to communicate with them - it's
all I've needed so far. Then, the fax line wasn't showing up in the
device settings on the web portal. I submitted a ticket, they fixed
it. So far faxing has been an akward affair. The main reason I went
with Broadvox was the combination of cost/features and the fact that
they used the T.38 protocol for faxing. Nevertheless, I've still been
unable to recieve any faxes on the fax line. As a work around faxes
can be sent to the main number's voice mail, then printed out from the
email account set up to recieve all voice mails - voice or fax. To be
fair, it's probably my bandwidth limitations (although why would that
be my recieve bandwidth is 1024, yet I can occasionally send at 128 no
less) or the fax machine itself.
Despite the problems with faxing (this isn't the most important
consideration to me), I've been more than happy with the call quality
and service from Broadvox.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Broadvox Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by rocnet
Posted: 5.1 years ago
member for 9.5 years, 254 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
South China,Kennebec,ME
$29 per month
about 5 days
"Easy Setup, Good Call Quality. Good Tech Support."
"$71.85 for Setup, Shipping and First Month then $29.95"
"Works Great, very slight lag over land line. I'm keeping it."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
From the time that UPS delivered my BroadVox ATA 2102 box to
making my first call was 20 minutes. Connected to my PivotNet
DSL basic service on Dynamic IP. EASY!
It's just like my landline and I dropped my second POTS line and
replaced it with this VOIP line. Can hardly tell the difference
although there is a slight lag not unlike some cell phones. Works for FAXes too.
No dropped calls even on my LONG 2 hour calls to Hawaii. Initially there was a
Caller ID problem (only with 2 calls) Submitted a trouble ticket and got a call
back from their tech support. Problem has not reappeared since day one and
it's good to know that their tech support is good.
Their Web Interface is servicable and can be improved. Some features will
be available "real soon now'. Caller ID both ways works fine now as does
Call waiting and 3 way calling, and voicemail.
No MAINE (207) numbers were available. This is true for all VOIP companies....
Why is MAINE left out?...the largest telco in Maine is Vorizon.
Anyway, I like the service, Had it for 2 weeks and I'm keeping it!.
-Bob O
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Broadvox Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by Gegner
UPDATED: 5.3 years ago
member for 10 years, 997 visits, last login: 4.1 years ago
Highland,San Bernardino,CA
$29 per month
about 6 days
"Great voice quality, nice features, low cost, easy to use, free ATA/setup (promotional: pre-launch)"
"None"
"Excellent service, with a Great DTA now, I am totally happy with BroadVox"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
This is my 1st venture into VoIP, and although it's a new company, the president has been active on this forum and others as well. He not only promotes, but helps clients resolve questions and issues.
I have had the service for 2 weeks now and have enjoyed using it. BroadVox comes with a few different tiers of service, a Sipura SPA 2000 ATA, ethernet cable, power supply (120-220vac) and basic instruction sheet. Setup and install is very easy, but broadband is required, like almost all VoIP to my knowledge.
Another feature provided is the ability to have your "home" area code and number be anywhere that BroadVox presently serves. This allows you to have your phone at home in CA, for instance, and have the number either there, or in Minnesota, if you want. All calls to you would be local to those in that particular area code, as they dial you in CA. Also, there is an additional 'Friends and Family' number provided for free that allows for yet another choice for any covered area code. This is a very nice feature, and if you need more Friends and Family numbers, you can 'rent' them for $4.95 per month per number. I am using the $29.95 per month unlimited calling anywhere in the US and Canada. International calls are very low cost, considering what the bells charge per minute. There are also minute plans available, as well as Business plans.
The only problem that I have had with the service is the Friends and Family number that I have parked in another area code from my own... it seems intermittent... I'm not sure if that is a provisioning problem or a problem at BroadVox's end.
There are many features that are part of the service, including Voice Mail, Follow Me (call forwarding style service that include catagories), caller ID, 911 (in selected areas only) and many more. See the main website for more information, and/or go to BBR's VoIP forum or Voxilla for FAQ's and a lot more information.
It seems that BroadVox has some good ideas, and continues to be responsive to the customer - especially for the 'net community - thanks to their President spending great amounts of time in differnet forums answering questions and clearing up issues. That is rare today, in any technology.
As they grow, I hope to see more and more markets open up, that are not now available. Also as the little glitches are worked out and becomes smoother, it will be a true joy to use and operate.
UPDATE June 8 2004:
One of my favorite features "Click to Call" is back up as of today. It took longer than they said, but it's working again and that is a good thing. I rely on it at work.
I still am impressed with the voice quality of BV. It continues to be very very good. I hardly ever have any issues with being heard clearly or hearing clearly.
My biggest concern is the Sipura adapter. I continue to have problems getting a dial tone (have to power cycle it off and on several times before I gain a dial tone) - but there is a replacement looming in the (hopefully) near future that should address that issue. I believe it is probably due to my Sonic Wall router/firewall not allowing the Sipura to do "it's thing" successfully. I look forward to the new adapter, due to it's alleged placement ahead of the router, just behind my cable modem.
Service and support continue to be very good. I constantly get good information as long as the Reps are provided with it. As well, live online support has been initiated and works well. The folks who answer the phones are friendly and do their utmost to provide great service.
The web portal has improved dramatically! It now supports Mozilla and they have added good content and continue to do so. The trouble ticket system is in need of a major update, and is coming according to what I've heard, but it does work.
One thing that BV could do is provide timely information on the web portal of global service issues, fixes and ongoing updates. Presently, information is not easy to find / discover without bugging tech support.
All in all, I've been very pleased with the service and look forward to improvements and added content. The new adapter should cancel out my biggest concern, when it's released for replacement/exchange.
-- UPDATE - 7/5/04 --
BV has begun shipping a new DTA, replacing the Sipura device that I mentioned above. This new DTA addresses every issue or problem that I was having with the service. I was involved with the closed public beta with this new unit, and I can honestly say that it is a MAJOR stride in the right direction for VoIP.
Support has improved vastly, and deals with problems or issues very quickly. As well, there is a new trouble ticket system coming and it will make dealing with TT's much, much easier.
The web portal has made some great improvements as well. News is now available and timely. Information regarding your account(s) and devices are easy to find and understand. The web pages have improved 100% IMO.
BroadVox continues to make improvements in service and hardware - and is always looking for customer feedback to be pro-active with changes and upgrades. They have definitely got the right attitude from a customer perspective. Highly recommended!
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Broadvox Direct |
| »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by ferdeenand
UPDATED: 5.3 years ago
member for 8.2 years, 2261 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Kissimmee,Osceola,FL
$20 per month
about 4 days
"Very good call quality, fast responses from tech support, president presence on DSLR"
"None at all!"
"I have switched to SunRocket"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I have been without a home phone for quite a while, and I rely mostly on my cell. VoIP always seemed interesting to me, but I had never found a reason to go with it. That is until I saw the great pre-launch offer by BVD on DSLR. Not to mention the fact that there is a very strong presence of the company on this site (this is a very important aspect of their service). I wasn't expecting the greatest call quality, but I was very suprised. The fact that I got the service as they are just starting up is a plus. I feel that our opinions here are actually heard and will help drive the company to be a great provider. And at $20 a month, the features I gain over a more expensive Sprint line make this a very easy choice.
BVD has just added quite a few new rate centers, Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville being some of them. Now I have my local number, and I am very happy!
*Update 5 August 2004*
My only problem so far has been with the swapping of the Sipura with the new device. First, it was shipped without an apartment number, which has always been in my address. The $12 2 day shipping turned into 8 day shipping. The device is finally up and running, and I must say that I am impressed! The call quality is phenomenal. It was definately worth the wait. Getting it working took diligent help and patience of Sam, one of their techs. He is definately a huge asset to BVD.
If you are considering BroadVox Direct, go for it. You would be getting the new Mediatrix 2102 as your adapter and will fall in love with it as soon as you hook it up. Since I signed up in March, they have become an extordinary company, offering a crystal clear connection at a price you can't pass up.
*Update 21 January 2006*
I no longer use BVD.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Broadvox Direct |
| »next page (previous review)
Review by ieee1394
UPDATED: 5.3 years ago
member for 8.2 years, 1171 visits, last login: 7 days ago
Hamilton,Loudoun,VA
 Business customer
$34 per month
about 4 days
"Call quality is excellent most of the time."
"None."
"Excellent call quality, support for faxing via T.38, limited support for dialup modems."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I've been a Broadvox subscriber since before their residential products were officially launched. That goes back to December 2003 (whereas the launch was in March 2004). Broadvox has come a long way during that period and if they continue development at the pace that they've working at this may very well become the best VOIP service out there.
At the time of this writing Broadvox has just introduced their own analog telephone adapter device. The DTA is a customized device developed by Mediatrix out of Montreal. The adapter is actually manufactured in Canada, which is novel since everyone else's hardware is manufactured outside of North America. While I really wish someone would come out with a stackable hardware design, the unit at least has more status lights than the Sipura it replaces.
The introduction of the DTA is an important milestone for Broadvox. While the Sipura SPA 2000 was a second generation residential VOIP adapter (Cisco's ATA 186 being first generation), the DTA is a third generation product and the evolution of these products is critical to the success of VOIP. While people just wanted a cheap way to make long distance calls at the beginning, soon they adopted these services as wholesale replacements for POTS. That meant that there was a previously unknown expectation to support things like fax machines and Tivos--the types of devices that are stuck wanting an analog phone service implemented over a digital one.
The DTA solves the first problem (faxing) by introducing T.38 (aka Realtime fax over IP). For anyone that's used VOIP and T.38, the feature is a godsend. While faxing can be accomplished over vanilla VOIP using the g.711 (uncompressed audio) codec, the reliability with that method is notoriously flakey as it is highly dependent upon factors way out of the user's control. T.38 sidestep the technical hurdles by undoing the fax locally and sending each page as a digitized image instead. Once these images arrive at their receiving gateway they are reassembled into a fax suitable for transmission over the POTS network. T.38 is a realtime protocol in that the status of each page sent is returned to the orginiating fax machine as the page is acknowledged by the destination fax machine. While faxing this way still takes a bit longer than over POTS, T.38 at least provides robust support for old school technology.
Before the DTA, Broadvox really didn't play nice with dialup modems. Dish Network still offers no alternative to submitting pay-per-view ordering information over dialup (for example, it is possible to connect most Tivo devices directly to a broadband connection instead). While I could achieve a connection over the fax line of my business account using the Sipura device, it was no go for the voice line. Initial tests with the DTA indicate that the shells have been swapped. Now I can connect with both the voice and fax line but the voice line provides better support in that I can actually use the Dish Network interactive customer service application (a dialup application) over my Broadvox VOIP line. Indeed, Broadvox has been touting better support for dialup modems with the DTA so we'll see how this pans out in the long run. [The only other provider that I'm aware of that sort of supports dialup sessions is Vonage, and they're support is not official as many subscribers have no luck with it.]
Since I've only had the DTA now for less than 24 hours I'll have to come back and comment on the voice quality over time. It's a plus that Broadvox has enhanced their user configuration web portal so that you can now select between the g.729 and g.711 audio codecs. While g.729 provides great audio quality it is only comparable to what the industry calls "toll" quality; this is the only codec that the company offered previously. The g.711 codec is the ITU standard for audio transport across phone networks; this is an uncompressed codec and gobbles up bandwidth but results in the best audio quality.
The other excellent feature that Broadvox has implemented (I believe they are the only VOIP company to offer this) is user configuration of the SIP ports used by the telephone adapter. For most folks this won't be a big deal but for anyone with more than one VOIP account this is a major step forward as multiple VOIP devices can cause major technical headaches when stuck behind feeble residential NAT routers.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Broadvox Direct |
|
|
Broadvox Direct
·
·
·