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Review by fxled 
member for 8 years, 4 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
lodged 8 years ago
 Switzerland
 $22 per month "Great Rate Plan, 21 countries included" "Dial tone today, gone tomorrow, for the techies" "Better start shopping Elsewhere"
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Broadvoice has been somewhat consistent of as late, and during this first two weeks of May 2005 has been useless. I originally signed up back in December after switching from Vonage (happy customer, but wanted Europe calls included). I live in Switzerland and I had problems from the beginning with calls, very few calls were clear and error free. In April, I switched to the new NYC proxy server and started using 726-32 codec and started having much better success with calls and quality.
As I am a techy, I like playing around with the proxies and the settings, e.g., modifying my dialling plan, etc., but I have a friend that signed up with me back in December and she is having problems because customer support is never there. I have ended up supporting her here and having to change proxies all the time is a trouble.
I am hesistant to leave because I could not take my number with me to another provider, and I am somewhat hopeful that broadvoice will turn around at the last minute. They have promised a London-based server (since Dec 2004), but never delivered, and I am hoping that they do not have another huge crash again.
If you are looking for a consistent service, don't with BV right now. I'm living abroad and I don't need a phone for daily use. I accept that the service will go down, and from my perspective it's cheaper for me than anything in Switzerland, but for those that are living in the States I would not bother right now with BV. Vonage is a very consistent provider. I have also tried Lingo for about 14 days whilst here, and the quality is bad bad bad. The call sounded like a tin can thanks to their one-stop shop of codecs, which I believe is the 729a flavour.
Cheers
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 Review by burgerwars
member for 8.6 years, 998 visits, last login: 47 days ago
lodged 8 years ago
- Northridge,Los Angeles,CA
- $19 per month
 about 1 days- "Inexpensive, Can use your own SIP device"
- "When the service goes haywire, don't expect things to be fixed soon."
- "Good value, as long as you can deal with a service that can be down weeks at a time."
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I've had Broadvoice since last October. There have been two periods when the service has collapsed. Once was several months ago, and had almost no service for a few days. Things were perfect until about 10 days ago, then things fell apart. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. No need for me to type it all out here, since it has been documented plenty here on Broadband Reports.
If you need a service with high-reliability, don't choose Broadvoice. If you can deal with long periods of bad service, but like the ability to use your own device, choose your own phone number, and save money (their plans are some of the cheapest, with some including unlimited international dialing to selected countries) choose Broadvoice.
In all, the service is usually great, but they've disappointed big-time as of late.
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Review by Watter6
member for 10.5 years, 70 visits, last login: 2.4 years ago
lodged 8 years ago
- Sugar Land,Fort Bend,TX
- $22 per month
- "Good features and a good price"
- "Have had numerous downtimes; no fax support"
- "Worth a shot if they can overcome recent issues"
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Even before the recent major outage, I've had periodic issue with connectivity. Overall, the quality and features are quite good but the reliability is starting to get to me.
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Review by Ikarasu
member for 9.3 years, 2306 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 8 years ago
- Port Coquitlam,BC
- $10 per month
- (month by month)
- about 2 days
- "Quality calls, many options/features, VERY cheap."
- "It's so cheap, you might find yourself buying multiple lines..."
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[Update]
Seeing how everyone else is updating there info, I figured I would also.
Some of you may think a perfect 5 is outrageous... Well, Let me explain -
To begin with... their webpage was a little confusing, so it had a 3 for me. But the reason why... is because of ALL the features. since they first had it up, they re-disgned it... And besides the "comming soon" features, which already work for me... Everything is perfect.
Ease of instalation - plugging in the device, makes it work perfectly. Not to mention they'll give you a password,all the settings and everything without asking questions. Can call from my computer/anywhere anytime I want. no one else does this... makes it a perfect 10 for me.
Call quality: Originally I had a 4. But I've been using it as my POTS line, probably an hour a day - and I notice not even 1 bad sound. I figure it was my internet connection before, everything sounds even better then my POTS righ.
Reliability: The past week... they were having issues, and have been down for a few days. Now... if I were to be like everyone else, and take this as a 5 must be 100% Reliable... I'm sure they'd get a 4, as this is the first problem I've had with them. However... taking into consideration that i've been with them for... well, since they very first started up, and this is the first issue... I call them reliable. Their problem (word of mouth) was with one of there partners having problems. I'm not going to give the phone company a 10% reliability just because I have a power outage, and I'm not going to deduct broadvoice because of a downtime which they couldn't control - They ARE realiable, and I dont doubt that over one mistake.
Tech support - Onlything I ever had to call for, is to get the information to connect to them via my computer. Had to do it twice since I lost the information the first time (The good ol non G-mail days) And they replied within 24 hours.
Value for money? Lets just say I saved over thousands of dollars 
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Review by tonygenopl
member for 11.4 years, 244 visits, last login: 3 years ago
updated 8 years ago
- Plymouth,Plymouth,MA
- $20 per month
- (month by month)
- about 5 days
- "Ease of setup"
- "Service outages have lasted about week as of 5/9/05"
- "At this point, stay away"
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Update - 5/9/05
Broadvoice has been up and down for the past week. Call quality has declined (lots of echoes) and I've been unable to complete about 80% of my calls (when I have a dial tone). Dial tone has also been MIA for about 20% of the time over the past week.
Calls that go out most likely end up in deadspace. I ordered SunRocket last night. Hope they work out better.
End of Update - 5/9/05
This is my third attempt at VoIP and I think I've finally got a keeper. About 3 years ago I signed up with Vonage and thought the call quality was rather poor. Fired them off the roof and waited till now to give voip a shot. I tried Lingo but again was unimpressed with the call quality: latency was annoying and people I called complained about the call quality. I really wanted a service that can call Western Europe for free and Lingo fit that bill. But again, call quality was poor. A search here showed that BroadVoice also offered unlimited calls to Italy. Installation was about as simple as you get: essentially plugy and play.
Call quality has been superb: about as good as POTS most of the time. My wife can now call her aunt in Italy and gab all she wants and she's loving the call quality. In fact, she commented at how loud and clear it was. Thumbs up to BroadVoice: they've made VoiP easy to use and easy to take (great call quality)!
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 Review by EvelKub
member for 11.1 years, 2317 visits, last login: 16 days ago
updated 8 years ago
- Chandler,Maricopa,AZ
- $11 per month
- about 2 days
- "Overall sound quality, Price"
- "Email to any department takes days for a response and any outages last extended length of time"
- "Good value for the money, but have a backup solution (maybe prepaid cell phone)"
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I am using the service with a BV provided Sipura SPA-1000 DTA and Linksys WRT54G 2.0 with firmware from Sveasoft (for QOS, which makes a BIG difference.) When I first signed up, I picked a phone number that was provided by XO Communications. I noticed that overnight I would not get incoming calls, and my friends would tell me they would get error messages. I switched to a number provided by GlobalCrossing (new backend provider for BroadVoice) and have not had these problems at all.
When I first got the service, it would have some random outages. It seems all of those have gone away and the service has been, for the most part, reliable. For a total of $11.79 per month, a great value!
While it used to be that email to customer service was delayed, recently it has become more of a problem with calling them -or- emailing them. Their site indicates that they are looking for more CS reps, however that seems to be taking as long to add as the number porting (which has been 'coming soon' for over a year, while nearly every other VOIP provider has managed to figure it out.)
*Update 05/08/05
They've been having major problems this past week. The service has been down about 99% of the time and the outage is being blamed on issues with their PSTN interconnection partner Global Crossing. I plan on keeping them for the time being, however I am glad that I do have a backup cell phone now. I just happened to get it a few days before these outages started.
*Update 05/16/05
It appears that all is now ok. I can call everyone (except my cell phone) and everyone can call me.
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 Review by td100776
member for 10.4 years, 5454 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 8 years ago
- South River,Middlesex,NJ
- $12 per month
- (month by month)
- about 1 days
- "Best Value for my $, Echos that existed with Voicepulse don't exist with Broadvoice"
- "None"
- "I should have switched a long time ago."
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11-15-2004
This is my First Review of Broadvoice and while I have only used the Service a few Days I must say I am very pleased, I had Voicepulse and was paying $14.99/month everything was fine except I wasn't making that many calls to justify spending the Money and there were some Echos when talking on the Phone. I signed up for the B.Y.O.D. Lite plan for $5.95/month because I never used even close to 100 Minutes with Voicepulse so I figure i'll be good with this Plan, I was very surprised when I got the first Call from my Friend and there was not one Echo.
I'm still getting used to everything as I was with Voicepulse for about a Year and a Half and it may take a while to remember the suddle differences like Voicemail is *86 instead of *123 and little things like that.
5-6-05
After going 4 Days without Phone Service I have decided to cancel my Broadvoice Account, maybe if they had a Network Availability Number I would have stayed but I have moved on to another VOIP provider and I am happy.
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 Review by prestonlewis
member for 10.1 years, 2053 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
updated 8 years ago
- Sacramento,Sacramento,CA
- $9 per month
- about 2 days
- "7 digit dialing in my area code, Sipura SIP device, good sound quality, low monthly price includes unlimited in-state calling."
- "Web portal not satisfactory yet, email/phone support is slow, initial cost is higher than other providers."
- "Too unreliable, mainly for incoming calls."
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You can't beat the $9.99 unlimited instate plan when you live in a big state like California, where I live. However, it's only working about 80% of the time, less for incoming calls. Not reliable enough for me. When it works, it works just fine but the not working incidents are too frequent.
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Review by StarBus
member for 10.2 years, 3 visits, last login: 8 years ago
updated 8 years ago
- Framingham,Middlesex,MA
- $28 per month
- about 3 days
- "6 mo update: Total satisfaction. Early tech issues resolved"
- "Number portability delayed. 911 (local emergency routing) still unavailable"
- "Outguns VOIP w/bigger market share: $25 to 35 countries. Finally, RBOC quality"
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05-May-2005, From Ellery Davies
This is my comprehensive update to a review I wrote letter on Nov 22, 2004
Back then, I had used BroadVoice VOIP service with a separately purchased phone adapter for 3 weeks. The adapter, called a SIP, is slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes, but weighs just a few ounces. It converts any standard phone (or all phones in your house - or an incoming trunk to your company) into a "free" international phone. (More about hardware/phone options later)...
In my earlier report, I described how I came to choose BroadVoice from the competitive landscape: BroadVoice, Packet8, AT&T/Callvantage, iConnect, Skype, VoicePulse, Lingo, Vonage, VOIP2.net, Verizon/VoiceWing. My choice was a result of three factors:
1. Reputation (primarily based on reviews & comparisons at BroadBand Reports)
2. Policy: BroadVoice does not "lock" equipment. Also, they permit the use multiple adapters and even encourage you to "roam" (but never more than one attached to the network at a time).
3. Price:
a) BroadVoice covers 35 countries in the monthly fee. The others include US, Canada and a few countries at best.
b) The BroadVoice "basic feature package" includes nearly every feature you can imagine (more about this later)
c) Extra international numbers are just $1.95 per month. That means that Aunt Sadie in England can dial you as a local call, even though she still uses a crank phone.
RECAP (Past Review): What did I report after the first three weeks?
It took a few service calls over the first three weeks to overcome initial configuration problems. During the first week, the speech delay was often unacceptable, audio quality was inconsistent and occasionally, the phone didn't ring (calls went straight to voice mail). This was sorted out after several support calls.
At first, the support staff thought that the problems would be solved by settings in my internet router -- but I had already been down that route. My settings were fine. Later in the first week, the problems were resolved by a combination of their own routing (switching the server assignment on their end), and by my avoiding the use of a new and unsupported D-Link router (#DI-624). Service during the second and third week seemed to gradually improve. In my report after 3 weeks, I stated that most calls were "almost indistinguishable" from telephone company service. Well, service has improved dramatically since then...
Update: It's been 6 months. It's time to review Quality, Service, Features, Cost/Geography, Terminus options
1. Service Quality
It rocks! Voice quality and all aspects of the BroadVoice connection are perfect! --They have been perfect since the end of my 3rd week more than 5 months ago. I have had no problems at all since I last wrote, except for the "last-minute update" in next paragraph). BroadVoice is better than my former Verizon/AT&T service. The audio quality is significantly better. There is no background hiss and it has a richer dynamic range. If I place a call from one line to the other, (so that I can hear my own voice), I can tell that there is a very slight delay (just under 100 ms). But if you avoid "daisy chaining" your phone adapter through internal network switches, the round trip delay is well under the psychological threshold of "speaker-interruption" syndrome.
Last-Minute Update: On the very day that I am writing this - after 6 months of service - their is a general problem with incoming calls. Apparently, it affects all users, because a service bulletin appears in the left frame of BroadVoice support pages - "We are aware of the problem affecting incoming calls..." Since my main home phone number has not yet been ported, this is not a problem for me. But I bet it is a big deal for anyone who has cancelled phone service from their incumbent provider. The thing that concerns me about this problem with incoming calls is that it also affects forwarding. I programmed my service to forward after 2 rings. But during this service problem all incoming calls are intercepted by a fast busy signal!
Voice Impact on Data Throughput: I regularly use my VOIP service from both my office and my home (see #5a below) and have never noticed any impact on web browsing or even file transfers. It simply is invisible. BroadVoice says that the impact is about 110 kbps, but only when you are actually talking. Most cable service connections support 2~5 MBps or about 20-50 times the speed required for voice. To be fair, residential internet services restrict the UPSTREAM speed to about 1/6 of the incoming speed. They do this to discourage residential users from running popular data services from their homes (web servers, newsgroups, etc). But there is still plenty of overhead for one or two voice connections. Bottom Line: No noticeable impact at all
(Side Note: An engineer at my office points out that eventually - as people begin streaming video and audio services around their homes - these voice services will eventually require a router capable of QOS ("Quality of Service" settings). That's because the 2-way nature of telephone conversations demands priority over even a video stream. The video data (say from your PC to your living room television) is one-way and could easily be buffered by a 1-second memory reservoir.)
2. Customer Service
Haven't needed any; with one exception (not related to service quality, below). But I have noticed that getting a live person takes much longer during daytime hours than it used to. Fortunately, there have been no service problems.
BroadVoice had promised that they would offer local number portability - so that I could cancel my Verizon phone service. Originally they said that it would be in place by October 2004. That's why I signed up at the end of October. Here I am 5 months later and I am still paying more than 100 per month for my 2 Verizon lines. It's uncomfortable, but BroadVoice claims that despite new laws in their favor, the incumbents are able to drag their feet with paperwork. They recommend cutting back on all features with your former service to reduce fees. I really ought to do that.
3. Service Features
Don't even get me started! How would you like to have ONE NUMBER that rings at your home, cell, and office phone simultaneously? Answer it wherever you like or have it hunt for you - all without remembering to forward/restore. What about three way international calls - for free! There are too many features to describe, but they are all described here. Only the last set of features shown on this page is billed. The first two categories are included. Features can all be controlled from a web browser or any touch tone phone.
4. Cost/Geography
This hasn't changed since I signed up. But it is still the category killer. No one even comes close. Cost is $19.95/month for 21 countries or $24.95/mo for 35 countries. Tax is only $1.40.
A list of counties is shown here. You can't beat that with a stick. Kitty calls her family in China regularly (she leaves for a 2-week visit on Monday). My niece, Caryn, is in Australia attending the University of Newcastle. All of these calls are free. The only thing I need to consider is the different time zone. Cost no longer enters the equation. Of course, you have to have a broadband internet connection and you still pay a monthly fee. But the decision to reach out and touch someone simply won't add to your expenses anymore. How sweet is that?!
My colleague, Monya Morgovsky, points out that the list misses former Soviet republics, and also Mexico. That's true. We called major cities in Mexcio at 3c/min. Russia is 2c/min and the Ukraine is under 1.5c/min - all without hidden fees or taxes. Complete international rates are shown at: »www.broadVoice.com/rateplans_int···_li.html
5. User Equipment or Software
There are three end-user "equipment" options. But before I explain how they work, I will point out that this is where BroadVoice is unique! Not only do they permit you to move about the world with your hardware or software connection, they allow you to use "in serial sequence" any number of devices. It's like having a spare cell phone at each of your vacation homes and being permitted to use them on a single account. They actually encourage this practice - as long as you honor your agreement by avoiding the use (or even the simultaneous connection) of two "locals" at once.
a) Phone Adapter (SIP)
The "typical method" of accessing your VOIP service is to use a hardware phone adapter (called a SIP). It is a palm-size device that you can carry to any home or office with high-speed internet service and it makes your existing phones work over the internet - instead of with the phone company. The next three paragraphs describe it in more detail, but don't be alarmed. It really is a simple device. Very much plug-n-play...
The SIP has a connection for your LAN (typically this comes from your router or primary switch) and either one a standard RJ-11 phone jack for your house phone. (On the fancier version, there is a 2nd phone jack which serves a separate phone line if you pay for two lines). BroadVoice recommends attaching a single telephone or a multi-line cordless phone. Of course, you can also hook up all of your house phones on on either line 1 or line 2, but you must be careful to disconnect any incoming phone service trunk. Otherwise, the dialtone and ring voltage will endanger the phone network outside your home.
I sometimes carry my adapter to my office. When I hook it in, all of our office phones suddenly have access to an additional line which let's us reach our international customers without charge. I use the Sipura SPA2000 which is also marketed as the Linksys PAP2 at computer and electronic stores. But watch out! The ones at Best Buy and Circuit city are LOCKED into Vonage or AT&T and cannot be reset to work with BroadVoice unless you buy out the "rebate contract" by paying a fee. On eBay, you can get an unlocked Linksys model. Look for "-NA" at the end of the model number: PAP2-NA.
A SIP costs about $60 after discounts. Vonage and AT&T have the retail marketing agreements completely locked up. Their Linksys and D-Link adapters typically are FREE after rebate, but you cannot use these with BroadVoice, because they have tampered with the internal firmware. BroadVoice offers one with their service, but you pay an $40 activation fee. I chose to buy my own which reduces the activation fee to $10. My model, the Sipura SPA 2000 costs about $65 and supports two different phone numbers.
Of course, I was not eligible for the rebates which are generally tied to Vonage or AT&T Callvantage (the top 2 providers). But I was very happy to find a coupon in the box that gave me a free month with BroadVoice. My employer learned later that coupons for both BroadVoice and Lingo were added by my dealer, Voxilla.com. They just purchased the same Sipura adapter from VOIPsupply.com which does not include a service coupon.
Bottom Line: The SIPs sold at retail stores are tied to the two biggest VOIP service providers. It's a classic marketing "come-on". They offer an up front discount for inferior service and a higher subscription cost. They cannot be unlocked without paying a concession fee and "buying back" the original rebate. Walk the other way: Buy an unmodified SIP on eBay or from Voxilla, or use the one that BroadVoice offers with their service (but that adds $30 to the activation fee -just $9.95 if you bring your own SIP).
b) Soft Phone
There are several industry standard SIP applications that you can run on your PC. They are free and you can download them at BroadVoice. The most popular one is called SoftPhone. Of course, you need your PC and you really ought to have a good headset (USB or audio card) or a bluetooth headset. Soft phones work great and they offer unlimited portability. Now you can even place and receive calls from StarBucks. But you may prefer to use your cell phone. With a PC soft phone, there three important caveats:
1. You must have your PC with you; Of course, it must be on and running the software to make or receive a call.
2. You must be absolutely certain that your hardware SIP (the one back at your home -if you use one) is not only not in use, but is completely disconnected from the internet. If you are not positive, don't launch your PC softphone program! That would result in 2 registered phones with the same number. A big "no-no". It violates your service agreement and confuses BroadVoice servers.
Item #2 above is so important, that I recommend creating a batch file to remind you. It should bring up a warning to call your spouse at home and DISCONNECT that SIP before it lanches the application.
c) WIFI Phone
First a distinction: You can find "IP phones" on ebay for as little as $19. But these are just USB handsets. They work with a soft phone program running on the PC, but allow you to use the handheld microphone, speaker and keypad. Sure these are useful. They let you control your soft phone from a traditional handset. But they are not WiFi phones.
For a few hundred bucks, you can purchase an integrated WiFi phone from Pulver, UTStarcom, Motorola/Avaya or Zyxel. These devices look like cell phones, but they make calls on your BroadVocie service whenever you are in the vicinity of a WiFi hot spot. Well actually, they look like a cell phone from the mid 90s. Most of the models have the form factor of a jumbo chocolate bar.
BroadVoice officially supports the Pulver model, but they are about to recommend the UTStarcom which is also supported by Vonage.
I have not tried these integrated WiFi handsets, but the early reviewers have had seen intermittant quality and serious problems using them from public hot spots, such as airports and restaurants (that's really the whole point - isn't it)?! Although you can enter a WiFi encryption password from the handset, most commerical WiFi spots intercept your connection attempt with a web form that assumes you have a standard full screen browser. Let's say it asks you to enter the number from your cash register receipt at a McDonald's restaurant. Even if you find someone else in the place with a PC, they can only authorize the hardware serial number of their own equipment.
Just as with the soft phone, you must ensure that any hardware SIP used with the same account is completely disconnected from the internet (see #2 above). This is really important!
6. Other Comments
[From my previous report]... We use a 2-line, 5.8 GHz cordless phones (Uniden #TRU-8866 with 5 handsets). It works beautifully with VOIP service. Currently, our cordless phones have one landline and the BroadVoice line. Until BroadVoice can offer number portability, we are not yet removing our landline from the house-wired telephones.
7. Conclusion
The quality of BroadVoice service has made significant strides. It has gone from very good to outstanding - in fact, downright phenomenal. This spells big trouble for the incumbents. If I were an equities advisor, I would caution my clients to look beyond voice service when investing in the incumbent RBOCs. Their pioneering reign of supremacy in that area is only of to historians.
P.S. Today, my office is purchasing its own BroadVoice service. I won't have to carry my SIP back and forth anymore... In fact, nearly everyone I know is switching during this month or next month.
"Ellery Davies" BroadbandReports (at) starbus (dot) com
508-486-9040, ext-11 VOIP number (referral) 508-449-3422:
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 Review by montano
member for 12 years, 2202 visits, last login: 1.8 years ago
lodged 8 years ago
- Fresno,Fresno,CA
- Contract price not specified.
- about 3 days
- "Excellent call quality, cheap if you BYOD."
- "No LNP yet"
- "Great cust serv and tech suppt. Answer phone every time."
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I signed up on the BYOD plan with free setup and free first month. Call quality has been excellent thus far. Voicemail to email/800 numbers/great web portal. If they had LNP, I could give up my other providers !!
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