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Review by gregwilkinso 
Posted: 2.1 years ago
member for 8.6 years, 20 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
 Atlanta,Dekalb,GA
 $15 per month
 "Price"
 "Unreliable service and poor customer service"
 "Avoid at all costs"
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Steer clear....you have been warned.
I made the mistake and picked Broadvoice. My service has now been out for a week and their only response is to quote their terms of service and refuses to even allow me to port my number to another provider. Very sad situation. I filed a formal complain with the FCC today about this.
Save the hassle and pick a provider that offers reliable service and will work with you as a customer.
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Review by osoamazin
Posted: 2.1 years ago
member for 2.2 years, 5 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
Powder Springs,Cobb,GA
Contract price not specified.
 about 4 days
"Really fast activation and shipping. Equipment worked, out of the box."
"Activation charges are a little higher than I would prefer but not major."
"After the fiasco of viatalk, these guys are the best thing since sunrocket!"
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So after getting spoiled but the good service and support of Sunrocket, I looked at several other vendors. I made the BIG MISTAKE of trying Viatalk. Avoid them like the plague! Over a month to get my equipment and they are sending me cancellation notices for non payment of the monthly junk fee of $2.50?!?! WTF?!?! Told them to take the service and shove it!
Thankfully, I gave Broadvoice a try. Ordered online and had my activation email the same day. Equipment arrived two days later, just as scheduled and worked as soon as I connected it to my network. I sent in my number porting request and got a response one day later with a porting date within a week. That is the kind of response I expect from a company! The wife is loving the convenience of having a phone with unlimited local/long distance again. Thanks a lot Broadvoice!!
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 Review by Cyberian75
UPDATED: 2.2 years ago
member for 5.7 years, 1717 visits, last login: 4 days ago
Beaverton,Washington,OR
$28 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
"GOOD VALUE FOR MONEY"
"SLOW CUSTOMER SUPPORT"
"LOOK ELSEWHERE!!!"
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September 2007:
Canceled the service because of high taxes which adds up to be $5.47. Also, their calling rates are as twice as high compared to some others.
I'm now with CallWithUs.com.
August 29, 2006:
Now that my DSL has been fixed very recently, and I'll be getting FiOS pretty soon, I signed up with BroadVoice again as a BYOD customer. I'm using SPA-3000 this time as I've a lifeline.
It's been 3 days since I signed up, and it's been great so far. I had to e-mail customer service twice on different matters, and they replied to both. Average response time is about 16 hours. I haven't tried calling them... I hope I won't need to.
I wish their Unlimited World plans included at least 1 hour/$5 of cellular calls to Asia.
By the way, if you want to save $10 after 3 months, PM me before signing up!
OLD REVIEW:
I've tried Verizon VoiceWing before, but I found it a lot expensive compared to BroadVoice, and its call quality was a bit too loud, not to mention that it was unreliable even during one week I tried it for. I then signed up with BroadVoice, because its BYOD and Unlimited World Plus plans were very appealing -- especially since my mother makes international calls to S. Korea which averages around $15 a month using 1010987. Now she can talk to her family with no worries, thanks to BroadVoice!
Web-site: It'd be improved, but everything on there is functional. I've no complaints whatsoever.
Ease of Installation: I chose the BYOD Plan with Sipura 2000 from Voxilla. It took me less than 30 minutes from sign-up to configuring the device. As easy as ABC!
Call Quality: So far, quality has been as good as, if not better than, the POTS line, for both domestic and international calls.
Reliability: No downtime so far.
Tech Support: It's impossible to reach them on weekdays; however, when they are available and not overwhelmed, they do reply within an hour. Like many other have said, I believe BroadVoice is going through a "growing pain" phase.
Value for money: 100% ABSOLUTELY!!!
UPDATE (02/12):
I had a problem with voicemail, so I e-mailed their tech support. They replied within 10 minutes via phone! You can't possibly expect more than this! And the service has been excellent so far.
UPDATE (03/02):
I had to phone in for support, and it was answered by a very friendly tech in less than 5 minutes! I must be very lucky... heh. 
UPDATE (03/06):
Some of their low-level support techs are clueless at what certain things do.
FYI: They're charging in one-month advance.
UPDATE (05/08):
There's a major outage right now, and the service has been very unreliable for the last 2 to 3 days. This is getting very annoying. However, I don't plan on cancelling anytime soon as their Unlimited World Plus plan is too sweet to give up.
UPDATE (05/18):
The servce is about 99% restored, but their tech support via e-mail is non-existent as I've been e-mailing them about a billing issue for a week with no replies at all! Also, according to some here, BV won't be giving out any credits for a ten-day complete outage, so I'm open for an alternative at this point.
UPDATE (06/02):
The service has improved quite a bit since their last major outage, and I've received a $10 credit for it after 2 weeks of constant e-mailing to their billing department. So I'm pretty satisfied with it.
UPDATE (06/22):
I cancelled the service mainly because of a disconnection issue with my DSL. Once I get FiOS, I'll definitely come back!
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Review by ignavi
Posted: 2.2 years ago
member for 2.3 years, 6 visits, last login: 2.1 years ago
Miami,Miami-Dade,FL
$29 per month
"How they can make international calling so cheap? Flat rate to some countries, and internationall rates very hard to beat."
"Some outages during first months. Not anymore."
"They have nice thing that you can do from their website, Reliable->I use my VOIP as my primary phone, I used Cable internet."
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I'm been using broad-voice during 2 years now.
Useful features, like; busy call transferring, voice-mail messages to my EMAIL! great, plus other stuff.
They Have 911 service,
For some reason, I'm unable to change my assigned password to access the website, the password is almost impossible to memorize. (not that important)
I recommend Broadvoice although I never had used another VOIP provider, but let me tell you that is two HUNDRED times better than have a regular phone with bellsouth,
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Review by kieranmullen
UPDATED: 2.3 years ago
member for 3.9 years, 667 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Portland,Washington,OR
$15 per month
"US Based Tech Support... For Now"
"Transfer out policy"
"Greta deal for international calls"
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Who knows how long before they move their support to another country. I have had them awhile just for an extra number and for call forwarding. I have called tech support off and on as their support is 24x7 and I have always found them to be quite responsive.
I have BYOD and I am using Xlite which I configured myself is a free softphone from counterpath.net If I have a support question I call 611 from the phone and it goes right to them.
They say according to their TOS thatif you get a number from them that it cant be transferred away which I think is not fair. However I believe I have transferred by number away from them just fine and transferred a number from vonage.com to broadvoice.com to replace it and it went through fine. (sunrocket.com was unable to transfer it for some BS reason)
UPDATE: I was able to transfer the number to sunrocket 2 months ago. Sunrocket tanked. Should have stayed with Broadvoice
KieranMullen
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Review by mAlfunkti0n
UPDATED: 2.3 years ago
member for 5.9 years, 305 visits, last login: 59 days ago
Loveland,Clermont,OH
$10 per month
about 5 days
"Cheap! Voice quality is very good, the DTA is small!"
"Very long hold times for support."
"Great service so far!"
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I decided to give VoIP a try since im tired of dealing with my local bell and paying a crazy price for just phone service. It took me a few days to get the device, it was on backorder first, then finally shipped. I only wish they had some other options besides 2 day air from FedEx, I would have rather paid less and shipped via USPS, but oh well.
The device shipped to me was the Sipura SPA-1001. Its TINY and I love that its small. Installation was quick and painless, was up and running in about 10 seconds and was able to make calls. Voice quality is just fine, right on par if not better than my POTS service. Overall I really like this service so far, Ive had no complaints from callers. The only thing they REALLY need to do something about are the hold times when you call in, they are insane sometimes!
Ive had it running for a little less than a week now and have not had any problems with it yet.
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Review by dm33
Posted: 2.3 years ago
member for 2.4 years, 81 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
Raleigh,Wake,NC
$15 per month
"BYOD, call quality, lots of features"
"No or slow weekend support. Limited BYOD support"
"Decent provider, if not BYOD there are cheaper alternatives"
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Wanted to use a PAP2 v2 BYOD. Thats a tricky proposition. Broadvoice seemed like a decent choice for BYOD, seems fairly reputable.
Signing up was effortless and instantaneous. The whole process was online, before I had even finished the questions they had already sent me my account information. E911 registration said it could take up to 72 hours. Within 5 minutes I was confirmed. Pretty awesome experience.
Website is good, lots of features.
Setting up the PAP2 was harder than I gave it credit. I was able to setup the basic configuration fairly quickly. Was able to make and receive calls. Voice quality good. No dropouts. Delay seems a bit more than with Vonage. Possibly because I am routing through a proxy in NY, quite some distance from me.
On the downside, I ran into a mess minor and one close to major issue with the PAP2 v2. I couldn't figure out how to get around it. I asked Broadvoice support some questions on the weekend. No response whatsoever. Vonage provides useless 24x7 support. Its disconcerting that no one responded from Broadvoice over the weekend.
Ultimately I couldn't figure out how to get around the issues with the PAP2 v2 and decided to go back to Vonage. If I gave up on the BYOD idea and gave up on Vonage, by next choice would be VoicePulse. The cost for their 200 minute plan is about the same as the Broadvoice unlimited in state plan, and coverage is similar except that you get 200 nationwide minutes with VoicePulse. Broadvoice also has high startup costs with a $40 activation plus $15 shipping if not BYOD and there's a $40 cancellation fee if within the 1st year.
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Review by cappy60
Posted: 2.7 years ago
member for 2.7 years, 0 visits, last login: 2.7 years ago
Castle Rock,Douglas,CO
$13 per month (12 month contract)
"Cheap?, not in my case"
"Customer Service, setup fee & cancellation fee, losts of $ - no service"
"Run don't walk, away from BroadVoice"
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BroadVoice boasts a “Hassle-Free, Money Back Guarantee:”
"Try BroadVoice service risk-free. If you are dissatisfied, for any reason, you may cancel the service within 30 days of activation and receive a refund. We’ll refund your money hassle-free, with no questions asked. The cancellation procedure is simple – just send us an e-mail and you’ll receive an RMA # (Return Merchandise Authorization Number)."
But be careful activation starts the day you request the service! You don't get 30 days to try the service if you’re waiting to receive the device from them to connect. BroadVoice requires the recipients signature to deliver the package, something they don't tell you when you signup. In my case I wasn't home to sign for the delivery which ended up being sent back to BroadVoice. Calling their customer service to change the shipping address resulted in endlessly being on hold, repeatedly getting dropped after being on hold for over an hour, etc. By the time I did get someone on the phone I was ready to cancel rather than give them a new shipping address. But Customer Service can't handle cancellation requests, I learn, these need to be sent to "billing" by email. So I email billing, a month later no response from billing on my cancellation request but I'm charged for another month’s service. When I call Customer Service back they ask me to resend the cancellation request. The next day I get a cancellation confirmation and another charge on my credit card for $39.95. When I call customer service back I'm informed that I've gone over the 30 day trial period (strange I haven't gotten to try anything yet!) Bottom line: they've charged my credit card for $121.75 ($68.35 startup fees, $13.45 for month 2, and a $39.95 cancellation fee), I've receive no service and I'm told this is their policy. My opinion: It is unethical for a company to charge you for a service and start the clock on their 30 day guarantee before you receive the device from them to access the service. Give these folks your credit card number at your own risk!
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Review by OnnoBulk
UPDATED: 2.7 years ago
member for 5.7 years, 19 visits, last login: 2.5 years ago
Miami,Miami-Dade,FL
$22 per month
"All"
"None"
"Real value for money!!!!"
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Had the service since May of 2004. Moved from Miami to Holland (plan to be here for a couple of years) and took the service with me. I can say that I am extremely happy. Rarely or never a dropped call. Use it even for calls here inside Holland since it is much cheaper then local POTS! I can truly vouch for the quality of BroadVoice. This technology keeps amazing me!!!!
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It's now January 2005 and I am still with BroadVoice. I am extremely satisfied. I have upgraded to the Unlimited World Plan for $19.95, and I am laughing all the way to the bank.
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August 2005: Due to circumstances I am back in the US  and I am still a BroadVoice subscriber . I have gone through the BV meltdown, which was annoying but not really their fault. They gave me a month free anyway, and that is excellent customer service in my book. Furthermore, considering the price and what you get for it, I will put up with minor inconveniances. Since last month the service has been excellent again. I call mainly within the US and to Europe. My brother in Europe has a BV Unlimited World Plan subscription now too, and he is very satisfied (it saved him a bundle already!!).
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February 2007: I am still with BroadVoice and I am still very happy with their service.
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May 2007: I am still a happy camper!!
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 Review by BLL
UPDATED: 2.8 years ago
member for 5.3 years, 1076 visits, last login: 36 days ago
Encino,Los Angeles,CA
$12 per month
"Flawless voice quality, xlnt features, ultra flexible BYOD options"
"Mercenary attitude towards those who use service to excess."
"A great match to my needs and preferences at a great price."
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At the peak of my frustration with Voicepulse (constant outages and choppy sound) I signed up for a BYOD Broadvoice account on Thanksgiving Day, 2004. Amazingly, I was emailed my SIP credentials and account details within an hour, even on a holiday. I plugged the credentials into my Sipura and was off and running.
Audio quality is indistinguishable from POTS. A couple of times I've heard an unusual "underwater" tone on calls, which was remedied by a reboot of my router. The service has been extremely reliable, with only one outage of any real consequence. (The infamous Global Crossing divorce meltdown...) Even that was a partial outage, that lasted part of two days. Voice quality suffered for a few weeks, but soon returned to it's previous high level of quality.
I seldom make out of state calls, but call all over California, so the in-state plan is a perfect match to my needs. (I generally use Teliax, TelePacket or Voxee for my modest out of state and international needs.)
I've had little reason to contact BV support, but the handful of emails I've sent them were always answered, some within minutes, others within days. Still, many others have loudly complained of poor response from tech support, so I've dinged them a bit in that category.
One thing I find very appealing about BV is their amazing flexibility regarding equipment for BYOD accounts. They don't care WHAT you hook up to the service: Sipuras, softphones, asterisk, etc... It's great for someone like me who loves to experiment, but probably not important for the average family who just wants a phone.
After one full year with Broadvoice, I couldn't be happier. Well...if I could get it work with the analog modem in my Panasonic ReplayTV/Showstopper, I'd be happier. Otherwise, no complaints and it's a fantastic value for the money. I cautiously kept my POTS line until a few months ago, but now I've gone VoIP only and feel great to be liberated from the monopolistic clutches of SBC.
UPDATE: 5/16/06 - For a couple of days, I was getting occasional calls where the other party could hear me, but I couldn't hear them. A few others had reported the same issue in the forum, so I placed my FIRST EVER service call to Broadvoice. Due to some of the CS horror stories going around, I was expecting a long hold time, so I put the phone on speaker. Therefore, it was a bit of a surprise when a live-human answered immediately, before even a single ring completed. I had to quickly snatch the phone off the cradle. Chip, the human in question, asked a few simple questions about my device, acknowledged that the proxy server I was using was having some problems, and advised me to try the CHI or LAX proxy. So far, so good.
As I am a self-provisioned, BYOD customer, I completely expected Chip to pressure me into letting them configure my device. Nope, he didn't even suggest it. I like that about BV, they understand that some customers are more technically up to speed and don't want or need to be auto-provisioned.
UPDATE: 2/03/07
As of this morning, I was unable to place outgoing calls. All attempts were met with a female voice saying "You are unable to place this call. Please contact your system administrator." Incoming calls were working fine. Hmmnn. I called the support line, hit "1" on their answering system, and immediately found myself talking to a support rep named Kay. After acknowledging that my device was self-provisioned and that she couldn't directly adjust it, Kay gave some typical, generic advice....reboot everything, shutdown the device for a few minutes, try another proxy server. I was skeptical (having already done all of the above) but went ahead and did as she asked. No luck, so I called support again. Once more, I was talking to a person (Sean) within seconds. I'm really starting to wonder about these people who complain about sitting on hold for hours...it's just not the case, in my experience. I told Sean what I had tried...he clicked a few keys on his end and said "Try it now." Immediately, I was able to place calls.
On both calls, the support reps were polite and friendly, and clearly were not reading from support scripts. Again, they answered immediately (on a Saturday afternoon, FWIW) with absolutely no time waiting on hold.
After 26 consecutive months of service, I have to say that BV is certainly reliable enough for me. I'm nothing but impressed by their support reps.
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BroadVoice
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UPDATE: Service is questionable
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