Broadband/Internet Phones (VOIP) - BroadVoice

In the area of Internet/broadband phone services, we place BroadVoice only slightly behind Vonage, though depending upon your circumstances, they could easily rise to be the best option. 

Broadband/Internet phone services need to be inexpensive and BroadVoice does do that.  At about $30 per month, BroadVoice is substantially cheaper than Vonage and has basically the same set of features, but it does not include a fax line.  You will have to decide how important that is, but before you do, see our story on fax services.

As with Vonage, BroadVoice allows you management control over your account including call transfer, simultaneous rings, picking up your messages remotely and a lot more.  Honestly, we think that Vonage had probably better keep their eye on BroadVoice if they want to hold their own.

The biggest area where BroadVoice doesn’t hold its own yet is in availability.  We found that there are a lot of areas that are not yet covered, including some fairly large cities.  However, to be fair, some of these had availability in outlying suburbs where there was service.  We found that a bit peculiar, but there are probably reasons why one would have availability in a town of several thousand, right next door to cities of a million or more.

The second area of concern is that according to their site as of 12/20/04, you cannot yet transfer your current phone number to them.  They say this should be available soon.

we give BroadVoice a thumbs-up! 

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Marketing >> Marketing & Technology  >> Broadband Phone (VOIP) BroadVoice