BroadVoice
So, as some of you may already know, I have been using VoIP exclusively at home for a while, now. I currently use a company called BroadVoice, based right here in MA. So far, I’ve had no complaints with the service. For quite some time, I was using it strictly with a soft phone, but when Jamie moved in, she wanted to be able to use her analog cordless phone. I thought why not, so I went ahead and bought an Analog Telephone Adapter and configured it for use with Broadvoice. The whole process was amazing simple. I have been using the default G.711ulaw codec for my voice calls (not a huge concern at cable modem speeds – 80K per call is fine), but I have to see what other codecs Broadvoice supports. I have to say, though, for the price, and the service I receive for that price, BroadVoice is well worth it. I spend roughly $25 a month, and I have a phone number local to my town, and have unlimited calling any where in the US and like 20 or so more countries. That’s right, no long distance charges. I’ve been using the service whenever I work from home (with caller-id blocking), and comparable use on my old Verizon land line would have cost me hundreds of dollars a month. Even when I had my land line, and I wasn’t using it, it still cost me more than $30 a month, so I’m still saving. I think once you look at the features available and calling areas for the plan, Broadvoice works out to be cheaper than even Vonage. I highly recommend them to any one for residential use.
But see, that’s where I start to have a problem with them. I’ve recently confirmed with them that on an account, though you can have up to 3 phone numbers (including an 800 number), you can only have 1 active call (call waiting / 3-way calling, too). So, the service is not suitable for building a SIP trunk from an IP PBX for business use, unless you only have a a need for a single line. What I would like to find is a company that caters to businesses thus allowing calls to be trunked across SIP. Other things I would like to see supported, too, would be multiple DID numbers. That is to say, let’s say I start a business and I have 4 people working for me. I want to be able to have 5 people on calls, and still receive any number of incoming calls to my auto attendant. I would also like to be able to have a toll free number, as well as DID numbers in the area codes in which I do the most business. If anyone out there knows of such a company, please let me know. This would be a huge help for me.
