Likelihood to Recommend Broadvoice is extremely robust and well-suited for a variety of contexts, but I think it excels best in tighter-knit work environments where contacting each other is the main use as opposed to receiving many incoming calls from outside guests. There have been a few instances where I think the features would conflict with user intention -- namely, having a number linked to two different phones, but one phone was meant more for receiving outside calls and the other was an office phone in the same area. Because of this, if a guest called, it would disturb the office, but if a vendor called, the guest phone would also ring, leading to confusion. I think this is an instance of the peer ecosystem conflicting with a more customer-facing need, but if a peer line needed to contact that department, it is best to have both of them ring.
Read full review For Insurance agencies, small practices, small call centers, anyone that need call forwarding or work with his number remotely while away from office. I can't list all the things I'm gaining as a Fonality customer. From the installation process, the configuration phase with the technicians, the account managers, every Fonality employee was professional and savvy. I was a contact center specialist for more than 10 years and I can tell you that I've never been this happy with a service! Never! Probably if you need a more complex solution and you have an enterprise level company having your own hardware gives you more control over your calls and how to manage them. But again, I think that Fonality can cover most scenarios without the need of a huge investment.
Read full review Pros Broadvoice is excellent for customizing/tailoring to a business's specific needs. Tech Support is easy to reach, and provides consistent help. Onboarding new customers is very thorough and supportive. Changing phone systems is overwhelming and time-consuming. Broadvoice makes it as easy as possible with clear expectations and fantastic training. Read full review From an administrator's perspective, Fonality makes administering the company's phone system easy. Configuration menus and setup options are logically structured and easy to understand. Technical support has been very good. Early on in our deployment, we had some nagging voice quality issues which were network related. Fonality provided exceptional support even though it was not technically their issue. It is important to know ahead of time how well your vendors work with other vendors for integrated services like a VOIP telephone system. Fonality support demonstrated their patience and perseverance in helping us resolve our issues. Although we don't use remote office capabilities much, the ability to set up phones on the system in remote locations has been a significant help to several of our departments. Read full review Cons When changing users on the URL page there are some steps that can be a bit clunky based on the type of phone you're using. Separating users devices into multiple locations inside the URL is nice but you're not able to move those users around if they do change spots in the company. For some reason within the b-hive mobile app if I miss a call and then go into the app to check the call and exit the app I still show a notification icon constantly. It seems to be related to the the Chat portion of the app. If you go to that part of the app and refresh when you exit the app the notification icon is gone. Read full review Bugginess - Some things just really need some tweaking. I had to get very creative with my call routing and hold music, because the in-queue announcements don't work right at all. For example, even set to 'play once' it would loop the 'you are the first caller' announcement over and over, and cause call drops. Or my caller-name ID, which shows the registered user's name on each line on outgoing calls, even though it's not set to such anywhere in the CP settings. Support - I'll give them 50/50 on this. My experience with Verizon VCE was everyone playing hot potato with issues and saying it was the responsibility of another department, meaning several phone calls and lots of hold time. Fonality doesn't have that issue, I've never really been passed around or blown off. However, some of the 'offshore' CS reps are... wow. I spent about half a dozen emails back and forth with two of them, trying to figure out why queues I deleted from the CP randomly and consistently reappeared in the HUD. Most of those emails were spent trying to explain that no, my issue was NOT that I wanted to create those queues again in the CP. Read full review Likelihood to Renew Broadvoice is an ideal value. It's not the best possible IP based phone system but it's easily one of the best options if cost is a factor. We got a capable and easy to use product while lowering our costs, a total win-win.
Read full review We've already made a deep investment in the system hardware. We wouldn't be interested in another system at this point! And by the look of my colleagues faces when they see the HUD, I don't think we'd want to switch to a system that would limit us or take away any of these features! We may look at putting the server in the cloud, should internet outages prove to be such a common issue that it is preventing our other locations from functioning smoothly
Read full review Usability Once the phones are operational it just works. Broadvoice will customize the phones the way you want not they way they want you to have. There are several different ringtones to choose from. Also, Broadvoice can make the volume of phone calls to stay at whatever level you set them at
Read full review Overall excellent usability, with a few adjustments I feel this is the absolute best VoIP system out there. Just a clarification on the licences and limit the interface to reflect what licence we have. There should be a back or redunancy feature to Fonality Server, If there was a mistake we should be able to resort back to a usable state asap. Before implementing changes to the server, there should be a trial or sample of the changes to make sure it behaves as intended before effecting customer experience. It would be nice to have a demo version of Fonality interface so possible clients can truly evauluate the system. Because of the quality, it would have made it easier to convince the owners to make the transition sooner
Read full review Reliability and Availability AWAYS available to assist when I call. I could not be happier about that!
Read full review Fonality has been available to us 99% of the time. There have rarely been any lengthy outages. If any issues do occur, their support staff is available around the clock to help. This is important, since communication is a big part in our company and availability of the phone system is important in maintaining this reliability
Read full review Performance Any issues are usually overcome fairly quickly. We don't utilize reports offered by the system - we are a small company and the monitoring that would provide is just not something we would utilize.
Read full review Fonality's performance is excellent. The phones work flawlessly and the calls are clear. It is a well put-together system that does not need daily support. It is not complex from a user standpoint, as most of our staff are quick to learn how to use the phones. More systems should strive to work as well as Fonality's
Read full review Support Rating Laura H. our Service Coordinator was exceptionally helpful when the inevitable hiccups occurred along the way. She calmly sought out solutions that kept the project moving so that we could meet our move-out/move-in deadlines. Also, their 24/7 Business Support line is staffed with knowledgeable people that answer my questions quickly and accurately.
Read full review Because of their customer support and their attention for details in our problems that we face during our initial stage. We simply love fonality just for the way we are treated when we reach them with our fonality issues - they take it seriously and resolve it as early as possible and the most important part is we dont need to keep on insisting them to do so.
Read full review In-Person Training The in-person was done by phone and was GREAT!
Read full review Training was provided by the in-house IT administrator. Fonality was able to provide support to the admin, who then assisted the users. It went smoothly and all the details and functions of the system were made available to the office staff. Any questions were answered promptly and if any issues did arise, Fonality was available to answer them
Read full review Online Training Overcame obstacles of everyone being in different places. Trainer was excellent (do not remember her name!). Open to all questions no matter how technical. The feedback from my colleagues were they were happy
Read full review Training was excellent, but most of what they had was webinars and not real world situation for our company's need. It would be better to have them remote in my local computer and test my system using inbound / outbound calls. This would have made it easier to learn and more relevant
Read full review Implementation Rating It was straightforward to set up. The phone was delivered prior to installation. The script and routing of calls were established prior to installation as well. The on-site technician installed each phone and offered training to anyone who asked. The main setup for hours, calls, and extensions was already set up via online meeting, making the phone install on-site a seamless experience.
Read full review Everything from the installation to the implementation has been great with Fonality, there is a lot of freedom to how the system will operate but the freedom comes at a cost of more technical experience to make sure it is configured correctly. The staff is very helpful can will make sure that the system is setup correctly and work perfectly.
Read full review Alternatives Considered We used Comcast mobility lines for years, but compared to Broadvoice, they have a long way to go. I would sometimes have to call Comcast because their website wouldn't let me connect, while their side was showing no issues.
Read full review I have not used any other VoIP system that I have been paying for. I hope that Fonality proves itself enough to where I will not have to switch. So far, for the price and the functionality, this is my recommendation for small businesses. I might recommend going with a more high end phone to increase functionality, but other than that, the system is one I would definitely recommend.
Read full review Contract Terms and Pricing Model Did not assist in the purchase of this system.
Read full review Scalability Giving a neutral answer as this is something we do not need and therefore do not utilize.
Read full review It is easy to scale this system, as long as you have the proper technical staff available to support it. Adding users and phones is straightforward. The main work involves having the physical network in place and configuring the networking equipment. Overall, it is not that difficult as long as all of this is in place.
Read full review Return on Investment We have pretty much cut our phone service bill in half compared to our previous provider. The reliability of the system has reduced downtime to null. Communication, communication, communication is a must for any organization. Broadvoice has met all our expectations plus. Well worth the investment. Read full review We are still new to Fonality, but having the flexability has proven quite successful thus far. The management of incoming calls and voicemail messages has really helped us to be able to follow up with potential clients. The service at Fonality helped our new business take a leap into 2017, and we expect much growth with the continued use of Fonality. Read full review ScreenShots