Pricing

Nextiva's prices are on the lower end of the pricing scale as compared with other top business VoIP providers. Nextiva's pricing works as follows:

In addition to offering some of the lowest monthly fees for business VoIP, Nextiva also gets kudos for offering free toll free numbers included in all business VoIP packages. It is important to note that Nextiva business plans require the purchase of a business phone which ranges in price from $84.95 to $299 (plus tax and shipping). A Polycom SoundStation 4000 speaker system for conference rooms is available for $714.99.

Nextiva's supplemental features include:

Features

Nextiva offers an impressive range of professional features that can make any business present itself well to every caller. Among the most useful features is the ability to choose between a local number or a toll free number, an online fax integrated into your plan and mobile integration which can be an asset to any active businessperson. Other features include:

• Free toll free number
• Voicemail
• Voicemail to email
• Auto-attendant
• vFax online fax
• Dial-by-name directory
• Call routing
• Hold music
• Number portability
• Holiday and special greetings
• Web-based call logs
• Mobile phone integration
• Call forwarding
• Caller ID
• Caller ID block
• Do not disturb
• Hunt groups
• Speed dial

Sound Quality

We tested out Nextiva by calling and receiving calls from other VoIP phones, cell phones and landlines. We found the call quality on our side to be excellent at all times, and our test subjects had very few complains. Although some static was reported, most of the complaints came from callers who were speaking on cell phones, so it was difficult to judge whether the problem was with Nextiva or the cell phone carrier.

Customer Support

Although Nextiva's customer service page claims that the company is 'fanatical about customer support', we found this to be an overstatement. Whereas some of the best VoIP providers offer 24/7 phone support, Nextiva's phone support is available only on Monday through Friday, and only from 6am-6pm MST. The strongest benefit of Nextiva's customer support is the short hold time required for phone service - in five of our six calls were answered in less than 2 minutes. However, when we inquired about calling 411 directory assistance using Nextiva, the representative did not know the answer to our question. After he researched the issue for nearly four minutes, we were told that Nextiva currently does not offer directory assistance because the company's computers mistakenly confuse 411 with an extension number, rather than the directory assistance hotline.

Perhaps more unfortunate is that Nextiva's Knowledebase had a search function that failed consistently. On standard searches such as 'toll free number' yielded no results. Likewise, a search for 3 way calling yielded no results. Nextiva does offer a wide range of video tutorials, they all need to be downloaded, and cannot be streamed directly off the site as is possible in the help sections of many other VoIP providers.

Inefficient Nextiva Knowledgebase

Nextiva's email support was equally frustrating. We did not receive sufficient directions for setting up our account, so we emailed them at 7:26am EST on Monday, January 11th. Instead of receiving an email back, we received a callback at 12:55pm EST. Ironically, we were on the other line with a Nextiva technical support representative, and requested an email. The subsequent email from Nextiva's customer service center was shocking - it said that they could not locate our account, even though we'd given identifying factors directly from the welcome email. It took 3 more emails back and forth before the email support team could locate our account. It is significant to note, however, that once we responded to the first email from Nextiva's customer support team, we began to volley emails back and forth quickly, and did not need to wait another five hours.

Email to Nextiva

Ease of Use

Nextiva's account registration process is straightforward, and once the account is setup, Nextiva's VoIP plans are relatively easy to use. Unfortunately, we found the setup process to be relatively complicated as compared with other VoIP services. Because we registered online instead of through a customer service representative, we did not receive all of the necessary information that we would likely have gotten from a personal attendant. For example, we did not know that we needed to order a business phone for our Nextiva VoIP plan. Consequently, when we followed the given instructions to set up the account, we created all of the greetings, but had no phone to hear them on. We tried to email customer service about this problem, but they were unable to locate our account with the information that we provided them from the welcome email (see customer service section above). Overall, the process was extremely difficult and time consuming.

A Look at Nextiva's Management Portal

Among the tasks we tried to accomplish was setting up a personalized greeting. Unlike Phone.com which allows users to create personalized auto-attendant recordings by inputting text and having it converted into 'speaking', Nextiva requires that their users record their own voice-recording, or to accept the standard greeting that Nextiva provides. When we tried to create a voice recording, it was rejected because it was not the correct format, but there were no instructions for how to fix the problem. A call to the customer service center elucidated that the easiest and fastest way to get this done is to email the audio file to the Nextiva support team, and they'll convert it for you.

Money Back Guarantee

Customers can cancel their Nextiva service within the first 30 days for any reason, provided that they have not used more than 500 minutes out of the unlimited plan. Equipment must be returned at the expense of the customer with an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization), with all original packaging and in new condition. Equipment must be returned within 14 days or a restocking fee may apply. Shipping charges are not refundable.

International calls and payphone calls to Nextiva toll free numbers made during plan usage cannot be refunded. Directory assistance fees are also non-refundable.

Summary

• VoIP for business at extremely reasonable prices
• Toll free number with business VoIP plans at no extra charge
• Complex account setup process
• Disappointing customer service