The cloud-based PBX (private branch exchange) is changing business telecommunications. No longer does a small-to-medium size business have to install, configure, and maintain a hardware unit such as those from CudaTel, Kerio, NEC or Nortel. Cloud-hosted PBX solutions like Broadvoice Cloud PBX (starting at $22.95 per user per month) act as a one-stop shop: You don't have to purchase service from a carrier. Instead, in-office, local, long distance, and international calls are all offered by a single provider of VoIP service. You get extras like mobile apps, software phones for calling from PCs, and call monitoring, as well as standard things like call forwarding, routing, recording, screening, virtual receptionists, and conference calling. But Broadvoice offers fewer enterprise-level features than other services we've seen, and some of its interfaces could be slicker.

Pricing and Plans

Pricing for Broadvoice Cloud PBX is à la carte and is the result of a consultation based on your business's needs rather than a set, one-size-fits-all price. Each customer is assigned a dedicated account representative to work out the details and address questions about any upgrades or downgrades later. The base price, however, is $22.95 per line with a one-year contract. That line offers unlimited calling to the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Unlike some providers, Broadvoice doesn't offer discounts based on the number of lines, but rather it drops the per user price down to $17.95 if you commit to a three-year plan. That compares with RingCentral Office's lowest per-line price of $19.99 per user per month, and Jive Hosted VoIP's $19.95. Broadvoice's base price includes cloud PBX service with call routing but not a virtual receptionist (known as Auto Attendant), which costs another $15 per month.

If you want external direct numbers for each line, that costs another $5 per line per month; you do get a main outside number with basic service, however. A lot of companies are fine with this, using the PBX to route the calls to extensions or using call hunt rules. A pay-as-you-go option for $9.95 a month gives you 4-cent-per-minute outbound calling and unlimited inbound calls.

You can also add Communicator chat for $10 and email for the same price. A conference bridge costs $14.95 per month, and a Monitor-Whisper-Barge agent and supervisor (which enables call monitoring and joining) cost $10 each. This is good for customer support desks, letting supervisors listen in and take over calls. For our testing, we added a smorgasbord of features along with some Obihai desk phones.

The company offers a good choice of preconfigured phones from Cisco, Polycom, and more, but our rep, the extremely helpful Lauren, recommended the Obihai Obi1032, which she said combines the impressive display of a Polycom phone with the reliability of a Cisco phone, all at a lower cost. It also has the benefit of Wi-Fi connectivity, saving you from stringing an Ethernet cable to the phone. You can either buy outright or lease-to-own your phones; ours cost just $3.95 per month each with a 36-month lease-to-own option. Our total monthly bill for three lines and the works, extra-feature-wise, came to $186.65.

Signing Up

Broadvoice offers hand-holding than most business VoIP service we've tested. In an introductory call with a company rep and a tech, we were walked through service options and the signup process. An engineer also showed us a Web demo of the admin and user Web interfaces. The rep always consults with the engineer to set up accounts, and the engineer is available to any Broadvoice customer for demos like the one we got. After the rep determines what your business needs, you're sent a DocuSign document detailing services you agreed on in the conversation. You fill this out with your business details—the business name you enter here will be the outgoing Caller ID displayed from your lines. (You can change it later with a support call.)

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After we sent off the DocuSign form, we received an email confirming receipt and completion, and then we got another one from the billing department outlining the the shipping and tracking process.

Setting Up the Phones

For customers with more than three lines, Broadcom includes an Edgewater EdgeMarc 4550 router that optimizes VoIP traffic. But we only tested with three lines and the Obihai phones. Even before those arrived, we received a voicemail from a Broadvoice tech offering to show us how to use the Web console and software phone. An email with our admin login arrived around the same time.

A tech support rep is notified when your phone's tracking number is marked as shipped, and he or she gives you a call to get you going with the hardware. But even if Broadvoice didn't offer this hand-holding service, hooking up preconfigured phones is a no-brainer for anyone with even the slightest technical aptitude. You just plug in the power, Ethernet, and headset, and you're in business.