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Nextiva Connect Review: Virtual Phone & Virtual Office |
| Sign up for Nextiva Connect | |
Rating: |
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| Best for small businesses with multiple offices, but service has some annoyances | |
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Introduction
Nextiva is a big name in business VoIP and Internet fax. So they should be a big deal in virtual phone service as well, right? The service definitely has its pluses, but there are plenty of minuses too. Interface and Setup Nextiva's interface is a mixed bag. It has the best PBX management screen we've used; it's incredibly easy to assign call-routing options to different numbers. It's also very good at letting you manage employee call activity. Generally the various menus are easy to navigate. On the other hand, entering your business hours is tedious (see screen shot at left) and recording your own greeting via your telephone is an exercise in frustration. The latter is particularly laborious, requiring you to call Nextiva and navigate through a complicated phone menu system. It's probably best to use your computer's microphone to record and upload your own greeting, although you'll need your own recording software. Service and Features Call quality with Nextiva was on par with others when we called between two desk phones. Calls forwarded to cell phones are always a bit delayed and hissy, particularly when your cell signal is less-than-perfect, but this is not specific to Nextiva's quality of service. Nextiva's a bit of an anomaly in that it's the one service that does not allow you to call out using your virtual phone number. While calling out is not what virtual phone is necessarily designed for, we think it's a good option to have. Also, despite Nextiva's separate Internet fax product, there's no fax functionality included. Pricing and Minutes With a one-year contract, Nextiva is just about as inexpensive as you can get. The 100-minute plan is $8.95 per month; go monthly and you you'll pay $12.95. Either way, extra minutes will cost you 4.5¢. For 500 minutes, you'll pay $19.95 per month (with a one year term), and if you want unlimited minutes you'll pay $69.95 per month. Conclusion Nextiva has its strong points, and a pretty low price point, particularly for a solution that has so many big business features. That being said, we don't think it quite lives up to its full potential, and unfortunately there's no free trial. Sign up for Nextiva Connect | Compare to Other Virtual Phone Services |
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| Annual Plan Price: | $8.95/mo with 1-year term |
| Free Trial: | None |
| Domestic Minutes: | 100/mo |
| Extensions: | 10 |
| Faxing: | None |
| Additional Minutes: | 5¢ |
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