They're Here...AT&T and Verizon

I have noted for some time that AT&T and Verizon were about to enter the VoIP market. Recently, a VAR asked me to compare AT&T's IP Flexible Reach product with Broadvox GO! SIP Trunking. It was not surprising that the Broadvox offering was less expensive. It was surprising that the AT&T offering was much more complicated. I can understand having different features but the packaging was just a bit odd.

In brief the pricing is as follows:

• With a required T1, the customer must lease a VoIP Module card
  • Up to 12 CCS - $12/CCS
  • Over 12 CCS - $10/CCS
• Set up Fees are $250 per site or location
• On-net Calling (company site to company site) $20/CCS/month
• Unlimited local calling is $30/CCS/month
• Unlimited Local with 300 minutes of LD is $70/CCS/month
• Long Distance and overage is priced at 5c/minute
• Directory Assistance is $1.25 per call

As usual, AT&T is requiring connectivity under the guise of voice quality requirements. Again, we have registered less than 1% of customer complaints due to voice quality. Broadvox continues to support a Bring Your Own Broadband (BYOB) option. BYOB does require further testing to ensure the quality of the line but it allows a business to gain access to our services immediately without the potential of cancellation charges.

Unlimited local calling is more than double the GO!Local price of $14.75. Additionally, the unlimited local with 300 minutes of long distance is more than double our GO!Anywhere product which is $33.25.

I don't want to go into the rest of the pricing other than to note, ITSPs, like Broadvox, will offer a better price, reliable service and better customer support. We may not have the name recognition of an AT&T but once installed, businesses are quite happy getting to know us.

I would do Verizon next but their pricing appears to not be public. If any of you have their pricing and want me to perform a comparison, send it to me via this blog or to dbyrd@broadvox.com.