[January 18, 2005]

Launch: BroadVoice�s Toll-Free Feature

BY JOHANNE TORRES

Customers of BroadVoice's (news - alert) VoIP ( define - news - alert)-based calling plan will now be able to add on a toll free number for $1.95 monthly. The VoIP service company released an official announcement today about the immediate availability of its new Toll Free Alternate Number option for residential and small business customers. Customers adding on the new feature will also get 60 minutes of free inbound calling with each additional minute billing at $0.02 thereafter, per toll free number added.

The Lowell, MA-based company’s new toll free service is one of the features that can be activated by existing subscribers in their "BroadVoice Account Portal." Subscribers can select an 8xx number from an extensive list of available numbers and the feature is instantly activated.

"No other VoIP or traditional telephone company offers such a great deal on Toll Free service. We are proud to offer this kind of value to our loyal subscribers and will keep on working to earn their business," stated BroadVoice president’s David Epstein about the new feature.

BroadVoice offers service plans starting at $9.95 per month for unlimited in-state calling. The $19.95 monthly Unlimited World plan offers free calls to the United States and 20 other countries, including most of Western Europe and China. For $24.95 monthly, the Unlimited World Plus plan provides free calls to 35 countries, including Brazil, Japan and Israel. A small business BroadVoice plan costs $29.95 per month.

Today’s announcement follows the company’s recent distribution agreement with catalog retailer Hello Direct completed last week. Hello Direct, a direct marketer of desktop telephony products, teamed up with BroadVoice to offer the BroadVoice VoIP service bundled with an array of SIP-based VoIP telephone devices. Hello Direct has been selling headsets and telephones to small businesses for over 17 years. “Hello Direct wants to be the source for VoIP hardware in the business to business community. We have chosen to bundle BroadVoice on the provider side, and we think this will be an excellent combination for hardware and service in a market that is set to explode,” said Hello Direct’s senior product marketing manager James Sorris about the agreement.

BroadVoice
www.broadvoice.com