By: Hailey | Last updated March 20, 2020 
More and more businesses nowadays are switching from landlines to VoIP services. The benefits of VoIP are indisputable: it is more affordable, more flexible, easier to set up and to maintain.
While there are plenty of companies that offer attractive VoIP packages for home users, companies are the ones that benefit from voice-over-the-internet-protocol services the most. And the larger the business, the lower the costs.
Nextiva VoIP – Is it a good option to consider?
Nextiva is one of the most popular VoIP service providers in the United States. The company offers cloud-based communication solutions and it is especially tailored for small and medium-sized businesses. Nextiva has a lot of experience in the VoIP industry and it’s been around since 2006. The company is based in Scottsdale, Arizona and also offers online fax services via vFax.
Nextiva offers VoIP solutions for both small business and enterprises. You can choose between several available plans and opt for month-to-month billing or a 36-month agreement, which will of course, be more affordable. There are 4 categories in which you can fall: 1-4 users, 5 to 19 users, 20-99 users and 100+ users. For each of them you can opt for month-to-month billing and 36-month billing. The more users you have and the longer the contract period, the lower the cost.
Here are the 3 main plans offered for small businesses:
Office Pro. It is the most basic plan you can opt for and the best price you can get for it is $19.95/month, but only if you have 100+ users and you opt for their 36-month agreement. For 1-4 users and a month-to-month billing system, the price increases significantly, to $34.95/month.
Office Pro Plus. This plan starts at $20.95, also for more than 100 users and a 36-month agreement.
Office Enterprise is Nextiva’s most expensive and complex plan for small businesses. Pricing starts at $27.95/month for more than 100 users and a 36-month agreement.
There are a lot of other add-ons you can get: voicemail-to-text for $2.95/user/month, call center plans and more.
Enterprise options
All the above mentioned plans are for small businesses. However, Nextiva also offers Enterprise solutions, but there are no plans or prices displayed on their website. In order to get an exact quote, you have to fill in a form on their website and request a demo that will best suit your needs and business.
The form has fields for your complete name, your e-mail address, phone number, company and number of employees.
More than 150,000 enterprises use Nextiva’s VoIP services. The Enterprise solution gives you complete control, mobile apps, app integration and more.
Features included with Nextiva VoIP
Regardless of the plans you choose, Nextiva includes the basic features such as unlimited online faxing, unlimited local and long-distance calling, music on hold and more.
You can transfer your old phone numbers for an extra fee, with the whole process taking a few hours to complete, or you can choose local or toll-free numbers.
Nextiva includes caller ID, advanced call forwarding, call waiting, call notify, call parking, call group, anonymous call rejection, answer confirmation and more.
There are a plethora of other features available, depending on the plan you opt for:
- Virtual extensions
- Do not disturb
- Auto attendant
- Video conferencing
- Instant messaging
- Alternate numbers
- 3-way calling
- Simultaneous ring
- Voicemail-to-email
- The Nextiva app (works with Android and iOS)
- Call recording
- Custom ringback
- Nextiva Anywhere, that lets you forward calls to any external number and appear as if you are at your desk; you can turn the feature on and off according to your needs
- Call Me Now, a feature that lets you start a call with someone by simply clicking on a link
In terms of ease of use, Nextiva does have a learning curve and it might be a bit difficult to set-up their phone systems without some specialized help.
The Nextiva portal is divided into several sections: account setup, usage, billing, services. From the portal you can add employees, establish what features they can have access to, assign phone numbers and much more.
The Nextiva softphone lets you make and take calls straight from your laptop or desktop computer. All you need is a headset or a microphone and some speakers.
One thing to be mentioned is the fact that the mobile app offered by Nextiva is not available to the customers that sign up for their most basic plan, the Office Pro.
In conclusion, Nextiva is a very complex VoIP service that offers a lot of flexible plans. Everything is highly customizable, you can upgrade easily to a more complex plan, add new features and so on. While it might not be the most affordable VoIP service on the market, Nextiva is definitely among the most complex ones and a great option to consider for small, medium businesses and enterprises alike.
