There are two home phone plans from Brightspeed: Basic and Unlimited. Welcome to our guide on them.
There isn’t a huge amount of information on the Brightspeed website about these plans. But I’ve been going behind the scenes to research them for you.
We’ll be looking at the following subjects today:
- The pros and cons
- Both the plans and the prices
- In-depth guide to the features
- A look at international calls
- Where Home Voice is available
- Any extra fees and clauses
Keep reading to learn more.
Brightspeed Home Voice Pros & Cons
Here are the good and bad bits you need to know about Brightspeed’s landline service.
Pros
- A couple of different plan options
- Low price starting point
- Pretty good availability
- Unlimited free calls in the US on both plans
- Bundle with internet or TV to ease billing
Cons
- Difficult to get a quote
- No deals or money-saving bundles
- Limited information available online
Plans & Pricing for Brightspeed Home Voice
You’ll probably be choosing from one of two plans for Brightspeed Home Voice: Basic or Unlimited.
The Basic plan is the most affordable but it’s limited in its features. If you want more features and longer distance calls, you’ll be better off with Unlimited.
Here’s an overview of the plans:
Plan | Price per month | Calls | Other features |
Basic | $40 | Unlimited local minutes | None |
Unlimited | $50 | Unlimited local and long distance minutes | See below |
It should be noted that the prices above do not include taxes and hidden fees. Also, the prices quoted are for a random US address.
The price may be different in your state or city. I found out the prices by speaking to a customer support agent from Brightspeed. They aren’t listed on the website, unfortunately.
So, the only way to find out definitely what the price is in your area is to do the same. I’ll show you how to do that in the FAQ section of this article.
Another noteworthy factor of both of these plans is that there are no annual contracts. You can sign up on a month by month rolling contract basis, which is great for flexibility. However, the monthly cost could raise at any time.
The Brightspeed Home Voice Unlimited Features
We just touched on how Brightspeed Home Voice Unlimited comes with a bunch of useful calling features. It’s worth taking a look at them so that you can decide whether they’re right for you, or if the Basic plan is going to be enough.
Some of these features might not be available in your area, so if your heart is set on one or two of them, it will be a good idea to reach out to Brightspeed to check. Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell what’s available in what location on the website.
The extra $10 per month for the Unlimited plan will get you some or all of the following features [1]:
- Call waiting: This feature allows users to accept a second incoming call by placing their current call on hold.
- Caller ID: Here, you’ll (sometimes) be able to see the name of a caller before you pick up the phone.
- Call waiting ID: This is a combination of the previous two features, where you’ll be able to see the ID of a second incoming caller while you’re already in a call.
- Voice mail: If you can’t get to the phone, a caller can leave a voice recorded message for you to listen to when you’re available. By combining it with caller ID, you’ll be able to call that person pack at the touch of a button if you like.
- 3-way calling: Instead of placing your initial call on hold with call waiting, it’s possible to actually add them to the call and speak to them both at the same time.
- Call rejection: Often referred to as call blocking, you’ll be able to block particular numbers from calling you if you wish. Spam callers can be added to a blocked list that will never be able to reach you.
- Call forwarding: Transfer any incoming calls to your cell phone or another landline phone in your home with this smart tool. This is a particularly useful one for businesses who can’t afford to miss out on any potential customer contact.
- Call return: At the touch of a button, you can call back the last number that tried to call you. This feature is often referred to as ‘automatic recall’.
- Anonymous call rejection: You’ll be able to block all calls that withheld their number using this feature, which is a great way to block out spam callers.
- Speed call: Assign a selection of numbers from your keypad to your favorite contacts so that you can call them by pressing one or two keys instead of dialing in their entire number each time,
- Busy redial: If the number you’re trying to call is busy, you can set up your phone to automatically call it back when it no longer is.
International Calling & Brightspeed Home Voice
Brightspeed also offers some boutique international calling plans to its customers. These are more customized to the individual than the Basic and Unlimited plans.
The international calling plans are only going to be worth it for those who make a lot of calls to countries outside of The Americas.
If you do think you’ll be calling Europe, Asia and such a lot, it could be worth reaching out to them to see what’s available. Take a look in the FAQ section of this article to find out how to do that.
If you’re only going to be making a handful of calls to the rest of the world, either the Basic or Unlimited plans will be better suited to you. Brightspeed offers reasonable prices per minute for most countries in the world.
Brightspeed Home Voice Availability
You’ll be able to get Brightspeed’s two Home Voice plans in 20 states. It’s available in all the areas that their internet is available in [2]. Those states are:
Alabama | Arkansas | Georgia | Illinois | Indiana |
Kansas | Louisiana | Minnesota | Michigan | Mississippi |
New Jersey | North Carolina | Ohio | Oklahoma | Pennsylvania |
South Carolina | Tennessee | Texas | Virginia | Wisconsin |
Let’s take a look at that on a map:
By the way, you won’t be able to get Brightspeed Home Voice in every single part of each of the blue states. The map simply shows which states it’s available in, not every inch of land.
For example, I tried to get a quote for Brightspeed Home Voice from a random address in Arkansas but was told that it was not available at the address I used.
To find out once and for all whether Brightspeed is available to you, you’ll need to go over to the website and speak to the customer support team.
Extra Fees of Brightspeed Home Voice
One of the best things about Brightspeed is that they keep their hidden fees to a minimum. However, there are one or two costs that you will need to consider as you budget for your Brightspeed Home Voice plan.
- Late payment fee: You could be charged $5 per month and/or a percentage of the bill owed should you be late for a payment. To avoid this, you can simply set up Autopay to take the money out of your account when required each day.
- State fees: There are a selection of additional fees to pay, such as the Property Tax Recovery Fee and the Federal Regulatory Recovery Fee. These fees vary from state to state, but will never total more than $3 extra per month.
- Over-usage fees: While the Brightspeed Home Voice plans are unlimited, this is subject to fair usage. Brightspeed says that they will consider surcharges should you regularly use more than 5000 minutes per month, but they don’t say what the fees would be.
- Installation fees: Brightspeed may charge for installation of your equipment or any repair works required. However, the cost of this is calculated on a case by case basis, so you’d need to speak to them to find out what this would be.
Brightspeed Home Voice FAQ
Here are some common questions people have been asking about Brightspeed Home Voice.
How do I sign up for a Brightspeed Home Voice plan?
The only way to get a quote for a plan or to sign up for one is to reach out to Brightspeed directly. You can do this in a couple of ways:
- Over the phone: Just give Brightspeed a call on 1 833 369 1900.
- Using the live chat: Head over to the ‘Help’ section of the Brightspeed website and hit the chat button in the bottom-right corner.
These contact methods are available from 7am to 7pm CT.
Wrapping Up on Brightspeed Home Voice
While Brightspeed is a little elusive about the facts on their Brightspeed Home Voice, I hope you’ve found everything you need to know about it as a result of my research.
Home phone services may be on their way out as more and more people turn to mobile, but Brightspeed is still offering some pretty good options and good value for money. You could do worse than to sign up with this company.
Looking for a more transparent landline service? AT&T provides a lot more information about their home phone plans, and you can read about them here.