Grasshopper Review (formerly GotVMail)

Rating: Users Rating: (5)
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Grasshopper Review Summary
	Pro's: Unlimited extensions on all plans Additional phone lines on upper plans increased minutes on all plans.
	Con's: Activation Fee of $25 Highest fees to transfer 800 or local numbers Lack of outbound Internet Faxing
	Bottom Line: If you can get past the $25 setup fee(only vendor to still charge it), and don't need true ACD Queing or outbound Internet Faxing, then Grasshopper offers solid plans, without having to commit to a year long contract to get discounted pricing. They also have a very solid offering in the small business market, with plenty of minutes with that plan - double that of their competitors.
Grasshopper Review Detail

 

 

Grasshopper Quick Stats:

Pricing	Pay as you go: $9.95/mo Ramp: $24.00/mo Grow: $49.00/mo Max: $199.00/mo
Free Trial	Yes - you can get a 30 Day Grasshopper Free Trial
Setup/ Installation Fees:	Yes - $25 one time fee (except on Max Plan)
Disconnect/ Cacellation Fees:	No
Customer Service:	24/7 Good
Included Minutes:	Pay as you go: no included minutes Ramp: 500/mo Grow: 2000/mo Max: 10,000/mo
Incoming Lines:	Pay as you go: 1 Ramp: 1 Grow: 2 Max: 3
Extensions	Unlimited on all plans
Local & 800 Number Transfer Fee:	$30 - one time
800 Vanity Number Fee:	$30 - one time
True 800 Number Setup Fee:	$15 one time fee
More Info:	Make Sure to Compare Virtual Phone System Plans for Additional Plan Statistics

 

Grasshopper Review Detail:

Grasshopper.com is our #3 pick. Grasshopper was created through an extensive rebranding effort of what used to be called GotVmail. As part of the rebranding, Grasshopper.com came up with a whole new, much more friendly user interface. This really was the major change that took place via the rebranding effort. Previous to that they had made several changes to their plans that made them much more competitive, however they still have a couple of issues to resolve not the least of which is that they still charge a setup/activation fee.

Even though Grasshopper offers affordable pricing on their lowest end plan without having to purchase a pre-paid yearly subscription, the fact that they still charge an activation fee puts them at a distinct disadvantage when all of their main competitors have elminated this fee.

Grasshopper Likes:

No Pre-Paid Yearly Plans: We like the fact that you do not have to commit to a year long pre-paid contract plan to get a low montly price. Kudos to Grasshopper for this. The other vendors could and should take note of this, and follow suite to truly offer top notch plans to their customers. This is one of our biggest pet peaves with VOIP and cell phone carriers.

Find Me/Follow Me: Grasshopper offers a really cool feature to allow you to program the days and hours of day you want each phone number tried when using the find me/follow me feature. This offers users alot of flexibility when out of the office.

Additional Incoming Phone Lines: Grasshopper and Phone.com are the only two providers that provide additional incoming phone lines at no additional cost on their Small Business and Corporate plans. We believe this is a great move, and all providers should offer this option so that business's(without additional cost to them) can provide their customers with both a local and toll free method of reaching thier their business.

Grasshopper Dislikes:

Setup/Activation Fee: This is by far the biggest issue we have with Grasshopper. We feel for any vendor to be competitive and provide truly top notch service to their customers in the small business/home office market, they can not be charging a Setup/Activation Fee. The only plan they don't charge an activation fee on is their highest "Max" plan.

6¢ per Minute on all Plans: Calculate the minutes you think you will use, because Grasshopper now charges a flat 6¢ per minute on all plans, for minutes over your plan minutes. Even though they offer higher minutes on their 2 top end plans, they offer substantially lower minutes on their lowest end plan, compared to Phone.com. Plus their highest end plan is twice the cost of their next closest competitor. So it will all come down to how many minutes you think you will use which will determine if they are competitive in price or not.

No Outbound Internet Faxing: This may or may not be a big deal to most people, however we see it more as a "gap" in Grasshopper's offerings, as it is a feature offered by the other top 2 providers in the space, and a direction we feel the market is definately moving in. They do offer inboud internet fax, which allows you to recieve faxes via your phone system, without having to have a dedicated line or fax machine. The faxes can be sent to your email or control center, and printed. However, outbound faxing completes the package and allows you to also send faxes from the system, totally eliminating the need for a fax machine or other service all together.

No true ACD Queing: Again, we doubt this will be a big issue to the Very Small Business/Home Office/Professional or Small Business space, because Grasshopper does provide Hunt group Queing. This is where a call is routed to a group of people and it will "hunt" through the group until it finds a person who answers the call, or if unanswered for a specified period of time send to a designated voicemail. ACD Queing on the other hand will allow for different variables(like time of day), prioritization of staff, and real time intervention by a supervisor. Grasshopper does offer a custom option to program random "rotational" extension calling, but you have to call customer support to have it set up.

GotVmail Grasshopper.com Bottom Line:

If you can get past the $25 setup fee, and don't need true ACD Queing(which VirtualPBX is the only vendor in this space to provide "true" ACD queuing), and outbound Internet Faxing isn't a big deal for you, then Grasshopper offers solid plans, without having to commit to a year long contract to get discounted pricing. They also now offer unlimited extensions on all of their plans, and along with Phone.com are the only 2 providers to do so.

They have a very solid offering in the small business market, with plenty of minutes with their plan - double that of their competitors.

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