FirstDigital VoIP, formerly Veracity Networks, has had several issues that have forced customers to look for reliable alternatives. Dropped calls, non-existent customer support, and exorbitant early termination fees are reasons businesses leave FirstDigital.
This article discusses the drawbacks of having FirstDigital VoIP and how choosing the best alternative can benefit your business.
Drawbacks of FirstDigital VoIP
Here are some drawbacks of FirstDigital VoIP.
1. Exorbitant Early Termination Fees
Businesses had complained that FirstDigital's contract clauses are all in fine print that worked counter-productively for them when they wanted to switch providers. FirstDigital tries to keep its customers on contract by asking them to pay a termination fee upwards of $3000.
2. Poor Customer Service
Several customers have vocalized on social media that the company's support is non-existent until they complain or leave a negative review. The support reps then jump into action and try to resolve a long-standing issue after this action from the customer.
3. Monopoly in Certain Areas
Customers feel that FirstDigital's monopoly has led to severe customer apathy as people do not have another reliable option.
Put apathetic providers behind you with Community Phone's wireless landline service. Take your landline across the US when you move your business, as it works off local cell towers.
4. Contract Autorenewal
Many businesses have been displeased with their contracts being auto-renewed without their consent. However, they have stayed with the provider as FirstDigital charges exorbitant termination fees if the business wants to leave.
5. Phones will Go Down During a Power Outage.
Your FirstDigital phone service will go down during a power or network outage or scheduled or unscheduled maintenance.
You must buy a battery backup to continue using your landline during power outages, but it is expensive and is not the perfect solution. The backup battery can help you only if you have a power outage, but your phone lines will be down if your fiber service provider has an outage or other issues.
6. Poor Call Quality
FirstDigital landlines use the internet for making and receiving calls. Call quality and clarity on fiber service phones depend on your internet speed and consistency. Since consistent internet connectivity and speeds are subject to time of the day, network congestion, and your device, you may have call drops and poor voice quality on your OneSource home phone.
7. Safety and Security Issues
Calls from your FirstDigital fiber-powered landlines may leave you vulnerable to hacks, attacks, malware, and internet-related threats, as it uses the internet for voice communication. Hackers may intercept your data, leading to data and identity theft.
8. New Hardware and Installation
You must invest in a modem or router to get FirstDigital to provide landline service for your business. The expertise required for such an installation and the delicate nature of the cables makes the entire process complex and expensive. A minor breakage or an incorrect setup could lead to myriad problems leaving you stranded without a landline.
Community Phone - The Best Alternative to FirstDigital VoIP
Community Phone is the best wireless home phone service in the US, providing reliability and excellent voice quality. The Community Phone landline base does not require internet or fiber connections to power your landline. The built-in antennas on the base provide superior voice quality and reliability on your landlines by amplifying mobile signals even in rural areas.
When you sign up with Community Phone or port your existing number, you get fantastic features like call forwarding, call history, landline texting, call waiting, spam call blocking, and more. With world-class support, unlimited nationwide calls and texts, No hidden charges, and No deposits or credit checks, Community Phone is the best wireless service provider in the US.
How It Works
The Community Phone landline base does not tie your phone to the internet as it works off resilient cell towers. The company's partnership with nationwide carriers and the unique design of the landline base ensure connectivity across 99% of the U.S., including rural areas. The built-in antennas on the base amplify signals from mobile towers to ensure superior voice quality in low-reception areas.
The 12-hour backup battery in the base ensures your phones continue working during a power outage or blackout in your area.
What Makes Community Phone Better than FirstDigital VoIP?
Here are some Community Phone features that make it better than FirstDigital VoIP
1. Reliable Landline Service Without Bundles
Community Phone is the best wireless landline service in the US, fighting to keep the landline alive. The company provides affordable and reliable landline service, the freedom of wireless access, and excellent calling features without bundling it with the internet or other services you don’t need.
2. No Hidden Charges
Community Phone boasts transparency and does not surprise customers with hidden charges on their bills. You pay what you signed up for.
3. Zero Cost Installation
You do not need a technician or advanced skills to install your Community Phone landline. You can set up your landline in 30 seconds with the following steps:
1. Unwrap the landline base
2. Connect the base to a power outlet. Do not turn it on yet.
3. Hook your phone to the base per instructions in the manual (Phone 1/Phone 2 port)
4. Toggle the ON/OFF switch to the ON position
5. Turn on the power and wait for 5 mins. Once the base finishes setup, make a test call to ensure your phone works as intended.
Reliability
Resilient technology and thoughtfulness make your Community Phone landline the most reliable option to stay connected with loved ones and emergency services. Their landline base works off resilient cell towers with power backups to support them during a massive outage. The base also has a 12-hour backup battery that keeps your phone working during a power outage or blackout in your area.
Connectivity
Community Phone has partnered with nationwide carriers to ensure coverage across 99% of the U.S. Since the wireless landline base does not need an internet connection to work, you will not face issues such as call drops, jitter, or latency.
Call Quality
Community Phone has partnered with carriers nationwide to ensure robust coverage and clear voice quality in rural areas. The landline base has built-in antennas that amplify mobile signals to ensure crystal-clear voice quality in poor-reception areas.
Security
Since Community Phone does not tie your landline to the internet, it does not leave you vulnerable to hacks, attacks, data, or identity theft. You get an additional layer of security as the wireless landline cannot be wiretapped like conventional landlines.
No Geographical Limitations
Community Phone's landline service covers 99% of the U.S., including rural areas, making geographical limitations and the monopoly of certain carriers a thing of the past. Take your landline with you anywhere across the country. You only need a power outlet and a phone to get reliable landline service without changing your number, as Community Phone works off local cell towers.
Flexibility
Community Phone's partnership with nationwide carriers and the unique landline base design ensure excellent voice quality and connectivity across 99% of the U.S. Experience extreme flexibility with your Community Phone landline, as you can take it anywhere without changing the number. Plug it into a power outlet and a phone, and your landline will work as well as new!
Emergency Tracking
First responders can easily track your location in an emergency, as they can trace the data originating from the cell tower and zero in on your location.
Hardware
You don't need fancy equipment for your Community Phone landline, except the landline base and a SIM. You will receive the SIM with the base when you sign up with Community Phone.
The landline base is compatible with all phone models, saving you the hassle of buying new phone equipment. Save time and money with the zero-cost installation of the landline base.
Community Phone Business Features
Dial Menu
Create a great first impression among your customers and callers by enabling the Community Phone dial menu. You can program the automated answering service in the dial menu to custom greet your callers, share important information or announcements, and route calls to appropriate departments or voicemail using business voicemail greetings.
You can program this multilevel answering service to suit your business needs to help create an incredible customer experience, reduce wait time, increase employee efficiency, and enable efficient staffing and scheduling.
Have recorded FAQs in one of the 9 levels of the interactive response unit in the dial menu to help callers find information quickly without waiting for a rep. Share information on discounts, business hours, offers, and promotions on another level. Have call routing at the second level to ensure callers reach the exact person or department they need based on the options they choose. The possibilities are endless!
Call Routing
Route calls to the appropriate person or department with the Community Phone call-routing feature. You can program several phones in your business to ring simultaneously so that an available representative can answer the call. The simultaneous ring feature could reduce wait times for your customers as they get an immediate response. If the person who answered the call cannot assist the customer, they can use the live call transfer feature or 3-way calling to better assist the customer, depending on the scenario.
If the first option does not fit your business needs, you can program your phones to ring sequentially if the first number does not answer or is busy. This way, the customer will be able to receive appropriate assistance. This feature can set up call distribution equally among several representatives in your organization. Repeat callers can be routed to the same representative, increasing customer satisfaction.
Landline Texting
Over 65% of customers prefer businesses texting them over calling for fear of spam. To ensure you protect your customer, and engage them in your marketing efforts, use the landline texting feature from Community Phone.
Sending bulk messages can be counterproductive to your business from a customer connect perspective. Some providers may also flag your number as spam and block it.
Engage with your customers, wish them on special occasions, inform them of product and offer launches, and collect feedback through the Community Phone personalized messaging feature that does not let the customer or service provider block your number as spam.
Spam Call Blocking
Statistics reveal that Americans lost over $10 million more to phone scams in 2021 than in 2020. With an average scammer making nearly 200 million scam calls in a year persistently targeting victims, manual call barring and phone features to block spam are no longer effective. According to reports, scammers have found a way around the STIR/SHAKEN protocols implemented by the government, endangering consumers further.
Get the Community Phone spam-blocker to increase employee productivity, decrease distractions and protect your business from losses. The spam blocker challenges robocalls and blocks them before the call can ring your phone, ensuring protection against spam and saving your employees and your business from losses.
The "Safelist," a new Community Phone feature, allows you to list the numbers you want to accept calls from. Your phone will ring to let calls from these numbers through and block all others before the phone rings. You can update your allowed list anytime to add or delete numbers, or Community Phone specialists will be happy to assist you.
Studies report that several businesses miss legitimate calls fearing spam, resulting in a ruined business reputation and loss of revenue. Understanding the need to balance robust spam protection and legitimate calls, Community Phone is launching an iteration of the Safelist soon.
This feature will allow you to accept calls from numbers you want and route the rest to voicemail. Since Community Phone will not block other numbers, you can check your voice messages and respond to the ones you deem necessary.
The soon-to-be-launched "blocklist" is an aggressive spam blocker that blocks over 6 million spam calls based on an ever-growing database of spam numbers and a spam score. You can actively contribute to this database by adding a spam number to protect yourself and other Community Phone customers from scams and fraud.
Talk to Community Phone specialists to learn more!
Caller ID
If you are a business owner, the caller I.D. feature is paramount to your business, with neighbor spoofing being one of the scam trends. Enable this feature to show your business name and number to build trust in your customers and encourage them to engage with your business.
By default, the recipient of your call will see your number, but you can have Community Phone enable your caller I.D. to show your name when you call.
Live Call Transfer
Community Phone has customized the standard "dial an extension" feature to help businesses reduce customer wait times, help collaboration, and reduce incorrect transfers.
Anyone in your organization can use the live call transfer feature to call any extension if you have multiple people handling different inquiries. You or anyone can route the caller to the appropriate department or person by pushing a button against the infinite number of extensions you can program in your transfer list without placing the caller on hold.
If the call reaches an incorrect extension erroneously, that person can transfer the call to the correct extension again. Use this feature to connect departments within your organization or branches of the same organization by programming the numbers in the transfer list.
Call History
Enable the call history feature and access information on incoming and outgoing calls to and from your Community Phone landline.
You can use this feature to
- Return missed calls from known contacts
- Store legitimate contacts
- Check caller information against known contacts
- Send a message or
- Block spam calls.
Voicemail-to-email
A Community Phone specialist will be happy to set up the voicemail-to-email feature to ensure you get your voicemails as audio files and text messages in the mail I.D. associated with your Community Phone user account.
If you configure a generic mailbox with shared access to your employees, they can promptly respond to missed calls and voice messages. Set a definite strategy and timelines around how and when your organization will respond to customer missed calls or voice messages to build trust, improve service, and enhance your brand reputation.
Benefits of Switching to Community Phone
Besides having a reliable landline service that does not require internet, Community Phone members enjoy the following benefits:
Unlimited nationwide calling and text: Stay in touch with loved ones across the U.S. with Community Phone's unlimited talk and text.
No internet needed: The Community Phone landline base works off cell towers without tying your phone to the internet. Since your phones are not dependent on the internet, they will continue working during an internet outage or maintenance.
Number choice: You can get a new local number FREE when you sign up with Community Phone. You can also transfer your existing number through their unique hand-held porting process.
Zero-cost Installation: The landline base does not require a technician to install it. You or anyone in your business or household can install your Community Phone landline in under 30 seconds and be ready to make calls in 5 mins.
24/7 reliable customer support: Contact Community Phone customer support via phone, email, and live chat 24/7 to experience world-class support from live agents. Glowing customer reviews on BBB and Trustpilot are testimonies of their commitment to customers.
Works during power outages: Save money you would invest on installing costly inverters or backup power, as the 12-hour backup battery in the landline base ensures your phones continue working during power outages and blackouts.
How to get a Community Phone landline?
Follow these steps to get a Community Phone landline:
- Call Community Phone at (866)-340-6256 and speak with a specialist.
- The rep will check your area for coverage. Since Community Phone covers 99% of the US, this should not be an issue.
- You get a local number FREE when you signup. Choose a new number or port your existing number. The specialist will help you get a similar number if your preferred number is unavailable.
- You can discuss getting a toll-free or vanity number for your business with the specialist.
- Choose a plan that fits your business needs.
- If you cannot find a plan that fits your needs, you can ask Community Phone to create a custom plan. Community Phone, a specialist in creating custom plans, can take your business's specific needs into cognizance and chart out the perfect plan for you.
- Complete the signup process
- Wait for your landline base, and install it per instructions. You can contact Community Phone support if you have challenges or questions.
- Wait until the base completes the setup. Make a test call to check if your landline works as intended.
FAQs
What are the drawbacks of FirstDigital VoIP?
Here are some drawbacks of FirstDigital VoIP
- Autorenewal of contracts without customer consent
- Exorbitant early termination fees
- Unhelpful and unresponsive support
- Issues like call drops and poor voice quality as the phone lines use inconsistent FirstDigital internet for voice communication
- Security issues as your business will be vulnerable to internet-related threats.
What is the best alternative to FirstDigital VoIP?
Community Phone’s business landline service is the best alternative to FirstDigital VoIP. Their wireless landline base connects your business phones to local cell towers for a dial tone. Since it does not depend on the internet and has a 12-hour backup battery, your phone will continue working during power outages and blackouts.
Enjoy unlimited nationwide calling and texts, spam call blocking, a custom dial menu, call routing, voicemail-to-email, and other features at affordable prices. Talk to a Community Phone business specialist today to learn more!
Conclusion
FirstDigital VoIP may be the most popular service for business phone systems. However, if you need a reliable, quality alternative to FirstDigital VoIP without the internet requirement or high costs, then Community Phone is the right choice.
With its 99% coverage across the US and affordable pricing options, you can rest assured that your business phone system will always be available. Join the Community Phone family today and experience reliable, quality business phone service without the hassle of internet connections. Sign up now and start enjoying the benefits Community Phone has to offer!