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Comwave is the largest independent communications company in Canada, serving over 1,100 cities. Comwave, founded in 1999 and headquaterted in Toronto, provides its services to the consumer, business, and wholesale market places.
This review is focused on their business hosted VoIP phone service offering, but they do offer other services to the business community, including SIP Trunking, Internet, TV, and Network Security. Check out our Comwave residential phone service reviews page if you are interested in their Home services.
Comwave's phone system is integrated with Cisco Webex making it what is commonly referred to as a Unified Communications service. This just means it has multiple communication services in one package. This can help reduce the number of Apps you use in the workplace (if you need features like video conferencing and instant messaging) and can sometimes be more cost effective and easier to manage (i.e. one bill versus multiple).
Comwave have three (3) main business phone system plans, the Standard plan, the Essential plan, and the Premium plan. Pricing for each plan is based on a per user per month fixed rate and then discounted based on the number of users (i.e. the more users you have the cheaper the fixed rate per user becomes). The table below breaks down the pricing per plan and per tier of users.
| Users | Standard | Essential | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 | $34.95/user/mo | $39.95/user/mo | $49.95/user/mo |
| 6 to 20 | $32.95/user/mo | $37.95/user/mo | $47.95/user/mo |
| 21 to 100 | $29.95/user/mo | $34.95/user/mo | $44.95/user/mo |
| 100+ | Call | Call | Call |
All plans include unlimited US and CAN calling, virtual receptionist, voice-to-email, auto-attendant multi-level, toll free, text messaging, CRM integration, active directory, Cisco Webex calling, and Cisco Webex messaging features. The Essential and Premium plans add Cisco Webex video meetings. The Premium plan then also includes group call and call recording features.
A Webex mobile App and a desktop App are available allowing you to utilize your business phone system on any device. You can seamlessly pull calls from your desk phone to your Webex mobile or desktop App. With the Apps you can take advantage of group messaging, file sharing, interactive whiteboarding, collaboration over video calls, and share your screen and files (dependant on which plan you choose).
Various desk phone models are available from manufacturers Polycom and Yealink, from entry level, mid-range, cordless, conferencing, and video calling style phones. However, there are no pricing details listed on the website. If you have existing IP phones you should check with them first to see if they are supported if you are considering their service.
Comwave display various large brand names on the website that utilize their business services, such as automotive giants Audi, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen. Other brands include Pizza Hut, Quiznos, Petvalu, and Canadian Tire.
From a customer support perspective there is a contact us page on the main website showing a local Toronto phone number for help and support, and a Toll Free number for sales. There is no indication of day and hour coverage for contacting them by phone. There is also a Help page on the website where you can submit a ticket, check your service or ticket status, access the online portal, view your bill, download the various App options (PC, mobile etc.), and access help documents related to the various desk phone models, Apps, and user guides. When submitting a ticket you can select the best time for a call back, either 8am to noon or noon to 5pm. You can also select technical help or customer service.
Other services on offer include SIP Trunking, with a SIP Local plan for $14.95/month, a SIP North America plan for $19.95/month, and a SIP Global plan for $49.95/month. Business Internet plans are available including DSL, VDSL, Cable, Fiber, and LTE and Fixed Wireless solutions. Comwave state it has the largest Internet footprint in Canada, as well as 24/7 enterprise-level bilingual technical support. Pricing is not available on the website.
Comwave offer a business TV package for $29.95/month. This includes channels such as ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, PBS, and more. Some channels are not available in all areas. Network Security is a cloud based business service on offer, protecting your organization against intrusions, malware, and viruses, and providing you simple web-based interface controls to manage security levels, control applications, and web filtering. Pricing is not available on the website.
Like almost all VoIP service providers there is a Reasonable Use Policy which provides some protection limits on the unlimited calling plans, with usage limited to 5,000 minutes per month.
Be aware that Comwave provide free number porting in but you will incur a $50 administration fee for each number you port out to another company.
The website mentions various features available for each plan but there is little information available on most features. For example, CRM integrations are mentioned but it is not clear what CRM packages are supported. If any specific features are important to you we recommend contacting them directly to make sure they have what you need.
It is not clear if the pricing available is in Canadian dollars or US dollars. As WhichVoIP is based in the US it may be that it automatically selects the relevant currency based on IP location information. There is also no pricing detailed for the avaialble IP phones. Always get firm pricing by contacting the provider directly.
Comwave have partnered with Cisco Webex to create a Unified Communications offering which includes voice services, messaging, and collaboration services including web meetings and video calls. Three plans are available at various price points to suit those businesses that are more focused on the voice services, then those that want the video calling capabilities, and/or call recording.
Pricing is based on number of users but is competitive with many similar offerings available in the market today. Being the largest independant communications company in Canada they provide coverage across the whole country. Overall, our opinion is that Comwave business phone services are worth researching further for our Canadian neighbors.
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