CallFire vs. Lumen Next-Gen Voice

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
CallFire
Score 9.7 out of 10
N/A
CallFire is a VoIP and messaging solution designed for both external B2C interactions and internal company use. It includes features such as text messaging, call tracking, voice broadcasting, and an interactive voice response (IVR) system. Subscription pricing starts at $99 per month.
$99
per month
Lumen Next-Gen Voice
Score 7.7 out of 10
N/A
Lumen Next-Gen Voice offers cloud calling and business voice solutions that use VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to transmit calls over the internet. Lumen Next-Generation Voice Services provide Dedicated LD and/or Toll-Free Service using a SIP connection. These services leverage the company's network footprint in the U.S., EMEA and LATAM to provide more than a point solution for customers solving for operational and efficiency challenges. Calls supported: Enterprise Long…
$8
per month (12-month term required) per concurrent call path
Pricing
CallFireLumen Next-Gen Voice
Editions & Modules
Lite
$99.00
per month
Startup
$199.00
per month
Grow
$299.00
per month
Pro
$599.00
per month
Lumen Cloud Voice - Essentials
starting at $11.50
per month (minimum 60 mo term) per user (minimum 250 users)
Lumen Cloud Voice - Plus
starting at $17.50
per month (minimum 60 mo term) per user (minimum 250 users)
Lumen Cloud Voice - Premium
starting at $22.50
per month (minimum 60-month term) per user (minimum 250 users)
Lumen Cloud Voice - Specialty Lines
starting at $47.50
per month (minimum 60-month term) per user (minimum 250 users)
Lumen Voice Complete (SIP Trunking)
starting at $8
per month (12-month term required) per concurrent call path
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CallFireLumen Next-Gen Voice
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsNext‑Generation 9‑1‑1 available as an add-on (custom pricing).
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CallFireLumen Next-Gen Voice
Features
CallFireLumen Next-Gen Voice
Cloud PBX
Comparison of Cloud PBX features of Product A and Product B
CallFire
7.6
Ratings
5% below category average
Lumen Next-Gen Voice
-
Ratings
Hosted PBX6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
User templates7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Call reports7.20 Ratings00 Ratings
Directory of employee names9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Call Management
Comparison of Call Management features of Product A and Product B
CallFire
9.3
Ratings
11% above category average
Lumen Next-Gen Voice
-
Ratings
Answering rules8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Call recording10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Call park8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Call screening10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Message alerts10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
VoIP system collaboration
Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of Product A and Product B
CallFire
10.0
Ratings
23% above category average
Lumen Next-Gen Voice
-
Ratings
Video conferencing10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Audio conferencing10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile apps
Comparison of Mobile apps features of Product A and Product B
CallFire
8.3
Ratings
5% above category average
Lumen Next-Gen Voice
-
Ratings
Mobile app for iOS8.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile app for Android8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
CallFireLumen Next-Gen Voice
Small Businesses
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.2 out of 10
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.2 out of 10
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Score 8.7 out of 10
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
CallFireLumen Next-Gen Voice
Likelihood to Recommend
9.4
(0 ratings)
7.4
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
CallFireLumen Next-Gen Voice
Likelihood to Recommend
If you need to find a test candidate for your client quickly, this is one of the best ways. Pull yourself a hot list of a couple hundred potential candidates and load them in to CallFire. Then get ready to hit about 50-60 calls per hour. You should have a great test candidate for your client in about 24 hours! It's amazing how quickly you can show your clients the true speed of your company.
Read full review
[CenturyLink Enterprise Voice SIP is] good for environments that require tried and true SIP services, where high-quality voice is a requirement, and backed by a large, global company, with global footprint. CenturyLink voice is also well-suited to environments that want to use MPLS to interconnect their offices, as the same voice circuits can be used for data as well; however, the circuits are relatively expensive, even as far as MPLS goes, and watch out for Lumen's "fees" that often aren't included when you see their quote. Also beware if you require a rapid turn-up or have a very small or inexperienced staff, as MPLS with BGP deployments are great once they're up and running, but can be complex to design and implement.
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Pros
  • CallFire has amazing organization as far as categories and campaigns and all aspects go.
  • It is very easy to use and understand! Very user friendly.
  • Customer service and help is awesome! There have been some times when I have needed assistance and they were always so quick to reply.
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  • Reliable service
  • Supports wide range of key features
  • They do have high levels of support where you can receive real answers
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Cons
  • The services are easy to use and robust, but there is room for improvement. Unfortunately, not much has changed over the last 2 years of use. There haven't been any new features or innovations in that time.
  • API integration and automation is not easy for most folks to jump into and there is very little technical support or documentation to take advantage of such features.
  • The standard reports are generally sufficient, but there isn't any customization or intelligence available.
Read full review
  • Lumen-Centurylink has suffered from many noticeable outages in the last few years - this is a blow to their reputation that they still have to recover from.
  • Lumen-CenturyLink does not peer well enough with OTHER carriers - they depend on their own network to give you SIP, which means less true redundancy.
  • Lumen-CenturyLink needs a better customer portal/interface to handle failover, see the real-time status, etc.
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Likelihood to Renew
There is no reason not to, it has proven effective in the usage
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
No answers on this topic
SIP service support is definitely improving. A few years ago I would have rated them a 2. Now a 7. But, Lumen still needs a better portal experience to report and see a real-time status. Also to manage SIP failover functions in a WYSIWIG/GUI interface. When Lumen's network breaks in a larger outage, there are long hold times and support is not good.
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Alternatives Considered
We considered Trello before deciding on CallFire. Trello is a good service that seems to do much of what CallFire does, however we wanted to avoid the labor-hours necessary to get Trello up to speed, as it is very technically involved. We didn't want to hire any additional developers just to get Trello set up and maintained. With CallFire, it was very intuitive and easy to setup quickly.
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I have found a better solution is to run two different carriers through SD-WAN (such as Bigleaf or Velocloud MSR) and use a provider like BCMOne (formerly NexVortex) to manage the SIP. BCMOne/Nexvortex is an AWESOME SIP provider with better planning, deployment, and technical support. When paired with redundant internet paths on SD-WAN (BigLeaf or Velocloud) a very resilient solution is created.
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Return on Investment
  • I sent out a broadcast message pretty deep in our data base, well three years out. I had one customer come in and buy thanking me for contacting her.
  • Our holiday season was up 35% over last year, this year we used CallFire more than we did in the past.
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  • Faster learning
  • Increased numbers of calls
  • Organization of calls
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ScreenShots