Overview:
Link2Exchange, a company with offices in New Hampshire, U.S.A., offers email Exchange solutions for businesses. They also offer Website hosting and email archiving.
Pros: The company offers several different plans for different business needs, and for each plan, there are four different levels, so you can pick the number of options and features that you want. There is no contract and you get a thirty-day free trial to see if the plan will work for you. Also, all plans have instant activation and live phone support if you run into issues. Even their standard account, the lowest level account, has a lot of features that come with the plan for no extra cost. For companies that operate on an academic level (libraries, universities, or even homeschooling programs), Link2Exchange offers a discount. The company's storage prices are 1/5 the cost of some other companies, at $4.95 per 500 MB.
Cons: The prices are quite high, depending on the plan that you want to get; also, they are priced per user as opposed to the number of mailboxes, unlike other companies. Virus and Spam protection is available on most accounts, but standard accounts for less than 5 users must pay extra for it. Their set-up fees are also quite high. There are also small activation fees if you want to add another user to the server.
Detailed Provider Information:
Version of BES: (Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, Novell Group Wise) Link2Exchange uses Microsoft Exchange Enterprise Edition.
Plans and Pricing: There are 6 different plans for 1+, 5+, 10+, 25+, 50+ and 100+ users. The plans for 1-5 people have different tiers so that small businesses can choose what features they want on their plan.
The 1+ user plan starts at $9.95 for a Standard account, Link2Exchange’s lowest account level. Mailboxes are 500 MB and users get aggregated disk space, Windows Mobile 5.0 Push, live support, free Outlook 2007 and Entourage 2007 for Macs, Outlook Web Access, the ability to share calendars and contacts, public folders, Web-based account admin, unlimited aliases, nightly backup and DNS hosting. For a standard account, that’s a lot of features. For businesses that can afford it, there are Platinum accounts at 1,000 MB, which include all of the Standard features and virus and span protection – the cost for those is $14.95 a month. Premier accounts, at 1500 MB, cost $19.95 a month; and Premier Plus accounts, at 2000 MB, cost $24.95 a month. Both the Premier and Premier Plus accounts include all the features of a Platinum account.
The 5+ user plan is set at Premier Plus level, and all mailboxes are 2000 MB. There is an activation fee of $39.75 and a monthly fee of $79.75 (about $15.95 per user). If you want to add additional users, you will have a set-up fee of $7.95.
The 10+ user plan costs $129.50 a month and is, like the 5+ user plan, set at Premier Plus level. You get 2000 MB of storage. You will be charged a set-up fee of $59.50 and additional users are $12.95 each, with a $5.95 set-up fee. The next plan up, the 25+ user plan, has a set-up fee of $123.75 and is $298.75 a month. Additional users are $11.95 with a $4.95 set-up fee.
The biggest plans, 50+ and 100+, both have 2000 MB storage. The 50+ plan is $587.50 a month with a set-up fee of $247.50. Additional users on this plan will pay $11.75 with a set-up fee of $4.95. The 100+ user plan is priced at $1,150.00 a month with a set-up fee of $495.00. As with the other plans, additional users are $11.95 a month with a $4.95 set-up fee.
Businesses have the option of allowing Link2Exchange tech experts to handle their information remotely. The benefits are quite numerous, including no downtime transition program, expert support implementation, DNS/MX record assistance, updating Outlook and Windows, configuration of mobile devices and Outlook 2003, importing of existing Outlook data into the new account, and secure Remote Control capability of your computer during port-over. Link2Exchange charges $29.95 for the first PC and then $19.95 for additional computers.
Mobile Sync pricing starts at $19.95 a month for Good Mobile Messaging and $9.95 a month for BlackBerry sync.
As well, the company offers extra storage for all accounts at $5.00 per month for each additional 500 MB. They also offer mailbox archiving to CD for a one-time fee of $19.95 and domain alias at $29.95 a year.
Firewall Protection: All communication to the Link2Exchange server requires encryption for ultimate protection.
Anti-Spam and Virus Protection: With every plan except for the Standard accounts, users get free anti-spam and anti-virus protection. Standard accounts can purchase these for $1.95 a month. The company uses Postini and McAfee.
Set-up Fee: Set-up fees abound in Link2Exchange’s plans. You must pay a set-up fee for each additional user you put on the plan, plus relatively expensive fees upfront.
Other Devices Supported: Link2Exchange supports Treo, BlackBerry, PocketPC and Smartphones.
Customer Service: Customer service is available on the Website as well as through email and phone. Link2Exchange is a Microsoft Gold Partner with experts working 24/7 to maintain the servers. They offer live phone support 8 am to 6 pm, Monday to Friday, Eastern Standard Time. They also have numbers in the U.K. and International support.
Backup History Storage: Link2Exchange performs nightly backups which are included with the plans. The backups are held for 7 days. If you delete mailboxes or data, Link2Exchange holds them for 48 hours.
Uptime Guarantee: Link2Exchange gives a 99% uptime guarantee with rebates if there are problems. It is listed in the SLA.
Additional Services: You can get email archiving for a fee and also Website hosting, so that you won’t have to go elsewhere for these services. Link2Exchange offers three different kinds of archiving, from enhanced archiving at 1 GB starting at $15.95 per user per month to third party archiving at $50 a month. Web hosting is offered at a 20% discount if you already have a hosting account with the company. There are also no set-up fees, which is a change.
Fee to Change BlackBerry for Current Customers: There is no charge for this service.
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I have been using Link2Exchange for almost two years. I love the service they provide and I have only needed support on a couple of occasions. When I did call they were able to help me out in a very timely manner. I would highly recommend Link2Exchange to anyone looking for this kind of service.
As a L2E endy user myself, and referral partner of their service to many of my long time SMB IT clients, I have experienced nothing but great service and support from their team. I know that they are always at the end of both emails and phone calls, and 100% of the issues were resolved in a timely (within hours) and professional manner.
Not only am I a customer of Link2Exchange I have been selling their Blackberry Enterpirse Server (BES) to my Blackberry customer's since 2002. MSOM Communications is a unique company that specializes in Blackberry for professionals and business to business clientel. In the 6 years that I have personally used their service I have not had an issue or a problem that Link2Exchange's customer service was not able to resolve 100% of the time and do it in a timely manner. Because I demonstrate business applications that a Blackberry does I am on my 6th Blackberry (I tend to wear them out) and with all the updates and programs, the integrity of the address book, calender, task and memo's has never been corrupted or comprimised. My customer base of AT&T, Nextel, Sprint and Verizon Blackberry and Treo users depend on Link2Exchange for their business and I have NEVER lost a customer because of a Link2Exchange problem, it has always been because of the carrier coverage or billing issue. Even when they have change carrier's they stay with Link2Exchange.
I have been a Link2Exchange customer for a little more than a year and have been only VERY pleasantly surprised by their outstanding customer service, technical support and follow-through. In every encounter, such as when my Palm Treo and laptop melted down almost simultaneously, Link2Exchange came through for me and had me up and running -- even solving issues that were outside their natural lanes (read, helping me solve problems that originated on my end or Verizon's). I wish all of my vendors behaved and delivered for me this way!
I have been using Link2Exchange for a couple of years now. Their support is responsive and knowledgeable when I have had called them which is rare because their service just plain works. I would highly recommend them. Thanks Link2Exchange and keep up the good work!
Service was fantastic. Hosted exhange and BES had fit my needs perfectly. I had used L2E too take advantage of BES server.
This was a personal account; and had transformed my 8830 from a smart phone to a lap top.
My carrier raised the rates for business data plan, and I had to make a change.
Their product and cusomer service are second to none.
5 stars +
I've been using them for a full month now and choose them as I ready many great reviews on this site. My reivew is mixed in that the system seems to work well and I have not had any issues with uptime. But I do have issues with their Customer Service Team. I've never had any problem getting ahold of anyone so they are always properly staffed. But I have had numerous times when they did couldn't help me such as helping setup Entourage. My CEO using a MAC so they need to use Entourage. When I called the support all they could tell me is they don't support MAC. Another time there was an issue with our entire team not getting messages. Again when I got someone on the helpdesk all they told me to do is go to the knowledge base. Which I did and didn't find anything. I then reported the incident to our rep and he contacted the head of customer support which told me to email in my issue. I did and they emailed me back a link to postini to adjust my spam filter setting which was set to VERY AGRRESSIVE. Also if you are an admin you are not able to use a master control to make these settings. Everyone will need to make the setting on their own.
My overall review is it's not a bad service. But they do need to overall their interface to make it easier on the user to change spam settings and to also institute a ticket system so when there is a trouble ticket it can be tracked to completion as a few times my issue got lost. Also if you are an IT Administer the control panel isn't very robust.