After conducting extensive research and analysis, we recommend RingCentral as our 2018 pick for the best business phone service. To understand how we selected our best picks, you can find our methodology, as well as a comprehensive list of business phone systems, on our best picks page.
Why RingCentral?
Ease of Use
RingCentral Office is a cloud-based VoIP phone system that is extremely easy to implement and use.
Implementation: RingCentral provides new customers with an implementation specialist who helps determine exactly how many phones you will need, transfer your existing phone numbers into the system or order new lines, and choose local, toll-free or vanity numbers.
Setup: Since the system is cloud-based, you need no special equipment or wiring to get it up and running. The system runs on the same internet connection your company uses. Once you have your IP phones in hand, all you need to do is plug them into an internet connection and they are ready to start making and receiving calls.
Online management: You control the entire system via an online portal. Within the portal you add and change users, assign phones, and manage extensions and groups. Employees also have access to the system. They can log in from their computers and smartphones to manage their own individual settings.
Part of what makes RingCentral Office such an appealing phone system is its wide array of calling, mobility and collaboration tools.
Call management: This phone system includes all of the standard calling features businesses today want from their phone services, including call forwarding, call recording, call screening, call logs, message alerts and answering rules. Other popular tools are auto-receptionists, multilevel IVRs and hold music.
Voicemail: RingCentral Office has several ways for you to check your voicemail. The system includes traditional voicemail, voicemail-to-email, and a visual voicemail that allows you to preview your messages in text form when you can't listen to them.
Collaboration: The system offers a number of tools that make working with others easier, such as video and audio conferencing. It also offers the ability to host webinars with up to 10,000 participants and 500 presenters. In addition, the Glip tool provides a single, unified team workspace where you can communicate, share files and assign tasks.
Mobility: The RingCentral mobile app is available on iOS and Android devices. With the app, users can make and receive calls from their business lines, send and receive faxes and texts, set up and join conference calls, and check voicemail. The app also allows users to change their system settings and receive notifications.
Cost
RingCentral Office is available in four different service plans that vary in features and price.
Essentials: The Essentials plan is only available for businesses with fewer than 10 employees. The plan is $29.99 per user, per month. It includes 100 toll-free minutes, unlimited calling, video meetings for up to four people at a time, visual voicemail and voicemail-to-email. This plan also features file sharing, instant messaging and chat rooms.
Standard: The Standard plan is $34.99 per user, per month. It includes everything in the Essentials plan, as well as 1,000 toll-free minutes, a multilevel auto-attendant, call logs and online faxing.
Premium: The Premium plan is $44.99 per user. It includes everything in the Standard plan plus 2,500 toll-free minutes, video meetings for up to 50 people, automatic call recording, multisite support, custom app development and deployment, single sign-on, and integrations with Salesforce, Zendesk and Desk.com.
Ultimate: The most expensive plan is the Ultimate package, which is $59.99 per user, per month. This includes everything in the Premium plan, plus voicemail transcription to text.
Discounts: RingCentral offers a 33 percent discount for users who pay on an annual basis instead of monthly. Prices also drop for businesses with at least 100 users.
Other Benefits
Reliability: RingCentral has a 99.999 percent uptime, which means service is down for only a couple of minutes each year. To achieve such a high uptime, RingCentral employs both a distributed, redundant network to route calls around broken links and redundant data centers to ensure service during any outages.
Call center: RingCentral also offers three different contact center plans. All the plans include standard IVRs and advanced call distributors. The more advanced plans also include omnichannel capabilities, preview, progressive and predictive dialers, and outbound dialing.
Virtual services: RingCentral Professional is also available for businesses that prefer a virtual system over a traditional phone system. The virtual system works as an extensive call-forwarding plan that allows businesses to have a main number, with all calls then forwarded to employees' cell or home phones. This type of service is ideal for microbusinesses or businesses with a remote workforce.
Limitations
The biggest downside of RingCentral is its inconsistent customer service. To test the support, we called the company numerous times posing as a small business owner interested in phone systems. While most of our interactions were positive, our initial one left a lot to be desired and gave us a poor first impression. We have been pleased, however, to see that the service has improved since our first contact with the company. While the phone support has gotten better, the live chat support still needs improvement.
Another potential negative is the number of complaints filed against the company with the Better Business Bureau. As of January 2018, 219 complaints against the company had been closed over the past three years. Of those, 73 were resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant. The BBB reports that RingCentral did address the other complaints; however, the customers responded that they were not happy with the result or never let the BBB know if they were satisfied with the response. Despite the complaints, RingCentral is an accredited member of the BBB and has an A+ rating.
