By: Kurtis | Last updated September 6, 2020 
The importance of communication among different platforms is more present nowadays because of how mobile phones and tablets are being developed to slowly reach the computers’ functions. This is why cross-platform communication is sought by most businesses. This allows them to communicate better and with more flexibility for their customers.
The traditional phone system is now being replaced by the Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP. It is a service that transfers audio into transmissions that can be sent through the internet, allowing you to communicate among different gadgets. Some of the most sought features for these services include unlimited calls, international calls, call logs, online faxing, and more.
RingCentral proves itself to be one of the most reliable and feature-filled VOIP services available on the market. This, along with their affordable pricing structure, makes them one of the best. Founded back in 2003, they are compatible with both big businesses and the residential setting. Their tools and features differentiate them from the rest.
The pricing for RingCentral depends upon the use and the setting where it will be used.
Their office plans have features like unlimited phone calls, administration for the phone system, call management, 24/7 customer support and 100 minutes for toll-free calls. These are included in the basic plan which is priced at $19.99 paid monthly. It supports up to 10 users.
Their next plan is the standard plan which adds a virtual administrator that can redirect calls, log reports, and online faxing. It also comes with a meeting function that can accommodate up to four people. It is priced at $24.99 paid monthly.
The premium plan has integration to software, multi-site support, text transcription, voice-mail to text transcription, 2500 minutes for toll-free calls, and custom app development. It is also integrated with Zendesk, Salesforce.com, and Desk.com. It is priced at $34.99 priced monthly. It can support up to 100 people.
The ultimate plan features 10,000 minutes for toll-free calls and a 200 people-limit for meetings. It is priced at $49.99 paid monthly. This is most recommended for bigger businesses. They do not offer international calls and instead pose additional rates for each minute of international calling.
Their residential plans are the Standard and the Essential plan.
The essentials plan is priced at $19.99 per month. Its features include a mobile app available for both iOS and Android, cross-platform calls, 100 minutes of toll-free calls, call management, SMS, unlimited phone calls, and 24/7 customer support.
The standard plan is priced at $24.99 per month. Its features included are all of those in the essentials plan along with integration to services like Zendesk, Salesforce, and Desk.com. It comes with an auto-attendant, online faxing, and log reports.
Features included with RingCentral
The features included in each plan are quite generous regardless of the plan’s price. The best out of all of this is their 24/7 customer service that you can rely on during and after business hours. The quality of their representatives’ answers and their skills in handling questions is commendable.
The auto-attendant feature is good for redirecting customers to specific departments which they need to contact. This allows customers to be instantly connected to the people they will need to talk to. You can also choose to pick specific numbers to voicemail.
The design of their interface is clean and functional. It doesn’t come with many buttons but it ensures that important ones can easily be seen. It can be easily understood at first glance. It doesn’t have many complicated features for users to learn about at first use.
The only disappointment that can be seen with RingCentral is the lack of unlimited calling to international numbers. This can be a deal breaker for businesses specifically needing calls globally. The additional cost per minute of international calls can add up fast if no plan is specified for it.
Features
A downside, however, is the lack of unlimited minutes for international calls. This is because most VoIP actually offer this service, some offering up to 30 countries that you can call for unlimited minutes. RingCentral doesn’t offer this and instead, puts additional costs for calling internationally. This applies even to Puerto Rico which some services consider as local. This may be unfriendly for smaller businesses that will regularly need to call internationally.
Quality of calling
The quality of calls for RingCentral is a bit on the average side. There were some minor hiccups in terms of quality and voice. There was also some lagging when calling internationally. The good thing was that we did not encounter any dropped calls. The quality of meetings in both the audio and video form is also good.
Overall impressions
RingCentral is best for those dealing with local numbers. Its features are all usable and simple to understand. It also offers an online faxing system that is very useful. It is not recommended for businesses regularly dealing with international numbers, though.
