Free VoIP: Does It Exist and Is It Good for Business?
Choosing between downloadable VoIP software and paid services
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Is there really a free VoIP service?
Yes! There are free VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services out there. These are usually consumer-level apps you can download from the Apple App Store or Google Play. You might even be using them to chat with your friends and family.
People typically use these messaging apps to make video and voice calls and send instant messages to anyone from anywhere in the world without paying anything.
The main draw is probably the easy setup. All you need to do is download the app, install it on your device, and create an account—and you’re good to go! They really are great for personal use. But if you want to use them for business, they might not be the best option.
Heard of VoIP softphones?
This term is less commonly used, but the apps mentioned above are examples of VoIP softphones, which are basically programs that let you make calls over the internet. They essentially turn your computers into “real phones” you can use for calls from PC to phone, from phone to PC, and between VoIP-enabled devices.
Most of these softphones have mobile app versions, so you can use your mobile devices as VoIP phones.
The main limitations of consumer-level free VoIP
One of the major selling points of Voice over IP is the fact that it won’t rack up your phone bill—especially because there are VoIP apps that can be downloaded for free. But of course, with anything that’s free, there can be some drawbacks:
1.
Free VoIP apps only work when everyone on the call is using it.
Let’s say you have a Skype account and want to use it to call
someone. To make voice or video calling possible, the other person needs
to have a Skype account too.
This also means you won’t be able to
call phone numbers directly. Sure, apps like Skype and Viber allow you
to do this—but you’d need to buy credits to make it happen.
2.
They’re completely dependent on a strong internet connection.
All VoIP services need a strong internet connection to work properly.
With paid VoIP services, even though you’re paying for them, your VoIP
provider will conduct a broadband connection test and a speed test to
make sure your system can handle internet calls. If you need your calls
to be reliable, this is probably the better way to go.
3.
There’s no direct way to make calls to and from landline phones.
You won’t be able to call from a landline phone to the app, and of
course, vice versa. Some apps can assign a temporary number from
different countries, but you’d have to pay extra.
4.
Don’t expect a VoIP E-911 feature.
Free VoIP doesn't support emergency calls since it isn't associated with
a physical location (you can make emergency calls using your existing
phone number on a traditional telephone network because it's associated
with an address). To make it easier for responders to locate callers in
cases of emergencies, federal law now requires business VoIP providers
to register their customers’ addresses.
Since consumer-level free VoIP like Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger can’t accommodate phone calls from landline systems and other VoIP apps, they can’t completely replace your home phones. For that, you might want to look into residential VoIP services, which offer general landline functions without the high price.
Are there free VoIP services for business?
Enterprise VoIP services usually come with a subscription cost, which depends on the plan you choose. As to what these plans include, you get what you pay for.
Believe it or not, there are companies that
offer free versions of their VoIP service—the only thing is something
that’s free typically isn’t good enough for the average business.
In fact, free business VoIP packages are usually meant to be trial runs for really small businesses, which means they cater to a very limited number of users. For example, here are a few scenarios where free business VoIP solutions might be missing communication and collaboration features:
Communication
- The platform for VoIP calling is free, and you can also receive inbound calls for free, but you still get charged per minute for outbound calls (not good for a sales call center or any company or department that makes a lot of outbound phone calls). You’re probably better off investing in a robust call center software program.
- Calling and sending text messages may be free, but limited to a certain number and to businesses in the United States. In many cases, SMS isn’t supported at all, so if you’re the type of business that sends appointment reminder texts to your clients, you’ll need to look at other options.
- You may be able to get a free phone number. But since they generally recycle numbers, there’s a chance you’ll receive calls intended for someone else.
- Free versions don’t support emergency services. That means it's impossible for your employees to call 911 in case an accident happens.
- Yes, it’s possible to find a free service with comprehensive unified communications (a phone system that unifies multiple communication channels like voice, email, and video conferencing). But in cases like this, you’ll typically get little to no customer support when things go wrong. With paid services, whether you’re on a monthly or annual plan, you can always call your provider for help or get access to resources if you encounter problems with your phone line or hosted PBX phone system.
- If the provider is using SIP trunking (aka using an IP-enabled private branch exchange to create virtual phone lines within an organization), then they don’t support SMS—and you won’t be able to send texts. SIP to SIP calls are free, but you can’t dial direct phone numbers.
Collaboration
- You might get collaboration features like high-definition video conferencing, but with a cap on the usable bandwidth. Bandwidth affects connectivity, sound, and image quality, so you can expect choppy calls, which no one likes.
- Free services usually don’t offer integrations with important business apps like Salesforce and Zendesk.
- You’ll probably find a free service with built-in customer relationship management (CRM) software, but you can almost bet it’ll lack some functionality. Limited storage, for example, is something you’d expect in this case. This could be a problem as you grow your customer base.
The above scenarios are just a few examples of things to look out for
when searching for free business VoIP plans. But if you feel that a
free package is enough to meet your needs for now (and won’t hinder
growth), then go for it.
If you do think you’ll need a fully
business-capable internet phone solution, on the other hand, or if you
know that your business will need to add or remove users, open new
locations, and get more customers, then a paid service would make more
sense.
Look into a free trial or two and try out some VoIP software.
Want to switch to VoIP? Take a look at free trials
If you want to get a feel for a service before deciding to sign up,
then free trials are the way to go. Trial packages usually come with
most of the important features and support associated with an actual
paid subscription, so you can have the full experience for a limited
time.
Look at a few different providers and compare them to see which one best addresses your needs.
In fact, why not start by taking RingCentral for a test drive?
RingCentral MVP™* plans for your small business
PAY ANNUALLY AND SAVE UP TO 33%
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Message, Video, Phone
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Everything in Essentials, PLUS
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- Business phone numbers in over 100 countries
- Unlimited internet fax
- Unlimited audio conferencing
- Video meetings with up to 100 participants
- Up to 24-hour meeting duration
- Quality-of-service reports
-
Popular integrations including
Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack,
and more - 24/7 support
Best value
Premium
Message, Video, Phone, Open API
$34.99
off
$34.99
/user/month
**
Everything in Standard, PLUS
- Automatic call recording
- Single Sign-on
- Multi-site admin and management
- Up to 8-digit extensions with site codes
- Hot desking
- Advanced call handling including whisper, barge, and more
- Video meetings with up to 200 participants
- Real-time analytics
- Popular CRM integrations with Salesforce, Zendesk, and more
- Industry-specific integrations with Canvas, Smarsh, and more
- Developer platform and custom integrations
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Annually: $19.99/user/mo
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Business phone or toll-free numbers
One phone number for calling, team messaging,
and video
meetings access.
Each user gets a dedicated phone number at no additional cost. Essentials
edition doesn't include video meetings.
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Toll-free
minutes
Inbound Toll-free
minutes
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Included minute allotment varies by tier. Toll-free minutes
are pooled across the account, regardless of number of lines. Additional minutes available for purchase.
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Unlimited calls within the US/Canada**
Unlimited calling/phone calls within the US
and CA. Plus, choose from affordable and convenient international calling plans
that fit your business. Terms and conditions may apply.
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Enhanced Business SMS
Designed to meet latest carrier requirements and improve deliverability. Included SMS allotment
varies by tier. Additional SMS available for purchase. Available upon request.
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Voicemail-to-text
Automatically convert voicemail messages into text form so users can screen
messages easily and respond to the most important call first.
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Visual voicemail and voicemail-to-email
Access voicemail messages from your desk and
mobile phones, email, desktop app, and online account.
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more
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Team messaging
Collaborate more effectively with colleagues,
clients, and contractors with team messaging, task assignment, calendar sharing,
and more. Also, utilize out-of-the-box integrations with Jira, Asana, Box,
Google Drive, OneDrive, and more.
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more
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Document sharing
Access
documents and files stored on your computer or your Google Drive, Box, OneDrive,
and Dropbox accounts and easily share them with your team members.
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Call management and phone system
administration Sophisticated call management, enabling you
to configure your phone system across the entire company, regardless of location
or device. Optimize communication with custom admin and user configurations
online or using the mobile app.
Call management features include:
*Not available with Essentials.
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Mobile apps for iOS and Android
Whether you're an Apple or Android user, you can use your smartphones and
tablets to make and receive calls, join and host meetings,
team message coworkers and partners, send and receive faxes and texts, set up
and join conferences, and configure phone system settings, notifications, and
voicemail.
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more
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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High-definition (HD) voice
To consistently deliver the highest HD quality possible, RingCentral utilizes
the Opus Interactive codec for audio and video, as well as the G.722 codec for
audio.
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Included in plan
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Call log reports
Get a complete record of all your inbound and
outbound calls and faxes. View the name of the caller, the number or extension
dialed, as well as the time, date, and duration of the call.
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more
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Phone rental options: desk and
conference phones Rent any desk phone or conference phone for a
low monthly price.
Contact sales for details and pricing.
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Add Video Pro and Video Pro+ users
Administrators can add Video Pro and Video
Pro+ users from within MVP.
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Available as an add-on
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Unlimited internet fax
Send and receive faxes from your computer, mobile device, Microsoft Outlook,
cloud storage providers (such as Dropbox), and more.
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more
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Unlimited audio conferencing
Host an
unlimited number of audio conference calls, with up to 1,000 attendees per
conference. Each user gets unique host and participant access codes.
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Video meetings and participants
Hold video meetings with screen sharing,
in-meeting public and private chat capabilities—anytime, anywhere, on any
device.
Maximum
number of participants varies by the video platform:
Premium with RingCentral Video (up to 200) Standard with RingCentral Video (up to 100) |
Available as an add-on
|
Up to 100 people
per video meeting
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Up to 200 people
per video meeting
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Up to 200 people
per video meeting
|
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High-definition (HD) video
RingCentral delivers crystal-clear HD quality video and voice.
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Quality-of-service reports
Gain the ability to proactively review
overall RingCentral system health and diagnose quality issues impacting users. A
holistic overview of quality measured by location, endpoint, codec, ISP, and
more enables
easier monitoring and faster troubleshooting.
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more
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Popular integrations including Microsoft 365,
Google Workspace, Slack, and more
RingCentral offers the largest ecosystem of integration apps in the
communications and collaboration space to maximize productivity and efficiency.
Get integrations for bots, AI, analytics, archiving, automation, productivity,
and more.
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more
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24/7 support
Unlimited chat and phone support.
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Multi-level auto attendant
Answer callers automatically with customized
greetings, and ensure every call is directed to the right employee or
department.
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more
Auto-attendant is a virtual receptionist
service that greets your callers and routes them to employees, departments, or
to any phone in the world (i.e. an employee's mobile phone, an office deskphone,
or a virtual phone on the RingCentral app).
With the multi-level auto attendant feature, you can create rules to handle
incoming calls for multiple office locations or language selections. For
example:
“Press 1 for our New York office. 2 for Chicago office. 3 for Los Angeles
office.” OR
“Press 1 for English. Marque 2 para Español.”
|
Available as an add-on
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
|
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Professional implementation
Get the most out of RingCentral with a
portfolio of professional and personalized services, ranging from planning,
designing, and implementation to project management, ongoing support, and
consulting.
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
|
|
Call recording
Automatic call recording: Set your
RingCentral phone system to automatically record inbound and outbound calls for
individual users or inbound calls for departments.
On-demand call recording: Allows Users to
manually record phone calls anytime using an IP Phone provisioned with
RingCentral, Forwarding Number, or RingCentral Phone for Mobile.
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more
|
Available as an add-on
|
On-demand
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Automatic
|
Automatic
|
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Compatible with RingCentral Rooms™ (add-on)
Turn any space into a conference room.
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more
|
Available as an add-on
|
Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
|
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Compatible with RingCentral Room Connector (add-on)
Room Connector allows room conferencing systems on legacy hardware with SIP-based endpoints (third party endpoints) to connect and access video meetings on RingCentral.
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more
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Single Sign-on
Users can log in to RingCentral automatically with their corporate credentials.
Reduce the IT cost of assisting in password recovery and benefit from a central
authentication point that securely accesses your RingCentral service from any
device.
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more
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Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
|
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Multi-site admin and management
Get the flexibility to manage and support
your branch offices based on their unique operational needs.
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more
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Available as an add-on
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Available as an add-on
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Up to 8-digit extensions with site codes
Simplified intra-site dialing for large multi-site customers.
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Available as an add-on
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Available as an add-on
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
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Hot desking
Allows users to log in to shared phones to access their own RingCentral
extensions, voicemail and greetings, and other features.
Hot desking lets employees share office desk phones while keeping their separate
extensions, greetings and voicemail access.
It enables companies to save costs of desk phones while still letting their employees remain productive. |
Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
|
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Advanced call handling including whisper, barge,
and more
Advanced call management controls (monitor,
whisper, barge, takeover) to allow authorized users to listen in on employee
calls with clients to monitor the conversation, provide coaching, and facilitate
discussion.
Other
features include overflow call queues, user groups, and role-based access
control with customized roles/permissions.
|
Available as an add-on
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Available as an add-on
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Included in plan
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Included in plan
|
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Real-time analytics
Gain
real-time insights into your RingCentral system and gather business-relevant
data, alerts, and reporting metrics.
|
Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
|
Included in plan
|
Included in plan
|
|
Popular CRM integrations with Salesforce, Zendesk, and more
Bring the functions and features of
RingCentral MVP into your business apps such as Salesforce, Zendesk, Microsoft
Dynamics, ServiceNow, etc.
Learn more
|
Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
|
Included in plan
|
Included in plan
|
|
Industry-specific integrations with Canvas, Smarsh, and more
Bring the functions and features of
RingCentral MVP into your vertical's business apps such as Canvas, Smarsh, etc.
Learn more
|
Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
|
Included in plan
|
Included in plan
|
|
Developer platform and custom integrations
RingCentral APIs let you create your own
custom applications and seamlessly integrate business communications into your
key business processes, so you can automate workflows, drive efficiency, and
gain valuable
insight from communications data.
Visit
Developer Portal
|
Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
|
Included in plan
|
Included in plan
|
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Device status reports
Monitor
hard phone registration status globally and gain visibility into your devices'
history.
|
Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
|
Included in plan
|
|
Device status alerts
Set up
automated monitoring rules and receive notifications when devices are offline.
|
Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
|
Included in plan
|
|
Unlimited storage***
Store an unlimited* amount of documents, spreadsheets, presentation files,
contracts,
invoices, images, videos, and recordings.
*Retention period applies.
Store an unlimited* amount of content within your RingCentral app. This could be
documents, spreadsheets, presentation files, contracts, invoices, images, or
videos that you send as attachments within messages; or these could be the
recordings of your video meetings.
*Retention period applies. |
Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
|
Available as an add-on
|
Included in plan
|
The search for the world’s easiest meetings platform is over.
Michael Moxley
Vice President
Our opportunities for connection have increased 5x, and in a mere 14 months we’ve achieved ROI of 35% cost savings with RingCentral.
Randy Boyd
Infrastructure Architect
Since we replaced the landline phones across our locations with RingCentral, we’re already seeing a cost saving of 20%.
Bron McCall
CTO
RingCentral has dramatically improved our efficiency and customer service. We’ve added 10% to our bottom line, easily, and reduced employee stress levels!
Ed Sieber
Owner and President
Important details and disclaimers