RingCentral Review

RingCentral Pros

• Annual pre-payment discounts available
• Low cost per minute
• 30-day free trial
• Free to port existing number into the service
• 24/7 customer support

RingCentral Cons

• Presently there are no cons for this service.

RingCentral's basic, mid-level and corporate plans are good values.  If you are an entry-level consumer or just need a forwarding or voicemail service, we recommend the basic plan. If you plan to use a lot of minutes and need PBX features, then we highly recommend the ProUnlimited plan. It includes unlimited minutes and extensions, a free 800 toll-free number, Internet fax and conference call capabilities. RingCentral offers a free trial of their service for 30 days. RingCentral's customer support is high quality and available 24/7. They offer phone, email and live chat support.

Pricing

RingCentral's basic, mid-level and corporate plans are all a good value. Aside from the monthly cost, each plan has an additional surcharge of $1.66 each month, which is more than our Market Standard of no additional fees. RingCentral includes a local or 888, 877, 866 toll-free number with a monthly subscription to any plan, which meets our Market Standard. RingCentral does not offer international numbers. If you want an 800 toll-free number, it costs $30 to set up. RingCentral also offers vanity numbers for a $30 setup fee, and they will let you port in an already existing number for free. They offer a 30-day free trial which meets our Market Standard.

Online Interface

RingCentral has a high quality online interface, and signing up for an account on their service is quick and easy. Their setup wizard lets you effortlessly arrange your extensions and set up call handling rules. You can upload contact lists or spreadsheets saved as CSV files into the interface. RingCentral's interface also allows you to set specific handling rules, create a block call list, access call logs, set voicemail alerts, upload your own recording, and customize hold music. The service also offers mobile apps that let you make and receive calls on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry smartphones.

Call Management Features

RingCentral lets you create rules for individual numbers and/or groups of numbers to route to a specific extension or a group of extensions in sequential order and access to a dial-by-name directory. You can also set up scheduling rules, where you select specific times of day at which incoming calls will ring your work phone, cell phone or send callers directly to voicemail, depending on your selection.  You are able to hold, transfer, and forward individual calls, which meets our Market Standard. When you're on a call, you are able to transfer to voicemail, put on hold, or block the caller by using the phone's keypad.

RingCentral also offers Follow Me routing, which lets you set up an ordered list of extensions that will ring sequentially when you get incoming calls. RingCentral lets you screen calls before you answer them, but they do not offer call tagging. You can place outside calls through the online PBX interface using your monthly minutes, even if you are outside of the U.S.

PBX Features

RingCentral allows you to store voice messages online as well as receive them via email. You can opt to receive alerts as a text message or email when you receive a voicemail, but you don't have the option to receive transcribed voicemails (i.e. voice-to-text).  You can store up to 200 voicemails for 30 days.

RingCentral provides 10 extensions with the basic plan and unlimited extensions with the mid-level and corporate plan, which meets the Market Standard. Additional extensions cost $2.99 per month. RingCentral offers conference calling with a maximum of three people on a call and they charge your account by the number of minutes you used. RingCentral's virtual PBX service also includes Internet fax service for both sending and receiving faxes. They also let you set up an auto attendant that decides how to route incoming calls (e.g. Press 1 for sales, 2 for customer support, etc.), as well as a dial-by-name directory (which costs $5 extra with the basic plan).

Customer Support

RingCentral has high quality customer support. They offer phone support 24/7, with minimal hold times. RingCentral also offers email support all throughout the week.