Designed for small and large businesses, the RingCentral cloud phone system unifies all communication to a single platform. RingCentral allows businesses to communicate through voice and video calls, messages and faxes. Unifying all communication channels makes the system transparent and minimizes the risk of missing inbound communication. Businesses can choose from one of 4 MVP (messaging, video, phone) plans and 4 contact center plans offered by RingCentral. RingCentral also offers exclusive video communication plans. These plans are inclusive of features such as unlimited calling to certain destinations, document sharing and app integrations. Subscribers can use RingCentral services through desktop and smartphone apps.
Like RingCentral, Ooma is a VoIP service provider that provides businesses a budget-friendly way to upgrade from PBX systems. Businesses can choose from 3 monthly subscription plans. These plans have 50+ standard features and a number of plan-specific features. Ooma also offers a number of add-on packs for specific features such as international calling and voice to text conversion. Apart from smartphone apps, Ooma offers plug and play solutions with a range of standalone devices available on the website.
Businesses with up to 20 users can subscribe to the RingCentral Essential plan. This plan is priced at $19.99 per user per month and includes unlimited calling within the USA and Canada as well as call log reports, phone system administration and other features.
Requiring more than 20 user accounts limits the choice of plans to the Standard and Premium plans. The pricing for these plans depends on the number of users. For the Standard plan, this ranges between $22.99 to $27.99 per user per month while for the Premium plan, it ranges between $32.99 to $34.99 per user per month. Each upgrade increases the number of features available. For example, the Standard plan includes video meetings with up to 100 participants. This limit is increased to 200 for Premium plan subscribers.
RingCentral and Ooma have comparable price points for their plans.
Ooma’s subscription plans start with the Essential plan priced at $19.95 per user per month. This is inclusive of 50+ standard features such as voicemail, ring groups and virtual receptionists to route incoming calls.
In addition to all the features of the Essential plan, business teams can access other features such as call recording and video conferencing by upgrading to the Pro plan. The monthly subscription for this plan is $24.95 per user.
Businesses can subscribe to the Pro+ plan by paying a $29.95 monthly user license fee. This plan includes all the features of the Essentials and Pro plans. In addition, it can be integrated with Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 and offers exclusive features like hot desking.
Along with desktop apps for Windows and Mac devices, Ringcentral users can use browser extensions and desk phones to make and receive calls.
Unlike RingCentral, the Ooma desktop app is not universally available.
IP desk phones can be used to make and receive calls. Alternatively, Pro and Pro+ subscribers can use the Ooma desktop app.
Ringcentral can be used to make and receive calls through an app for Android and iOS devices.
Similar to RingCentral services, call handling and a range of Ooma services are accessible through the Ooma smartphone app.
The RingCentral Essential plan does not include an IVR/ auto attendant feature. Standard and Premium plan subscribers can set up a multi-level auto attendant to route incoming calls based on the caller’s keystroke responses to a customized menu.
Ooma's inclusion of call routing in all plans gives it an advantage over RingCentral. Inbound calls can be routed to relevant agents on the basis of caller keystroke responses to a multi-level virtual receptionist.
RingCentral lets businesses customize greetings for incoming calls. This can be set up by anyone with admin access from the web browser or RingCentral app.
Step 1. Go to Company set up and click on Review Company Call Flow menu.
Step 2. Click on edit.
Step 3. Select custom greeting and click on the record button to customize greeting with a new recording or a prerecorded message.
Customized greetings are a common feature between RingCentral and Ooma.
Incoming calls can be greeted with messages set from the Ooma dashboard.
Step 1. Log in to Ooma with admin access.
Step 2. Go to settings.
Step 3. Select business hours schedule and set operational hours.
Step 4. Upload a recorded message or type your message and select the text to speech option.
Calls to businesses subscribed to the RingCentral Essential plan that are forwarded to voicemail can be transcribed for easier accessibility. These messages can be transcribed in English, French, German and Spanish. Further, message previews are sent to your inbox.
In addition to this, RingCentral Standard plan users can also access detailed reports on call analytics to get a holistic view of agent productivity. This includes reports on call logs, call duration, number of calls made and received, etc. They can also monitor live calls. This feature is also available in the Premium plan. Live call monitoring allows supervisors to listen to calls, speak to agents without the other person hearing, join conversations to make it a three-way call and take over calls if required.
This feature is available only through IP desk phones that support presence and desktop applications. It is not available in the RingCentral smartphone application.
The difference in call monitoring capabilities for RingCentral and Ooma subscribers can be felt mostly in the upgraded plans.
Live call monitoring services such as call listening, call whispering, call barging and call takeovers are not included in any of the Ooma plans. It does give supervisors the ability to start 3-way calls if required. Voicemails left by callers are accessible from email inboxes. Supervisors can also study call log reports from Ooma dashboards or download them in the form of CSV files.
In addition, Pro and Pro+ plan subscribers can read transcriptions of the voicemails to prioritize responses.
RingCentral Essential plan subscribers do not have access to call recording. This feature is available on-demand in the Standard plan and is automated in the Premium plan.
Like RingCentral, Ooma follows a limited access to call recording.
All incoming and outgoing calls can be recorded by Pro and Pro+ plan subscribers. This feature is not included in the Essential plan.
Dialpad is an AI-powered platform designed to improve internal and external communication as well as encourage collaboration, boost productivity and improve customer service standards. Dialpad users can communicate through voice and video calls as well as messages exchanged over the internet with people in 70+ countries. It packages services into 3 plans with a host of features including unlimited calling, multi-level auto attendants, call routing, call recording, live transcription and more.
Dialpad is an AI-powered platform designed to improve internal and external communication as well as encourage collaboration, boost productivity and improve customer service standards. Dialpad users can communicate through voice and video calls as well as messages exchanged over the internet with people in 70+ countries. It packages services into 3 plans with a host of features including unlimited calling, multi-level auto attendants, call routing, call recording, live transcription and more.
To create an account, you need an email address or a Google account. This can be used to set up RingCentral accounts online. After the initial formalities are completed, RingCentral account admins can define user extensions, customize call handling rules, etc. from the dashboard. Users can then log-in to their accounts from the RingCentral application or certain IP desk phones. Free applications can be downloaded and installed on all Android, iOS, MAC and Windows devices. Alternatively, you can get a new cordless, receptionist or conference deskphone from RingCentral.
Like RingCentral, Ooma allows subscribers to port their existing numbers to the Ooma platform or get a new phone number. There is no fee for porting a business phone number. Ooma services can be accessed through IP phones, analog phones or smartphone apps. A range of IP and Wifi handsets are available on the Ooma website. Alternatively, subscribers can access Ooma services on laptops and desktops from a Chrome extension. Pro and Pro+ plan subscribers can also access Ooma services from a desktop app for MAC and Windows devices.
