A great project management app can change your life. It makes it easier to track clients, get your invoices paid on time, and match workloads with budgets. Teamwork is one of the most popular project management apps today, used by companies like Netflix, Disney, Paypal, Spotify, and several others.

In this Teamwork review, we take a look at its full list of features and how it simplifies client-facing work. We also test its web, desktop, and mobile interfaces and explore its scalability for fast-growing teams.

The Teamwork software’s intuitive interface, powerful reports, and communication features set it apart. However, we found that storage is limited, and several advanced features are reserved only for the enterprise-grade plan. Read our detailed review below to know if Teamwork is worth it.

Teamwork Pros and Cons

Before we dive into our Teamwork review, here is a look at its top pros and cons. Overall, it scores major points for its intuitive UI and well-thought-out feature set, with only a few limitations.

What’s Teamwork – History & Overview

Teamwork is a web-based software company headquartered in Ireland. Peter Coppinger and Daniel Mackey founded the company in 2007, and since then, it’s seen steady growth. The company purchased the domain “Teamwork.com” in 2014, which now functions as its primary web app interface.

In 2021, Teamwork announced its first-ever funding round of $70 million, obtaining investments from Europe’s Bregal Milestone. Today, it has offices in five countries and a team of 270 employees, catering to over 20,000 teams worldwide.

The Teamwork software has also evolved over the years. What started as the Teamwork Project Manager (TeamworkPM) is now a powerful project management platform with built-in communication and collaboration services as well as optional add-on functionalities.

For instance, apart from the core platform, the company also offers Teamwork Chat, Teamwork Spaces, Teamwork Desk, and Teamwork CRM (customer relationship management) – not to mention an Advanced Security capability.

How Good Is Teamwork?

Teamwork is a powerful B2B project management software for solopreneurs, startups, small to mid-sized businesses, and enterprises alike. Its five smartly priced plans, ranging from free to $19.99/month/user, make it affordable to all companies.

Its ideal use case is for agencies and managed service providers (MSPs) that need to manage, monitor, and track several ongoing projects at the same time.

The client view gives you detailed insights on all your customers, and you can add users from your client company as well, simplifying collaboration.

A key advantage of the platform is that it bundles collaboration and productivity analysis into one interface. You can check on project health, budgets, invoice fulfillment, and workload capacity. You can also chat with colleagues, conduct calls, and share files from the Teamwork software.

Bear in mind that storage is limited to 250 GB unless you subscribe to the enterprise plan, Scale, which is also the only plan that lets you schedule reports. Ultimately, whether Teamwork is good or not will depend on your unique project needs and team composition.

Teamwork Key Features – What’s Included

The Teamwork.com web app has a slew of useful features to track your projects, assign tasks, generate reports, and collaborate with your team. You can expand this feature set with add-ons like the company’s messaging app, help desk, and document editing tool, which is similar to Google Docs or Notion.

Here’s a closer look at Teamwork’s core features:

1. Time Tracking

Teamwork also acts as a time-tracking software. Employees can track the number of hours they clock into each project, while managers can oversee the entire team’s time logs in a weekly view. It’s also possible to set up automated reminders so that you never miss a billable hour.

2. Budgeting

Teamwork lets you define and track budgets for every client. You can budget for both time allocation and the cost to your company. The app allows you to add client users to pre-selected views so that everyone is on the same page. Another handy feature we found is the ability to create task lists based on budgets.

You can monitor your expenses from a budget fund and schedule resources based on resource availability. At the end of the month, teamwork will automatically generate invoices, and the retainer management feature lets you reallocate budget surpluses or deficits for balanced spending.

3. Project Views

The Teamwork software lets you arrange and visualize project details in four ways. The List view shows all active projects in a list format, with filters and tags to help you look up specific information. The Table view displays all your tasks in a tabular format, showing the task owner, progress, priority, tags, etc.

You also have the Gantt chart, a project management staple. It’s a good way for managers to monitor task progress and resource utilization. The Board view arranges project tasks and details in the form of Kanban boards.

4. Task Management

We found that it’s quite easy to create and manage tasks in Teamwork. You can add sub-tasks to a particular task and assign them to different owners. We also liked the ability to assign task dependencies. That way, you’ll know if one task needs to be completed before the next one can begin.

5. Templates

Teamwork has an expansive library of task and project templates covering engineering projects, operations, creative assignments, IT, and marketing. You also have a few generic options like a sprint tracker, an agenda list, and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).

You can also create and save your own task and project templates. The free Teamwork software supports up to two templates, while the paid plans offer 10 to unlimited template options.

6. Intake Forms

This new feature simplifies knowledge transfer during a project. For example, an agency can use Intake Forms to receive client requests, and software developers can use them to document product requirements. Once a form is submitted, the software automatically creates a new task.

7. Automations

Automations are trigger-action combinations that the software will execute automatically whenever an appropriate event occurs – for example, if a task tag is updated, then the app will notify the project manager automatically. We found this feature simple and easy to use. You can define the trigger event, set additional conditions, and choose which action to carry out.

The free version of the software comes with 100 automations a month, while the paid plans go up to 50,000 automations.

8. Dashboards

Dashboards offer an at-a-glance view of all your active projects. The software gives you three pre-built dashboard templates – Personal, which has everything you’re tagged on, Starred, which displays the details of your starred projects, and Everything, which shows all options of all projects.

You can customize dashboards with different titles, color schemes, metrics, and layouts. Teamwork also supports a view-only dashboard version that you can share with others. We liked that each item in the metrics panel is clickable, so you can explore project items related to that metric.

Enterprises can access a special set of dashboards that comes with the Scale plan (custom-priced). These advanced features let you analyze project distribution and activity distribution across different teams and stakeholders.

9. Teams Management

The Teams feature lets you set up user groups for your project so you can enable collaboration and teamwork. All team members will have access to the same projects, and you can also assign a parent team (e.g., marketing) to organize sub-teams (e.g., SEO, email, and ads).

An important benefit of this feature is its ability to bulk assign tasks. You can assign one task to an entire team, saving time and effort. You can also send messages in bulk and assign template-based projects to the full team.

10. Inbox

This feature collects all your Teamwork.com notifications in one place. It looks just like a regular email inbox – but when you open a notification, you’ll be able to see an interactive, dynamically updated view. It’s a handy way to keep track of everything that’s happening without relying on disappearing notifications or switching back and forth from your email.

11. Collaborators

This was among the standout features in our Teamwork review. The software lets you add an external collaborator with limited permissions, which could be a freelancer, an agency, or a consultant you’ve hired. They can view tasks and complete milestones but not edit any of the tasks’ properties.

12. Project Reports

You can generate a project report at any time, capturing the details of the activities completed and what’s left. The Teamwork software lets you generate several types of reports, such as a report of task lists, time-based reports, risk reports, and a report of all the people involved in a project.

The reporting functionality is also helpful for managers and senior leaders. It lets you track project health, planned vs. actual progress, and project profitability. We were impressed that Teamwork lets you analyze the profitability of each project member.

In addition to these 12 core features, Teamwork.com offers a few value-added services to improve your project management experience.

13. Chat

Chat is an integrated app in Teamwork that lets you combine team messaging with project management. It supports one-on-one and multi-participant video and audio chat, as well as file sharing. You can also set up temporary channels for dedicated projects. The feature costs $4/month/user.

14. Desk

This feature enables a help desk experience within Teamwork, which you can use for internal support or as a contact center for your clients. You can track and manage service tickets, automate help desk workflows, and answer frequently asked questions with canned responses.

Agents can resolve customer issues in real-time using live chat. Teamwork Desk has a few useful features that can make agents’ lives easier – such as the ability to undo send and on-the-job training. Desk is available for $8.50-$29.50/month/user.

15. Spaces

Spaces is a knowledge base and document editing service, similar to Google Docs and Notion.

It includes a powerful editor that supports embedded images, videos, tables, and diagrams. Filters, tags, and categories make it easier to organize documents. You can also alert team members to document updates using the “Required Reading” notifications. It’s available for free.

Teamwork Ease of Use

Teamwork is a web-based project management software meant primarily for browser-based use. Getting started is as easy as visiting Teamwork.com and signing in from the top right button. However, you could also access it from your mobile phone. Teamwork Chat has its own dedicated app for iOS and Android.

Here are the top highlights from our Teamwork usability review:

1. Navigation and User Interface

Teamwork has a clean, well-designed interface that anyone can use, even if you are new to project management software. The menu bar on top has all you need related to projects, planning, people, and calendar management. Clicking on any of these options opens up a series of sub-tabs underneath.

You can open and configure your account settings from the top right. This section also includes your personal inbox and storage area. Bear in mind that advanced features like privacy settings and report generation are slightly more complex, but Teamwork provides several tutorials that can help.

2. Desktop Apps

While Teamwork is primarily web-based, it also offers dedicated desktop apps for macOS and Windows. If you’ve signed up for Microsoft Office on Windows, then you can connect it with Teamwork.com.

This allows you to share data between the two software and log time into Teamwork from any Microsoft Office app. If you subscribe to the Grow or Scale plan, then you can connect the Teamwork desktop app with Microsoft Project.

Apart from the primary interface, Teamwork offers an extra app for desktop users called Timer. You can import your tasks to Timer and log billable hours accordingly. It auto-pauses when the computer is idle and resumes when the user restarts work, helping to measure productivity.

3. Mobile Apps

Teamwork’s mobile apps allow you to stay productive on the go. Bear in mind that there isn’t 100% feature parity between the mobile and web/desktop apps, which means you’ll get a slightly limited user experience.

Nevertheless, it has all the important features like creating and assigning tasks, managing calendar events, completing project milestones, uploading files, replying to messages, and logging time. Rather than being a full-fledged project management software, the Teamwork mobile app is a basic but useful tool for when you can’t access your desktop.

Additionally, the company offers mobile apps for its chat and helpdesk services. The chat app is similar to Google Chat, and you should have no problems getting started. Teamwork Desk for Mobile lets you respond to tickets on the move and monitor your assigned and completed tickets.

4. Customizability

Customization is a big part of app usability, especially for enterprise users. Luckily, Teamwork makes it easier to change visual elements like the color scheme and custom branding. You can also add your own domain – for example, teamwork.yourcompany.com. However, this feature is available only in the two most expensive plans.

5. Developer Experience

Teamwork offers three sets of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for developers – its primary project management service, the help desk, and Spaces. The developer documentation is extensive, with API references for a wide range of features, from tasks and summaries to calendars and budgets and more.

Teamwork Pricing – How Much Value Do You Get?

Our Teamwork review found that the software is competitively priced – currently compared to Trello (5/month/user onwards), Monday ($9/month/user onwards), and Asana ($10.99/month/user onwards). All three offer a free version, just like Teamwork.

You can choose from five plans when you sign up from Teamwork:

1. Free

This plan is free forever for up to five users but has a limited set of features. You can track time, view billable hours, and generate invoices. However, it supports just five projects and only has built-in storage of up to 100 MB. integrations are also limited to Zapier, Slack, MS Teams, SoftSync, and Harvest.

On the plus side, all the project views are available, as are features like the Inbox, integrated chat, dashboards, and task management. For small teams with only a few projects, this is a good choice.

2. Starter

The Starter plan is slightly more advanced and costs $5.99/month/user. You can add up to 100 projects and get 50GB of storage. For security, you get two-factor authentication, but Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is missing in this plan. Advanced reports aren’t available either, and you don’t get the Teams feature.

Overall, this is a good choice for medium-sized teams running multiple but simple projects. You can make use of additional integrations, intake forms, Teamwork Spaces, and 1000 automations per month.

3. Deliver

The Deliver plan, at $9.99/month/user, is meant for mid-sized to large businesses with robust project management needs. With this plan, you can monitor project status and health, enjoy 100GB of storage, and add up to 300 projects. However, you still don’t get the complete set of integrations, nor can you add your custom domain.

While most necessary features are included in the Deliver plan, our Teamwork review found that the plan falls short in terms of reporting capabilities. For instance, you can’t schedule reports or create custom ones.

4. Grow

Priced at $19.99/month/user, Grow has all the features we have discussed so far. You need a minimum of five users to subscribe to this plan, and you can add up to 600 projects. The plan includes 250 GB of storage, a custom domain, all the integrations, 20,000 automations, and advanced reports.

The only missing features in the Grow plan are profitability reports, scheduled reports, and enterprise dashboards. These are reserved for the custom-priced plan, Scale.

5. Scale

Scale is the company’s top-tier plan meant for enterprise use. In addition to all the features we discussed, it includes advanced resource scheduling, budgetary allocation capabilities, enterprise dashboards, and unlimited projects.

Storage increases to 500GB+, depending on your needs, and you can schedule unlimited reports and share unlimited dashboards. The number of automations also goes up to 50,000 per month.

Teamwork’s Trial and Refund Policy

As part of our Teamwork review, we also tested the company’s trial and refund policy. All paid plans give you the option of a 30-day free trial. You don’t need to enter your payment details when signing up for a trial, and you won’t be charged during these 30 days.

After you complete the trial period, Teamwork will prompt you to subscribe to a paid plan. You’ll be charged a monthly price by default, slightly higher than the annual plan rates we discussed. If you don’t continue after the trial, you’ll be downgraded to the free-forever plan.

Teamwork does not entertain refund requests for monthly or annual plans. If you’ve paid upfront for one month or year, your account will be live for the entire period. To cancel your account, you can simply visit your account settings from the subscription page.

Bear in mind that if you pay via Paypal, you’ll need to cancel the payment from within the Paypal account, besides canceling your Teamwork account.

Teamwork Integrations and Scalability

Adopting project management software is often an early sign of growth for any company. It means your resource allocation, time sheets, and invoicing processes have outgrown a manual system. So, when you choose an app, it needs to have multiple integrations and should be easy to scale.

We tested the Teamwork software for ease and scope of integration. Even the free plan supports integrations with Zapier, Slack, Microsoft Teams, SoftSync, and Harvest (a time-tracking tool). For custom integrations, you’ll need to rely on Teamwork’s application programming interfaces (APIs) and webhooks.

Webhooks are pieces of code that let you fetch data from specific project events, like when tasks are created or a milestone is completed. The feature is available in all paid plans and lets you enable app-to-app data flow for project, calendar, user, task, and company-level events.

Importantly, Teamwork’s integration capabilities aren’t limited to only the 15 software listed on its website. You can benefit from its large integration marketplace, which has Teamwork-built, partner-built, and third-party connectors for sales & marketing, storage, productivity, accounting, and more.

Is Teamwork Easy to Scale?

There’s an option at every price point, and if you’re new to project management technology, you can always start with the free app and scale later.

Bear in mind that only one plan supports an unlimited number of projects – the enterprise plan, Scale, which is custom-priced. All other plans, even the paid ones, have a cap on the number of projects you can track.

There’s a cap on storage as well. The Free, Starter, Deliver, and Grow plans offer 100 MB, 50 GB, 100 GB, and 250 GB of storage respectively. Only Scale comes with 500 GB+ of storage. For perspective, Trello offers unlimited storage in all its plans, with only a cap on the file size.

Security is also a key aspect of growth. As you add more users, projects, and data, you need to protect your assets through strong security mechanisms. Teamwork supports two-factor authentication, Single Sign-on (SSO), and daily backups on Amazon S3.

You can also purchase an advanced security add-on for an extra fee. This includes custom SSO, network-level access policies, and automatic logout after a pre-specified duration.

Teamwork vs Top Project Management Software

A good project management app is a business essential. Gartner reports that over 85% of businesses actively use this software, and the market will reach $7 million by 2026. It is important to carefully evaluate your options before deciding which tool works best for your company.

Here are the top software apps available today and how they compare to Teamwork.com:

The best project management software won’t just offer powerful features, but it will also be well-designed and easy to use, so employees are actually encouraged to incorporate the tool into their daily work. This is where Teamwork really shines.

The Teamwork software is among the best in terms of usability and extensions (chat, helpdesk, and document management). For features like AI and advanced security, you can consider alternatives such as Trello and Asana.

Teamwork vs ClickUp – Side-by-Side Comparison

Like Teamwork, Clickup is a popular project management tool founded in 2016. It is based out of the US and has approximately 900 employees worldwide. In 2021, it raised $400 million in Series C funding, at a valuation of $4 billion. Here’s how Teamwork compares to Clickup.

Both Teamwork and Clickup are excellent project management tools in their own right. Teamwork is easier to set up and use and is purpose-built for client management. ClickUp is better suited to internal workflows and productivity tracking.

What Do Other Teamwork Reviews Say?

Teamwork has a rating of 4.5/5 on Capterra based on 800+ reviews.

On G2, it’s rated 4.4 out of 5 based on 1000+ reviews.

Customers on Gartner Peer Insights also give it a 4.4 out of 5 based on nearly 200 ratings.

Teamwork Alternatives – Guides to Project Management

If you’re new to the world of project management, check out our reviews and guides below:

Why You Can Trust Our Review of Teamwork

Tech Report is one of the world’s most reputed technology publications, bringing you insights on hardware, software, and communication services since 1999. Project management and productivity apps are among our key focus areas of research and review.

For this Teamwork review, we signed up for a trial of the paid plan, Starter. We also installed the company’s mobile apps on both iOS and Android to test their functionalities. In addition to this, we tested the web and desktop versions of the Teamwork software.

To bolster our insights, we referred to trusted user review forums such as G2, Capterra, and Gartner Peer Insights. This helps us gain an objective understanding of how the app would work in your daily life and in different user conditions.

Our analysis of the Teamwork experience is also informed by our tests and reviews of other top tools in this space, such as ClickUp. This allows us to bring you a contextualized and bias-free evaluation of the Teamwork software.

How to Use Teamwork Step-By-Step

Our Teamwork review found that the software is easy to set up and use, you don’t need to enter your payment details to sign up for the free plan or to start a trial of any of the paid plans. Simply follow these steps to start using Teamwork:

1. Sign Up for Your Preferred Plan

Visit the Teamwork.com website and click on the login button on the top right. Here, you’ll see an option to sign up for an account if you don’t have one already. Enter your work email ID, name, and preferred password. We liked that the app lets you host your data in Europe, so you fall under GDPR jurisdiction.

As part of the signup process, Teamwork will ask you about your industry, the number of employees in your company, and your role. You can choose from an exhaustive list, covering agencies, professional service firms, industrial sectors, education, technology, healthcare, and many more.

Next, specify your primary use case for Teamwork, so it can personalize the experience accordingly.

This is the last step in the account setup process, after which you’ll be redirected to your first project.

2. Create Your First Project

To create your first project, you can choose one of the templates that Teamwork will recommend based on your responses during the signup process. In our Teamwork review, we found the template extremely intuitive and convenient. Give your project a name, select a view, and invite your team members.

After this, the Teamwork web app opens on your browser, with the navigation pane on your left and your personal items on top. If you click on the “My Projects” tab under the Home option, you’ll see the first project you created using the template.

3. Populate Your Project with Data

The next step is to populate your project with the relevant data, some of which will already be pre-populated, thanks to the template we used. From your project window, switch between Board, Table, and List views to add tasks, sub-tasks, assignees, due date, priority, and estimated times.

You can change any of the information here and add new tasks. Your team members will be notified via email and on their own apps. As they start completing tasks, all the activity will show up in the dashboard view.

Is Teamwork Right For Your Project Management?

Launched in 2007, Teamwork.com has been around for many years. It has grown its user base steadily and caters to some of the world’s top companies, from Disney and Netflix to Paypal and Panasonic. Importantly, it is among the few project management apps meant for agencies and not only engineering, operations, or software development workflows.

The app’s ease of use and task management features make it a standout offering in its space. You can also benefit from its project health and profitability insights. Built-in resource and time-tracking ensure you don’t under or over-utilize your assets.

However, it doesn’t have cutting-edge features like artificial intelligence, and the absence of Salesforce in the integration marketplace is a notable miss. Also, you’ll have to subscribe to their most premium plan to enjoy its advanced features.

Overall, Teamwork is a great project management tool for agencies and a suitable entry point for those new to this space.

FAQs

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In this Proton VPN review, we test its top features and explore how the user interface fares on different devices and platforms.

Choosing the right virtual private network (VPN) is an important decision since you’re going to entrust the provider with a lot of sensitive data, and they’ll be responsible for your privacy on the internet. Proton VPN is among the leading companies building privacy-first tools for internet users, including its paid and free VPN app.

If you’re new to VPNs, the technology establishes a secure connection between you and the internet, masking your private data like IP address and browsing history. This lets you safely access information that would otherwise be out of reach, like blocked Netflix content or government-censored sites.

Read on to know if Proton VPN’s military-grade encryption tool is worth your time at a starting price of $4.99/month.

Proton VPN Pros and Cons

Before we dive into our Proton VPN review, here’s a quick look at its pros and cons so you know what to expect.

Is Proton VPN Good?

Proton VPN is a Switzerland-based VPN service that offers both paid and free VPN options, helping you mask your IP address on up to ten devices.

VPN technology has become popular in recent years, with internet users now more aware of their privacy rights and potential security concerns. It creates a secure connection between your smartphone or PC and the network so no one can pilfer your data or locate your address.

Between 2019 and 2022, the number of VPN users in the US increased from just 22.9% to a staggering 79%, according to Statista. Companies like Proton offer secure, high-speed, encrypted tunnels to process your internet traffic. This prevents browsing data from being exposed to others.

Proton VPN is a good virtual private network as it offers ad blocking and malware protection in addition to the core VPN service. The paid plan supports high-speed P2P downloads and streaming despite passing traffic through an encrypted connection.

Thanks to its consistent performance, Proton VPN has won multiple awards, including UptoDown’s Best VPN for Android award in 2018, ProPrivacy’s Best Free VPN award in 2019, and a 5/5 rating on PC Mag in 2023.

Is Proton VPN Safe and Trustworthy?

This is one of the safest VPN services available today, according to our Proton VPN review and tests. Users can choose one of two VPN protocols when encrypting their data: OpenVPN/IKEv2 VPN or WireGuard VPN.

If you choose the former, then the AES-256 encryption standard comes into action, which would take billions of years to break with a brute-force attack. Or, if you choose the latter, the ChaCha20 standard is activated, which is equally safe but slightly faster.

Interestingly, ChaCha20 is best suited to devices with limited resources (like mobile phones), while AES encryption can outperform it on desktops and servers. Luckily, Proton VPN supports both.

Additionally, Proton VPN supports perfect forward secrecy, which means that each time you connect to the internet, it generates a unique set of encryption keys. Even if a VPN session is compromised, your past sessions will remain safe, as they used a different set of keys.

Finally, keys are generated using the Diffie-Hellman method, where the server and the client agree on the key without ever communicating it. In other words, even the Proton VPN app doesn’t know the key that’s generated, even while it processes the encryption.

Proton’s History as a Safe and Trustworthy Brand

One of the reasons Proton VPN is so safe is its rich legacy as a privacy-conscious technology provider. The company was founded in 2014 by former research scientists (physics) and members of the CERN, who recognized the need for safe and secure internet services.

Its first product was the email app Proton Mail, the first email service to offer client-side encryption. This means that even Proton doesn’t monitor and can’t read the contents of your inbox, unlike other providers such as Gmail and Outlook.

Gmail and Outlook launched options for client-side encryption only a few years ago, but only for its paid users.

In contrast, Proton Mail offers free (and paid) encrypted email and calendars for individuals, families, and businesses. Proton VPN and Proton Mail share the same management team, technical resources, and offices based out of Plan-les-Ouates, Switzerland.

In fact, its HQ location is another reason why Proton VPN is trustworthy. Switzerland isn’t part of any intelligence-sharing agreements, and data requests from foreign governments must be first approved by Swiss authorities. This keeps your data safe from all prying eyes.

Proton VPN is Audited and Built on Open Source Principles

One of the top reasons to use a VPN is the amount of data your internet service provider (ISP) can collect, such as browser history and IP address. But the problem is your VPN provider might be able to see this data too! That is why Proton VPN takes proactive steps to demonstrate its trustworthiness.

Besides this, the company doesn’t store any log data that could identify you. And if your internet connection is ever interrupted, we found that Proton VPN’s kill switch immediately terminates all traffic to prevent your IP address from being exposed.

Best Use Case for Proton VPN

Our Proton VPN review found that the service works well for individual users and business customers. In fact, there’s a dedicated offering for businesses starting at $6.99/month/user.

If you own up to ten devices for work and home use, Proton offers a suitable VPN solution. It’s extremely versatile, with high-speed streaming and fast downloads to accommodate your file transfer needs. If you’re looking for a free VPN, Proton also offers a free forever plan with no data limits.

If you’re a power user who needs protection beyond only a VPN, Proton VPN also has something for you. Its Proton Unlimited plan bundles all of the company’s services in one convenient subscription. This includes Proton Email, a secure calendar, cloud storage, password management, and a calendar.

Coming to Proton VPN’s business offering, we found that the tool is best suited to professionals looking to bypass censorship and those monitoring their networks. For instance, its Stealth Protocol feature lets you bypass government and ISP censorship and access restricted websites.

IT managers can also benefit from Proton VPN’s admin features. You can add users in bulk, set permissions, configure gateways and more from a central control panel. You can also enforce two-factor authentication (2FA) for your users to prevent VPN misuse.

Proton VPN Features – Key Benefits and Drawbacks

If you’re wondering, ‘Is Proton VPN good?’ take a look at its 15+ features and the benefits it offers. It’s not without a few drawbacks, as we found in our testing. Here’s our review of both its benefits and potential shortcomings.

Proton VPN Benefits

1. IP Address Masking

Proton uses strong encryption standards to protect against DNS and IPv6 leaks. In addition to IP masking, it also hides your browsing activity from your ISP. This is a massive plus for journalists and activists conducting research. It also prevents advertisers from monitoring your online activity.

2. No Logs Policy

Since the company is headquartered in Switzerland, it is able to implement a strict no-logs policy, which an independent audit verified in 2022 and 2023. This means that the company can’t monitor or record your IP, browsing history, session length, and other information.

3. Built-In Ad Blocker

In 2021, Proton launched a new privacy tool called NetShield, a built-in ad blocker for its VPN service. Once you enable NetShield, every website you visit will be checked against a massive database of malicious sites.

NetShield then automatically blocks any site that turns up on its threat intelligence database. It also uses DNS filtering to block ads and online trackers to protect your privacy from advertisers. Another benefit is that it blocks unnecessary content from loading, speeding up your browsing.

4. VPN Accelerator

This unique feature redistributes CPU load between multiple processes to prevent a single processing thread from becoming overloaded. This increases speeds by up to 400%. It also splits the path between the VPN server and its destination into shorter paths to improve performance.

5. DNS Security

This feature encrypts all DNS service requests automatically, which means they can’t be intercepted by a third party while the data is in transit. Also, Proton has its own DNS service, which means that no one else can access your DNS requests in an unencrypted state.

6. Tor Network Access

Tor, or The Onion Routing project, is an open-source privacy network that lets you browse the internet anonymously. You can download the Tor browser or use applications like Brave that offer a Tor option.

With Proton VPN, you can use your regular browser to connect with Tor. This is an important benefit for those using Chrome, Edge, or Safari, as you don’t need to install another app to hide your identity online. Tor support is available for every device.

7. Anti-Censorship Features

Proton gives you several ways to bypass government censorship, unblock geo-restricted websites, and change your IP address to a different country. Besides this, it offers alternative routing and a unique feature called Smart Protocol.

Thanks to alternative routing, you can continue to access Proton VPN when connections to the company’s servers are blocked. In that case, your connection will be passed through a third-party service like AWS so you can continue to benefit from a VPN even where its use is censored.

Smart Protocol is a feature that keeps the VPN active even when some protocols or standard ports are blocked. If the default protocol is blocked by a censorship body, Proton automatically switches to a different protocol.

8. Two-Factor Authentication

2FA is among the most useful features we found in our Proton VPN review. You can enable it yourself so that it always checks your identity during login and doesn’t just rely on the password. This adds an extra layer of security. For business use, IT admins can enforce a 2FA policy for all VPN users organization-wide.

9. Kill Switch

You can turn on the kill switch when accessing sensitive information on the internet or keep it on permanently. The feature monitors your VPN connection so that if it accidentally drops and your data becomes unencrypted for a second or two, Proton VPN will automatically block your internet access.

10. Physical Disk Encryption

Proton goes to great lengths to ensure that the physical servers where your VPN data is stored remain protected. Its infrastructure is housed in secure data centers or on former military bases, with full disk encryption. This almost eliminates the chance of a data breach occurring from physical access.

11. Up to 10 Gbps Speed

Proton has servers in 70+ countries worldwide, so users can always connect to a nearby server. This results in allegedly up to 10 Gbps of browsing speeds with your VPN on. In real-world conditions, users report download speeds between 300 Mbps and 500 Mbps, which is still impressive for a fast VPN.

12. Port Forwarding

Port forwarding is a feature of Proton VPN’s Windows app. It improves download speeds when using peer-to-peer (P2P) file transfer software like BitTorrent. Essentially, it routes incoming connections through a firewall while making sure the firewall doesn’t impact file uploads or downloads.

13. Secure Core Network

Secure Core is a special network architecture designed to protect data behind two layers of encryption. Traditionally, when your VPN is on, traffic passes through a VPN server before reaching its destination. If someone takes control of the VPN server, your data will be compromised.

That’s why Proton VPN passes certain types of user traffic through a multi-server architecture managed by the company itself and not a public cloud provider like AWS. Our Proton VPN review found that requests to highly regulated jurisdictions like the US are routed through the Secure Core system.

Now, to answer your question, ‘Is Proton VPN safe?’ Secure Core is connected to IP addresses owned and managed by Proton VPN as part of its Local Internet Registry (LIR). This makes it safe from external requests for data, for example, from the government.

14. Split Tunneling

The split tunneling feature lets you route traffic from specific apps via a VPN while excluding others. For example, you can choose to use a VPN when downloading P2P and torrent files but not when you’re using a regular browser. You can also configure split tunnels based on IP addresses.

15. WireGuard

WireGuard is a VPN protocol launched in 2015 that enables high-speed performance while reducing the attack surface area. Proton VPN adopted the protocol in 2021, and it’s available on all devices. This feature can improve performance, battery life, and download speeds.

Proton VPN Drawbacks

Now let’s look at some of the features we didn’t find quite so impressive in our Proton VPN review:

Proton VPN Pricing – How Much Does It Cost?

This VPN service has several pricing tiers, starting with the Free Forever app. You can use Proton VPN for free on any one device, with limited speed, browser support, and VPN server access. The paid plans come in two variants – Proton VPN Plus and Proton Unlimited.

1. Proton VPN Free

This is one of the few free VPN apps offering ad-free services without artificial speed limits. For comparison, NordVPN doesn’t have a free version at all, and ExpressVPN only offers a free trial.

But there are a few caveats. It supports only one device at a time, and you can access VPN tunnels in only three countries – the US, Japan, and the Netherlands. This means you’re essentially barred from routing your traffic through more privacy-focused countries.

Also, the free VPN doesn’t offer any browser extensions, unlike its paid counterpart. You’ll have to download the Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, Linux, or Chromebook app. The Android TV app is also missing, but it’s still a great unlimited VPN solution if you’re looking for a free tool.

2. Proton VPN Plus

Proton VPN Plus is the subscription plan we thoroughly tested for our Proton VPN review and has all the features we discussed.

If you subscribe to the monthly plan, it’ll cost you $9.99/month. A one-year contract gets you 40% off, which means you’ll pay $5.99/month. The two-year plan is the cheapest at just $4.99/month.

For comparison, NordVPN’s entry-level plan starts at $3.79/month, and ExpressVPN at $8.32/month.

3. Proton Unlimited

As the name suggests, Proton Unlimited is the company’s most comprehensive offering for privacy-conscious internet users. It bundles together all of Proton’s services, including its first launch, Proton Mail, a calendar, up to 500 GB of storage, password management, and VPN capabilities.

Considering the range of tools included, Proton Unlimited is reasonably priced. It costs $12.99/month if you sign up for the monthly plan. Annual plans cost $9.99/month, and the two-year contract is available for $7.99/month, just $3 more than the standalone VPN option.

Like most providers, Proton VPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. All you need to do is contact the company within 30 days of purchasing a plan. In our Proton VPN tests, we found that only payments via credit/debit cards, PayPal, or Bitcoin can be refunded.

Proton VPN Interface – Is it Easy to Use?

The VPN service operates through two types of interfaces: native apps and browser extensions. The latter is useful when you’re shopping online, streaming content on your browser, or playing online games.

Once you download and install the extension from your browser’s store, the Proton icon will appear in the top right corner. Simply click on the icon to choose your preferred country for VPN tunneling. You can also connect or disconnect the VPN with one click.

We found that the extension only gives you limited capabilities. To unlock all of Proton VPN’s features, you’ll need to download the dedicated app for your PC or mobile device.

Proton offers widespread compatibility, and you can install it on iOS and Android mobile devices, as well as Windows, MacOS, Chromebook, and Linux PCs. We were happy to see that Proton VPN works on Android TVs as well, but there’s no compatibility for Apple’s tvOS or Linux-based smart TVs.

Proton’s apps are all downloadable from the website. They are smartly designed, based on a dark color scheme that doesn’t strain your eyes when using the device for extended hours or in low light.

Further, you can install the app on as many devices as you want. It’ll only work on 10 devices simultaneously. Not only is the VPN highly secure (protecting you from malicious attacks and government data requests), but it is also easy to use.

Is Proton cross-platform compatible?

Another positive is that the macOS and the Windows OS apps follow feature parity. If you’re switching between different devices, you benefit from the same user experience and range of features. When you open the PC app, you’ll be greeted with the server map in the center and the VPN controls on the left.

The smartphone apps are also easy to use and have the same features as the desktop app. Some of the features will be grayed out if you’ve signed up for Proton VPN’s free plan. That said, we found the mobile apps easy to use and full of useful data that helps choose the right server.

One of the highlights of the tool’s user interface is the ‘Quick Connect’ button (the Proton VPN icon in the bottom right). It analyzes your VPN request and the current server load to automatically connect you to the fastest VPN server for your location.

What Security Does Proton VPN Offer?

ProtonVPN includes two types of encryptions, secure core servers, an ad blocker, a no-logs policy, and privacy-centric jurisdiction in Switzerland.

Next, in our Proton VPN review, let’s look at the company’s server footprint and how this contributes to security.

Proton has over 3,000 servers in 71 countries around the world.

Of these, approximately 2,600 are Plus servers, generally used for activities such as content streaming, P2P file sharing, and ad blocking. Around 100+ servers are part of Proton VPN’s Secure Core architecture, used for VPN tunneling in high-risk jurisdictions.

Proton VPN has the highest number of servers in Canada, France, and Germany (100+ in each country). With such a broad server network, users are sure to find a high-speed VPN tunnel close to their location.

We found that the company is highly committed to a culture of privacy, transparency, and accountability.

It offers a free app because it believes privacy should be a fundamental right. As part of being transparent, it publicly discloses its company information, data usage policies, and guidelines for interacting with law enforcement.

Through regular independent audits, it maintains accountability. These factors make Proton VPN a highly secure app, even if it doesn’t have extra features like built-in password managers or free storage like some of its competitors, such as NordVPN.

Proton vs Other VPNs

To understand if Proton VPN is right for you, take a look at some of its competitors. You’ll find VPN options in every price bracket, but remember that a low-cost option may compromise the safety of your confidential data.

As you can see, Proton VPN is reasonably priced, keeping in mind its feature set and the organization’s commitment to transparency and privacy. The fact that it has a free, unlimited VPN app positions it among the best VPN services you can choose.

Proton VPN Reviews – What Do People Think?

Apart from our internal Proton VPN review and tests, the provider is highly rated among real-world users across review sites, such as Techjockey, Capterra, and TrustRadius. Its ease of use and free app are among its most recommended features, but users also note that it can be slow sometimes.

On Techjockey, Proton VPN earns a rating of 4.7 out of 5. Users appreciate the strength of its encryption and multi-device support. Its no-logs operation is also a winner. However, users report that servers tend to be concentrated in Europe and the Americas, a challenge for those in Asia and Africa.

On Capterra, the provider has a rating of 4.5/5. Users note that Proton VPN offers high-speed internet, great for downloading and uploading audio/video content, but the limitations in the free plan can be a drawback for some.

Proton VPN has a score of 9.8 out of 10 on TrustRadius.

The Best Proton VPN Alternatives

If you’re on the hunt for the best VPN for your needs, check out our comprehensive VPN reviews:

Why You Can Trust Our Review of Proton VPN

At TechReport, we are committed to bringing you the latest, most reliable information on software apps and services to help you find the right solution for your tech stack. We research a wide range of VPNs in our publications across use cases like gaming, streaming, social media, and Netflix.

Our Proton VPN review is the result of extensive tests. We signed up for the monthly plan and reviewed its mobile app, desktop app, and browser extension experience in detail to bring you these insights and conclusions.

We also compared the provider’s value proposition against other top VPN services we’ve reviewed, including ExpressVPN and NordVPN. This allows us to give you an objective, unbiased assessment.

Our results are further bolstered by real-world user opinions. We’ve conducted in-depth research on Proton VPN user sentiment, its pros and cons, and where it may fall short.

How to Use Proton VPN Step-By-Step

To start using Proton VPN, sign up for a VPN Plus plan, install the app on your desired device, and configure it as per your requirements. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Purchase Proton Plus

The first step is to go to protonvpn.com/pricing and select a pricing plan (monthly, annual, or two-year contract). Enter your email address, which is also your sign-in credential when you install the app. Next, proceed to checkout and choose your preferred payment method.

After your payment is processed, you’ll be prompted to set up and confirm your password.

2. Install the Proton App

Download the appropriate app for your OS from the website. We installed the Windows application. Click on the download link to obtain the .EXE file. The installation wizard guides you through the next steps, which will take several minutes to complete.

Once the installation is complete, open Proton VPN on your device and enter your username and password.

3. Configure the App

Technically, you can skip this step and directly click the ‘Quick Connect’ button to auto-select the fastest VPN server for your location. If you want to optimize the settings further, navigate to the ‘Countries’ and ‘Profiles’ tabs, where you’ll see all the available servers in different countries.

You can also select a server based on your use case. The app will show you Tor servers, which have an Onion icon next to them, streaming servers with a play button icon, or P2P servers, which have a double arrow.

Click on one of the four icons below ‘Countries’ to set up features like Secure Core, NetShield ad-blocker, kill switch, and port forwarding.

Navigate to the ‘Profile’ tab to set up custom connection profiles for different use cases, a lot like how you’d set up audio profiles on your smartphone.

Should You Use Proton VPN?

Proton VPN is a great choice for privacy-minded individuals. Whether you’re a journalist trying to access government-censored information or a Netflix user looking to watch a show locked out of your country, the app makes it a fast, simple, and intuitive process.

On the downside, it is priced slightly higher than some of its competitors, like NordVPN, particularly if you want to pay monthly. The free app can be a little slow, and it only includes the core VPN service.

That said, Proton VPN enables high-speed, secure internet connections with thousands of servers around the world. If you’re looking for a free or long-term answer to your online privacy needs, this could be a solution for you.

FAQs

References

• VPN usage in the US 2022 (Statista)
• Security Report (Securitum)
• ProtonVPN Free vs Plus. Speed Comparison (Reddit)

The post Proton VPN Review — Is It Fast & Safe in 2024? appeared first on The Tech Report.

In this CallHippo review, we take a deep dive into its 20+ features and the value they offer to businesses like yours. We discuss our hands-on experience with the CallHippo interface and its pricing models for office phone systems and call centers.

A good Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) app will let you make crystal-clear phone calls over the internet. It’ll also allow you to manage calls better, such as routing calls to the most appropriate agent or transcribing calls for analysis. CallHippo is one of the best tools for this purpose.

Currently starting at $16/month/per user for call centers, is CallHippo worth it? Read on for our detailed insights.

CallHippo Pros and Cons

CallHippo is a business-grade VoIP service that offers office telephony and call center solutions. It has a free forever version that supports unlimited users, and paid plans start at an affordable $16/month/user. Here are its pros and cons:

What Is CallHippo – History and Overview

CallHippo’s parent company is Appitsimple, a software firm based in India. Appitsimple has several software offerings, including its flagship VoIP product, Hippo, and the online media platform, Software Suggest.

CallHippo offers multi-faceted cloud-based communication solutions, covering VoIP and WhatsApp Business services. Organizations can use the software to streamline their internal communications systems, upgrading from landlines.

CallHippo also provides the tools to upgrade your call center. The software lets you automate routing and call distribution, manage business hours, record calls for compliance, and collect feedback. It launched a unique feature called Global Connect in 2020 to tailor calls for foreign customers in different time zones.

In 2024, it is among the handful of VoIP providers offering a free call center solution. We were also impressed by its international calling capabilities and large partner ecosystem, which lets you integrate CallHippo with most business apps.

How Does CallHippo Work?

CallHippo is a cloud-based calling solution, which means that it lets you make and receive phone calls over the internet. The software converts analog voice signals into digital signals to be transmitted over 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi, broadband, and other types of networks.

The call recipient can respond to the call just like a regular telephone interaction from their cell phones or landlines.

To support this, CallHippo relies on ‘7+ telephony networks and 5+ global servers’ as the company’s website explains, but the location and ownership of these servers aren’t disclosed. Owing to its global servers, CallHippo can assure 99.9% uptime.

In addition to telephony, CallHippo has two more offerings:

CallHippo Key Features – What’s Included?

CallHippo’s VoIP software includes all the features you need for an office phone system and your contact center. If you’re wondering, ‘Is CallHippo good?’ check out the features below to evaluate if they align with your requirements.

1. Power Dialer

Power dialers are a staple in business VoIP software, and CallHippo has designed this feature to be intuitive and easy to use. It automatically dials customers’ numbers for outbound teams so your sales agents are free to focus on the conversations.

2. Smart Switch

Smart Switch is meant for CallHippo customers who bring their own carrier (BYOC). Suppose you use the CallHippo call center app with two local telephony providers. You can switch between the two to make the most of available network conditions and rates.

3. Global Connect

If your contact center regularly interacts with customers in different time zones, Global Connect can be very helpful. It automatically dials a contact’s number based on their time zone, when they are most likely to pick up.

International contact centers can combine the Global Connect feature with the unlimited global calling plan. For $80/month/user (annual contract), you get unlimited minutes to 48 countries, one of the few providers to offer this feature apart from Voiply.

4. Sticky Agent

Too often, we call customer support multiple times for the same issue, and with every call, we have to explain our problem from scratch. The Sticky Agent feature helps address this by connecting customers to the same agent automatically, so you can pick the conversation up where you left off.

5. Call Transfer and Call Conferencing

You can transfer calls or convert them into a conference using CallHippo. The call transfer feature integrates with other communication channels so you can switch from chat to email, to voice. Or, you can convert one-on-one calls into a conference for better collaboration.

6. Call Queuing

CallHippo supports virtual queues so you can organize waiting customers according to priority. The software will inform the caller of the expected wait time and read out pre-recorded messages. You can monitor the total calls waiting in the queue through the CallHippo dashboard.

7. Auto Rotate

Sometimes, a customer’s spam filters will block calls if it receives too many from the same number. To prevent this, CallHippo offers the auto-rotate feature. It displays a different number each time you call, avoiding spam filters. You can also customize the total call limit from each number per day.

8. Call Barging

Call barging is a quality control feature in call center VoIP software. It lets supervisors join a live call, monitor agents, and intervene if necessary. CallHippo allows supervisors to listen in silently, ‘whisper’ their advice, or take over the call if an issue escalates.

9. Call Recording

You can record and store important conversations on CallHippo. The admin needs to enable the recording feature on specific numbers. The user can then record any conversation they want when making calls from that number.

10. Voicemail

Voicemail allows callers to leave an audio message if no one is available to pick up. CallHippo’s text-to-speech technology converts your written voicemail greetings into natural-sounding speech so you sound authentic to your customers.

11. Answering Machine Detection

What happens when you dial a customer’s number but reach their machine instead? CallHippo’s VoIP software can distinguish between live calls and answering machines. It then immediately calls the next contact without wasting time leaving voicemails.

12. Call Analytics

The software’s dashboards collect and visualize detailed information regarding past and current calls. Our CallHippo review found that you can analyze calling trends per day, week, or month. You can also view the top performers and keep an eye on ongoing call volumes.

13. Automatic Call Distribution

Automatic call distribution (ACD) is a call center must-have, and we were impressed by CallHippo’s simple distribution system. You can select the order in which you want to distribute the incoming calls. This ensures that agents aren’t overburdened, but at the same time, no one is sitting idle.

14. Smart Direct Inward Dialing Routing

Direct inward dialing (DID) routing lets businesses route calls through local numbers. Using smart DID routing, a local number will show up when you call your foreign customers. This establishes trust and credibility. It also prevents your number from being flagged as spam.

15. Agent Performance Management

CallHippo has several features to help improve how call center agents perform. You can monitor calls in real time and provide immediate feedback. Gamification lets you motivate agents through leaderboards and points. Agent analytics helps analyze performance levels, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

16. Multi-Line Phone System

CallHippo is a multi-line phone system, meaning users can manage multiple calls at once. They can juggle customer calls and business calls, or put calls on hold while dialing a new number. This allows you to maximize your resources without setting up multiple phone lines.

17. Number Masking

Call center agents may need to handle confidential customer information like social security numbers and payment card details. CallHippo’s number masking feature redacts numerical characters from call recordings and other records to reduce the risk of a data breach.

18. Post-Call Surveys

You can use CallHippo to send surveys via email, SMS, or a follow-up call. It gives you near-real-time feedback right after an interaction so you can correlate the data with agent performance. In our CallHippo review, we found surveys easy to design, and engaging for customers.

19. Voice Broadcasting System

Voice broadcasting is a unique CallHippo feature that lets you broadcast audio messages to multiple numbers. Broadcast messages can communicate company announcements, notifications, promotions, offers, and new services.

You can integrate voice broadcasts with interactive voice response (IVR), so customers can choose an action by pressing a number on their keypad. The IVR records customer responses and sends them back to your business so the appropriate agents can follow up.

The voice broadcasting feature starts at $0.015/call plus regular calling charges.

20. Shared Inbox

The shared inbox on CallHippo is a centralized collaboration hub where agents can view their calls, voicemails, and SMS conversations. The software also has a WhatsApp inbox feature where companies using WhatsApp for Business can manage all of their lifecycle messaging communications.

21. Add-on Features for Sales Teams and Call Centers

CallHippo allows you to add on several features and functionalities, depending on your needs. These are available at an added cost:

CallHippo Ease of Use

From our CallHippo testing experience, the best way to use this VoIP service is through its web-based application. Simply visit the company’s website and sign in using the top right button. You’ll be redirected to the dashboard, or you can directly open the dialer.

The web app approach makes CallHippo easy to use since you don’t have to download or install any software. However, it also means that you won’t be able to access the app or retrieve any data when offline.

To address this, you can download a version of CallHippo on your desktop PC. The desktop app is available via WebCatalog Desktop, a third-party service that converts web applications into installable files. Bear in mind that the web catalog isn’t an official partner of CallHippo.

For mobile usage, CallHippo is available on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

The mobile interface focuses on user experience. You can access your contacts, view call records, make notes, change your availability status, and send text messages from the mobile apps.

CallHippo is among the few VoIP services to offer a dedicated app for iPad users. This means that you can enjoy the convenience of a bigger screen, even with a mobile device.

However, unlike other VoIP apps such as MightyCall, CallHippo doesn’t offer sufficient feature parity across its mobile and web application interfaces. To use its advanced features like analytics, integrations, and number management, you will have to rely on the web app.

On the other hand, we were impressed by CallHippo’s simple design and intuitive user interface (UI). The web interface stacks all the functionalities on the left-hand side, and you can manage or configure them from the central pane. Its data dashboards present the information visually, in a clear and easy-to-understand format.

CallHippo Pricing – Is It Expensive?

CallHippo is a cost-effective VoIP service with plans for every budget. Its calling solutions for offices and contact centers start at $16/month/user and go up $42/user/month. You can choose from four plan tiers – Basic, Starter, Professional, and Ultimate.

1. Basic

The Basic plan is free for an unlimited number of users but doesn’t include any built-in VoIP numbers or prepaid minutes. It’s ideal for startups and small teams that need to make calls occasionally and don’t need a full-fledged call center.

As part of the Basic plan, you get features like team organization, voicemail, SMS, and click-to-dial. Your domestic outgoing call charges are extra, costing between $0.014/minute and $0.115/minute, depending on which state you call.

2. Starter

The Starter plan costs $18/month/user if you sign up for a one-year contract. This includes everything in Basic, plus a free standard number (not toll-free) and 1,000 calling minutes, within the US and Canada. The plan allows you to set business hours, forward your calls to a different device, and maintain call records for up to one year.

It has a few value-adding features, such as two-factor authentication (2FA) for security and a shared inbox for collaboration. You also get basic analytics, but advanced reports are available only in the Professional and Ultimate plans.

There’s a call center version of the same solution, called CallHippo Bronze. The Bronze plan includes a few special features, such as skill-based routing and call target vs achievement monitoring, and costs $16/month/user.

3. Professional

The Professional plan costs $30/month/user for a one-year contract. This is the cheapest CallHippo plan with unlimited calling minutes – for perspective, Vonage offers unlimited domestic calls for $13.99/month/user.

In addition to unlimited minutes, you can set up routing systems for the holiday season. The plan includes call recordings, voicemail notifications via email, call reminders, and the ability to pause and resume your recordings. It also offers IVR to help guide callers.

With the Professional plan, you can block certain countries from your calling system. It also enforces role-based access control for security, on top of 2FA. Like the Starter plan, this plan, too, has a call center equivalent, named Silver.

CallHippo Silver is suitable for mid-sized customer support teams. You can use gamification to motivate your agents, assign after-call work (for example, taking notes), tag calls to make them referenceable, and collect feedback.

4. Ultimate

The Ultimate plan costs $42/month/user for a one-year contract. It is a comprehensive plan with all the features a large business might need to support its business communications. Unlike the other plans, Ultimate includes pre-built and custom integrations.

The IVR system is more advanced here, with multiple levels of navigation. You can also set up multi-level call transfers to ensure customer queries are resolved at the first call. This plan’s call center equivalent is CallHippo Platinum.

In our CallHippo review, security and customer support emerged as the two highlights of the Ultimate plan. The company offers 24/7 support and a dedicated account manager. The plan includes single sign-on (SSO) to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the VoIP system.

As you explore CallHippo’s many pricing options, here are a few of our other observations:

Pricing for CallHippo Call Tracking Software

Call tracking software is a tool that lets you correlate incoming calls with any ongoing marketing campaigns, such as SEO articles, Google ads, or even offline magazine advertisements. It helps you track which campaigns bring in the most calls and if these calls lead to greater revenues.

CallHippo’s call-tracking software doesn’t just monitor call volumes from ads; it also captures details like the caller’s location, the time and duration of calls, the devices that callers use, and the details of new or repeat callers.

This software costs $30/month or $25/month if billed annually. If you receive incoming calls from outside the US and Canada, it will cost you $50/month. For this price, you get ten free trackable numbers, 100 SMS messages, and 500 calling minutes.

The software also supports call center features, like compliance recordings, ACD, IVR, and software integrations.

CallHippo Integrations and Scalability

Unlike some other VoIP services that integrate via APIs – such as Nextiva – CallHippo’s custom integrations are built using webhooks. Webhooks are an API-like technology that allows two web-based apps to exchange data using a remote server.

Webhooks are significantly easier to set up than APIs. All you need to do is copy-paste the webhook URL from one app to another and configure the webhook settings to allow users data access. No coding is involved, making CallHippo easy to integrate, even if you can’t find a pre-built integration.

Check out this example of CallHippo’s webhook-based integration with the Intercom app:

Apart from this, CallHippo has an app marketplace with 80+ pre-built integrations.

This includes:

Of course, like all efficient VoIP services, CallHippo integrates with numerous CRM software apps. You can use CallHippo to interact with customers based on data from Salesforce, Hubspot, Microsoft Dynamics, Zoho, Greenhouse, and several other apps.

Is CallHippo Easy to Scale?

CallHippo is easy to scale if you opt for the call center solution. Its Bronze, Silver, and Platinum plans support unlimited concurrent calls. You can even add a dashboard user (who can access management features but not the dialer) if you want to bring in an external consultant or IT expert.

The office phone system, on the other hand, is slightly different. It supports a maximum of 50 users, which can be unsuitable for large companies. However, it does offer unlimited calling to 48 countries to help scale your international business for $80/month/user.

As companies grow, it becomes necessary to connect calling capabilities with other business processes. Bear in mind that only the Ultimate plan for business phone systems lets you access integrations, while they are available with all paid call center solutions.

CallHippo vs Leading VoIP Services

The global VoIP market was worth over $129 million in 2023 and will exceed $400 million in the next ten years. Knowing where to begin your search for the best VoIP service can be difficult. That’s why, in our tests, we compared CallHippo with some of the leading telephony providers.

Here’s how it stacks up:

CallHippo is ideal for mid-sized companies, especially if they want to build a cloud-enabled call center from the ground up. However, if you’re looking for powerful APIs or don’t need international calling, consider alternatives like Ooma, Vonage, Nextiva, and Phone.com.

CallHippo vs RingCentral – Side-by-Side Comparison

CallHippo and RingCentral are both powerful VoIP solutions in their own right. RingCentral has a more extensive integration marketplace and a robust developer platform (beta). However, CallHippo is significantly cheaper and offers impressive features like unlimited international calling.

When searching for the best VoIP provider for your business, you’ve probably come across RingCentral, a business communication company founded in 1995. Ever since the rise of the cloud in the mid-2000s, it’s been building popular cloud-based communication and collaboration products.

RingCentral is publicly traded on the NYSE. Its technology partners include Avaya and Mitel, ideal for large companies and enterprise customers. In contrast, CallHippo is better suited to small teams and solopreneurs, owing to its free-forever VoIP offering.

Here are the key differences between CallHippo and RingCentral according to our exhaustive CallHippo review.

From our review, it’s clear that both RingCentral and CallHippo are impressive VoIP apps, each with its own use case.

Small to mid-sized businesses looking to support foreign customers should consider CallHippo. Enterprises that need a full-featured collaboration platform and an extensive range of integrations can consider RingCentral, although it is more expensive.

What Do Other CallHippo Reviews Say?

CallHippo has a 4.4/5 rating on G2, based on 280+ reviews.

On Capterra, it has a similar rating of 4.3/5, based on 540 user reviews.

Users on TrustRadius rate CallHippo 6.7 out of 10 on average.

Good CallHippo Alternatives

Selecting a VoIP service is an important investment. If you’re still wondering, ‘Is CallHippo legit?’ check out our in-depth reviews of comparable alternatives:

Why You Can Trust Our CallHippo Review

The insights from our CallHippo review and tests are based on extensive hands-on experience. We signed up for the starter plan and took the software for a test drive on multiple platforms, including mobile, desktop, and the web.

Our team has also tested popular VoIP products like Nextiva, Vonage, RingCentral, and Ooma. Our insights from these reviews inform our understanding of CallHippo’s value proposition. This allows us to give you a detailed comparative analysis free of bias.

We also refer to trusted user review forums as part of our tests. This allows us to glean an objective picture of how CallHippo performs in daily operations and, therefore, what our readers can expect. Through this 360-degree approach, TechReport is committed to bringing you the latest, reliable insights from the world of technology.

How to Use CallHippo Step-By-Step

The setup process was straightforward. However, it doesn’t support personal email IDs, which makes it unsuitable for residential VoIP use. To use CallHippo, you need to sign up with your company’s email ID.

Also remember that some of its features, like integrations and call tracking, can be difficult to navigate and use. That said, here is a step-by-step explanation of how to use CallHippo.

1. Sign Up for CallHippo

CallHippo is one of the few VoIP apps to offer a free trial, with no credit card information needed. This means you can sign up right away without being charged. Visit the website and choose a plan that works for you. All paid plans come with a free trial of 10 days.

After you enter your work email ID, CallHippo will send you a verification message. In our tests, it took a few minutes for the email to arrive, so you may need to be patient. Once you receive the verification message, you’ll need to upload a few documents to show why you want to use CallHippo.

Once you share the documents via email, your account will be verified and ready to use. Return to the CallHippo website and sign in.

2. Get to Know the CallHippo Interface

When you sign into CallHippo with your email ID, you’ll have two options – start from the dashboard or start making calls using the dialer. The dashboard is your primary UI where you can view phone numbers, manage users, set up integrations, and generate reports.

Navigate to the left pane to find your required functionality. For example, if you’re a marketing manager, scroll down to the campaign management section to set up outbound calling campaigns. Call center managers can add or modify scripts in the call scripts section.

3. Configure VoIP Phone Numbers

One of the first things you need to do when you set up CallHippo is configure each number to optimize the agent and customer experience.

Click on the ‘Numbers’ tab below ‘Dashboard’ and choose the blue settings button next to the number you want to configure. This opens an additional pane where you can modify every number’s detail, from its availability hours to recorded messages.

Configure the IVR and voicemail options, as these are business telephony essentials. You canalso set up recordings and transcriptions.

4. Make a Call using CallHippo

As mentioned, when you sign into CallHippo, you can open the dashboard or the dialer. If you’ve started from the dashboard, click the ‘Open Dialer’ button on the top right to navigate to the app’s keypad.

The dialer opens as a separate pop-up with mobile-like dimensions. Here, you will see your current location and time zone, as well as the business number the call recipient sees. You can change your availability status from the top of the dialer.

Once the call begins, use the dialer’s call management features as needed. You can record the call if an admin has already enabled the feature. You can make notes, transfer the call, put it on hold, or mute it. If any scripts are associated with the number, they will turn up in an adjacent pop-up.

We were happy to see that CallHippo alerts users if they need consent to record calls in a specific state or country.

Is CallHippo the Right Call for Your Business?

CallHippo is a competitively priced tool for unlimited domestic and international calling. It has a powerful web interface and a competent app marketplace. Call center users can benefit from its smart routing and call management features, not to mention a starting price of just $16/month/user.

On the other hand, its API capabilities aren’t the best we’ve seen, and there’s a 50-user limit on office phone system subscriptions. AI features, too, cost extra.

Solopreneurs and small to mid-sized businesses looking to grow their customer support function can definitely consider CallHippo. You get one free number for every user, and tools like campaign management, gamification, and broadcasting can help you reach your outbound goals.

FAQs

References

• CallHippo parent company (Appitsimple)
• CallHippo launches Global Connect (The Hindu Business Line)
• CallHippo servers and locations (CallHippo)
• VoIP market forecast (Persistence Market Research)

The post Complete CallHippo Review — Is It a Value VoIP in 2024? appeared first on The Tech Report.

The Android password manager is a built-in security service for Android phones. It’s powered by Google’s own technology – developed at the Google Safety Engineering Center (GSEC) – and it automatically syncs with all your passwords stored elsewhere in Google, such as your search engine or Chrome.

While many don’t know about the native Android app’s password manager, it can actually be a handy tool for mobile users. There’s little to no setup and configuration involved. It works seamlessly on iOS devices as well, as long as you have the Chrome app installed.

For those who use Google’s services regularly (for work or at home), the Android password manager deserves a look.

While it doesn’t offer the same bells and whistles as other purpose-built security apps out there, such as NordPass, 1Password, and Dashlane, it’s among the best free services in its category. This guide will explain its features and functionalities in detail.

Pros and Cons of the Default Android Password Manager

The default password manager is a service built into your Google account settings on any Android device. Here are the service’s pros and cons:

Since When Does Android Have a Password Manager?

Google first launched a password manager for Android and Chrome way back in 2015. At that time, it was called “SmartLock For Passwords,” a service that would store your credentials in a secure database, and share it with other apps when they were connected in a workflow.

Over the years, Google made several changes to the service, introducing more features and bringing it closer to the desktop experience. Instead of just working in the back-end, users could eventually check the security levels of their passwords and test if they were exposed in a breach.

In June 2022, Google announced a unified password experience in the form of Google Password Manager – the upgraded version of the Android app’s password manager. Apart from storing passwords, it would generate passwords, let you add notes, and import credentials.

This new and improved tool can even conduct a password check on your iPhone and flag any weak or reused password you might have stored.

In 2024, Google added a special shortcut for the Android password manager on Pixel phones. Now, if you look up “password” from your Pixel launcher, you can quickly access the password manager app without having to look through the settings.

These subtle changes show how, over the years, the Android app’s password manager has stopped being a backend service and has become a popular app in its own right.

In 2024, it offers stiff competition to the likes of NordPass, 1Password, and Dashlane (especially since it’s free), and it’s seamlessly integrated into the Google ecosystem.

Where Is the Default Android Password Manager?

To open the default Android password manager on your phone, follow these steps:

1. Open Settings

To access the Android app’s password manager, first open your phone settings. There are two ways to do this. You could scroll down the notification panel on your mobile phone and tap on the settings button on the bottom right.

Or, you could open the app gallery on your phone and tap on the settings icon. For those new to the Android environment, the icon looks like a simple illustration of gears, as shown below:

2. Find Your Google Account Settings

Unless you use a Pixel phone, the Android apps password manager will be bundled with the rest of Google’s services. That’s because other phone manufacturers offer their own competing services – for example, Samsung Pass.

On any phone other than a Google Pixel, scroll down the settings menu until you find the “Google Services & preferences” section. Tap here to open all the options related to your Google account. On top, you’ll find your current active account.

Make sure you’ve signed in to the right account where you want all your passwords to be stored.

3. Open the Password Manager from the Security Section of Your Google Account

From the Google menu, tap on the “Manage your Google Account” button. This will open a full list of settings related to data sharing, security, personalization, and more. Click on the security tab, and you’ll find the password manager right there on the list.

There are a couple of other ways to access the Android app’s password manager as well, depending on your phone manufacturer and Android version. Instead of following the three steps we explained, you could navigate to Settings > Privacy > Autofill service from Google.

Once you enable the autofill service, the auto-fill menu list appears where you can access the password manager.

Finally, if you have a Pixel phone, simply scroll down to the “Passwords and accounts option” in settings. This takes you directly to your Google password manager settings.

One of the reasons why the Android app’s password manager is a little hard to find is because it’s a cross between a feature and an app. As a feature, it works at the backend without users needing to access it every day.

But with time, Google has introduced several app-like capabilities, such as the option to run a password checkup, export or import passwords, and manually blocklist sites from saving your password. For this reason, you can now add a Google Password Manager shortcut to your home screen on some devices, just like an app.

How to See All the Saved Passwords on Your Android Device

One of the biggest benefits of the Android app’s password manager is that it makes it easy to find and retrieve app credentials whenever you need them. Do you want to log into Netflix from a new device? Or are you looking to share your cloud storage details with a family member?

Simply open the password management tool on your Android phone to quickly fetch these details. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Navigate to the Search Bar in your Settings Menu

The settings menu may look different on different phones, depending on the manufacturer. This is because, unlike iOS, Android doesn’t have a universal user experience (UX). Phone makers build their own OS skins on top of stock Android to provide customization and differentiation.

But this can make it harder to look up passwords when you need them. Luckily, this is where the search bar in your settings menu can help. No matter which Android phone you’re using, open settings (see step 1 in the previous section) and scroll right to the top.

2. Type in “Passwords” as Your Search Query

Next, simply type in the word “passwords” in the search bar. This will give you a list of security and privacy options, including where all your passwords are saved.

In this section, you can also look up passwords associated with different accounts. When the list of passwords opens, select your preferred email ID (Gmail) to view all the passwords you’ve saved to that specific Google account from Chrome.

See All the Saved Passwords from Chrome

Another easy way to look up passwords on your Android phone is via Chrome. Open the browser on your device, and then tap on the three dots menu button on the top right. This gives you a list of options like history, downloads, bookmarks, settings, and help. Tap on “Settings”.

Right on top of the settings section, you’ll see the option to “Turn on sync.” Activate this option to synchronize your Google accounts on different devices, be it your Android phone, Windows PC, iPhone, or Chromebook. Once turned on, you’ll see a list of synced data in the settings option.

This includes payment methods, saved addresses, and of course, your passwords. Simply tap on “Passwords,” and you’ll be redirected to the Android apps password manager, where you’ll see a full list of all the passwords you’ve ever saved to be auto-filled while signed into your Google account!

Is Android’s Password Manager Good?

The upside is that the Android password manager is easy to use and offers the following features:

1. Add Notes to Your Password

In a recent update, Google announced that Android users can now add notes to their passwords. This is helpful when you have multiple credentials for the same website or need to remember any associated detail (like a PIN number) that goes with your password.

This feature is available only when you open the password manager from your phone’s settings menu or app gallery and not when you open it from Google Chrome.

2. Import and Export Your Passwords

This feature ensures that you’re not locked into this Google service. You can download a copy of your passwords to use in a different security tool or simply for backup. You can also import CSV files containing your passwords into your Google account.

3. Run a Password Check

The Password Checkup feature makes sure that your credentials are actually secure.

It will check the passwords you have saved against three parameters – if they’ve been exposed in a data breach, if they’ve been reused, or if they are inherently weak, such as using known combinations of letters and numbers.

If you want to change any of these insecure passwords, tap on the “Change password” option. This redirects you to the original website, where you can sign in with your credentials and change your account settings.

4. Add Passkey Sign-in Option

A passkey is a passwordless authentication mechanism that uses a Fast Identity Online (FIDO) credential. It uses a combination of public key cryptography and biometrics to verify your identity when signing in to a website from your mobile device.

With the Android password manager, you can turn on the passkey option, which means that you won’t have to remember passwords at all. Once the feature is on, it will prompt you to create a passkey as soon as you sign into a website.

After the passkey is created, you can simply tap on the “use passkey” option along with your phone’s biometric identification to log in to the website the next time.

5. Sync Passwords Across Devices

One of the biggest benefits of the Android app password manager is that it works on virtually every platform. You can use the password manager app on your Android phone, view your passwords from Chrome settings on an iPhone, or simply visit passwords.google.com on any browser on any device.

6. Generate Secure Passwords

When you turn on the autofill option in the password manager, it will give you the option to auto-generate a stronger password when you sign up for a new account on any website. Tap on the “Suggest Strong Password” option when saving your credentials, and the app will give you a unique alphanumeric combination that’s almost impossible to breach.

Is Android’s Password Manager Secure?

Secure encryption is one of the key capabilities that users expect from a password management tool, and this is where Google falls slightly short.

According to its website, it explains that “Chrome encrypts your username and password with a secret key known only to your device. Then it sends an obscured copy of your data to Google.” However, the website doesn’t explain which encryption method is used or how it works. It’s also unclear what data Google is able to access regarding your credentials.

This approach adheres to the security through obscurity (STO) principle, which means that the less people know about a security mechanism, the less likely they are to breach it. However, STO isn’t always safe and has received criticism due to the lack of academic scrutiny in such cases.

Other drawbacks of the Android app’s password manager include the absence of features like a storage vault and secure password sharing. If you ever lose access to your Google account, it may be difficult to retrieve these credentials.

Furthermore, Google doesn’t offer 24/7 customer support to free users. For any issues with password management, the only option is to send an email to support-in@google.com and wait for a response.

In contrast, apps like NordPass offer dedicated customer support – that too, from security experts. If you face any issues with the Android password manager, there’s no guarantee that Google support will assign a customer service agent with security expertise. This could make it even harder to find a resolution.

Factors to Consider Before Using Browser Password Manager

As you figure out how to save passwords on Android, it is also important to know about the inherent limitations of browser-based password managers. Ultimately, the Android password manager is a phone version of Google’s Chrome-based password management service that syncs via the cloud.

So, what does that mean? For one thing, this type of tool can’t use zero-knowledge encryption. Technically, Google can access your credentials, your browsing activity, and everything you save. When your passwords are saved on the cloud, you want end-to-end encryption – which Google doesn’t provide.

Also, browser password managers are prone to social engineering attacks. Hackers may lure users with pop-ups and phishing websites and trick them into downloading malicious extensions. These extensions have ready access to the information you store via a browser, including passwords, saved on your Android phone.

To address this, the Android password manager lets you encrypt data before it is saved to the cloud. To use this feature, open the password manager by following the steps we shared. Then, click on the settings button on the top right.

Right below the import and export options, you’ll find a shield icon alongside an option to “Set up on-device encryption.” Selecting this option will generate a key to encrypt and decrypt passwords before storing them on Google Cloud. But if you lose access to this key, you’ll lose access to your passwords as well.

Keeping these factors in mind, you may want to explore some of the alternatives to the default password manager that comes with your Android device.

Default Android Password Manager Compared to NordPass, 1Password, and Dashlane

Recent studies show worrying trends in password security, which might be compromising your accounts. A good password management tool is essential to address this. Now, if you’re wondering if the Android password manager is any good or, simply, which is the best tool for you, here is a quick comparison:

If you’re looking for convenience and ease of use, the default password manager on this phone is a good choice and certainly better than not using a security tool at all.

What to Look for in an Android Password Manager?

When choosing a password manager for your Android device, ask yourself the following questions:

The best Android password managers will meet all five of the above criteria. Furthermore, don’t forget to check the tool’s user interface (UI). If a password manager is poorly designed and difficult to use, you’ll end up not using it anyway. This will only add to security risks.

The benefit of Android’s default password manager is that it sports a clean, minimalist UI that’s easy to learn. There’s feature parity across the mobile and desktop browser variants, and you’ll find yourselves using the tool almost intuitively.

Should You Use the Android Password Manager?

If you’re new to the world of password management, the default password manager on Android phones is as good an entry point as any. It’s well-designed and easy to use, with several value-adding features such as notes and data breach alerts.

Google users can synchronize their credentials on any device, including iOS. For added protection, you can add an on-device encryption key. All of this is available on unlimited devices, absolutely free.

On the flip side, Google isn’t very clear about the encryption technology it uses. The company can access some of your data, but it’s not clear what or in which form. The tool doesn’t come with bells and whistles like a powerful free VPN or password scoring either.

Ultimately, it’s up to you whether you want a basic password manager like Android’s built-in service or prefer a more premium solution like NordPass, OnePassword, or Dashlane. For those looking for a free password manager tool, Google is a trustworthy option.

FAQs

References

• Google launches password manager for Android and Chrome – Times of India
• 5 new features to easily manage your passwords in Chrome – Google Blog
• How Chrome Protects Your Passwords – Google Support Documentation
• Security Through Obscurity (STO): History, Criticism & Risks – Okta

The post How Good Is the Default Android Password Manager? appeared first on The Tech Report.

Reducing costs is one of the key reasons you switch to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), but what happens when your VoIP bill is higher than expected? While VoIP is cheaper than landlines, improper management or an unsuitable provider can lead to high bills.

That’s why it is important to take steps to save on VoIP bills, whether you’re a business or an individual customer. Factors like extra support, more extensions, new features, international calls, and internet consumption can all add up, leading to unexpected VoIP expenses.

In this article, we explain how to save money on your VoIP bills by choosing the right plan and provider. You also need to regularly monitor your VoIP usage to make sure you’re within preset thresholds. Luckily, there are a few simple ways you can lower VoIP costs without overhauling your calling systems completely.

Main Culprits for High VoIP Costs

VoIP is a technology that lets you make calls via the internet by converting the analog signals of your voice into digital signals that can be transmitted over broadband lines. Like regular phones, you have a dedicated VoIP number and can make calls via devices called IP phones.

The costs of VoIP depend on a number of factors, such as the cost of your internet connection, the hardware/software you use for calling, the number of VoIP users, and the volume of calls they make. With so many variables, it can be difficult to keep track of your VoIP expenses.

1. Higher Than Expected Call Volumes

An organization (especially small businesses) may start off by thinking they are only going to make a few calls a month and not even consider that they may need SMS or MMS facilities. But as your business grows, so do your call volumes, leading to higher bills.

For example, you may have a higher-than-average number of customer calls for two to three months a year, during the holiday seasons. Without appropriate planning, your VoIP bill may come as a shock during these months. Also, call volumes may rise after you launch a new product or hire new employees.

One way to resolve this is to select a VoIP provider, such as Vonage, that offers unlimited calling, without any caps. That way, you can easily handle unexpected call volumes without buying extra minutes, which are often charged at a premium. Another approach is to monitor your VoIP usage more closely, as we discuss later in this article.

2. Frequent and Unplanned International Calls

You’ll find VoIP providers with free domestic calling, but international calls are a different matter. Calls to countries other than the US and Canada are typically charged at anywhere between $0.10 and $7 or more per minute. A few international calls a month can add significantly to your VoIP expenses.

Businesses should evaluate their calling needs before investing in VoIP and audit their current and projected requirements. If there’s any scope for international calls, you should plan ahead. Fortunately, some providers offer dedicated calling plans to address this.

For example, Voiply offers unlimited international calling in 50+ countries, one of the few VoIP companies to offer this service. Ooma also has a World Plan for non-business users in the US, enabling unlimited calling to landlines in 60+ countries.

3. Unnecessary Feature Bloat

Another reason for high VoIP costs is that many plans include features you may not need. For example, a small business may not need built-in call recording storage. If you don’t operate a contact center, then advanced quality assurance features may not be useful.

When businesses opt for a one-size-fits-all plan, they may end up paying for unnecessary feature bloat. It’s a better idea to start small and then scale up to premium and enterprise features as your business grows. Factor this into your research to prevent being influenced by ‘gimmicky’ features.

However, bear in mind that certain VoIP features are absolutely essential. For instance, you may not need to integrate VoIP with other apps right away, but integration readiness is a must-have feature for any business adopting internet telephony.

Know which VoIP features matter the most to you – now and in the next few quarters – when choosing the best VoIP provider for your business.

4. Not Reading the Licensing Terms and Conditions

Most VoIP providers promise transparent pricing, but there are typically some essential details hidden away in the small print. The same plan may incur different costs per user for teams of different sizes. Additional taxes may be levied at anywhere between 5% and 10%. Advertised discounts may also be subject to terms and conditions.

Procurement teams need to conduct in-depth research to understand the actual cost of purchasing a VoIP plan. Apart from the flat fee multiplied by the number of VoIP users, this will include costs such as getting new numbers, additional extensions, and installation fees.

Fortunately, many companies will clearly tell you about the fine print right at the purchase stage – read these details carefully before you buy. You can also reach out to the sales team and ask for a demo fitted to an organization of your size to understand the actual scope of VoIP expenses.

5. Poor Customer Service and On-Site Support

One of the things about VoIP implementations is that they’re never ‘set and forget.’ You need to maintain your VoIP systems, for example, by removing defunct numbers, adding extensions, replacing hardware, and re-configuring VoIP security settings. The service may also experience downtime occasionally.

When such interruptions happen, you’ll need to rely on the vendor’s customer support team.

Remember, most telephony users will be non-technical personnel who will need help learning the system as well as troubleshooting. As VoIP is an essential service for most companies, prolonged downtime can cost your business. If the vendor can’t fix the issue remotely, you may have to pay extra for onsite support.

Therefore, it is crucial to select a vendor with good customer support, available on chat, email, and telephone, preferably 24/7. If you’re a large business, choose a plan with a dedicated account manager and priority support, like the ones offered by Voiply. This makes sure you don’t face unexpected VoIP expenses from poor post-sales support.

Monitor VoIP Usage to Save on Your VoIP Bill

Most businesses will monitor VoIP usage to ensure top-notch calling experiences. For example, VoIP monitoring can tell you if there is too much latency or any jitter interrupting your calls. However, another benefit of monitoring call data is that it helps you save on your VoIP bill.

There are two ways to monitor your VoIP usage.

1. App Analytics

Every VoIP platform provides usage data in the form of dashboards and reports. These explain how many numbers and extensions you have, the type of calls you make most frequently, activity patterns for specific users and teams, and any other custom metric you want to measure.

Nextiva, for instance, provides several options to monitor VoIP usage in real-time and in the past.

To save on your VoIP bill, keep an eye on the number of international calls per month and if there are any sudden spikes. If certain teams make very few calls per month, then it might make sense to scale down the calling infrastructure.

Remember to incorporate VoIP reports into quarterly budgeting discussions. It can also be helpful to consider the business outcomes from calls (for example, sales made over the phone or a higher satisfaction score) to understand if your VoIP bill is worth it.

2. Call Detail Records

A call detail record (CDR) is a comprehensive document with all the information about a specific month’s VoIP billing, including the number of calls and their location, text messages, and data consumption.

For individuals, the CDR will typically comprise a couple of pages, but for businesses, this is a far more in-depth report. You can ask your VoIP provider for CDRs at any time. Apart from explaining the billing, it’ll also have your account details and security information.

Businesses should monitor CDRs every month to check for costing patterns and anomalies. Small businesses can do this manually, while bigger ones can integrate CDRs with business intelligence software to automate some of the monitoring and analysis.

Compare Providers to Estimate VoIP Expenses

Businesses looking to reduce their VoIP expenses should thoroughly research different vendors, the rates and services they offer, and what’s likely to save you the most in the long run. While it’s tempting to switch vendors when costs start to climb, be careful and take time to research things .

As a best practice, shop around once a year to check out new offerings, and if any leading providers are offering discounts. Between Thanksgiving and New Year is a good time for your annual VoIP review, as you can benefit from seasonal sales and discounts.

Once you’ve decided to switch to a new VoIP provider, evaluate the contenders on a few key parameters. These will help you save on monthly costs and make sure that bills remain predictable:

Often, the pricing shown on a VoIP provider’s website is the basic cost, and several other charges will be included in your final monthly bill. As a result, more expensive vendors may actually turn out to be cost-effective in the long term.

That is why you need to conduct thorough research, request demos, and peruse detailed reviews of VoIP providers to understand precisely how they compare against each other.

Maximize Cost-Effective VoIP Features

A great way to save on your VoIP bill is to maximize the features on offer. A good VoIP service will help your business reduce costs in several ways so that your telephony investment is worth it. Check out the following features of VoIP that can help your business achieve greater cost efficiency.

1. Auto-Attendants, Virtual Receptionists, and IVR

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a technology that lets your callers self-serve when your employees or customer support agents aren’t available. This tool is sometimes called an auto attendant or a virtual receptionist.

Let’s say a high-value customer calls your business after 17:00. It will either go to voicemail, letting the caller record a message but leaving them frustrated because their problem isn’t resolved, or you have to spend more on having a team in place after working hours.

Instead, IVR allows customers to find a solution to their problem by pressing certain digits on the phone or through voice commands.

For instance, a bank’s IVR could relay the customer’s account balance when they press ‘5’ on their keypad. For an e-commerce business, simply saying ‘cancel my order’ can initiate the cancellation process without needing a team in place 24/7.

2. Call Recording and Voicemail Transcriptions

In businesses where a lot of information is exchanged in calls, call recording and voicemail transcriptions can save you time and money. Let’s say an advertising agency regularly receives its briefs over the telephone. A built-in transcription feature automatically creates a text version of everything that was discussed.

Using transcriptions, employees can improve their productivity, which saves costs. Industries like healthcare and banks can leverage this feature for compliance, avoiding fines.

3. Any Feature with Unlimited Usage

If your organization overwhelmingly relies on a single feature like domestic calling or VoIP-based video conferencing, then a no-cap facility really helps. It removes the need to closely monitor usage so you never cross the usage threshold. It also lets you grow freely.

Some features where you might find unlimited capabilities include domestic calling, internet fax, conference calls (with a limit on participants), video calls, and video conference recordings. As we previously mentioned, providers like Voiply offer unlimited international calls as well.

However, check with your vendor about any reasonable use policy so you can calibrate your expectations.

4. VoIP Softphone Apps

VoIP services are usually accessed through software apps on smartphones and PCs, called softphones. These apps come with all the features you can expect from a telephony service, including a dial pad, a contact list, an SMS inbox, call forwarding/transferring options, and voicemail.

By using softphone apps, businesses don’t need to purchase dedicated calling hardware. This can save you a lot of money, since each handheld device costs between $60 and $100 at least. A contact center can save thousands of dollars by replacing landlines with softphones.

Further, you can set up softphone apps remotely and in bulk, unlike a physical device. They incur lower labor charges and don’t need to be repaired in case of wear and tear. This proves highly cost-effective in the long term.

5. High Uptime, Preferably 99.999%

Uptime refers to the percentage of hours in a year when you can expect the VoIP service to be available. A good provider will offer uptimes over 99%, and top providers offer 99.999% or five-nines uptime as part of the service level agreement. This means you’ll face less than 26 s of downtime a month.

Uptime is an essential cost-saving feature of VoIP because it ensures uninterrupted business operations. You can continue to interact with customers, provide your services, and keep systems up and running without any dip in revenues.

6. An Integration Marketplace

As a VoIP user, you’ll need to fetch customer data from the CRM and into your calling system. You may want call alerts to show up on your collaboration platform. To achieve this, there has to be a seamless dataflow between the two apps through a piece of code called an application programming interface (API).

However, it takes a lot of technical skill to design an API from scratch and incorporate it into your existing code base.

You can avoid all of this by accessing a VoIP company’s integration marketplace with ready-to-download and install connectors.

An integration marketplace (also known as an app gallery) is a downloadable list of all the app integrations a VoIP provider offers. It looks exactly like the app store on your mobile phone, just for business software. Not all VoIP companies have an integration marketplace, but it can save you the costs typically incurred in building and maintaining integrations.

Anyone can use the integrations, including team managers, saving you the cost of assigning technical resources. New business opportunities unlocked thanks to the integration also improve your bottom line.

7. Free Number Porting

If you’re switching from landlines to internet calling or migrating to a new VoIP provider, a free number porting service can lower your VoIP expenses.

Traditionally, the porting process is complex and time-consuming, with several documents exchanging hands and a few weeks of wait time involved. But the right provider will complete the porting process for you, set up your new numbers, and help you assign new users with ease.

Certain vendors, like Nextiva, include free porting services with all their VoIP accounts. This means you can retain your old phone numbers and save the costs of buying new ones (until you need them) without paying an additional fee for the porting service.

Can You Negotiate Your VoIP Costs with Providers?

Most VoIP providers will share their pricing with you upfront, typically through interactive cost calculators or pricing sheets. However, it is possible to negotiate costs by following a few simple tips.

The simplest and easiest way to negotiate a favorable price is by finding a vendor that offers a custom pricing model. For example, Vonage offers custom VoIP pricing to companies with 100 or more employees. Check the pricing page, and if there is a ‘Contact Sales’ or similar option, you will probably be able to negotiate the cost.

Another way to negotiate pricing is to request a demo. Certain companies, like Nextiva, will let you demo the platform before you make a purchase, which starts a conversation around pricing. Once you have demonstrated your interest in purchasing the VoIP service, you can negotiate a better price.

Finally, you can negotiate your VoIP cost by completing the purchase process on the phone instead of online. Most providers will list a number you can call to subscribe to their VoIP services. This gives you the opportunity to interact with the salesperson and negotiate a little.

Companies in certain industries, like non-profit organizations and educational institutions, may get special deals. Ask your provider if your company qualifies for any such discounts.

If you’re open to a bit of cross-selling and upselling, then purchasing another product from the same provider (such as an IP phone) could make you eligible for a discounted rate.

How to Compare VoIP Providers

Our extensive VoIP tests and reviews reveal four providers offering the best ‘bang for your buck’ when it comes to VoIP expenses. Each has a unique VoIP feature that can help you reduce costs and simplify business operations to make the most of your investment.

The most cost-efficient VoIP provider isn’t always about pricing but depends of the features you need. Thoroughly research the best VoIP providers available, assess their suitability for your use cases, and sign up for a trial, so that if you aren’t satisfied, you can get your money back in 14–30 days.

Save on Your VoIP Bill: Key Takeaways

Businesses switch to VoIP for one crucial reason: it delivers better performance and features at a significantly lower cost. Vonage reports that you can save 50%–75% on overall phone costs and reduce domestic calling bills by 40%. However, sometimes, your VoIP bills can be higher than expected.

This can be due to licensing fine print, which may charge smaller teams a higher price per user for the same plan. Or, hidden charges like cost recovery and emergency fees could add to your phone bill. Businesses may underestimate their calling requirements and incur higher VoIP expenses when they cross a certain threshold.

That is why it is important to be vigilant about your VoIP usage and vendor selection if you want to save on your VoIP bill. Fortunately, there are several affordable vendors out there that offer an impressive set of features at a low, predictable price point.

Do your research before subscribing to a VoIP plan, and review your VoIP billing and returns on investment at least once a year.

FAQs

References

• Is VoIP Cheaper Than Other Phone Systems – Vonage

The post How to Save on Your VoIP Bill: Saving Strategies to Cut VoIP Expenses appeared first on The Tech Report.

The best VoIP provider for your business will not only offer flexible, affordable telephony over the internet, but also support your organization’s growth. Companies switching from landlines or opening a contact center for the first time need to pay special attention to their VoIP installation.

VoIP allows your business to make and receive calls using the internet. This makes telephony more widely accessible from any location. It also makes it programmable – you can set up call routing, forwarding, queues, and more using VoIP software.

This article explains the steps involved in choosing the best VoIP for your business needs. You’ll learn about the different factors that contribute to VoIP’s success and how to manage calling costs for your organization.

Identify Your Business’ VoIP Needs

VoIP replaces classic wired telephony with a digital phone system that’s useful in various business operations. Evaluate which operations you are looking to support and estimate your future telephony needs. Here are the key factors to consider.

1. The Size of Your Business

The solution you choose will vary based on the size of your business. Some companies, such as Nextiva, offer volume discounts that get you a business-grade VoIP app for a relatively low cost. Others assign a dedicated account manager, offer free installation, and more if you go in for an enterprise package.

Bear in mind that VoIP isn’t just for large enterprises. Companies like Vonage offer a basic, smartphone-based VoIP service that costs only $13.99/user/month, which includes unlimited domestic calling and SMS. Solopreneurs and small businesses, too, can benefit from VoIP.

Conduct detailed research on which VoIP companies cater to businesses of your size. Discuss with the vendor if they have worked with businesses like yours in the past (solopreneur, startup, small business, medium-sized organization, or large enterprise).

2. The Nature of Your Business

What your business does will also determine which VoIP service is best for you. For example, the telephony needs of an e-commerce company will be very different from a non-profit.

VoIP services are often bundled with other business solutions like customer experience tools, contact center platforms, collaboration apps, and telephony hardware. Once you define the precise nature of your business and how it uses telephone calls, you’ll know the end-to-end communication services you need.

If you’re a mid-sized to large business, undertake a detailed audit of your telephony landscape – the type of callers and their expectations, call volumes, call locations, and the business outcomes from calls. Then, look for a vendor who has worked with clients in your industry before.

You may also find service providers like Vonage, which offer tailored solutions for fields such as healthcare, education, retail, finance, manufacturing, logistics, and the public sector.

3. The Scope of VoIP Communication

As a follow-up to defining the nature of your business, you need to document the exact use cases for VoIP applicable to you. Typically, internet-based telephony is used in:

You can implement any of these use cases on a standalone basis or integrate two or more of them using the same solution.

Speak with your vendor to ensure they support the required use case. If you’re looking to build a unified landscape, discuss in detail how they plan to integrate the different components, if you need to put in any technical effort, and if the integrations will need maintenance.

4. Integration with Your App Environment

These integrations work in one of two ways. The VoIP vendor could build the integration for you and make it available via a publicly available marketplace. Vonage, for example, offers 100+ integrations with marketing apps, remote working tools, productivity software, and much more.

The second integration option is through application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs are code snippets that enable data flow between two apps. You need technical skills and effort to set up VoIP APIs, but they give also you more flexibility than pre-built integrations.

No matter the size of your business, choose a VoIP solution that integrates with CRM apps such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Zoho, and Freshdesk. Most leading platforms will support these options, including Ooma, which is one of the most affordable VoIP solutions available today.

5. Future Forecasting

Future forecasting is an essential part of identifying your needs before you can choose the best VoIP services for your business.

Remember, VoIP adoption involves a degree of vendor lock-in. You’ll likely opt for a long-term contract to avail of volume discounts. Switching your numbers from one provider to another (while possible) is also a time-consuming process.

Therefore, choose a business-grade VoIP company that can meet your needs for several years to come. Not only should it be able to support 50+ users, but it should also come with multiple features such as toll-free numbers, affordable international rates, and communication APIs.

Even if you don’t need these features, they are essential to most business-to-customer (B2C) companies, and switching providers later on can be a hassle.

As part of future forecasting, check how licensing and plan tiers will change when you add more users. Also, ask the vendor where the VoIP platform is hosted so that its underlying cloud infrastructure can keep up with your growing needs.

Checklist for Business Needs Assessment When Choosing the Best VoIP

To sum up, consider the following factors when you analyze your business environment, ongoing operations, and future requirements:

What to Look for In a VoIP for Your Business

Once you have analyzed your company’s needs, you’re ready to start researching VoIP providers best suited to your requirements. Consider the following must-have features during the research stage.

1. Call Forwarding, Transfer, and Queues

VoIP can help you minimize wait times and provide callers with the best possible customer experience. Look for software that lets you transfer calls to a team member, manager, or different department based on predefined rules. It should also automatically forward calls if no one is available to answer them.

Queues help you manage multiple customers as they wait to be attended by a contact center agent. VoIP queueing features can help you program routing rules, assign queue numbers, play a prerecorded message, or even schedule a callback.

2. Interactive Voice Response and Virtual Receptionist

Interactive voice response (IVR) is a VoIP feature that lets callers choose how the conversation will be routed. For instance, someone calling a bank may press 1 to reach the credit card department, 2 for their checking account details, and 3 to apply for a mortgage.

IVR provides customers with self-service, reducing the burden on your call queues. Some VoIP providers even offer conversational IVR, where an artificial intelligence (AI) engine listens to the customer and routes the call based on keywords.

A virtual receptionist is a simpler version of an IVR. It has fewer navigation options and lets you make different announcements and share different messages depending on the time of day. VoIP providers like Vonage offer a virtual receptionist to simplify call flows.

3. Call Monitoring and Recording

Call monitoring and recording assist in quality assurance and allow you to intervene if a call isn’t going in the right direction. Monitoring features can be of various types – for instance, ‘whispering’ lets the manager guide an employee without the customer’s knowledge, while ‘barging’ lets them jump onto the call.

Recording is also a crucial feature when choosing a business-grade VoIP service. You can analyze call recordings later for compliance, training, or to study customer behavior. Check recording limits before adoption. For example, Ooma supports recordings of up to 3 hours in length with 90 days of storage.

4. Toll-Free Numbers, Vanity Numbers, and Porting

Toll-free numbers can be extremely useful; they can encourage customers to call you for sales inquiries or lodge a complaint instead of posting negative reviews online. Most VoIP providers will help you obtain a toll-free number with prefixes like 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, and 833.

A vanity number is a business phone number that’s easy to remember, with a strong brand recall. For instance, 1-800-FLOWERS is associated with a NASDAQ-traded, New York-based florist.

Look for a VoIP provider who will help you easily obtain toll-free and vanity numbers. Also, try to choose a company with an easy porting process. That way, you’ll be able to retain your current numbers (with minimum hassle) while benefiting from a new VoIP service.

5. Caller ID, DND, and Voicemail

The caller ID feature allows you to see who’s calling, whether it’s another employee or an external customer. You should be able to connect the VoIP app with the CRM to get the complete details of customers when they call.

Do not disturb (DND) is another useful screening feature. You can configure the VoIP software to reject calls during certain hours and route them to voicemail instead.

The best VoIP providers will let you customize voicemail greetings so you can continue to deliver superior experiences even outside of business hours. Some will even transcribe the voicemail and email it to you so you can refer to it when you need it.

6. Call Bridging, Call Flip, SMS, and Fax

Bridging allows callers from multiple locations to participate in the same conversation. It’s a handy feature for remote and hybrid teams as they can dial the business phone number from anywhere in the world. Call flip, too, helps in remote and hybrid work by letting you switch devices during a VoIP call.

SMS and MMS features can complement VoIP calls. They allow your employees to reach out to customers in bulk and share important notifications like shipping updates, T&C changes, and promos/discounts.

If you’re going to use your VoIP provider primarily for internal collaboration, look for a provider like Nextiva that offers internet-based fax in addition to calling and SMS.

7. Call Reports and Analytics

Call reports and analytics are essential VoIP features for growing businesses. They give you the data you need to train your employees and allocate your resources.

Ideally, the data should be available as visual dashboards and not just tables and spreadsheets. You should be able to view real-time call data as well as historical trends.

All these core features are supported by the best VoIP providers today.

Apart from this, make sure the VoIP app works with internet protocol (IP) phone hardware like Poly and Yealink. If IP hardware is part of your VoIP adoption plan, you could choose a company like Ooma, which offers its own branded phone and accessories.

How to Ensure VoIP Quality and Reliability

No matter which VoIP provider you choose, ensuring quality and reliability is paramount for your business. That’s why you need to ensure a strong internet connection at your end and robust infrastructure from your vendor.

Is Your Internet VoIP Ready?

Adopting VoIP can be a major change for your business if you are graduating from a plain old telephone system (POTS). Therefore, you want to make sure you’re ready for the transformation and that your network infrastructure can support VoIP.

Fortunately, the bandwidth requirements of VoIP are quite low. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), VoIP calls need a minimum download speed of less than 0.5 Mbps. For comparison, the average download speed in the US in 2023 is a staggering 256.03 Mbps.

Bear in mind that video calls require a minimum speed of 1 Mbps, and HD video teleconferencing needs 6 Mbps at least. So, if you’re planning to use your VoIP solution for anything besides calls, make sure to check your network speeds.
In addition to speed, data consumption is also an important factor for VoIP quality. As Nextiva explains, different VoIP compression and decompression systems (codecs) consume data at different rates, which could add to your costs.

Businesses using VoIP need unlimited data, which eliminates the issue of data caps. Solopreneurs and small businesses adopting internet telephony for the first time may need to switch data plans for a faster, more cost-effective service.

Consider providers like Ooma, which offers bundled internet (Ooma Connect) with its business phone product. If your employees work from home regularly, you may want to subsidize their home internet plan for uninterrupted VoIP use, especially if you run a contact center.

Once you have shortlisted a few VoIP providers, you should be able to visit their websites to run network tests. For instance, Nextiva lets you evaluate the quality of your network infrastructure and its VoIP readiness directly from your office PC.

Which Type of VoIP Should You Choose?

Most companies will give you all four options and you can choose which one to use, depending on your use case. For example, a short video call between colleagues may require a computer-to-computer connection, while a call center agent may use a computer to reach customers on their phones.

A landline-to-VoIP adapter is a physical device that converts analog signals from a landline into digital signals that can pass through your VoIP provider’s infrastructure. You simply plug your analog phone into the adapter, and the adapter has a built-in router to enable internet connectivity.

Softphone apps, which you can access from any internet-connected device or browser, enable calling, SMS, video, and voicemail capabilities. They are easy to configure and all VoIP services come with a softphone option, in case you don’t want to invest in an IP phone.

Computer-to-phone connections allow users to dial analog or VoIP numbers from their computer and the recipient can take the call on a traditional, physical device. In contrast, computer-to-computer connections are restricted to app-based calling.

For example, when you place a WhatsApp call, the recipient doesn’t have the option of responding on a traditional landline. It’s ideal to choose a vendor that offers all four options, or, at least, the last three (softphone, computer-to-phone, and computer-to-computer).

What is the Quality of Your Vendor Infrastructure?

Your VoIP provider’s infrastructure will also determine the calling experience and reliability. Since VoIP is internet-based, the software, its features, and all its calling services are hosted on the cloud (remote data centers).

Some VoIP providers use public clouds like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), or Google Cloud, while others use their own data centers. Vonage business phone solutions, for instance, are hosted on AWS with data centers in the US, EU, and APAC.

When choosing the best VoIP for your business, thoroughly evaluate the vendor’s infrastructure. You may need to submit a request for proposal (RFP) to find out the exact hosting details.

Also, enquire about the vendor’s uptime, which is the percentage of time the system will be operable. The maximum you can get is 99.999% or 5 nines uptime, which means that it will be unavailable for less than six minutes a year.

For perspective, an uptime of 99.9% means you lose nearly nine hours of operational time, which can be costly for your business. So, check this metric carefully before making a selection.

Also, ask the vendor about system status checks and if the data is publicly available. For instance, Vonage has a dedicated portal for checking system status in real-time, which is a great help when you face VoIP issues during business hours.

VoIP Security and Compliance

Security and compliance are two of the key challenges with VoIP technology. If you use analog telephone lines like POTS, hackers can’t break their way into the system through malicious programming. However, the digital nature of VoIP makes it essential to protect against VoIP hacking.

Here are some of the steps you can take to ensure VoIP security:

Another best practice for VoIP security is to work only with regulatory-compliant vendors, particularly if you operate in industries like healthcare and financial services.

If you’re going to exchange medical data over VoIP lines, the software must comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Most VoIP providers, including Vonage and Nextiva, offer HIPAA-compliant communications solutions to address patient privacy requirements.

Companies transmitting financial data over VoIP need to ensure compliance with Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards, which mandate OS updates, penetration testing, and secure virtual lands. PCI compliance is mandatory for the ecommerce sector, among other industries.

Also, check for ISO and SOC certifications, which indicate that the VoIP provider has taken steps to maintain information security, integrity, and privacy.

How to Forecast Your VoIP Costs

When choosing a provider, you need to calculate your projected VoIP costs, which will include much more than the service plan itself. Businesses must factor in the cost of hardware, acquiring new phone numbers, the cost of integrations, and international calling rates.

Typically, your VoIP provider plan will cost you between $15 and $50/month/user, with pricing on the higher side if you opt for a contact center solution. Additional phone numbers will cost between $5 and $10, depending on the location and whether you’re choosing a vanity number.

VoIP works well with smartphones and PCs, which means you don’t need to purchase additional hardware. However, IP phones start at around $40 and go up to several hundred dollars, a one-time, upfront cost.

Finally, remember to factor in the cost of your business internet connection with unlimited data. This will cost you around $50 to $100/month – of course, the connection will also be useful for operations other than VoIP.

Tips for How to Choose the Best VoIP for Your Business

The best VoIP for your business will depend on your unique communication requirements, budget, and technical proficiency within the organization. That said, there are a few tips you can follow to make the right call.

1. Be Practical About the Cost vs. Feature Trade-Off

It can be tempting to try and find the most affordable VoIP provider for your business, especially if you are switching to internet telephony for the first time. However, remember that cheaper products may cut corners on the feature set.

For instance, Vonage Basic starts at $13.99/month/user but doesn’t support integrations or IP phones. Similarly, Nextiva starts at $16.72/month/user but doesn’t include SMS/MMS.

Be upfront about your feature requirements and find a solution that fits. You can save more by opting for longer contracts and a greater number of users.

2. Understand the Difference Between Collaboration and Contact Centers

While internet business communication and customer calls both rely on VoIP, the software technology and workflows are very different. The former will include features like video calls and chat, while the latter will support advanced call routing and CRM integrations.

Even if you choose a VoIP provider that does both, clarify your intended use cases at the very outset. This will help you negotiate a better price for the features you need.

3. Ask About the Company’s Porting Services

Phone number porting is the process of porting your old VoIP or POTS numbers to the new provider. The VoIP company you choose may charge a small fee for completing the porting services. Or, it may offer a POTS replacement solution from scratch, such as Ooma AirDial.

Planning for number porting beforehand can reduce your costs later on and minimize business interruptions. It will also prevent unpleasant surprises, such as the new VoIP company not providing coverage for a local phone number in a particular region.

4. Don’t Ignore the User Interface

Regardless of the cost and feature set, your VoIP adoption numbers will be low if the user interface is difficult to navigate. Consider the user experience for three roles – the IT manager or admin, the manager or team leader, and the employee or contact center agent.

The software should be easy to set up and configure. Managers must be able to choose their preferred integrations, start conversations, assign tasks, and view analytics. Agents or employees must be able to use the VoIP app across different devices to stay productive.

5. Include Customer Support in Your Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Phone calls are an essential service for any business, and you want to be able to ask your vendor for support for even the most minor issues. This calls for prompt customer support on various channels, including chat, email, and phone calls.

Prioritize support when short-listing your preferred vendors. Nextiva, for example, includes 24/7 email, chat, and phone support on all its plans, no matter the size of your business. Ooma, too, offers phone support for free.

Choose the Best VoIP for Your Organization – Takeaways

Choosing the best VoIP services for your business can seem daunting, but a good decision will pay rich dividends for years to come. Fortunately, there are several leading VoIP providers that offer secure, powerful, and competitively-priced solutions.

Start by identifying your business’ VoIP needs, including your workforce size, business operations, app environment, and future plans. Next, evaluate your short-listed vendors to ensure they offer core VoIP features like call management, monitoring, IVR, analytics, and voicemail.

Security and ease of use are also important factors to consider, as these will determine VoIP adoption rates in your company and the returns you earn. With a well-thought-out selection and implementation process, you can simplify your VoIP transformation with minimal hassles.

FAQs

References

• Customer service: preferred channels for customers to resolve issues U.S. 2022 (Statista)
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

The post How to Choose the Best VoIP for Your Business appeared first on The Tech Report.

Customer lifecycle messaging uses contextualized data to craft targeted marketing, sales, and service texts for customers. It integrates with channels like social media platforms, instant messaging apps, email, web chat, and SMS to deliver a 360-degree experience across the buying journey.

With customers spending so much time in digital channels, messaging is a great way to reach the audience. It’s fast, convenient, and accessible to a wide cross-section of people. Furthermore, armed with lifecycle data, you can send customers the exact information they need based on their journey so far.

In this article, we explain what is a lifecycle messaging strategy and how to craft good customer lifecycle messaging. Read on to learn the eight benefits you can expect from this approach and the best tools to use.

What Is Lifecycle Messaging?

The success of lifecycle messaging hinges on your definition of the customer lifecycle. Typically, the end-to-end experience of a customer with your company – from the very first moment they come to know about it to when they make a purchase – is divided into four parts:

These lifecycle stages, known as the AIDA model, were proposed by American businessman E. St. Elmo Lewis many years ago. Messaging based on these four stages takes advantage of the cognition-affect-behavior phenomenon in human psychology to inspire action using the right stimulus.

Importantly, the customer lifecycle doesn’t end with a purchase, and great brands know how to keep customers engaged even in the post-sales stages. This ensures customers return to you time and time again, increasing their lifetime value, and also refer your brand to others.

Lifecycle Stages

When you formulate a lifecycle messaging strategy to connect with customers after a purchase, keep the following lifecycle stages in mind:

By factoring in where a customer is on this lifecycle, you can craft the perfect message that will inspire them to take action – for example, open the product page, check out an abandoned cart, renew a service, participate in a promotional campaign, or share their experiences on social media.

The best lifecycle messaging tools will also help you segment customers based on their current stages and automate the messaging process over the channels they frequent.

Why Is Customer Lifecycle Messaging Important?

Lifecycle messaging is also useful because it reaches out to customers in a format they are very familiar with – i.e., chat.

Research shows that 90% of marketers feel chat and messaging-based solutions create an all-around better experience for both customers and businesses.

Since so many people spend a lot of their time on their phones, on social media, and checking emails, it makes sense to have a customer lifecycle messaging strategy that’ll reach them at their most conversion-friendly moments.

There are several reasons why small businesses and big brands alike invest in lifecycle messaging:

1. Provides Instant Responses to Customer Queries

With a lifecycle messaging strategy in place, customers are sure to receive instantaneous or near-real-time responses to their queries.

For example, let’s say a prospect asks you on WhatsApp if a product is in stock. You’re prepared for such queries and send out an automated response, immediately, confirming the product’s availability or letting the customer know when it’ll be back in stock.

The research we previously cited shows that nearly 1 in 3 customers appreciate the ability to receive an instant response via chat. Without a long wait time, customer experience improves, and eventually, so does your revenue.

2. Adds a Human Touch to Entirely Digitized Customer Experiences

A traditional brick-and-mortar store has experienced sales professionals scattered around the floor to look after your needs, anticipate any issues, and step in to solve them. This isn’t possible in a digital environment, and frustrated customers are very likely to switch to a competitor.

Customer lifecycle messaging helps you stay in touch with a buyer, user, or prospect all through their interactions with your company. Even if they aren’t making frequent transactions, personalized messages keep them engaged, ask about their issues, and share information, just like a real salesperson.

What’s more, lifecycle messaging algorithms are able to figure out exactly when a customer might be facing problems or feeling the desire to make a purchase. These algorithms will automatically trigger a communication, enabling that sense of anticipatory service.

3. Increases the Chances of Marketing Messages Being Read

Another reason why customer lifecycle messaging is so important, is because of the sheer visibility it provides.

Let’s say you invest in search engine ads or put up banners on your websites. The customer has to look up the perfect search query to see your ad in the first place. If they don’t visit your website, the banner will go unnoticed.

In contrast, a lifecycle messaging strategy will insert highly optimized communication into channels with incredible reach and visibility. For instance, tools like Freshchat work on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram DMs, which are more likely to be seen by your audience.

4. Makes Customers Feel Valued and More Likely to Return

For example, when a new customer signs up for a service or makes their first purchase, you can send them a quick thank you text via SMS. The communication isn’t incentivized and doesn’t ask the customer to do anything – its only purpose is to make them feel appreciated.

5. Create Memorable Experiences (Which is Good for Your NPS)

Well-crafted lifecycle messages can build a lasting impression on customers. For instance, you could send a message telling customers how much they saved on your last annual sale, thereby encouraging them to participate in this year’s campaign. The personalization makes the message extra memorable.

Spotify Wrapped is a great example of this. Every year, the company lets customers compile and visualize analytics on what they heard the most, and this results in a unique Wrapped report for each and every customer.

While it’s not directly linked to revenues, campaigns like these inspire loyalty among your customers and influence how they rate you in terms of the Net Promoter Score (NPS).

6. Lowers customer acquisition costs by holding on to your existing users

Customer acquisition costs are typically higher than retaining an existing one, and according to research by Shopify, it costs small businesses with less than 4 employees a sizable $58.64 to get each new customer. So, it’s in your best interests to retain as many of your existing customers as possible.

This is where a customer lifecycle messaging strategy can help. It enables continuous engagement and re-engagement by checking in with customers, reminding them about your brand, sharing personalized promos, and making them feel valued.

Many people who were on the verge of churn – i.e., switching to a competitor – will be motivated to make another purchase simply because you sent the right message at the right time.

7. Prevents dissatisfaction or disengagement from setting in

Customer lifecycle messaging is particularly useful when the customer is about to decide whether to take action A or action B, also known as “moments of truth” in marketing. A good example is when a customer decides to abandon a cart they have laboriously assembled over a long time.

Lifecycle messaging can detect these changes in sentiment and identify which stage the customer is in. Accordingly, it will send a message to remind them where they dropped off.

You can also personalize the communication, asking customers to share their grievances or purchasing roadblocks.

Post-sales messaging also helps you monitor the customer experience and look for signs of dissatisfaction. For instance, if the customer responds with a 4 or 5 out of 10 on a survey, you can immediately jump in with a re-engagement message.

8. Expands your presence across new channels

Customer lifecycle messaging strengthens your presence on popular digital channels like social media, messaging platforms, and email.

Research shows that social media and email are the top two priorities for marketing investments, and lifecycle messaging helps you make the most of this reach.

You can not only contact new prospects and drive visibility for your brand, but you can also renegade prospects who have lost interest and inspire them to make a purchase.

Social media is a highly visual medium and a great place to showcase your product(s) and brand identity. Meanwhile, messaging platforms are versatile, frequently used, and an accessible way to reach customers in different locations and time zones.

A lifecycle messaging strategy helps you take advantage of the unique benefits each of these channels has to offer, which is why it is so important for marketers.

How to Craft Good Customer Lifecycle Messaging

According to research by FreshChat, 40% of customers expect businesses to be available on a channel of their choice, and 64% would prefer to have brands message them on social media. This means that you need to craft effective messaging that’s tailored to customer needs while supporting automation.

Here are the steps to achieve this:

1. Create and Visualize the Average Customer Journey

Customer journey refers to the path a person follows from their first interaction with your brand to the purchase and, finally, until they abandon the brand in favor of a competitor or simply stop buying the product.

Customer journeys include channels, touchpoints, moments of truth, and interaction data.

By visualizing the average customer journey, you will be able to break down clear stages in the customer lifecycle. In the digital world, journeys aren’t always linear and may involve several channels working at once.

That’s why you need to use a powerful tool when mapping out this journey.

2. Enrich Customer Journeys Based on Segments

Once you have an average journey in place, you can go ahead and enrich the map with customer segment data. Remember, the outcomes of customer lifecycle messaging depend on personalization, and accurate customer profiling and segments let you personalize more deeply.

For example, the journey for buying the same product may differ across age groups. Two customers from the same age group may have come to know about your product at different touchpoints.

Customer journeys also depend on user habits, such as channel preferences and daily mobile phone usage. This will give you a wider selection of journeys so you can accurately understand the lifecycle stages of diverse customers.

3. Select Your Channel Mix

The next step is to analyze customer needs and preferences so you can arrive at an optimal channel mix. Expanding to new channels doesn’t just involve installing a new app or a CRM software integration.

You also have to ensure that sufficient time and effort is invested to maintain a consistent channel presence.

Start with a relatively small mix of 2 or 3 messaging channels. This must include email, which is a commonly accessed channel for most customers, and social media messaging.

Choose a CRM tool that supports multiple lifecycle messaging channels, and some will even provide you with ready templates.

4. Acquire and Train a Lifecycle Messaging Team

While customer lifecycle messaging involves a lot of automation, it also requires talented individuals who will steer your strategy. They must also bring solid copywriting skills, as the content of lifecycle messages can make a big difference to the customer experience.

For example, check out this messaging notification from a food delivery company where the customer has been browsing the app for a while without making a purchase.

Effective messaging requires strong copywriting skills as well as a marketing team that can interpret customer lifecycle data correctly to identify the best messaging triggers. So, you need to invest in training and, if needed, hiring to craft good customer lifecycle messaging.

5. Implement a Powerful Messaging App with Plenty of Automations

Customer messaging apps like Freshchat, LiveChat, Verloop, Zoho Desk, and Drift make it easier to execute your lifecycle messaging strategy. Look for an app that includes the following features:

Next, configure the solution so that it automatically sends your well-crafted messages to customers at the right time, as you previously determined during journey analysis. For this, the tool should have a sophisticated automation feature.

Does Lifecycle Messaging Strategy Matter?

Lifecycle messaging is crucial for companies trying to build a deep, lasting connection with customers. It tells your buyers and prospects that you’re there for them and are genuinely interested in their motivations and current context.

It also makes things easier for marketing teams by reducing the burden of other more labor-intensive channels, such as telephone calls and video conferencing.

You can harness lifecycle messaging to:

1. Drive conversion

Reaching customers at the right moment on the customer journey ensures that you can “nudge” them along the conversion pathway.

For high-value purchases, you can send smartly worded and informative reminders every month so the customer does not drop off. You can use lifecycle messaging to send personalized promos and discounts so the customer can derive maximum value from your brand.

Messaging is also a great way to share product and service updates, such as new feature announcements or product restocking, which may inspire customers to convert. And, at their core, messages act as a 24/7 reliable channel to foster customer trust – a prerequisite for conversion.

2. Guarantee retention

Lifecycle messaging strategies also matter after the customer has completed a purchase, especially if you want to build loyalty, and the brand is a partner to them on this journey.

A regular and consistent messaging strategy reassures customers that the brand is always around to cater to their needs.

Dissatisfied customers may reply to your message instead of leaving a bad review. They will continue to engage with your campaigns and launches shared via messages, driving retention.

3. Grow customer lifetime value

Another reason why lifecycle messaging matters is its ability to increase your earnings per customer.

Customer lifetime value (LTV) is an estimate of the average revenue a customer will generate throughout their lifespan as a customer, which includes purchases, renewals, referrals, social sharing/influencing, and the value derived from reviews.

Through constant engagement, a good lifecycle messaging strategy will increase the value customers generate for your company. Highly engaged customers are likely to buy more. They may also refer their friends and family.

Through messaging, you can also increase participation in loyalty programs and membership plans that bring in a steady source of income.

Best Tools and Software for Targeted Customer Lifecycle Messaging

Some of the best apps you can use for targeted customer lifecycle messaging include:

1. Freshchat

Launched in 2017, Freshchat is a customer lifecycle messaging software from SaaS company Freshworks. It allows you to connect with customers on various touchpoints, including messaging apps like WhatsApp, Instagram DM, and Facebook Messenger, as well as email, SMS, and even voice.

Freshchat enables automated, AI-driven, and live chat conversations with customers at different stages of the buying journey. Its use cases include marketing, sales, as well as support, and it lets you tailor conversations as per the target customer segment.

Its generative AI assistant – Freddy – makes life easier for marketers and customer service agents by generating automated summaries, reports, and cursed responses.

Freshchat is free to use forever for up to 10 agents. Paid plans start at $19/agent/month, which includes advanced features like file storage, live translations, and analytics.

2. LiveChat

LiveChat is a lifecycle messaging app that focuses primarily on the marketing and conversion end of CX. It integrates with your CRM and enables conversational commerce through 200+ integrations. It supports a variety of messaging channels as well as email and SMS.

LiveChat lets you add on an AI chatbot for an additional fee. You can customize the chatbot to respond to queries on your website and also fetch data from multiple sources when compiling a response. LiveChat AI can target customers at the marketing, sales, or support stages of the lifecycle.

Apart from artificial intelligence, LiveChat offers a number of APIs that you can integrate with your own solutions. For instance, the Customer SDK lets you build a chat widget from scratch while the Reports API lets you integrate chat data into other business intelligence reports.

LiveChat has no free version, and the paid plans start at $20/agent/month.

3. Verloop

In addition to chat, Verloop also understands voice recordings that customers send and responds accordingly.

Verloop’s live chat feature fetches data from other apps like CRM, so your human agents can promptly respond to customer queries. They can filter conversations based on status, satisfaction scores, dates, etc., so they can personalize their messaging approach.

Verloop supports a number of channels like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, app notifications, and website chat. The solution is custom-priced, and upon requesting a demo, we received a quote of $49/month.

4. Zoho Desk

Like Freshworks, SaaS company Zoho also offers a customer lifecycle messaging tool called Zoho Desk. As the name suggests, the software is mainly a service desk solution, assisting customers on the post-purchase stages of their journey. It supports WhatsApp, WeChat, Line, and Telegram, among other channels.

Zoho Desk generates contextual reports on incoming and outgoing messages so that agents can personalize customer communication based on data.

Zoho Desk also works as a phone-based help desk software. Pricing starts at $14/agent/month.

5. Drift

Drift is a conversational CX platform that harnesses AI, machine learning, and customer data to drive conversions.

The Drift Engage feature uses AI intent scoring to personalize conversations so you can convert AI traffic faster, while Site Concierge is a webchat feature that tailors digital experiences based on visitor data.

You can also use Drift to automate customer support through self-service conversations. While its primary focus is artificial intelligence, you can route conversations to a live agent as well.

Pricing for Drift starts at $2,500/month.

TL;DR: What is Customer Lifecycle Messaging and Why it Matters

Customer lifecycle messaging is an effective way to build and sustain a one-on-one relationship with a prospect or customer by speaking to their unique needs at different stages of the buying journey.

Research shows that 66% of customers would quit a brand if their experience wasn’t personalized. Conversely, 86% said that personalized experiences significantly increase their loyalty to a brand. Lifecycle messaging uses contextual data to tailor customer conversations.

Another benefit of this strategy is that it reaches customers on their favorite channels, such as social media platforms and WhatsApp.

Unlike paid digital ads, they are far more geared to engage and convert. After conversion, brands can continue to engage with customers via chat, keep them updated on the latest announcements, and provide support via convenient messaging channels.

Advancements in AI have made customer lifecycle messaging even more sophisticated by blending intelligent automation, customer intelligence, and human expertise. The best lifecycle messaging tools like Freshchat, LiveChat, Verloop, Zoho Desk, and Drift use AI to craft perfectly targeted messaging.

FAQs

References

• 2022 State of Conversations Report (Drift)
• Customer Acquisition Cost and How To Reduce It (Shopify)
• Which Marketing Channels Will Drive the Most Profit in 2023? (Brightpearl)
• The Ultimate Guide to Messaging Channels (Freshchat)
• 2023 State of Customer Engagement Report (Twilio)

The post Customer Lifecycle Messaging – Create Loyalty with Targeted Messaging for Each Stage appeared first on The Tech Report.

With mobile and social media usage on the rise, chat is now an important channel for customer engagement and support. Freshchat, from SaaS company Freshworks, is a conversational experience management platform that makes it simple to resolve text-based customer queries from any channel.

In our Freshchat review, we test the platform’s core features and AI capabilities. We also compare it with LiveChat, one of its closest competitors. Through our tests, we tell you the pros and cons of Freshchat and how to start using it for your organization.

At a starting price of $15/month, it is among the most affordable messaging platforms in 2024. We were also impressed by its generative AI assistant, Freddy, but slightly disappointed by the absence of a large integration marketplace.

Read on to learn more about Freshchat messaging.

Freshchat Pros and Cons

Freshchat offers plenty of unique advantages, like its proprietary AI algorithm and calling integration. But it’s not without a few cons – here are the top highlights from our Freshchat review:

Overall, our Freshchat review found many more pros than cons. The flexibility of integration is particularly impressive. So, if you don’t find a built-in connector for an app, you can use the Application Programming Interface (API) to build it yourself.

However, with the 500 chatbot sessions and outbound contact limit, you’re likely to exceed the predicted monthly costs while using Freshchat. Furthermore, its support options are also not at par with some of its competitors like LiveChat.

What Does Freshchat Do and What Is It?

Freshchat is a cloud-based messaging service that allows companies to reach their customers on channels like social media messaging, instant messaging apps, and email.

The Freshchat app acts as a single, centralized interface where companies can manage customer interactions across different messaging channels. Some of the most popular channels supported are Facebook Messenger, Instagram DM, WhatsApp, Telegram, and email.

The solution has three main use cases:

1. First, you can use it for marketing campaigns and send out outbound messages, including large-scale SMS campaigns that target hundreds and thousands of customers.
2. Second, you can use Freshchat for conversational commerce. That’s where customers interact with a brand via chat and use it to directly make a purchase.
3. Finally, Freshchat can be implemented for chat-based customer support and post-sales services.

One of the solution’s biggest USPs is that it’s part of the Freshworks software ecosystem.

Freshworks is a customer service suite spanning help desk, IT service management, sales, multichannel marketing, and chat tools. These can be used as standalone solutions or as a suite.

Freshchat is Freshworks’ messaging service that natively integrates with the rest of the company’s offerings. The company launched the software in September 2017 as a way to harness messaging as a key touchpoint on the customer journey.

Since then, the solution has evolved significantly, recently incorporating generative artificial intelligence (genAI) to bring ChatGPT-like features to its users.

How Does Freshchat Work?

When you install the software, it’ll prompt you to choose the channels where you want to reach customers. Once you set up the integration, all the messages you receive on that channel will pour into a centralized space called the Team Inbox.

From the Team Inbox, agents can assign conversations to each other and respond to customer queries.

Or, you can set up Freshchat to automatically respond to incoming queries using a bot. The company provides you with different templates for configuring the bot and its conversation flow. In our tests, we found that 500 Freddy chatbot sessions are included with every paid Freshchat plan.

As we mentioned, Freshchat is a cloud service billed on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. You pay a fixed amount for the core software plus an additional fee for add-ons like outbound SMS campaign contacts and VoIP calling.

The company stores your data and hosts all the chat processes on the cloud. Its data centers for this service are in the US, India, Australia, and the European Economic Area. It is fully GDPR-compliant and makes it easier for users to comply with GDPR as well.

Simply navigate to Settings > Security and Compliance > GDPR Settings > General Settings on the app (as an admin) to configure different options like IP data storage and analytics opt-in/opt-out. Further, when you sign up for Freshchat, you can choose where to host your data.

Who Is Freshchat Messaging For?

Freshchat messaging is suitable for companies of all sizes looking to use messaging as a key touchpoint for marketing, sales, and customer support.

Freschat has a limited free forever plan that supports up to 10 agents. This is suitable for solopreneurs and small businesses that want to consolidate their messaging-based customer communications in one place.

Using Freshchat, you could effectively set up a contact center for your messaging channels entirely for free.

The software also has plenty of features for medium-sized and large businesses. For example, canned responses help you respond faster when customer chat volumes are high. Further, analytics give managers visibility into how agents are performing.

Large enterprises can also benefit from the Freshchat messaging service, team performance reports, advanced automations, live translations, business hours for different groups, and skill-based routing are some of the enterprise-facing features we tested.

The only prerequisite for Freshchat messaging is that you should have a substantial number of customers already on chat platforms. If you have a major social media presence or want to provide 24/7 availability to customers, Freshchat is a good option.

How Much Is Freshchat? Full Pricing Details

There’s also a free version that supports up to 10 agents. However, this plan doesn’t include any bot sessions, and you can only manage live chat with the free-forever Freshchat plan.

In addition to the core software, the company offers a number of paid add-ons.

These include additional bot-based self-service sessions ($100 for 1000 bot sessions), telephony add-ons (approximately $15/agent/month), outbound contacts (approximately $100 for 5000 contacts), and day passes to temporarily add an extra agent (approximately $5/pass).

In our Freshchat review, we also found that the pricing may differ slightly depending on where you are. For example, the starting price in India is INR 1,499/agent/month, which comes to approximately $17.99, and in the EU the entry-level plan costs €19, which comes to $20.73.

Note that Freshchat prices don’t include taxes unless explicitly stated.

To calculate your exact pricing, visit the Freshchat page.

Freshchat offers four plans for solo, small, medium-sized, and enterprise businesses, each at a different price point and with a distinct feature set.

1. Free

The base plan is great for business owners just starting out with chat-based customer interactions and are yet to fully monetize these channels. The plan includes configurable chat conversations, intent detection, website chat widgets, bot analytics, and 24×5 support.

However, it only supports three channels – websites, email, and mobile app messaging via Software Development Kits (SDKs). You can only add up to 10 agents.

2. Growth

This plan integrates with social media messaging channels, SMS, WhatsApp, and Google Business Messages. Also, you get 500 free bot sessions with the company’s proprietary AI software, Freshbot. Task management for ongoing conversations is an added feature in the Growth plan.

Further, it includes a slightly basic dashboard and more integrations than the Free plan, like WordPress.

3. Pro

This plan is meant for medium-sized to large businesses and has all the features included in the previous two plans, as well as custom agent roles and permissions. You also get the option to schedule emails, target users based on segments, and download chat transcripts.

Another useful feature is advanced automations, where you can automate your first response, escalation, and other actions from a dedicated app.

The Pro plan includes auro-resolution and auto-assignment based on activity and workloads.

With Pro, you can design a custom app marketplace for your team. However, it’s missing JSON Web Token (JWT) authentication, which is a lightweight mechanism for information exchange and security.

4. Enterprise

This is the most expensive Freshchat plan available and is almost identical to Pro, with a few added advantages. You can now set your own API rate limit, which means that data interchange between two integrated apps becomes simpler. You get JWT authentication as well.

In our Freshhat review, we found that both the Pro and Enterprise plans have the same dashboard capabilities. Companies looking to analyze agent performance in detail don’t necessarily need to purchase the more expensive plan.

Should You Buy the Freshchat App or the Customer Service Suite?

Freshchat is a standalone app from Freshworks, but you can get several of its functionalities in the Customer Service Suite, which is an end-to-end collection of tools for omnichannel engagement. Pricing starts at $29/agent/month, which includes basic chat, contact management, ticketing, and self-service.

Detailed analytics, advanced automations, custom roles, and several other features are missing from the Customer Service Suite. On the other hand, it is a more affordable and comprehensive solution for businesses that aren’t focused only on chat.

Freshchat Features – What’s Included?

Freshchat offers 20+ features to simplify your messaging and CRM needs, and many of them are AI-assisted. Here is a brief rundown:

1. Support for Multiple Messaging Channels

Freshchat is compatible with social media and other asynchronous messaging channels like email. You can use Freshchat bots or live agents on WhatsApp, Instagram, Google Business Messages, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram.

Besides this, you can connect your support mailbox with the platform to respond to them from Freshchat. This is applicable for SMS, as well as Apple Messages for business. The API lets you integrate Freshchat with any channel, such as an in-house app.

2. Widgets for Your Websites

You can embed a Freschat widget in your website. Whenever a customer enters a query, you can answer it via Freshchat. There’s also a team widget that inserts the Freshchat interface into your team’s existing CRM and helpdesk tools so they can answer queries without switching platforms.

3. Customer Journey Design

Freshchat includes a Journeys feature, which is essentially a way to design the customer’s conversational experience. You can set up intricate flows, segment chat visitors, trigger messages based on intent, and much more.

Using Journeys, you can even send images, GIFs, and videos to your customer to enhance their experience. The whole process is GUI-based and doesn’t require any coding skills. It also gives you data on your ongoing campaigns to analyze the efficacy of customer journeys.

4. AI Chatbots Powered by Freddy

The bots in Freshchat automate how you respond to customer queries and help resolve tickets faster. Freshchat’s proprietary AI assistant, Freddy, can handle the end-to-end conversation. Or, you can automatically collect contextual information from customers to direct them to the best-fit agent.

The company has trained the AI to handle several common use cases, such as e-commerce, mutual fund investments, flight issues, education, healthcare, and logistics. These act as a great starting point for personalizing the conversation, either with your own flow or with Freshchat’s templates.

Keep in mind that AI-enabled sessions aren’t included in the free Freshchat app, and that paid plans only have 500 sessions included.

5. The Freshchat SDK

The solution’s Software Development Kit (SDK) is a mobile-first set of programming tools that lets you integrate Freshchat into any app you’re building. It’s compatible with native Android, native iOS, React Native, PhoneGap, and Xamarin apps.

Once integrated, your app will have all of Freshchat’s features, like FAQs, color-themed chat experiences, push notifications, embedded links, and so on. Also, you can incorporate CSAT surveys into chat conversations using the SDK.

6. Team Inbox

Team Inbox is the unified workspace where agents can work together. It brings together all the messages you receive from WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat, Facebook, LINE, websites, mobile apps, etc. It extracts customer information to provide agents with more context.

The inbox has several capabilities built in to improve agent productivity. For example, users can prioritize incoming messages and choose which one to respond to first. They can exchange private notes with their teams and forward customer messages to each other.

7. Quick Actions for Agents

When contact center agents use Freshchat, they can take advantage of various tools and shortcuts to get the job done faster. This includes canned responses, which are predefined replies for common queries. You can also act on multiple conversations in bulk ( resolve, assign, edit, delete, etc.).

Freshchat can translate your text in real-time using the live translate feature, which supports 30+ languages. Every conversation comes with a customer intelligence snapshot that informs the agent about the customer’s journey so far, website behavior, and demographic details.

8. Agent Assignment Rules

Freshchat helps you assign the right agents to a customer conversation. It has an AI-powered IntelliAssign feature that routes messages to team members based on their skill levels and workload.

You can also create custom rules based on customer segments, the query topic, the time of day, or even the exact textual content of a message. Different team members can be assigned different roles based on which the app will route messages.

9. Dashboards and Insights

Freshchat gives you insights into the various aspects of conversational experiences, from agent performance to customer satisfaction.

This includes both real-time dashboards as well as historical data reports on how the team is handling chat volumes, customer satisfaction issues, and query resolution challenges.

You can download reports for later access. Further, Freshchat integrates with all popular business intelligence tools, like PowerBI, so you can incorporate chat data into your overall business analyses.

10. Freddy Copilot and Insights

Copilot is a generative AI capability that’s currently in the beta stage. Freddy Copilot uses AI to summarize conversations, rephrase your responses, enhance the tone, draft emails, summarize transcripts, and even create end-to-end solution articles.

Like Copilot, Freshchat has another generative AI feature called Freddy Insights. Using this tool, you can enter a prompt or a query in natural language and receive analytics data in response. Freddy Insights also gives you proactive recommendations after every interaction.

11. Optional Add-ons

You can enhance Freshchat by installing optional add-ons such as Freshcaller, day passes, and campaign contacts.

Freshcaller is a VoIP phone service from Freshworks that lets agents make calls and send messages via Freshchat. Day passes allow a single agent to join the team for a day, and campaign contacts let you expand the reach of your messaging content to 100,000 customers or more.

Freshchat Interface and Ease of Use

Since it’s a cloud-based service, Freshchat is primarily available through its web portal, .freshchat.com.

When you sign up, it’ll ask you for your company’s name, which automatically becomes the unique domain name for the portal – if your company is CatsAreAmazing, then your web address will be catsareamazing.freshchat.com.

The user interface is simple and easy to use. You have the navigation pane on your left-hand side and your most commonly accessed tools and shortcuts (calendar, settings, recent apps, etc.) on the right. Most of the activity happens in the middle of the window, which shows your current conversation.

The design is extremely intuitive, and everything is precisely where you’d expect. For instance, when you start a conversation, Freshchat will automatically fetch and show important contact details like the customer segment, their location, lifetime value, and any other details you configure.

The solution’s artificial intelligence capabilities also add to its ease of use. You can easily create automated conversational experiences that take care of common tasks like cancellations, refund management, and providing information in case of delayed orders.

We appreciated how neatly everything was arranged when we tested multiple ongoing conversations on Freshchat. The software stacks the conversations on top of each other, with a minimized view of concurrent activities and an expanded view of the one you’re handling right now.

The analytics aspect of Freshchat is easy to explore and understand. We spent a lot of time pouring over the visual dashboard and interactive filters. The company’s gen AI capabilities (Beta) lets you analyze data using commands and prompts that you type in a natural language.

The company primarily intends Freshchat to be used as a web app, and not as a downloadable software on your desktop, laptop, or phone. However, you do have a downloadable option via WebCatalog, a third-party service that develops installable files from web-based software.

Freshchat Mobile App and API

You can also install Freschat on your Android or iOS phone. The mobile version gives agents a handy way to respond to customer queries on the move. That said, Freshchat’s mobile interface is relatively basic and does not have value-adding features like analytics, dashboards, and automations.

Freshchat’s API documentation also deserves mention. The company has set up a detailed API documentation page for developers’ benefit. This includes resources that make integrating Freshchat a simple and straightforward process.

What Can You Use It With? Freshchat Integrations

Interestingly, we found in our Freshchat review that the messaging service doesn’t have a vast integration marketplace. Instead, it offers pre-built connections with a selection of business applications.

You don’t need to download or install anything; when you select an app, Freshchat guides you through the integration process. You can use it with social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

It also supports Google Business Messages, Apple Business Chats, LINE, and Slack.

For e-commerce, you can connect Freshchat with your Shopify page so you can provide chat support to your Shopify customers. You can also connect Stripe for in-chat payment support.

Apart from this, the solution integrates with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software like Salesforce, Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Freshsales.

The Clearbit integration surfaces customer intelligence about B2B queries, while the Calendly integration enables bookings within Freshchat. And you can use the WordPress integration to insert the Freshchat widget into any WordPress website.

Freshchat Comparison Against Other CRM Services

Chat-based customer relationships are a critical focus area for businesses in 2024. Research shows that 83% of customers browse or buy products through messaging conversations. It is also a popular channel for self-service and live support.

That is why solutions like Freshchat, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and Zoho CRM are gaining popularity. All of them offer chat management and customer engagement, among other features. Here’s a detailed comparison:

Each of these top CRM products addresses a different use case, ranging from chat-first experiences to sales pipeline management and contact center ticketing. You can conduct your own research to select the ideal tool for your company and even use 2 or more of these apps together, depending on your needs.

Freshchat vs LiveChat – Side-by-Side Comparison

As part of our Freshchat review, we also looked at one of the company’s closest competitors in this segment, LiveChat. The solution was launched in 2002, and offers a centralized platform to manage multichannel messaging conversations with your customers.

Freshchat and LiveChat have several things in common, which is why you may want to evaluate both for your CX needs. LiveChat also has a native help desk integration (called HelpDesk). Like Freshchat, it too offers AI-powered conversations and a generative AI tool called ChatBot AI Assist.

In addition, both solutions offer embedded chat widgets in your websites, real-time and historical analytics, e-commerce integrations, and APIs. Team management features for the two apps are also similar.

However, Freshchat is also different from LiveChat in several important ways. Here is a breakdown:

Overall, LiveChat is a powerful solution for managing conversational customer support, sales, and marketing. However, it lags behind Freshchat in terms of artificial intelligence capabilities. It is also more expensive.

Freshchat Reviews – What Are People Saying?

On G2, Freshchat is rated 4.4 on a scale of 1-5 based on more than 400 customer reviews. Customers appreciate its ease of use and Whatsapp integration, but some have noted occasional glitches during communication.

On GetApp, it’s rated 4.1 out of 5, based on 100+ reviews. Here, too, the user interface earns special mention. Customers are also happy about small, value-adding features like custom tags for your contacts. However, some reviewers have mentioned occasional glitches, like sound notifications not working.

Freshchat is rated 4.1 on 5 on Capterra as well, based on data from 100+ reviews. Its feature set and value for money stand out as the biggest selling points. Integrations with some social platforms like TikTok are missing, as customers have pointed out.

Our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Guides

If you aren’t sure how to go about adopting Freshchat and what to expect from CRM tools, we’ve got you covered. Check out our in-depth CRM guides and reviews right here:

Why You Can Trust Our Review of Freshchat

The TechReport team has been at the forefront of technology journalism since 1999. Over the years, our team has reviewed hundreds of products in diverse categories, from VoIP to CRM. For this Freshchat review, we tested the messaging service’s core features, integrations, and end-user experience.

We signed up for the free-forever version for our tests and explored the essential functionalities of the software, such as the inbox, analytics dashboards, team collaboration, and the ease of managing customer contacts. We also tested the quality of Freshchat’s support.

Our insights are bolstered by our experiences of testing other CRM software and Freshchat’s close competitors, like LiveChat. This allows us to bring an objective perspective to the review and provide you with detailed comparative analysis and insights.

We have also referred to real-world user reviews of Freshchat from trusted forums like G2, Capterra, and GetApp. The insights gathered from customer opinions on these platforms have also informed our conclusions, in addition to hands-on tests.

How to Use Freshchat? A Step-By-Step Guide

Freshchat has a free-forever version, which we used for our tests. Here are the steps you need to follow to get started with this messaging service:

1. Sign Up for Your Account

Visit the pricing page on the Freshchat website and choose your preferred plan. You can always start for free with 10 agents and then scale up to Growth, Pro, or Enterprise as needed. We were happy to see that you don’t need your credit card details for a trial, which makes it easier to get started.

Enter your name, business email, company details, and phone number. This will automatically create your Freshchat account and redirect you to your Freshchat portal, with the company name as the unique domain name.

2. Set Up Freshchat

Next, Freshchat guides you through the account setup process and personalization options. You can upload your company logo, customize the site name, and choose your brand color so that Freshchat is consistent with all the other business apps you use.

The platform lets you choose a background texture as well. Check how it all looks on the preview pane on the right-hand side and click on Next.

You’re now ready to complete your profile. Upload a profile picture, enter your name and designation, and describe yourself. Click on Next once done.

Here, you’ll be prompted to select which integrations you want. Popular integrations like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Line, and Apple Business Chat will appear right at the setup stage. You can choose additional ones later from the integration marketplace.

In the last step of the setup process, you will be prompted to install the Freshchat widget code on your website so that customers can chat with your agents directly from a web page.

Choose the code type you want to install (Javascript, WordPress, or Shopify) and click Next for instructions on exactly where to copy-paste the code snippet.

You can also skip the step if you’re not using the widget feature and go directly into the team inbox.

3. Explore the Portal

Once the account setup and integrations are done, you’re redirected to the Freshchat web portal. This has several important modules, such as the dashboard, where you’ll see insights about your website/app and agents, and the team inbox, where you can respond to customers and collaborate with other agents.

The web portal also lets you monitor ongoing messaging campaigns and start new ones. You can set up FAQs for your website and create customer segments. To use these features, navigate to the left side of the portal and select the module you need by clicking on the relevant icon.

4. Generate Reports

In addition to real-time analytics on your dashboard, you can also generate historical reports that reveal how a particular trend or KPI has evolved over time. Click on any one of the five reporting options from the portal to assemble the data you need.

Freshchat Review Takeaways – Is It Worth It?

Freshchat is ideal for companies scaling their customer-facing chat services, whether it’s marketing or post-sales support. It offers advanced features like AI and automations at an affordable price with optional add-ons as you grow your business.

The solution’s most significant USP is Freddy, the newly launched generative AI assistant that will help you in daily tasks and during data analysis. We were also impressed by its ease of use, and Frehchat’s free-forever option is definitely a plus.

Bear in mind that it doesn’t integrate with all your messaging channels, such as TikTok and LinkedIn. Limits on chatbot sessions and outbound SMS campaigns also mean that you risk exceeding your monthly cost estimations.

Overall, Freshchat is a great place to start your messaging-based CRM journey and a must-have for any retail business already subscribed to the Freshworks ecosystem.

FAQs

References

• Freshworks Launches Freshchat, A Next-Gen Customer Messaging Product
• 2021 AI & Conversational Commerce Report – LivePerson

The post Freshchat Review 2024 — CRM, Marketing & Sales Messaging in a Single App appeared first on The Tech Report.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) can be a very useful technology for individuals and businesses looking to modernize their telephony setup. Voiply is one of the more popular tools in this segment, providing you with budget-friendly Internet calling and fax services for both residential and commercial use.

Our Voiply review delves into all the features the solution has to offer, the setup process, and its user interface. We’ll also consider its pros and cons and how Voiply compares against some of its competitors like Ooma, Vonage, or Nextiva.

We found Voiply to be among the more affordable VoIP solutions available today, starting at less than $9 per month per user. We also liked the transparent pricing and its impressive list of call management features. However, integrating Voiply with the rest of your business apps may prove challenging.

Read our full Voiply review to know if this is the right telephony solution for you.

Voiply Pros and Cons

Voiply is a great solution for small businesses and solopreneurs looking for an affordable VoIP service with excellent customer service. It offers plenty of benefits but isn’t without a few disadvantages. Consider the following pros and cons when evaluating Voiply for your needs:

What Is Voiply?

Shea Georgetti and Felix Yanko founded the company over a decade ago, and the duo still leads Voiply operations. It started as an Internet-based calling solution mainly for businesses, branching into residential services in 2019.

Today, Voiply has over 25,000 customers worldwide and a team of 23 employees. It is recognized by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), a non-profit that provides accreditation to local businesses in North America. Voiply has an A+ BBB rating, which makes it a reliable and responsive vendor.

Voiply offers four broad solution categories, residential VoIP services, business telephony (including call centers), online fax, and number parking:

Besides these, Voiply offers a number of hardware add-ons for those new to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). It partners with companies like Vtech, AT&T, and Panasonic to give you hardware bundles at a discounted price.

How Does Voiply Work?

Voiply transforms legacy communication services like fax and analog calling into digital systems by using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.

It takes analog signals like the sound of a person’s voice and converts them into digital signals through a process of compression and decompression. This digital signal then passes through Internet wires, which form the IP network.

Since nearly every home and business already has an IP connection in place, they don’t need any new infrastructure to start using VoIP services like Voiply. At the call recipient’s end, the digital signal is converted back into an audio signal.

We can then hear the audio using a mobile phone, a desktop with speakers, or a desk phone.

Similarly, in the case of VoIP fax, the image data is transmitted as data packets through the Internet instead of the public telephone network. This makes it more cost-effective than traditional fax services since you save money on long-distance charges.

For both calling and faxing, Voiply lets you maintain a dedicated and identifiable phone number, just like a legacy landline or fax machine. Your friends, family members, customers, and community can reach you on this VoIP number.

Voiply also supports unlimited international calling to landlines in 50+ countries. It also offers robocall defense and antivirus add-ons at a competitive rate.

What Is Voiply Best For?

When signing up for the service, Voiply will ask you for your email address, zip code, and team size. For anything above 15 team members, you’d have to contact the company for a custom quote.

The solution may not be the right choice for large companies for a couple of reasons:

1. It lacks integration options. It doesn’t have an integration marketplace and doesn’t offer pre-built connectors for apps like customer relationship management (CRM), collaboration, or workflow automation.
2. It doesn’t offer volume discounts.

On the other hand, it is ideal for small businesses, owing to its transparent pricing and purchase process. You can simply head to the checkout page, select your team size, choose your ideal phone set-up, add your new/existing phone numbers, and complete the purchase.

Your monthly billing amount will reflect directly on the checkout page, removing the chance of any unpleasant surprises.

Voiply Works Great With Small Businesses

Small businesses can draw a lot of benefit from Voiply’s one-stop-solution approach. This means that you can buy the Internet-based calling service, new hardware, antivirus, robocall blocker, and business phone numbers all in one place.

Voiply even ships your new telephony hardware with the custom voicemail greeting that you enter at checkout. This makes things a lot simpler for new business owners who are just getting started with their communication setup.

Another important use case for Voiply is international calling. The solution supports unlimited (free) calling to landlines in 50+ countries, which is a rare feature for most VoIP providers. Calls to Italy, India, Brazil, Greece, and several other regions are completely free of cost.

However, keep in mind that calls to certain countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) aren’t supported at all. Let’s look at this and other pros and cons of Voiply next in this review.

Details on Voiply Pricing

For comparison, Vonage starts at $10.49/month while the entry-level plan for Nextiva costs $17.99/month, and the same for Ooma would be $19.95/month. This makes Voiply one of the most low-cost VoIP solutions in 2024.

We were happy to see that Voiply calling plans include unlimited domestic minutes; calls to some international regions may also be free. You can use the company’s international rate checker to estimate your exact international calling costs.

Unlike some of the other VoIP companies, such as Nextiva or Vonage, Voiply is not priced according to the tier or plan you choose. There’s no “basic, pro, and enterprise” model where the most expensive plan gets you the most extensive feature set.

Instead, Voiply pricing is geared specifically for small businesses. The business owner or IT manager can configure their intended phone system using Voiply’s interactive portal. Based on this, the company will generate a quote. You can save the quote for later or complete the purchase immediately.

Another interesting thing about Voiply pricing is its no-contract approach. The customer does not enter into a month, year, or five-year commitment with Voiply. Instead, you can choose to either pre-pay for a month or pre-pay for one whole year (which includes two free months) during checkout.

This can eliminate a lot of the billing headaches usually involved in managing VoIP systems.

Also, since most VoIP platforms are cloud-based, employees tend to install add-ons or subscribe to paid services, which further adds to your costs. Voiply’s pricing model removes this concern as well.

Voiply Residential Pricing

The Voiply home residential service starts at $8.95/month, which includes a free company-provided adapter. Using the adapter, you can convert any landline phone into a VoIP service and continue enjoying your home phone number and device without any interruptions.

Additionally, residential customers can purchase IP phones from Voiply, through its hardware partnerships. You can add online fax to your home VoIP bundle for $5/month, just like in business services.

Voiply for home use also includes unlimited calling and the same free calling support in select international regions. Shipping and installation are also free.

The service doesn’t have a free trial, and its terms & services state that it does not issue partial or complete refunds for charges already billed to your account. All equipment, however, is subject to a 30-day money-back guarantee claim.

While purchasing Voiply for your home, you can add the accidental damage and repair plan for $0.99 per month.

Voiply provides online fax facilities for $9.99/month and a 3-day free trial. Bear in mind that this comes down to $5/month when you buy it as an add-on to VoIP services. Number parking is another solution from Voiply, available for a fee of $2/month.

Review of Voiply’s Main Features

Voiply includes all the functionalities you need in a small business phone system. This includes both internal collaboration and call center capabilities. Some of its notable features include:

1. Incoming Call Management

Voiply makes it easier to manage inbound calls from customers. There’s a call-waiting service so that incoming calls are properly arranged in a queue. Ring groups allow team members to answer calls in turn. You can even have calls ring on multiple devices at the same time.

Besides this, Voiply has all the staples you’d need for incoming call management, such as call hold and music on hold, auto attendants, call transfers, multiple extensions, and audio conferencing. The robocall defense service protects your team from spam callers.

2. Voicemail

We were delighted with the ease of use and customization of Voiply’s voicemail system during our tests. Right at the time of purchase, it gives you the option to edit a phone number you’ve selected and set up a custom greeting.

You can add, remove, or change any of the details provided. For instance, you could choose to have an Italian female voice read out the voicemail greeting, instead of the default “English Male” setting. Or, you can upload an audio file or record your own right from the Voiply website.

Voiply lets you control exactly when a call goes to voicemail – after 3 or 4 rings, after 8 rings, or when no one picks up at all. Once received, voicemails can be automatically sent to a designated email ID. You could also choose to include this data in the company directory.

3. Outgoing Call Management

Voiply’s outbound calling features include speed dial, one-click-calling, outbound calling recording, and an organizational call directory. From this directory, you have the option to simply dial by name, instead of having to look up a customer’s number.

4. Call Recording

When purchasing a Voiply plan, you can choose to add extra features like online fax, spam prevention bots, and call recording. The recording capability will cost you an additional $5 per month, but when we tested the app, it was available to us for free due to an ongoing discount.

Call recordings are usually available only in the premium tiers of VoIP plans, which is the case for Vonage. So, we were happy to see that Voiply includes this in all purchases, even if you are just a single user.

You can turn on call recording for one or more extensions to your primary number. For each extension, you can record all calls, local calls, inbound calls, and/or outbound calls. Recordings are saved for 90 days or can be downloaded for later use.

5. Online Fax

The Voiply online fax app is available either as a standalone solution or as an add-on to your VoIP purchase. The app lets you send and receive documents digitally without needing a fax machine, paper printers, or ink cartridges.

All documents will be associated with a designated fax number that costs $5. You can use the Voiply app (mobile and desktop) to set up and manage multiple fax numbers, which can be used to exchange documents with Internet-based as well as traditional fax numbers.

6. Residential VoIP

Voiply is one of the few providers to offer purpose-built residential services; a couple of other vendors to consider for this purpose are Ooma and Vonage.

It’s a plug-and-play solution that costs $8.95 per month, including a Voiply adapter that turns your analog phone into a VoIP-compatible device. The company will transfer your landline number to VoIP for free, or you can get a brand-new number for free.

Voiply offers a few hardware accessories to complement its residential calling service. This includes:

Voiply residential users can also access the mobile app. All calls to your home number will ring on the app simultaneously, allowing you to make and receive calls even when you’re not at home.

7. Number Parking

Number parking is a unique Voiply feature that lets you maintain ownership of a phone number without using it to make or receive calls. It costs $2/month to park a phone number, and an additional fee if you want other services like voicemail, call forwarding, or announcements in your parked number.

To park a number, simply call Voiply’s specialists and tell them you want to port a number away from your current provider without assigning it to an active line. This lets you avoid subscription charges from your old provider without losing access to in-demand numbers like 1-800-CONTACTS.

While a number is parked, all SMSes to the number will be automatically forwarded to your designated email address. You can also convert the voicemails you receive to text and send them to your email for $0.05/voicemail.

Calls to parked numbers can be forwarded for $0.02/minute. You can also make an announcement (via pre-recorded messages) whenever someone calls the number. This service costs $0.01/minute and lets you inform callers of important details, like when your contact details have changed.

8. Internet Scrubbing

Besides VoIP solutions, Voiply protects you from online data exposure through its scrubbing service. Using this feature, you can remove any instance of your personal data appearing online.

According to research by Kaspersky, 1 in 3 consumers have faced incidents where their private information was accessed by someone without consent. 82% of consumers have tried to remove their private information from publicly available sources, but many don’t know how to go about it.

This is where Voiply’s Internet scrubbing service is of help. It scans the Internet for any instance of your personal information and then it removes this data from search engines over a period of up to 45 days. Voiply runs a fresh scan every 90 days and removes any new data that may surface.

Voiply can scan for your name, home address, date of birth, marital status, education, family member’s names, social security number, net worth, traffic violations, and consumer behavior data. The feature costs $12.99/month or $39.99 for one-time removal.

Is Voiply Easy to Use? A Closer Look at the Interface

The Voiply user experience is divided into two parts – the online portal and its mobile apps.

The online portal is how you manage most of its administrative functions, such as setting up extensions, call recordings, adding new numbers, and so on. You can visit my.voiply.com from any desktop browser to access Voiply’s functionalities.

The portal is minimalist in design, with a straightforward learning curve. You’ll find most of the tools and features you need under the services tab on the menu.

Apart from the portal, Voiply also offers mobile apps for calling, voicemail, and fax. Interestingly, you could purchase a standalone app (without an underlying VoIP subscription) for only $5 a month. This lets you access a second number with unlimited calling and texting directly on your mobile phone.

If you’re a Voiply residential or business customer, you can use the app for free.

Another handy app from Voiply is visual voicemail. You can connect the app to your VoIP number and play back voicemail recordings on your mobile phone. The app uses text-to-speech technology to streamline the user experience further.

It even taps into ChatGPT to automatically create summaries of your voicemail recordings.

The Voiply fax app is equally easy to use. You can download all of these apps from the Google Play Store or the App Store on your iPhone.

One of the drawbacks we found when it comes to usability is the lack of integration and customization. You can’t really pick and choose from the feature set, and there’s no way to connect Voiply with popular apps like Salesforce or Zapier without spending a lot of development effort.

On the upside, Voiply is an excellent solution if you have an existing hardware ecosystem. The plans are designed for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) use, and you can access most of its functionalities, like call forwarding set-up and transfers, directly from your IP phone.

What Uptime and Security Can You Expect from Voiply?

Voiply’s uptime of 99.99% is slightly less than some of its competitors.

For example, Nextiva promises 99.999% or five-nines uptime, similar to Vonage. On the other hand, Voiply’s uptime guarantee is at par with the industry standard, since MightyCall gives you 99.99% uptime – more than sufficient for home and business calling.

The company has three data center locations – in Toronto, Canada, and Ashburn and Redmond in the US. You can check the uptime status of all of these locations at any time by visiting status.voiply.com. Apart from uptime, the status page will also tell you how other systems are doing.

For instance, you’ll know which customer support channels are available right now, if the order page and portal are working, and the precise status of individual Voiply services.

Voiply mentions that customer data is encrypted for security, although it does not mention which encryption standards are used. Besides this, the company enforces several measures to protect customer security and privacy.

During our Voiply review and tests, all account changes were authenticated using stringent security measures like one-time PINS sent via SMS or email.

Whenever you speak with customer support or request sensitive information, Voiply enforces two-factor authentication (2FA).

The company has established secure account recovery processes in case you ever lose access to your VoIP account.

How Does Voiply Compare Against Other Leading VoIP Services?

Voiply is one of the most affordable VoIP services available in 2024. It is slightly limited in terms of enterprise features but ideal for small businesses and individual customers. Here is a quick comparison of how Vopily stacks up against other industry leaders:

These are among the best VoIP business phone systems today. Keep in mind that the right solution for your company or residential needs will depend on your specific use case.

Do you make a lot of international calls? Are you starting from scratch and need an end-to-end VoIP setup? What is your annual budget? Make sure to ask these critical questions when conducting research and evaluating vendors.

What Do Other Voiply Reviews Say?

Voiply is well-reviewed across trusted forums and customer review websites. We gathered and analyzed data from Trustpilot, GetVoIP, and G2 to get additional perspectives from real-world customers. Ease-of-use and affordability are some of Voiply’s highest-rated features.

Customers did note minor usability issues like the inability to recognize Eastern Daylight Time and the rare dropped call.

Voiply is rated 4.4 out of 5 on Trustpilot, which qualifies it as “excellent.” This isn’t just a simple average of customer ratings, but a weighted score that factors in the age and number of reviews.

On GetVoIP.com, Voiply is rated 4.2 out of 5. It gets a score of 4+ when it comes to the installation experience and price; it’s rated 4 for everything else (quality, support, reliability, and features). 74% of customers on getVoIp would recommend Voiply.

On G2, Voiply gets a rating of 3.3 out of 5. Customers appreciate how affordable and easy it is to use, although one customer does note that this VoIP service does not support Polycom phones.

Our Reviews of Voiply Alternatives

If you’re looking to evaluate a few other VoIP platforms before you make up your mind, check out these in-depth reviews and guides:

Why You Can Trust Our Review of Voiply

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is one of our focus areas, with 50+ reviews, guides, and tutorials in this segment. We spent over a week reviewing and testing Voiply. We started by subscribing to its business plan, signing up for three users on a BYOD model.

We then took its 20+ features for a test drive, also exploring how the company’s refund process and customer service work. In addition, we referred to customer reviews of Voiply across trusted websites like Trustpilot, G2, and GetVoIP.

All through our review, we considered the pros and cons of the platform, the practical ways in which it can be used, and some of the drawbacks. Our inferences are strengthened by TechReport’s exhaustive reviews of several of Voiply’s alternatives and top competitors.

How to Use Voiply — A Step-By-Step Guide

Ease of use is one of Voiply’s biggest USPs. To install and start using the platform, follow these three simple steps:

1. Choose Your Voiply Setup

Visit the company’s website and click on “Business Services.” You will be redirected to the checkout page where you can configure the specific set-up you require. This process has four steps.

Select your team size. The interactive checkout tool lets you choose from 1-15 team members. Next, select your phone. Voiply will recommend its online app and BYOD by default. You can also add as many Wi-Fi desk phones as needed in this step.

In the third step, choose your business number. You can either keep your old phone number, which will initiate a porting process. Or, you can choose a new phone number for free. Extra numbers can be added later for $1.25/month.

In the fourth and final step, toggle on any value-adding features you might want. This includes online fax, spam call bot, and call recording. Once you’re happy with the setup, click on “Save.”

2. Purchase Your VoIP Plan

Before you make the purchase, take a look at the “Manage Your Phones” section on the checkout page. This will show you all the Wi-Fi desk phones you’ve attached to your number, and their respective extensions. Click on the edit button (pencil icon) under each phone.

Here, you can configure all the operational details of each phone extension. For instance, you can turn on call forwarding, enable SMS archiving, set up voicemail, and more. You can also specify the user’s name in this step.

Once you’re happy with how each extension is set up, complete the purchase. Enter your billing address and specify which one you prefer: monthly billing or an annual subscription. You can pay via all major debit and credit cards.

3. Log Into the Portal and Mobile Apps

After you have purchased the Voiply subscription, the setup process is technically complete. The company will send you pre-configured Wi-Fi desk phones in 7-10 days, which you can start using without any further effort.

You could also log into the company’s web-based portal by visiting my.voiply.com. Here, you have the option to change any of the extensions and settings you’ve already configured during the checkout stage.

Download the Voiply calling apps for Windows PC, Mac, Android, and iOS phones. Here, you’ll see the dialler right up front and the navigation pane on top. The app’s user interface is easy to navigate and you can start making calls to contacts from the organizational directory immediately.

How Good Is Voiply? Review Takeaways

Voiply is a good choice for small businesses, solopreneurs, and home users who want a powerful calling solution with predictable costs. It doesn’t offer any bells and whistles like multiple integrations, artificial intelligence, automations, or routing algorithms. It’s easy to set up and use.

Residential VoIP users can also consider subscribing to Voiply. They can look forward to a one-stop solution that bundles unlimited calling, a new number, a VoIP adapter, and new phones into one prepaid annual plan.

The company’s two most compelling selling points are usability and international calling. You can install and start using Voiply in 10-15 minutes. It is among the handful of companies to offer free unlimited calling to select international regions, making it worth a try.

FAQs

References

• Better Business Bureau (BBB)
• Defending digital privacy (Kaspersky)

The post Voiply Review — Is It a Good VoIP for Business and Residential Use in 2024? appeared first on The Tech Report.

Mobile monitoring gives you insights into what’s happening on someone else’s cell phone, which can be useful for a variety of purposes. Employers can use it to track employee activities and make sure they are productive. Parents can keep tabs on their children and protect them from online threats.

On the other hand, mobile monitoring can be a dangerous tool in the wrong hands. Hackers may rely on such software to spy on others without consent, extract sensitive data, and then either sell the data or hold it for ransom.

That said, there are several legitimate reasons to use mobile monitoring applications, and that’s what we are going to discuss today. Read on to learn the pros and cons of mobile monitoring, how to install these apps properly, if free tools really work, and how to make the technology worth your time and effort.

What Is Mobile Monitoring?

The technology was developed in the early 2000s when operating systems like Symbian first allowed phones to become “smart.” This meant mobile phones could connect to public networks, paving the way for others to monitor the devices remotely.

FlexiSpy – introduced in 2007 – was among the first mobile monitoring apps in the market. It could extract data such as text messages, addresses from your phonebook, and recordings from the target mobile device.

Over time, competitors like xMobi and others emerged to give users more options for their monitoring needs.

Mobile monitoring apps are also known as parental control software and employee monitoring solutions, depending on the use case. Either way, there’s a target device where the app is installed, the main app interface where you’ll receive the data, and an encrypted connection between the two.

Some mobile monitoring apps need physical access to the target device for installation. Others can be installed remotely by entering certain device credentials into the main interface (e.g., Apple ID details).

Pros and Cons of Mobile Monitoring

Mobile monitoring may involve ethical questions like consent and responsible data usage. That is why the technology has its fair share of pros and cons. Some countries also regulate mobile monitoring to prevent its illegal use, such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) in the US.

It is important to know the pros and cons of mobile monitoring both at an ethical level and at a basic, operational level so you can use it correctly.

Is Mobile Network Monitoring Different from Mobile Monitoring?

Mobile network monitoring is a key concept for app testing. It enables app developers and network operators to make sure that mobile software performs equally well under different network conditions.

Network monitoring helps detect security flaws and other abnormalities in the network itself, and this is usually done without direct access to any device connected to it.

In contrast, mobile monitoring is meant for non-technical users such as parents, family members, managers, and team leaders. The goal is to observe user activity on mobile devices and ensure it conforms to certain rules without getting into the technicalities of the surrounding network conditions.

Here’s a table that sums up the key differences between mobile network monitoring and mobile monitoring:

When Do You Need Mobile Monitoring?

Is it worth the time and effort to install a mobile monitoring app on someone else’s phone and then keep an eye on it constantly?

Fortunately, modern apps make mobile monitoring relatively simple for the end-user when implemented correctly and for the right reasons. Here are some of the most common scenarios where mobile monitoring may be required:

1. Field Service Professionals

Field service professionals such as door-to-door salespeople, technicians, construction workers, truck drivers, and others spend a lot of their time on the road. Employers can keep tabs on their location without calling them frequently, which would disturb their work day.

Mobile monitoring offers a straightforward and effective way to track your on-field workforce remotely. If you haven’t heard from them in a while or you can’t reach an employee on the phone, you know exactly where to send help.

2. Remote Productivity

Remote and hybrid working is now common in most workplaces, and often, employees will work from their mobile phones or laptops. For example, a contact center worker may use a company-provided smartphone to answer customer support calls all day.

But how do you guarantee your employees use these company devices for work and not for other things – say, social media or online shopping? Well, mobile monitoring can give you data on the most frequently used apps.

Combining this data with insights from call center software creates a 360-degree view of your employees are doing during work hours, their performance, and productivity levels.

3. Shadow IT Minimization

You may also need to use mobile monitoring apps where your mobile SaaS sprawl is getting out of hand.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a type of cloud-based app that’s easy to purchase and use. Employees can sign up for a subscription and expense it to your company like any other business cost.

The subscription may continue for months or years on end without proper control from IT. This is known as SaaS sprawl or shadow IT.

With mobile monitoring, you can identify exactly which apps are installed on an employee’s mobile phone and which ones are actually used. You will also know if different employees are using two different apps for the same reason, forcing your company to pay twice the cost.

4. Cybersecurity and Insider Threat Prevention

An insider threat occurs when an employee shares proprietary information or company secrets on the sly. These typically happen on company-owned devices, including mobile phones, as these are the machines housing your most sensitive and precious information.

You can also monitor device activity using and find out if they are misusing company property or working with the competition.

If an employee is accessing sensitive data from their mobile phone and then sharing it via personal email (which is outside the reach of corporate cybersecurity), a mobile monitoring app will show that too.

5. Cyber Safety for Children

Children’s use of social media has skyrocketed in recent years. Nearly 95% of teens have used YouTube, according to Pew Research Center, two-thirds have used TikTok, and 62% report using Instagram. However, social media isn’t always a safe space for children or even young adults.

The research also found that nearly half of parents with teenage children are highly worried that their kids could be exposed to explicit content on social media. Mobile monitoring is an effective way to keep children safe as they navigate the digital world.

Mobile monitoring apps will show you your children’s conversations on messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram DMs. You can keep an eye on their most frequently contacted online friends and intervene if there’s ever a red flag.

6. Location Tracking for Family Members

This technology can help you track your family members’ location as they go about their daily lives.

Does your spouse have a job that requires them to work in hazardous situations? Is your child going on a road trip for spring break? Are your kids and their friends planning to attend a concert or music festival where their safety might be a concern?

Mobile monitoring can give you peace of mind in such scenarios. In fact, a Wall Street Journal report found that teens and young adults actually want to be tracked when they are driving, going on dates, attending concerts, or participating in large gatherings with strangers.

Mobile monitoring apps come with advanced location-tracking features.

They will reveal the address as well as the full geographic coordinates of the tracked device. As the user moves from one location to another, the app will visually map the full route with near-real-time precision. For instance, xMobi updates the latest known location every five minutes.

7. Remotely Controlling Device Usage Patterns

Parents might want to use mobile monitoring apps when they see their children spending too much time on their mobile phones.

Remember, these apps don’t just give you insights into online activity. They also let you block certain features remotely, such as Wi-Fi access, certain apps, and specific contacts. This means you could remotely switch off the device’s Internet connection when your kids have been on social media for too long.

This is an important use case, given that kids’ screen time has skyrocketed in recent years. A child between 8-10 years of age spends an average of 6 hours in front of a screen, and those between 11 and 14 spend an average of 9 hours, according to CDC research.

A good parental monitoring app will flag such scenarios so you can intervene on time.

8. Lost Phone Security

Lastly, you can use mobile monitoring apps to protect the target device in case it gets lost or stolen. If you’re unable to find your child’s or family member’s mobile phone, the app will show you its most recent location.

In case the device cannot be recovered at all, the app lets you lock it entirely from any remote location.

Keep in mind that Android and iOS offer their own lost device tracking solutions built into the operating system. However, mobile monitoring is still a nice-to-have for your children’s or family member’s phones. For instance, if someone hasn’t turned on the “Find My” setting on their iOS device, a mobile monitoring app will locate it anyway.

Can Phone Manufacturers Monitor Your Device?

Mobile activity monitoring by smartphone manufacturers is a topic of much study and debate. Research shows that nearly every manufacturer monitors your activity to an extent – from Apple to Samsung and Chinese ones like Xioami.

However, certain companies are transparent about their ways and reasons for monitoring since they are operating within the law. In other scenarios, the monitoring data is completely anonymized, so it’s nothing but machine signals. This allows manufacturers to comply with data privacy laws.

In 2021, Apple announced that it would scan iPhones for child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), for which Microsoft is also developing a detection mechanism. It will use an AI-based technology called NeuralHash to distill known CSAM images into a unique number.

If an image on an iPhone user’s device matches the device, Apple will be able to access and analyze the image and plan the next steps with the authorities. Apple assures that this type of monitoring would only pick up CSAM images and nothing else.

Affordable Phones Come at a Privacy Cost

Monitoring efforts by Chinese manufacturers, like Xioami, are less transparent. A former employee found that data on websites visited was routinely collected by Xioami, no matter which browser you used or even if you switched to incognito mode, as per an exclusive published in Forbes.

Xiaomi later added the option to opt out of browser activity tracking in incognito mode.

Research by the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Trinity College Dublin notes that several Android manufacturers, including Realmi, Huawei, Xiaomi, and Samsung, were at risk of secret monitoring.

While they don’t track user behavior, information like the device’s serial number and Wi-Fi address can be monitored.

The bottom line is that it is always possible for smartphone manufacturers to build monitoring capabilities (called backdoors) into their devices. Some of these help test the device and develop effective updates regularly.

But they can also be put to less legitimate use, like spying on people. That is precisely why the US Government has banned approvals for equipment from Huawei Technologies and ZTE since they could be used to spy on Americans.

How to Properly Install Mobile Monitoring Apps

To benefit from mobile monitoring, you need to install and set up the application correctly. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Create Your Account and Obtain Consent

The first step is to register for the mobile monitoring app of your choice. Simply visit the company’s website, enter your email, and purchase a suitable plan. You will receive the installation and setup instructions by email.

Meanwhile, also speak with the owner of the target device and obtain their consent. You need to obtain consent from anyone above 18 years of age, even if they are your children. You can legally skip getting explicit consent if you own your non-adult children’s phones.

Employers can legally monitor what employees do using company-owned devices. However, consent for monitoring should be built into the employment agreement so you don’t infringe on GDPR and other data privacy laws.

2. Turn Off Google Play Protect

Android phones ship with a built-in feature that prevents users from downloading apps that aren’t on the Play Store. This is known as Google Play Protect, and if on, it will block the installation of the mobile monitoring app.

To disable it, open the Play Store, go to the left navigation pane, and tap on Play Protect. Disable it and also switch off any related notifications. You can skip this step on Apple devices since you don’t need to install an app on iPhones to monitor them.

3. Download and Install the App

Open the email you received from the mobile monitoring app provider. You’ll see a download link, which you need to open from a browser on your target device. Once open, it’ll guide you through the installation process. Tap on OK at every step and turn on all the settings as prompted.

4. Configure the Target Device

Next, you need to configure the target device so that it collects and sends all the data you want to monitor.

To do this, go to settings, view all apps, and scroll down to the mobile monitoring app installed on the device. The app may be installed under an innocuous name like “Wi-Fi” or “Video” to escape detection.

Tap on the app and make sure all the permissions are turned on. Background data and unrestricted data usage should be on as well. Remember to turn the notifications off (if they aren’t off already) if the app does not disturb the device user.

Some mobile monitoring apps may ask you to root the Android device before tracking it, but in our experience, this is rarely worth it.

Rooting lets you obtain developer-level control of a device and modify nearly all of its functionalities. This can be achieved through rooting apps like Dr. Fone and OneClickRoot, but remember that most mobile monitoring software works perfectly well without having to root a phone.

5. Log Into the App from Your Interface

Now, you have successfully set up the target device for monitoring. The next step is to log in to your user interface from a mobile app, a desktop app, or a browser. Simply enter your email ID and the credentials you received in step 1 to get started.

The app will prompt you to select exactly which types of activities you want to monitor. It will also ask you to turn on notifications so you can be alerted to important activity updates. You can open the settings on your phone to double-check if everything is working as expected.

Ideally, the app should be able to send you notifications, and it shouldn’t be subject to battery optimization to work properly.

You can now open the dashboard and start viewing the key insights from your target device’s ongoing activities.

How to Monitor Your Kids’ Phones

By following these five steps, you can monitor your kids’ phones from anywhere in the world. Also, remember these useful tips and best practices:

If you find any objectionable activity when monitoring your kids’ phones, it is important to have an honest and transparent discussion about what is and is not permissible.

It’s a good idea to complement mobile monitoring with education on cyber safety topics so that your kids, too, stay vigilant.

Are Free Mobile Monitoring Tools Useful?

Mobile monitoring apps can be either free or paid, and most fall into the latter category. This is because the technology is expensive to build and maintain. The fee you pay goes towards encrypting and securing your data and keeping the entire experience ad-free.

Fortunately, you can find several affordable options in the market, like xMobi, which will cost you approximately $1 per day to use.

When exploring free mobile monitoring tools, look out for a few red flags that may indicate it’s a scam offer:

That said, there are a few free tools that can help you track your kid’s phones to an extent, without the granular details you can receive from a powerful paid app.

Google Family Link is one such option. It lists all your children’s installed apps, the time spent on each, and activity breakdowns for your family’s multiple Android devices. Norton Family Parental Monitoring is another alternative, but it’s free for only 30 days.

Mobile Monitoring – Is It Worth Your Time?

Mobile monitoring can be definitely worth it if you choose the right app and install it correctly. There are plenty of popular parental control apps available today that can help you monitor each and every aspect of your children’s mobile phones.

Benefits include the safety of your loved ones and heightened productivity of employees, in case you’re monitoring your team’s phones. Don’t forget about things like data security, the need for physical access, and obtaining consent, all of which are very important.

As cybercrime becomes increasingly more common and nearly every child has a phone in their hands, mobile monitoring apps can be an invaluable tool for concerned parents. Also, remote and hybrid work makes it necessary to keep a watch on employee activities on mobile devices.

Apps like xMobi, mSpy, and others can reveal important details on the target user’s phone – from location history to social media and chat messages – without disturbing their user experience.

FAQs

References

• An Analysis of Mobile Malware Evolution (Tufts.edu)
• Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, ECPA (Bureau of Justice Assistance)
• Teens and social media: Key findings (Pew Research Center)
• Teens Want Parents to Track Their Phones and Monitor Their Every Move (WSJ)
• Screen Time for Kids; How Much is Too Much? (OSFHealthCare.org)
• Child Safety (Apple)
• Metadata-Based Detection of Child Sexual Abuse Material (Microsoft Research)
• Exclusive Warning Over Chinese Mobile Manufacturers (Forbes)
• Android Mobile OS Snooping By Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei and Realme Handsets (Trinity College Dublin)
• U.S. Bans New Huawei, ZTE Equipment Sales, Citing National Security Risk (Reuters)

The post Mobile Monitoring: When Do You Need It and Why appeared first on The Tech Report.

xMobi is an emerging name in the mobile monitoring space. In our xMobi review, we take the application for a test drive, check out its compatibility with different mobile operating systems, and dive deep into the user interface.

Mobile monitoring solutions like xMobi help users keep a watch on their children and family members’ online activities, protecting them from potentially harmful situations. These apps can also keep track of mobile devices’ Global Positioning Systems (GPS), so you know where your loved ones are in case of an emergency.

We were impressed by xMobi’s features, like the ability to block Wi-Fi and restrict calls remotely. It does have a few limitations, however, such as the need to physically access a device before you can monitor it.

The pricing is reasonable and, as you might have expected, localized to your region, as we’ll discuss in our review.

What is xMobi?

Market research and corporate intelligence firm, Tracxn, notes that the company was founded in 2020, and is yet to receive any publicly disclosed funding. Its registered office is in London, Great Britain. xMobi is owned and managed by the Ersten Group Ltd., a leading financial services provider based in Europe.

The xMobi app has two parts – the agent, which will be installed on the monitored device, and the main user interface that you can access from a different mobile phone, tablet, or even a desktop.

The interface comprises a dashboard, near-real-time data about the monitored device, and a few ways to control the device remotely.

Does xMobi Work?

Mobile monitoring is a complex technology, as you are able to see a variety of smartphone activity and information from anywhere in the world. That’s why it can be hard to believe that an app like xMobi actually works.

In our experience, xMobi works quite seamlessly and it is transparent about what information it can and cannot display. Some of the key details you can see include call logs, SMS inbox, browser history, social and messaging apps, and location.

The tool does exactly what it’s supposed to do in an unintrusive manner, relaying mobile information to you at approximately 5-minute intervals.

Also, xMobi works in every country around the world, as long as the target device has internet access.

Keep in mind that xMobi monitoring won’t work for every app. For example, if your child belongs to a Microsoft Teams group for school, you won’t be able to access the messaging records. Similarly, different app categories like photo editing tools and gaming apps aren’t covered as well.

Is xMobi Legit?

xMobi is indeed a legitimate app, and Scam Detector rates it 58.3 on 100, which means that the business is active and medium-risk in nature.

It has received both positive and negative reviews, like most other apps in this category. Traffic analysis website, Easy Counter, also describes xMobi as legitimate.

Importantly, xMobi has not been detected by any blacklist engine and has a valid HTTPS connection. As a result, it protects your user data and any other information you may enter into the company’s web portal without any risk of being hacked.

72% of children globally have been victims of cyber threats, finds research conducted by BCG in association with the Global Cybersecurity Forum (GCF). To that end, xMobi’s primary use case is to ensure the safety and well-being of family members, especially children.

It is legal to install the app for children below the age of 18 years. You can also install it on any adult’s smartphone with their consent.

The company explicitly mentions that the app is intended for legal use only, and buyers must either own the smartphone they’re looking to track (e.g., a child’s or employee’s device) or obtain written consent. This positions xMobi firmly in the “legit” bucket.

In addition to this, xMobi is clear and transparent about what data they collect and how they use it. The company explicitly states that it will not sell personal data and will retain data only for up to 90 days.

All user information is stored using 4096-bit RSA and 256-bit AES encryption keys.

xMobi Pros and Cons

For parents eager to ensure safe online activity for their children, xMobi offers plenty of advantages. You can keep an eye on social media activity without creating an intrusive experience for your child on the target device.

It’s quite affordable, especially if you pay for an annual subscription.

On the flipside, monitoring capabilities are limited to specific apps and not the full mobile screen. You’ll also need to physically access the target device with consent or obtain Apple ID login details from the target device owner before you can start monitoring.

There are phone tracker apps without permission, but this isn’t one of them. Let’s look at these pros and cons in more detail:

Our xMobi review and testing revealed a few differences in the features when tracking iOS devices vs. Android ones. On iPhones and iPads, you will not be able to view GPS location, keylogger data, storage data, internet activity, streaming, and deleted information.

Further, you can only track WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger activity on Apple devices. Social media, too, is limited to Facebook and Instagram. These restrictions apply across all xMobi plans.

How Much Is xMobi – Pricing Details

xMobi pricing starts at €12.49 (approx $13.40) per month if you sign up for a 12-month subscription. Monthly plans will cost you €49.99 (approx $53.50).

Interestingly, the app’s pricing is not publicly disclosed, and we registered to conduct our test and xMobi review to obtain the full pricing details. This is probably because the pricing varies from one region to another.

For example, if you are a user in India, the starting price is significantly lower at INR 520.41 (approx
$6.25). This model makes xMobi more affordable to users around the world.

For more low-priced and powerful tools like this, check out our list of best mobile monitoring apps.

Across all regions, this mobile monitoring tool offers the following plans:

1-Month FULL PACK

This is the most expensive option since you will be paying month-on-month. In the US, expect to pay somewhere around $50 per month for a single subscription, which allows you to monitor one target device.

To monitor multiple devices, you could:

The 1-month FULL PACK lets you enjoy the full list of features, including messaging app tracking, social media, media and internet tracking, streaming, deleted info access, and remote control.

There’s one significant limitation, however – you will be able to view storage data only for the last 30 days.

3-Months FULL PACK

This is their mid-tier plan currently priced at €29.99 per month. For US users, this translates to approximately $32 per month for a three-month period.

The features here are exactly the same as the 1-Month FULL PACK plan except for the fact that you will be able to view storage data for the last 90 days. So, you get an an additional 60 days’ worth of history.

You can monitor almost all your children’s online and social media activity on Apple devices, with a few limitations on iOS (see Cons).

12-Months FULL PACK

This is their best value pricing plan and offers the most bang for your buck. You can enjoy all the features available in the most expensive plan at about a third of the cost. Keep in mind that you’ll have to sign up for a 12-month period.

For our xMobi review we found one there’s just one important upgrade from the 3-Months FULL PACK, namely the ability to view storage data for the last 180 days.

xMobi’s Refund Policy

xMobi offers a 14-day refund policy. If you face technical issues or you’re not happy with the software, you can apply for a complete refund. However, if you purchase multiple subscriptions, you are eligible for a refund only for the first one.

Keep in mind that, if your account lies idle for 45 days, it will be considered dormant and ineligible for refund. Also, any illegal use of the software – such as installation without consent – will immediately disqualify the you from getting a refund.

A refund processing fee of 9% of the original subscription costs may apply.

Testing xMobi’s Purchase and Checkout

The pricing and plan selection process is quite simple. You can enter your email details, navigate to the online catalog and select the plan that’s best for you. Keep in mind that the long-term subscription discount is valid only for the first year.

For example, let’s say you choose the $13.40 per month plan for an annual subscription. This is a discounted price since you have signed up for 12 months instead of only one. When you renew the plan next year, however, xMobi automatically reverts to the full price, which is $53.50 per month.

The first year will cost you $160.80 in total, while the second year onwards, you’d have to pay $640 per year or thereabouts.

We found the checkout process to be extremely streamlined. xMobi has tailored this for different countries as well. For example, users from some regions may be able to see options to pay via crypto. Google Pay might appear as a payment option in regions where digital wallets are popular.

Automatic plan renewal will be switched on by default; toggle it off if you want to renew your xMobi subscription manually at the end of the month, quarter, or year.

xMobi Review of Features – How Does It Work?

xMobi covers almost everything a parent could require to monitor and control their child’s digital activities. This includes:

1. Call Logs and Contact List Monitoring

You’ll be able to view comprehensive updates about incoming and outgoing calls. This includes time stamps, call duration, and caller information.

Along with this, you can access the full contact list stored on the target device. xMobi will show you the analytics of the most frequently contacted people.

Even if the device user deletes or renames a contact, xMobi will surface these details. Similarly, records of deleted calls will also appear on your dashboard. But keep in mind that deleted information access is an Android-only feature.

2. SMS Monitoring

SMS monitoring is a universal feature (both Android and iOS). You can see all the text messages sent and received by the device, complete with time stamps and contact information.

The dashboard shows you the total number of recent texts at a glance. Or, you can navigate to the messages section of the left navigation pane. This displays the entire SMS inbox of the target device.

Like calls, deleted SMS will also show up on xMobi, but only when you’re tracking an Android device.

3. Device Information

Our xMobi review found that the tool can extract a host of device information that you may find useful when keeping your kids safe online.

This feature also makes it easier to detect if your kids have e-commerce or paid gaming apps on their phones, which can make it difficult to instill good financial habits.

For privacy reasons, xMobi cannot show you the precise activity happening in these apps.

Along with application data, you can find out which apps are occupying the lion’s share of your child’s time. If someone has installed a spy app on the target device, xMobi will find that out for you.

Other types of device information available in xMobi include storage data, keylogging, the user’s online status, and device info like model number and software updates.

4. Location Tracking

xMobi continuously tracks wherever the device is going and visualizes this data using a map. When you first open the dashboard, you’ll be able to see the last known location on the right-hand side.

This includes both the location’s full address as well as geographic coordinates.

You could also go to the location section from the left navigation pane. Here, xMobi displays the full route your child has taken to reach their current location and the addresses where they paused or stopped.

5. Social Media Tracking

Tracking kids’ social media activity is one of the key reasons many parents will download this app. And xMobi does offer excellent coverage of the most popular special platforms today.

This includes Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit – although we do have slightly different recommendations for the best Snapchat spy apps.

xMobi also goes a step further to give you visibility into the user’s online dating activity. It is compatible with Tinder for now, with more apps slated for the future.

Like text messaging, the software reveals full details of social media conversations taking place across apps. Some of the popular online messaging platforms covered include Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Signal, Discord, WeChat, Telegram, Kik, and Line.

You can use this feature to monitor children’s interactions in online learning spaces, an emerging use case since the pandemic. xMobi can track video conferencing apps commonly used for educational purposes and classroom conversations, such as Zoom, Skype, and Hangouts.

We found the absence of Microsoft Teams to be a noteworthy miss.

Finally, social media monitoring also extends to live streaming activity, including both audio and video streams.

6. Media and Internet

Using xMobi, you can see all the pictures and videos stored on the target device. When there’s a camera snapshot, the tool will log the event as part of the device’s records. Note that the snapshot feature is Android-only, while the photo and video access feature is universal.

For browser monitoring, xMobi only gives you activity records and not real-time updates. You’ll be able to see complete browser usage records, including timestamps, browser history, and any bookmarked websites. The tool also scans the user’s mailbox to surface email conversations.

7. Remote Device Control

Another powerful feature that xMobi offers is the ability to control the device’s settings remotely.

On Android machines, you’ll get a full list of installed apps as well as their usage patterns. In case you find something objectionable or an incidence of over-frequent use, xMobi lets you delete the app remotely. Or, you can restrict the app without uninstalling it.

You can block websites that you deem unfit for your children’s perusal, as well as block Wi-Fi access for when they’re in public, as it might cause malware to infect the device.

In addition, you can disable the device’s messaging functionalities and even restrict calls.

As a last resort, you can block the device remotely. This feature can be very useful if your child’s phone falls into the wrong hands.

All of these features are available only if the target device runs on Android 4 or above.

Is xMobi Easy to Use?

All you have to do is enter your email address to create an account and purchase a subscription. After you check out, you will receive an email with the login credentials and full instructions. This guides on the next steps, i.e., setting up the target device and connecting it to your dashboard.

The company mentions that Android devices should be rooted to use xMobi’s advanced features. We didn’t face any issues when testing any of its monitoring capabilities. However, if you’re monitoring a non-rooted Android device, you may be ineligible for a refund, according to the company policy.

Cross-Platform Compatibility

Next, xMobi’s compatibility features contribute to its ease of use. According to our xMobi app review, it works with nearly every mobile device manufacturer in the world, including Huawei, Xiaomi, LG, and Motorola, apart from Apple and Samsung.

Even if you haven’t purchased a flagship phone for your kids, you can still monitor it using xMobi, as long as it runs Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich, launched in 2011) or above. It is compatible with all Apple phones and iPads.

If you’re still not sure, simply enter the phone model details on the xMobi website to check for compatibility.

The user experience on xMobi Parental Interface is quite smooth.

You’ll be greeted by a dashboard that shows all the target device’s recent details at a glance. On the left-hand side is the navigation pane. Click on any module or section to monitor a particular type of activity, such as Internet, social media, SMS, etc.

Most of the right side is occupied by the main window, which lets you deep-dive into the device user’s activity history. On the top right, you’ll find your own user profile details and the notifications icon. It all shows the model name of the tracked device, so you can switch between devices more easily.

Finally, xMobi ensures that your child’s mobile user experience is not impacted suffer. The fact that the device is being monitored won’t be visible on Apple devices. On Android, you can turn it off manually.

We were also happy to see that phones do not need a SIM card to be traced by xMobi. This is useful since many devices used by children (such as several iPad models) are Wi-Fi only.

xMobi Comparison with Other Mobile Tracking Apps

Mobile tracking apps are increasing in popularity as cybercrime becomes more common.

A 2021 Kaspersky study found that 50% of parents use parental control apps today to keep their children safe. A 2023 analysis by the Wall Street Journal found that many teens actually want their parents to track them as it makes them feel safer.

That’s why tools like xMobi and its alternatives are so important for users today. Here is a breakdown of some of the best mobile tracking apps in the market and how xMobi stacks up.

These are some of the best parental monitoring apps to install on your child’s phone. Employers can also consider using them on company-owned devices, with the appropriate disclosures and privacy measures. Among them, xMobi stands out for its comprehensive feature set and ease of use.

How Good is xMobi? What xMobi Reviews Say

xMobi is relatively new to the market and, therefore, does not have too many user reviews as yet. The company’s website, however, does mention a few customer testimonials.

Independent reviews and technology writers also rate the app highly on social media platforms like LinkedIn. Its most notable features, according to customer reviews, are the smooth learning curve and comprehensive Instagram monitoring capabilities.

Our Reviews of xMobi Alternatives

If you want to shop around and explore some of xMobi’s top alternatives before purchasing, we’ve got you covered. Check out our in-depth mobile monitoring app reviews and guides below:

Why You Can Trust Our Review of xMobi

Our review team members have several years of experience in testing both consumer and business-facing mobile apps. Our findings are also informed by our reviews of similar and competing mobile monitoring products like mSpy, Spyera, and others.

We started the review process by signing up for a full-featured account and taking xMobi for a test drive across Android and iOS ecosystems. We also checked for compatibility issues, customer support, and any bottlenecks in the checkout and refund process.

Our findings in this xMobi review are reaffirmed by customer testimonials, which speak to a largely favorable opinion of the service in 2024.

How to Use xMobi — A Step-By-Step Guide

As we mentioned, ease of use is one of xMobi’s key selling points. We found the installation process fast and straightforward; here are the steps we followed:

1. Register for an xMobi account

Go to xMobi.com and click on the “try it now” button on the top right. This will take you to the registration page where you can enter your email and start the setup process.

Next, select the target device you want to monitor. This is an important step, since a single subscription can only monitor one device.

From the pricing window that appears choose your preferred plan, and check out. Unlike a few of its competitors, such as Hoverwatch, xMobi doesn’t have a no credit card needed trial option. So, enter your payment details and complete the purchase.

2. Set up xMobi on the Target Device

After the first step, you will receive a full set of instructions on your email, along with credentials and a data encryption key. Keep these details safe, as they’ll be necessary if you choose to go in for a refund.

Next, download and install the app on the target device if you’re looking to monitor an Android smartphone. xMobi may send you the download link via email or share the APK directly. When installing the app, allow xMobi to access all the cell phone’s services; simply tap on Allow when prompted.

Once the app is installed on the target device, it will guide you through all the monitoring services available. Enable as many monitoring options you want.

The setup process is slightly different on iPhones and iPads. Directly enter the device’s Apple ID credentials on your parental control dashboard. The app will prompt you to accept the two-factor authentication (2FA) process. Simply approve the code you receive on the target iPhone or iPad.

3. Log In and Start Using xMobi

Once the first two steps are complete, you may want to clean the target device of any traces of xMobi. Long tap on the icon from the app menu to hide the icon so it doesn’t result in an intrusive experience.

Finally, log into xMobi from your browser either on a desktop, or a mobile phone. Use the credentials you’ve already received, and you’ll be automatically redirected to the xMobi interface.

Check on the top right to make sure the device model matches the device you’re tracking. Remember to save the setup instruction email for future communications with xMobi.

Is xMobi Worth It for You?

xMobi is definitely worth it as a powerful mobile monitoring app that tracks all the Internet, social media, call, and messaging activity happening on the target device. At an initial price $13.40 per month, it can offer parents peace of mind, continuous visibility, and the ability to track their children’s location.

Keep in mind that the device being tracked needs to be connected to the Internet at all times, as well as the fact that, some things, like granular activity within certain apps, cannot be monitored. Customer support is available via email and chat.

However, the company has done an impressive job of understanding the unique use case of parental mobile controls in a hyper-connected world where children and teens face frequent cyber threats. It may be priced a little higher than some of its competitors but provides a comprehensive package.

FAQs

References

• xMobi – Company Profile (Tracxn)
• Xmobi (Easy Counter)
• Why Children Are Unsafe in Cyberspace (BCG)
• Study finds 50% of parents use parental control apps (Kaspersky)
• Teens Want Parents to Track Their Phones and Monitor Their Every Move (WSJ)

The post xMobi Review: Does It Keep Your Family Safe in 2024? appeared first on The Tech Report.

For our MightyCall review, we found out the company not only offers competitive pricing at only $15/month/user, but also includes unlimited calls and SMS. It’s  easy to use, boasts detailed call analytics, and offers excellent support for every plan.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling provides your business with undeniable advantages, like anytime-anywhere access, cheaper call rates, and advanced features like AI. That’s why VoIP companies like MightyCall have gained so much popularity

Note that MightyCall doesn’t come with multiple integrations like some of its competitors. Its less than five-nines uptime may be a problem for some companies. So, is MightyCall worth your time and investment? This review looks at its features, pricing model, and some of the practical pros and cons.

What is MightyCall?

The company was established in 2013 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. Unlike some of the bigger VoIP names today (think 8×8 or RingCentral), MightyCall is a mid-sized company with less than 500 employees.

It caters to small to mid-sized businesses like Maestro Musicians Academy and Canadian non-profit REST Centres.

In June 2023, the company won the G2 Summer 2023 VoIP Leader Award. Last year, the company was also recognized as a Summer 2022 Top Performer by SourceForge.

MightyCall’s solutions are segmented into two categories: business communications and call center management, both built on the company’s award-winning VoIP technology. To complement the calling service, it enables a variety of integrations, automation, user management, and security features as well.

How Does MightyCall Work?

MightyCall uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to function. This lets users make and receive calls over the Internet from a device of their choice.

VoIP saw a meteoric rise in the late 2000s and 2010s, when reliable Internet became widely available. Over the next few years, companies started experimenting with VoIP calls in addition to landlines.

MightyCall brings the benefits of VoIP to small businesses with a powerful yet cost-effective way to modernize their telephony systems.

It converts the analog audio signals from our voice into a digital signal that can be compressed and shared over the Internet. At the call recipient’s end, the signals are converted back to audio so that humans can hear and understand them.

At the same time, MightyCall’s cloud-based software hosted on Amazon Web Services or AWS enables comprehensive call controls. For instance, an incoming call may go to either your smartphone or a desktop app. When a caller leaves a voicemail, you can convert it automatically into text.

Who is MightyCall Best For?

Our MightyCall review and testing experience revealed that a number of user demographics could benefit from the platform.

Small teams with 5-10 members can grow their startup using the service’s unlimited calling facilities. Mid-sized customer-facing businesses – for example, a retail chain with multiple stores – can manage queries and support calls by subscribing to this VoIP platform.

Optimally, MightyCall’s user base comprises small to mid-sized businesses with anywhere between 10 and 200 employees who need to attend to frequent customer calls.

Keep in mind that, unlike bigger companies such as RingCentral, MightyCall does not have any industry-specific solutions. It is a practical, easy-to-use telephony service without too many bells and whistles, ideal for those new to VoIP.

If you have in-house developer expertise, make sure to check out MightyCall, since its open API paves the way for highly flexible integrations if you have the right skills.

Pros and Cons of MightyCall

Before we take an in-depth look at the solution’s top features, here is a quick review of MightyCall’s pros and cons.

MightyCall is an effective VoIP calling and customer support tool without too much customization or integrations that could otherwise overwhelm SMB users.

MightyCall Pricing

However, MightyCall is priced lower than Ooma, RingCentral, and Vonage, all of which cost around $20/month/user.

The software is available in three versions – Core, Pro, and Enterprise:

We had a couple of interesting findings from our tests: first, the Enterprise plan isn’t necessarily more feature-rich, nor is it more expensive per user. It does include priority support, which is missing from all other plans.

This approach of delivering similar features across pricing tiers is beneficial for small to mid-sized businesses. They won’t lose out on enterprise-level features like better security or call recording even if they sign up for an entry-level plan.

Another interesting thing about the company’s pricing model is its minimum seat requirement. You need to sign up for at least 3 users for the Core and Pro plans, respectively, and for 10 users in the case of the Enterprise plan.

Keep in mind that customer support, implementation, and number porting are all available free of cost. The company doesn’t charge for any integrations either.

Given that every plan includes unlimited calling, all you’ll be paying for are your monthly subscription fees, one-time fees for acquiring new numbers, and any international calling costs.

As we mentioned, support is one of the few areas where the three plans are different.

Core customers get live support from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST on weekdays and 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST on weekends. Pro customers are assigned a dedicated account manager but no priority support. Enterprise customers get live and priority support as well as an account manager.

A few other subtle differences we found in the plans include reports (only basic reports for Core), and customer support features like call monitoring, barging, listening, and real-time analytics, which are only available from the Pro plan onwards.

MightyCall offers a free trial for 7 days and 100 call minutes. We found this sufficient for a pretty thorough test drive, and you can cancel or switch to a paid plan anytime.

Review of MightyCall’s Features

Any MightyCall review would be incomplete without a detailed discussion of its VoIP features. Here are the highlights:

VoIP Phone Numbers and SMS

Like most VoIP providers, MightyCall supports local, international, as well as toll-free numbers. What’s interesting is that it’s one of the few companies to offer unlimited calling, SMS, and MMS across Core, Pro, and Enterprise tiers.

Two local or toll-free numbers are included in the Core and Pro plans. Every additional domestic phone number will cost $5 and international ones will cost $10. Enterprise users can speak with their MightyCall account managers to negotiate the exact volume of phone numbers they need.

Like domestic calling, SMS and MMS are unlimited when you subscribe to MightyCall. You can also send texts from your business number on the iOS and Android apps, in addition to the web interface.

An interesting feature we found is MightyCall’s SMS translation capabilities. Simply long-tap on any message to translate it to French, German, or Spanish. In addition to these three default languages, most global languages can be downloaded as per your requirements.

In case you already have a bunch of phone numbers from an old provider, MightyCall makes it easy to port your current numbers, so you can save on phone number acquisition costs.

International and Vanity Numbers

When you open the MightyCall dashboard, the country’s flag is conveniently displayed next to each international number. Even the dialler shows the number’s associated country, making it easy for you to keep track.

Local numbers can be used for international calling, but calls to and from anywhere outside the United States and Canada are considered international, incurring an additional fee outside of your unlimited minutes. Rates can start as low as $0.05, which is the case for Mexico.

MightyCall supports international calling to nearly every country in the world. However, we found that international phone numbers are only available in select regions like Australia, China, New Zealand, Netherlands, Singapore, the UK, and a few others.

In addition to international numbers, MightyCall lets you create vanity numbers like 800-123-DOGS, which are easier to remember.

Inbound and Outbound Caller ID

MightyCall’s caller ID feature is extremely seamless, working for both callers and call recipients. When a customer dials your VoIP number, their contact details will pop up.

What’s more, it will display whether the call is made to your professional number or your personal line. This can be incredibly beneficial when the same device is used for work as well as home use.

For outbound calls, the software has a feature called Caller ID Name or CNAM. Without CNAM, your name will turn up on the customer/prospect’s phone only if they have it saved already.

CNAM lets you associate a 15-character name that appears whenever you call someone.

To use this feature, you need to let MightyCall know that you want a CNAM number. Fill out a form with the 15-character name you want to associate your business phone number with and wait for up to 10 days.

The outbound caller ID capability is excellent for businesses looking to stand out from spam callers and reach their customers successfully.

Emergency Calling

MightyCall offers a 911 service that works on both desktop and mobile apps. A standout feature here is the unique callback capability. Calls from 911 operators bypass any Interactive Voice Response (IVR) or pre-recorded greeting to reach you quickly.

MightyCall also supports an enhanced emergency service called E911.

E911 is a new type of location information sharing system that works for Internet calls just like landlines. If your area is E911 compatible, MightyCall automatically sends your address to the operator.

STIR/SHAKEN to Prevent Robocalls

STIR (Secure Telephony Identity Revisited) and SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) are two new protocols designed to reduce the number of spam calls you receive.

They are mandatory as per government rules, and effectively implemented in the MightyCall VoIP system. What it does is check the caller’s identity against who they appear to be on caller ID. It uses digital certificates to authenticate calls made over the Internet.

While MightyCall mandatorily provides the STIR/SHAKEN feature, you can turn it on or off from the system. When turned on, it will show that a caller’s number is verified and safe.

Call Notes, Routing and Distribution

In our testing, we found that Vonage and Nextiva offer similar annotation features. This is meant to boost call center productivity by giving agents a bit of context for every call.

Like most VoIP solutions, an important use case for MightyCall is customer support. A major pain point for small businesses is managing the queue of customers who want to get in touch with them. For this, MightyCall offers Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), which supports a number of routing rules.

You could attend to the caller who has been waiting the longest or can ring multiple team members at the same time so an available agent can take the call. Or, you can let the customer say the name of a department and route the call without effort.

To simplify routing, MightyCall also gives you several queue management options. For every number, you can set up call flows to go to voicemail, to priority support, to a specific greeting, or disconnect. Customers can leave a voicemail after waiting in queue for a certain threshold.

Call Transfer and Forwarding

Sometimes, you may not be able to solve a customer’s query in one go. MightyCall’s transferring features lets you bring in some extra help. You can hold a three-way call, like a mini-conference, right from the mobile app.

The software supports two kinds of transfer techniques – warm and cold, both of which can improve your customer experience.

In a warm transfer, you tell your colleague that you are transferring a call to them so they can prep and gather information. Alternatively, the cold call option lets you transfer an incoming call without checking in with your colleague, assuming they are ready and available to take the call.

Not only can you forward calls to any number and any device, but you can also set up your own forwarding rules. For example, you can “set” a timeout duration for a specific device or phone number, after which the call will be forwarded to a different device/number.

Call Monitoring

MightyCall gives you several ways to monitor calls and ensure quality. Supervisors can listen without interfering, barge in on calls to help a struggling agent, or “whisper” some pertinent advice without the customer knowing.

The supervisor can simply open their designated dashboard. All live calls will appear here; select the call where you want to or listen or join in.

Detailed Call Analytics

You can access your VoIP calling data in three ways, call logs, the call center dashboard, and the administrator dashboard. In our MightyCall review, we found that the app’s call logs are an amped-up version of call history. Admins can choose to retain logs for a specific period, say a year.

MightyCall logs are searchable with up to 7 filtering options. You can find your interactions on the basis of “read,” “unread,” “missed,” “dropped,” “accepted,” “unanswered,” and “connected” parameters. When you find the call you’re looking for, you can add notes to it or share it with a team member.

Besides logs, the call center dashboard shows you detailed records in real time. It displays the number of active calls, average waiting time, and service levels, longest waiting period, and much more.

Or, you can drill down to the administrator dashboard and look up historical analytics. This includes KPIs over several months or years, analysis for each phone number, and user-specific analysis.

MightyCall Integrations

These allow you to set up handy automations and sync customer data. For instance, you can click to dial a HubSpot contact from MightyCall, and you can automatically back up the interaction history on Salesforce.

We found the WhatsApp integration particularly impressive in our MightyCall review. It’s simple and practical, replacing the call functionality on WhatsApp chats with MightyCall’s own VoIP service.

If you want more integrations, the company doesn’t offer an app gallery or marketplace like RingCentral or Vonage. Instead, you need to develop custom integrations using MightyCall’s API.

Roles and Permissions for Security

MightyCall protects your privacy by making sure only authorized users can access certain features. For example, a call center agent can only access their own voicemails and contacts. Managers can access data but not change any configurations, and admins have the highest level of privilege of all.

But we were happy to see that limited access doesn’t mean limited productivity.

For instance, you can set up certain agent roles to share calls within a group without breaching security protocols. Similarly, managers can be allowed to change agent workflow settings, but nobody else’s.

MightyCall has three roles in total (administrator, manager, and agent) and three types of permissions (personal, call group, and call flow).

Agent and Supervisor Workspace

Agent and supervisor workspaces are the two MightyCall interfaces your team members will work with on the daily.

The first one is designed for agent productivity, allowing users to handle calls and complete tasks using a simple workflow. It is available in all plans. The supervisor workspace is more feature-rich and is available from the Pro plan onwards.

The agent workspace has interaction logs on the left pane. Select an interaction to add more details from the central workspace or send/receive files. When you click on an interaction, the contact details will show up on the right-hand side.

We found that the supervisor workspace is slightly different. You’re greeted by a series of key analytics insights on top. In addition to interactions, you can dive into reports, phone numbers, integrations, and account settings. The workspace also shows the details of all the agents you’re managing.

How Useful Is MightyCall’s Interface?

MightyCall is available for all major devices and operating environments, including Android and iOS smartphones and Mac and Windows PCs. Linux users can access the software from the company’s equally powerful web app.

From our testing, we found that MightyCall achieves performance parity across all its different interfaces. So, you’ll find advanced features like CRM integration and call recordings on the mobile app as well.

Let’s review the MightyCall interface options in more detail:

1. Android and iOS VoIP Apps

Mobile VoIP apps are one of the most compelling benefits of Voice over Internet Protocol, and MightyCall doesn’t disappoint. The user interface design fits seamlessly into the rest of the mobile ecosystem, complete with a dark theme.

You can configure the app to switch to the dark theme automatically, so it’s easier on the eyes during night/dark hours.

The MightyCall mobile interface integrates with your existing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools so you always have a fully synchronized contact list no matter which device you use.

Apart from this, a few other useful features we found on the mobile interface include voicemail transcriptions, real-time SMS translation, notifications for important events, status management, and even analytics. You can manage billing straight from the mobile app.

2. The MightyCall Web App

MightyCall’s primary interface is its web-based application, accessible from any browser. Simply visit panel.mightycall.com and enter your credentials to get started. Once you navigate to the app’s home page – called Journal – you’ll be able to turn on the WebPhone (the app’s dialler) from the top right.

The web app’s features will vary based on the user’s function and role. Call center agents and regular users will simply see their Journal page populated with interactions and tasks, while supervisors will see an additional analytics pane on top and some user controls.

The admin interface is the most powerful, as it lets you configure your entire VoIP ecosystem, including integrations.

3. Desktop Application

MightyCall offers a desktop app only for Mac and Windows PCs, and not Linux. This interface is available only via the third-party software gallery, WebCatalog.

For those new to WebCatalog, this is a technology that lets you turn your web apps into desktop applications. As you might have guessed, we found MightyCall’s desktop app identical to the web interface with no additional features.

4. Hardware Interfaces

Unlike a few other companies like RingCentral or Ooma, MightyCall doesn’t design or sell hardware. This means you could either use the VoIP service from one of its software interfaces. Or, you could integrate it with your existing desk phone.

Currently, MightyCall is compatible with Cisco, Grandstream, Polycom, and Yealink devices.

MightyCall’s Uptime and Security

On the other hand, Google Voice promises only 99.9% uptime, which is significantly less.

In our review, we found MightyCall’s uptime and reliability guarantee more than sufficient for all our tests. You can check the system’s availability and uptime as well as past downtime incidents, on status.mightycall.com.

Importantly, the company follows the principle of N+1 redundancy. This means that MightyCall maintains the base level of resources for system functionality, as well as one additional back up.

These resources are distributed across different data centers, so that even if one location goes down, it doesn’t interrupt connectivity.

For security purposes, MightyCall ticks all the industry standards. This includes PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), which mandates the highest level of network protection when handling customers’ payment data.

It’s compliant with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), which lays down privacy and security provisions for exchanging medical information.

As we previously mentioned, the company employs STIR/SHAKEN protocols to combat scams, and all sensitive information is stored in an encrypted, segmented network with no public Internet access.

The MightyCall service and software applications are hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers, which adds another layer of protection through AWS’ own measures and defenses.

How Does MightyCall Compare Against Other Leading VoIP Services?

VoIP is a growing industry expected to cross $100 billion by 2032, indicating stiff competition among Internet telephony providers. Therefore, to understand our MightyCall review in context, we compared it with some of its top alternatives.

While these are among the best VoIP services out there, MightyCall is a strong contender due to its affordable and transparent pricing and no-nonsense features. Depending on your use case, budget, and the size of your company, any of these solutions could be the right fit for you.

What’s important is to conduct a thorough internal assessment and zero in on the software that’s a suitable match.

How Good is MightyCall? What Other MightyCall Reviews Say

In addition to our in-house testing, we turned to trusted forums like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius to find out what customers are saying about the VoIP platform. Most reviews align with our experience, and MightyCall has a stellar rating on all of these websites.

On TrustRadius, MightyCall has a rating of 9 out of 10, with one customer reporting that the tool increased their order processing efficiency by 16X.

On G2, it earns a rating of 4.5 out of 5. Customers do note that the cost may not be worth it if you’re just a single user.

The VoIP platform wins a rating of 3.8 out of 5 on Capterra. Several customers mention that they have switched from other platforms like Google Voice and RingCentral due to the value for money (VFM) factor.

Our Reviews of MightyCall Alternatives

Choosing the best VoIP provider isn’t an easy task. Once you’ve read our MightyCall review, check out our analysis of its top alternatives to know how this VoIP tool stacks up:

Why You Can Trust Our Review of MightyCall

For our MightyCall review, we started by signing up for a trial service, and then converting to a paid plan for a 12-member team. This gives us a thorough understanding of the user experience as expected by MightyCall’s target audience, i.e., small and mid-sized businesses.

TechReport tested the platform on a number of parameters, including features and functionality, performance parity across interfaces, uptime, ease of setup and use, and cost. We then conducted a comparative analysis with its key competitors like Ooma, Vonage, Nextiva, and others.

We’ve referred to reputed user review platforms such as Capterra, G2, and TrustRadius to reaffirm our findings and add another valuable dimension to our MightyCall review.

How to Use MightyCall — A Step-By-Step Guide

On its website, MightyCall claims that you can set up the VoIP application in 5 minutes. In our experience, it takes a bit longer than that, but we were still able to get MightyCall up and running in a few hours, which isn’t that bad considering all the value you get from it. Here are the steps for getting started:

1. Subscribe to MightyCall

From the pricing page, purchase a plan that best fits your needs. You can click on the “try for free” button, and you’ll be redirected to the trial workflow.

2. Choose your MightyCall phone number

Next, you need to add your first phone number to your account. You have several options here – either port an existing number, select one of the numbers that appear on the screen, or dial their helpline to purchase a number.

The app is extremely intuitive, and we found it easy to switch between different area codes, paid/toll-free numbers, and vanity numbers. Once you’re ready to go with your first number, MightyCall will create your account.

3. Set up your account

Next, enter your primary account details. Make sure to enter the name of an administrator and use the cellphone number of someone in your company who has admin privileges.

At the end of this step, you’ll have your user credentials and a cellphone number linked to your VoIP account, where you’ll get all your notifications.

Finally, enter your billing details (address, payment method, and promo code). You won’t be charged just yet, and we were happy to see a 25% discount automatically applied to our order when signing up for an annual plan.

4. Configure users and extensions

Once your account is ready and you have the credentials to sign in as an admin, you’re ready to configure your users. On the top of the app, find the Manage Users section. Click on Invite User and fill out the required fields, including the number you want to assign to them, and extensions if any.

MightyCall will automatically send an email invitation to the user. Once they accept, they’ll be added to your organization’s directory. When assigning users, make sure to specify the appropriate role – administrator, manager, or agent.

5. Integrate MightyCall with your apps

As we mentioned, MightyCall supports 5 pre-built integrations that are available free of cost. From your account settings, choose the type of integration you want and click Install. Choose the VoIP numbers you want to link with the app.

Next, sign into the app you’re looking to integrate with – for example, HubSpot. Here, you can select the Hubspot you would want to connect with MightyCall, and then confirm the integration request.

If the integration process seems too complex or you’re not sure you can do it on your own, you can dial +1 (888) 256-8312 with the extension 2 for help. All active integrations will appear in a separate tab in your account.

6. Make a call

In our experience, one of the easiest ways to make a call from the software is by using its web phone.

When you open the agent, supervisor, or admin workspace, you will find a dialpad icon right next to your profile name and picture. Click on it and click on the Power button to turn the WebPhone on. Give MightyCall permission to use the microphone so you can start calling.

A Good Thing in a Light Package: Is MightyCall Worth It?

MightyCall is among the best VoIP calling solutions available to small and mid-sized businesses today.

It can be difficult for companies with less than 50 team members to switch to VoIP, to negotiate a competitive price, to get all the features they want, and not overspend on functionalities they don’t need. MightyCall strikes a careful balance between ease of use and a power-packed experience.

While it doesn’t cut any corners, the company has stepped back from building industry solutions or multiple integrations, the costs of which generally trickle down to the buyer.

Overall, MightyCall is a smart choice for a small team looking to deliver excellent customer support by integrating VoIP with their CRM.

FAQs

References

• MightyCall Wins Three G2 Summer 2023 Awards (Mighty Call)
• SourceForge Recognizes MightyCall as Category Top Performer (Mighty Call)
• FCC OKs Voluntary Experiments Testing Impact of Technology Transitions (FCC)
• Global VoIP Market Size To Grow USD 108.5 Billion By 2032 (GlobeNewswire)

The post MightyCall Review — How Good Is It Compared to Other VoIP Services in 2024? appeared first on The Tech Report.

Switching from one VoIP service to another is always a big decision. You’re overhauling your entire calling experience and providing users with a new interface.

You’re taking a leap, deciding to trust a provider you haven’t used previously. That’s why knowing how to migrate to another VoIP service is so important.

By understanding the exact details of the VoIP migration process and the do’s and don’ts of number porting, you can stay a step ahead of any challenges. That’s precisely what this guide helps you do. With our VoIP you will learn how to successfully migrate to a new VoIP system, the restrictions you may face, and the realistic expectations you need to set.

Surprisingly, VoIP migration can be simple and stress-free, as long as you know what to look out for.

What Is VoIP Number Porting?

VoIP number porting is available with all telecom providers in the United States, whether they are traditional carriers or Internet-based service providers. To understand this process better, you need to know what is Voice over Internet Telephony or VoIP.

VoIP is an Internet-based service that lets you make calls from a mobile app, desktop app, or network-enabled desk-phones anywhere in the world. When you choose to port your current number to a VoIP service, your customers and other callers can still dial your old number to reach you.

But now, the call will be routed via the Internet, supported by your new provider’s infrastructure. Thanks to the new infrastructure, you could see lower costs, greater reliability, a better app experience, and other benefits.

How Does Number Porting to a VoIP Provider Work?

Number porting to VoIP is straightforward: you purchase a VoIP subscription with another service, make an official request for porting from your old one, and all your telephony account details from your old carrier will be submitted to your new provider.

Your new telephony provider can obtain and reassign the phone number to your brand new VoIP account, which takes a few days. Number portability is possible because of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which made Local Number Portability (LNP) mandatory for all telcos in the US.

The Numbering Portability Administration Center (NPAC) was founded to support business and private consumers looking to migrate to another VoIP service or any other telecom carrier.

What NPAC does is maintain a giant database of phone number information for the US and Canada. It also provides functions like data administration, billing, and auditing. When you place a number porting request, it will go through the NPAC. For the customer, number porting is a documentation-based process.

You will gather all of your account details, formalize the information as a porting request, and submit it to the new VoIP provider. Many VoIP companies offer a step-by-step workflow to simplify how these documents are collected. For example, here’s what the number-porting form looks like if you subscribe to Ooma.

Once the documentation is submitted, the new provider works to acquire the number from the old provider in accordance with NPAC rules. When the number becomes available, they simply reassign it to your new VoIP account.

Should You Port Your Phone Number to a VoIP Provider?

This is a tricky question, and the answer varies from one customer to another. Typically, there are two situations when you might ask how to migrate to another VoIP service:

1. you want to cut the cord and move up from landlines, or
2. you want to switch to a cheaper and/or more powerful VoIP solution.

In the first instance, the benefits of VoIP vs landline are well-established. VoIP is more flexible, letting you make and receive calls from any location on any device. It offers extra features like an AI-based virtual receptionist or voicemail transcription. In the long term, VoIP is also cheaper.

So, if you’re a landline user wondering whether you should port your phone number to a VoIP provider, the answer is YES. Remember, several countries are even switching off their landline systems, and the US plans on doing the same in a phased-out manner.

You may also want to switch from one VoIP provider to another without losing your existing phone number. This could make sense for a lot of reasons, a big one being costs. Ooma, for example, costs $19.95/month/user, whereas RingCentral starts at $30/month/user, including a discount of $10.

If your business has more than 50 employees, switching VoIP services (with the right planning) can save you a lot of money.

Another good reason to switch is so you can access new features. This could be more hardware options like Wi-Fi phones if you’re switching to Ooma from a different VoIP provider, or it could be low-cost unlimited calling if you are moving to Vonage.

If you’re already a VoIP user wondering whether you should port your number to a different service, the answer is: it depends on your unique business needs.

Porting your phone number has its pros and cons:

Fortunately, whatever your reason, the 1996 act by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gives you the freedom and the right to take your number to any carrier or software you choose.

We definitely recommend opting for number portability since it makes it easier for your customers to reach you. It also ensures a consistent brand image and business continuity without causing any downtime.

VoIP Porting Requirements and Restrictions

Once you’ve made up your mind to port a phone number to VoIP, the next step is to cover all the porting requirements. This includes:

1. Ensuring that the New VoIP Provider Offers Geographic Coverage

When local number portability rules were first formulated, they were meant to enable porting within the same area. This is because traditional landlines used area codes, and even if you switched carriers, you had to stick to the same area code.

The area code restriction no longer applies when you opt for a VoIP service. Since it uses the Internet, the company can assign any number from any area to your new connection. Still, you may want to double-check whether your new VoIP supports the region where your business operates and if they’ll port your old area code.

2. Keeping the Old Phone Number Active

Often, customers will submit a service cancellation request along with their number porting request. They want to save time by switching off their old service and porting the phone number in one go.

However, this is technically not possible. You need an active telephone number for the new VoIP provider to be able to acquire and assign it to the new VoIP account once it’s up. Never cancel your previous service until the VoIP migration process is complete.

3. Having the Authorized Contact at Hand

Only the user who opened the telephony account can close it. Let’s say your business is currently using a VoIP service that’s become too bloated, expensive, and inefficient over time. This service was initially subscribed to by your company’s co-founder, with whom you’ve parted ways.

You’ll need to have the authorized contact at hand when you’re looking into how to migrate to another VoIP service. The same name and signature must be used to close the account as used when opening it.

If the person is unavailable for any reason, reach out to your existing provider to change the authorized contact information first. Updating these details will take a few days, so make sure to factor that into your VoIp migration timeline.

4. Knowing your PIN Number

Even if you don’t use it every day, your PIN number is a useful piece of information for the VoIP migration process.

Your old provider may ask you for your PIN number due to security reasons or simply to make the process slightly more complex so you reconsider.

The new provider may request the PIN number so they can communicate with your old provider on your behalf.

The PIN number is a four-digit number that the administrator uses when calling customer support. It identifies you as an authorized person when making changes to the phone setup. You’ll find the phone number in the profile information of your existing account.

Common Restrictions on VoIP Migration and Porting

VoIP migration and porting is a legally mandated telephony feature as per the FCC. That said, you may face a few speed bumps when you’re trying to migrate to a new VoIP service.

How to Migrate From One VoIP Service to Another

Now, let’s look at the steps involved in migrating to another VoIP service by porting your number.

1. Gather Your Account Data

This is the first, and often most cumbersome step when porting numbers. Many businesses have used the same telecom provider for a long time, so the information may be out of date. Staffing changes in your IT team can also lead to knowledge gaps. In some cases, the old provider may delay the furnishing of information so you hold onto their service for a longer period of time.

Be patient and request for detailed and complete data. This is usually available in the form of a Customer Service Report (CSR), which is a consolidated document with all your account info.

Other documentation is easy to find, such as your most recent phone bill. Go ahead and submit your phone bill and any other information you may have to your new provider. A simple email should do, while you complete the rest of the steps in the VoIP number porting process.

2. Submit the Letter of Authorization

The LOA, also known as the Responsible Organization Change Authorization or a RespOrg form, ratifies your decision to transfer a phone number from your old carrier to a new one.

VoIP companies may call the LOA by different names – for example, Vonage calls it the Number Transfer Authorization (NTA) form. No matter which VoIP provider you choose, the form will look something like this, or its digital equivalent:

Source

Submit the form to your new provider and let your old provider know that you have decided to port out, if you haven’t done so already. In some countries like the UK, the new VoIP provider will ask for a Porting Authorization Code (PAC), which your old provider will give you.

Take time with this step, as the details on your LOA must exactly match your old customer records. Refer to the documentation you’ve already gathered when filling out the form. This will help avoid any mismatch and having to start the VoIP number porting process all over again.

Sign the LOA either manually or using a legally binding e-signature tool. If you have furnished a digital form, ask your new provider for a confirmation e-mail and a PDF copy.

3. Wait for the Port to Complete

From here on, your new VoIP service provider takes over the reins of the porting process. However, you need to stay vigilant and keep a close watch to ensure everything happens smoothly. Remember, while your phone numbers are transferred from one provider to another, both subscriptions are active and alive.

As we mentioned, a VoIP company can only port a number that’s currently in use. During the few weeks of the transfer process, you’ll be paying for both subscriptions.

It isn’t uncommon for VoIP companies to face roadblocks like data mismatch when porting numbers for their customers. If that happens, they’ll reach out to you.

Maintain communication with your previous carrier and politely ask the account executive to resolve any queries promptly.

Apart from this, all you can do now is wait for the port to complete. Your new VoIP provider will send you an email once this is done. The final step is to contact your old provider, pay any outstanding dues, and cancel the service so you can stop paying duplicated fees.

VoIP Number Porting Examples, Step by Step

If you’re still wondering how to migrate to another VoIP service, in this section, we explain the process with real-world examples.

Let’s say you are migrating to a new solution like Ooma. Typically, you’ll see a web-based admin interface where you can complete the entire process. For Ooma, this is the Ooma Office Manager. From the Account tab on top, you can navigate to the porting module, where you can start the transfer.

You’ll see a similar option from the Vonage dashboard, another popular VoIP service provider. In the case of Vonage, you have the option of either typing in the numbers you want to port or uploading a list of phone numbers in a tabular format.

Ooma will take you through all of the steps involved in the LOA right from the Office Manager portal. First, it will ask for a few key details about your old connection.

Next, it will ask for the main account number as well as all the phone numbers you want to port.

In step three, you’ll be asked to enter your account information, such as your business name, primary user name, and address. Make sure these correspond exactly with your old account details that are stored with your existing telephone service provider.

Finally, you enter your new primary number and accept the terms & conditions of the application.

Almost every VoIP solution provider will follow a similar process. For example, after you enter all the numbers you want to port to Vonage, you will enter your business details using this form.

Vonage will then show you a summary of the transfer order, and once you submit the LOA, you’ll receive a VoIP number porting confirmation email. The step may also involve a digital signature, as in the case of Vonage.

Once you’ve submitted the LOA, an option to monitor its status will appear on your VoIP admin dashboard. This lets you monitor the process more closely and also makes it a lot easier to wait for the porting to finish.

How Long Does It Take to Migrate to Another VoIP?

On paper, Federal Communications Communication (FCC) rules state that simple ports that don’t involve more than one line should be processed in one business day. If you are switching from one wireless service provider to another, the FCC says that you “may be able to use your phone within a few hours.”

In reality, however, these rules are not that strictly upheld in the US. In the UK, for example, communication companies may have to pay thousands of dollars in fines if they hold customers back from porting numbers easily and quickly. Since the FCC doesn’t impose any such penalty, the VoIP number porting process may stretch to a few weeks.

To speed up the migration, there are a few things you can do:

Bonus: Need Help Finding the Right VoIP Service?

To make all the effort you put into number porting worth it, you need to choose the best VoIP service for your company. Ooma, Vonage, RingCentral, Nextiva, Phone.com, and 8×8 are some of the leading Voice over Internet Protocol companies today.

So, if you’re not happy with your current calling experience, consider porting your number(s) to one of these top services. This will allow you to maintain business continuity while benefiting from a better, more powerful offering.

Ooma is great for small and mid-sized businesses: it costs $19.95/month/user and $9.95/month/number for every additional phone number.

Ooma has advanced hardware if you need it, and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it out before you commit.

Vonage is another excellent VoIP service for businesses of all sizes, especially if you’re looking for customer engagement tools as well. Pricing starts at $13.99/month/user (including a 30% discount) for unlimited domestic calling). Its USP is a massive integration marketplace.

When porting your old number to a new service, look for benefits other than cost savings. Features like artificial intelligence, contact center support, a smarter user interface, and detailed analytics can make a big difference to your business operations.

This ensures you see maximum returns from your VoIP number porting efforts.

Our Other VoIP Guides

Find the answers to your VoIP migration queries in our detailed resources and guides. Check them out here:

VoIP Migration Takeaways

How to migrate to another VoIP service is a question that you’ll ask sooner or later as a VoIP power user. In a fast-growing market, companies are eager to offer feature-rich and often better-priced alternatives. If you’re still using landlines, then porting to VoIP is inevitable.

The process is simple and straightforward but comprises several steps that need doing correctly. Make sure you meet the prerequisites, like having an active account and being within VoIP coverage.

Then, gather all your data and submit the LOA. Let your old provider know that you’re looking to port out. Monitor the porting process, address any objections quickly, and cancel the old service after the number porting is complete.

Make sure to select the right VoIP provider for your company, as this will guarantee you’re making a wise investment that also works out in the long-run.

FAQs

References

• FCC OKs Voluntary Experiments Testing Impact of Technology Transitions (FCC)
• Porting: Keeping Your Phone Number When You Change Providers (FCC)
• Ofcom fines company £50,000 for breaking number porting rules (TTNC)
• Verizon establishes four IP VoIP interconnection agreement (Fierce Telecom)

The post How to Migrate to Another VoIP in 2024: Complete Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on The Tech Report.

If you’re looking to you move up from Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), you’re in the right place. Our Nextiva review takes you through one of the most popular Internet-based calling systems today. For this review, we tested the Nextiva phone system, evaluated its other business offerings, and took a cold, hard look at the quality of Nextiva support.

Among other findings, the Essential package includes video calling and toll-free numbers – features that usually cost extra and are only available in more premium plans. On the other hand, Nextiva does not have an app marketplace, choosing to bundle a few select integrations with its phone system instead.

Read on to know if Nextiva is the right choice for your business communication needs and discover some of the other alternatives that can get the job done.

What is Nextiva Inc?

Nextiva’s core products include internal phone systems and customer communication. You can set up both inbound and outbound calling through its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, which powers most of the company’s other offerings. To strengthen your business’s online presence, you can also make use of Nextiva’s social media and reputation management tools.

As we’ll explore in our review of Nextiva, it has a suite of built-in apps and tools that you can pepper across the communication experience, including tools for sales, automation, and analytics. Over the years, Nextiva has built a strong reputation for itself in the market and is trusted by a number of Fortune 500 companies, including Cisco, Panasonic, Amazon, and more.

US News voted Nextiva the “Best Business Phone System” four years in a row. It strengthened its portfolio through smart acquisitions – in 2023, it picked up AI company Simplify360 for its customer experience management capabilities.

Unlike other companies of its size (think Vonage or 8×8), Nextiva Inc. is a private company and is not publicly traded on the stock exchange.

How Does Nextiva Work?

Nextiva works using Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP technology that converts the analog signals of our voice into a digital format so that it can travel across the internet to reach the call recipient. On the receiver’s end, the signal is converted back to analog, so it appears just like any other telephone call.

During our Nextiva review and test, we found that Nextiva offers high-definition VoIP that’s specifically designed for business use. The service uses special codecs like G.711μ (a universal standard in audio signal processing) to compress and decompress audio with minimal to no loss of quality.

Nextiva’s functionality also allows it to change the audio experience as per your available network. Keep in mind that you need an Internet connection that can guarantee at least 120 Kbps for HD audio calls., and around 2 Mbps for reliable video conferencing.

Nextiva will automatically adapt to your network and optimize VoIP calling for nearly every phone and mobile device that meets or exceeds this threshold. This brings us to the question of devices: where do you use Nextiva?

The answer is, pretty much everywhere. The VoIP service works on virtually every device via the NextivaONE app, a softphone app for remote and hybrid work. It is compatible with Windows and Linux desktops, iPhones, and Android phones, and you can switch between devices seamlessly.

Like most VoIP solutions, Nextiva supports dedicated hardware called IP phones. A wide range of desk phones available at an affordable price, and you can start renting hardware for as little as $4.60/month.

What Sets Nextiva Apart From Other VoIPs?

While we tested Nextiva’s functionalities, several features stood out compared to our experience with other VoIP services. Here is a quick rundown of the differentiators you can expect with this VoIP platform:

1. A Robust Basic Plan

Most Internet calling companies provide some sort of a basic or free VoIP plan or the other, and this applies to Nextiva as well. But what really stood out was the number of features available with the basic plan – called Essential.

It has unlimited voice and video calling; for comparison, the same tier in Vonage does not support video. It also supports a few integrations, such as Outlook and Google Contacts, which are also hard to find in basic plans with other providers. Finally, you get toll-free numbers even with this entry-level Nextiva service. A feature unavailable in similar-priced offerings by 8×8, RingCentral, and Vonage.

2. Excellent Analytics

Nextiva’s data capabilities set it apart from other VoIPs. You can gain value from its analytics features in a number of ways. Call Pop is one such functionality, where customer data intelligence “pops” up wherever there is an inbound call to your company. You will be able to see their contact details, experience analytics, lifetime value, and more.

Nextiva provides analytics insights into the customer experience. While this isn’t related to the Nextiva phone system per se, it is a handy tool for those relying on Nextiva CRM (customer relationship management).

3. No-Code Automation

The company’s VoIP call services tie in seamlessly with the rest of your business productivity systems. This is due to its automation capabilities, which are hard to find in most Voice over IP providers. In the case of Vonage, for instance, you’d have to use Zapier to set up automated workflows. Nextiva offers a simpler, more integrated experience.

For example, you can drag and drop sales leads on the pipeline, add stages, and create automated actions for every stage of the sale. In the Call Pop, as well, it will automatically recommend which tools and resources you might need during the call based on customer intelligence.

4. Extensive Hardware Offerings

Several VoIP providers – like Ooma – offer hardware to accompany their IP telephony services, but Nextiva’s catalog is particularly expansive. Interestingly, there are very few Nextiva-branded VoIP devices. Instead, the company partners with some of the US’ top telephony hardware manufacturers to offer phones and other devices to its customers at a discounted rate.  The catalog includes:

Companies of every size and in every industry are sure to find a suitable solution from this hardware catalog.

Summarizing Nextiva’s Pros and Cons

Next up in our Nextiva VoIP review we look at the advantages and disadvantages of using this Voice over IP phone service. Nextiva’s ratings on trusted portals like Business.com (9 out of 10) and Gartner Peer Insights (4.5 out of 5) suggest that the pros outweigh the cons by a significant margin. With that said, let’s dive into the positives and negatives we found in our Nextiva tests.

Overall, Nextiva offers a good balance of features for businesses of every size, but we felt it does have a strong enterprise focus. Its Enterprise plan is truly comprehensive, which is probably why companies like Netflix and Amazon count themselves among Nextiva customers.

How Much Does Nextiva Cost?

Nextiva phone plans cost between $17.95 and $37.95 per month per user, depending on the subscription and the number of employees you wish to enroll. This places the VoIP service at the slightly higher end of the spectrum when it comes to Internet telephony pricing.

For comparison, Phone.com starts at $12.74/month/user for its basic plan, Mighty Call costs $15, and Ooma and RingCentral both cost around $20.

Here is a quick look at Nextiva’s current costs for a company with a 100+ headcount.

A few observations about the pricing model from our Nextiva test. The more users you enroll, the less you pay. For example, the same Essential plan costs $23.95 if you sign up for 1-4 users per month. Nextiva charges an activation fee of $99 plus taxes for accounts of 2 users or less. Long-term agreements get an extra discount.

For instance, the Essential plan costs $22.95/month/user for a 12-month agreement. But it will cost you $17.95 when you prepay for three years.

Like most cloud-based software companies, annual plans cost significantly less than monthly ones, with up to 28% savings.

Integrations don’t have any extra costs as they’re built into the three plans. The same applies to Nextiva customer support.

Other Nextiva Offerings

In addition to the Nextiva business phone system, there’s also the Nextiva Contact Center, which has a separate pricing model. If you’re looking to build a cloud-based contact center instead of using POTS landline systems or cellphone numbers, these are your options:

You can contact Nextiva for an exact quote based on your number of agents and feature requirements. We tried doing so for our Nextiva review, and we can tell you that the pricing will start at $50-100/month/user. Importantly, there’s no setup fee involved in any of these plans.

A quick note on Nextiva hardware costs: it partners with top manufacturers like Yealink, Polly, Cisco, Blackwire, and Snom to make good VoIP hardware available at competitive rates. You can also rent IP phones starting at $4.60/month.

In terms of social media and reputation management, Nextiva offers a consolidated inbox for all your online mentions and messages, online review management, social media calendars, analytics, and more. Pricing starts at $149/month for the primary user and $99 for every additional user.

A Look at Nextiva’s Core Features

Nextiva can involve a sizable outlay for a mid-sized company with 50-100 users or more. So, what are the features you can expect from your investment? Here is a detailed rundown of all that Nextiva has to offer:

The Nextiva Phone System

The phone system has a number of useful features like:

• Unlimited calling in North America, unlimited fax, and unlimited conferencing
• Free local phone number and toll-free number
• Porting of existing numbers to Nextiva
• VoIP caller ID and Do Not Disturb mode

Auto-Attendant for Calls

The auto-attendant service deserves special mention. You can set up a custom greeting that customers will hear when they call, even if no one is available to pick up the phone right away. The attendant also has conversational AI capabilities. It uses artificial intelligence to understand what the customer is saying and, accordingly, direct them to the right agent or the menu option.

Productivity Features

In addition to the Nextiva business phone system, you can access a host of productivity features right within the app. Simply click on a contact’s name, choose the chat option, and start interacting with them via chat and file sharing.

To support productivity, Nextiva facilitates rooms where you can share ideas with team members. Rooms are essentially productivity groups where you can collaborate, share files, conduct video meetings, etc.

Some of the other productivity features available with Nextiva include:

Customer Experience Management

Nextiva makes it easier for businesses to engage with customers. It also helps gather customer data in one place where everyone can see it and act on it. These features are embedded within the Business phone system when you subscribe to a mid-tier or Enterprise-level plan.

Some of the more advanced features, like customer journey analytics, may be available at an additional fee.

During our tests, we came across a useful automation for customer experience management – automated messages. You can set up Nextiva to send an email or text to a customer at precisely the right moment on their journey, such as after a call or once they complete a survey.

Survey Tools

Nextiva has a surprisingly wide range of survey tools, given that it is mainly a Voice over IP phone service. You can keep your surveys short or make them more layered and detailed. You can choose different types of questions, and you can even send surveys to your employees.

Nextiva includes nine built-in question types. You can view survey results in real time, and save your survey templates for later use.

Contact Center Solutions

Contact center features form a big part of Nextiva’s suite of capabilities. Agents can handle both inbound and outbound calls. There’s an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) feature to automatically attend to callers until the agent is ready. Like most contact center tools, Nextiva has an auto-dialler system that lets you reach the maximum number of customers in a given period.

In addition to all of these features (which are the industry standard with most VoIP software), you’ll also get:

Online Reputation Monitoring and Management

This Nextiva feature is available separately from its VoIP call services, but connects with the softphone app so you can collaborate with your teammates. It lets you keep an eye on how your brand is doing on social media and other online platforms like Google Reviews or Amazon.

You can use Nextiva to schedule and publish posts. And you can respond to what your customers are saying online. Nextiva’s AI will analyze a review’s sentiment and come up with a suitable response automatically.

Integrations

Unlike some of the other VoIP providers, you don’t have to download or pay for integrations separately. Nextiva includes built-in integrations for popular business applications and custom Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for everything else. Enterprise and contact center customers can also make use of Software Development Kits (SDKs) to customize their apps further. Here’s the full list of integrations available with Nextiva:

Nextiva Customer Service Review

We tested that last one in closer detail. One of the questions customers often ask is, “Is Nextiva down?” To have a ready answer, Nextiva embeds its real-time systems status on the bottom of every public-facing web page. You can also visit status.nextiva.com any time to view the current status of its Voice over IP and other offerings.

For instance, it’ll also tell you if Nextiva CRM is operational and if any incident took place in the last seven days.

It’s worth noting that Nextiva’s real-time status visibility falls short of the exhaustive degree of insights we were able to get in our Vonage review. However, it does offer more information than several others like Ooma or Phone.com.

Coming back to our review of Nextiva support, we were happy to find that users have ready access to an exhaustive knowledge portal called the Nextiva Support Center. This acts as a hub for self-service as well as user training.

The portal has all the information you need to get started with the phone setup, app downloads, call flows, billing, surveys, and more. If you don’t find a solution to your problem within this knowledge repository, Nextiva offers quick links for its most commonly requested support services, such as password resets and product updates.

If self-service does not offer a resolution, you can chat with a Nextiva customer support executive right from the portal or submit a ticket explaining your issue.

Another highlight of Nextiva’s customer support is that they promise to answer 95% of all sales and support calls by the second ring. The company will do its best to ensure zero hold time during calls, which is good news for business users looking to get their communication issues resolved ASAP.

To maintain this quality of service, Nextiva sends out satisfaction surveys after every customer interaction.

How does Nextiva support stack up against the competition?

Nextiva is among the few companies to offer a universal support plan to all its customers. For example, RingCentral accounts with one user can access live phone support only between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. PT, Monday to Friday, excluding holidays. Ooma, too, is available on the phone only during limited hours of the day.

8×8 offers a comparable quality of customer support. It specifies an exact timeline of 30 minutes, 2 hours, or 4 hours – depending on the severity of your problem – in which they’ll respond.

A Quick Nextiva Alternatives Comparison

Before you can decide whether Nextiva is the right solution for you, consider alternatives like Ooma, Vonage, Phone.com, MightyCall, and RingCentral.

With advancements in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology and VoIP phone services, there are a few compelling options to choose from – often at a competitive price. Here’s how Nextiva compares to the best VoIP service providers today:

From our tests, we found that Nextiva offers an excellent package – all the features you expect, not so many bells and whistles (like fancy integrations), and solid support. Ooma comes close with its extensive international calling coverage and branded hardware offerings for both office and home VoIP use.

Is Nextiva Good? Here’s What Other Nextiva Reviews Say

In addition to our review and test, Nextiva ratings are pretty high across trusted forums like Gartner Peer Insights, G2, TrustRadius, Trustpilot, and Capterra.

On G2, it has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 with over 25000+ customer reviews. Support and pricing are some of its strengths, while the learning curve was challenging for a few users.

Nextiva ratings on Gartner are 4.5 out of 5 based on 600+ reviews. From evaluation to deployment and support, customers rate their experience positively at every step of the way.

TrustRadius scores software products on a scale of 1-10, and Nextiva stands at a strong 9.3. This is based on 88 reviews, 98% of which indicate that the customer would repurchase this VoIP service.

With over 2000 reviews on Trustpilot, Nextiva has earned a rating of 4.6 out of 5. The company is also very active on these platforms and quick to respond to both positive and negative reviews.

On Capterra, Nextiva is rated 4.4 out of 5 using information from 300+ customer reviews. Most users note that the platform is easy to use, well-designed, and value for money.

Check Out Other VoIP Guides

Choosing the right VoIP provider for your unique needs can be difficult. Check out our popular guides and resources in addition to our Nextiva review:

Why You Can Trust TechReport’s Review of Nextiva

We spent a lot of time exploring the NextivaONE app on different environments, including iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and even Linux. Cross-platform support is one of Nextiva’s strengths, and we are happy to report that regardless of your native OS, you can also take Nextiva for a test drive like us. The company offers a 7-day free trial, but only upon request.

In addition to our hands-on experience with Nextiva, we also conducted a deep dive into the product’s documentation, tutorials, and other resources. This gave us a 360-degree understanding of the learning curve and how the product would work in the long term.

To bolster the findings from our tests, we referred to past customer reviews of Nextiva on reputable forums such as G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, TrustRadius, and Gartner Peer Insights. This ensures that we bring you a balanced and unbiased perspective of how Nextiva works in real-world business use cases.

How to Get Started With Nextiva

To get started with Nextiva, visit the pricing page and choose a plan that suits your budget and team size. The interactive pricing calculator helps you toggle from 1-4 to 100+ users for a new account. You can also sign up for a monthly paid plan or an annual agreement.

Once you have subscribed, there are several ways to access the Voice over IP phone service. Simply head to the cp3.nextiva.com/Login/ page, and enter your credentials, or, download the right app for your OS. Once you have the NextivaONE app in place, here are the steps for getting started with the most popular features:

1. Setting Up a Desk Phone

When you log in to Nextiva, you will see one of the following two pages:

OR

If you see the first page, go to the user’s tab on the top menu. From there, navigate to manage users and click on the edit user button, which looks like a pencil. This will show you all your available devices. Choose the device you want, and change the credentials.

This process generates new credentials that you can now share with any user, so they can use VoIP calling on the device.

If you see the second page, click on Users, followed by Actions, and navigate to Voice Setup. This opens a pop-up window where you will see essential settings on the left. Select the phone you want and assign the VoIP number. The user is now ready to start making calls.

2. Using NextivaONE to make calls

In addition to physical phones, you can also make and receive calls from the NextivaONE app. Visit the company’s website or support portal to scan the QR code and download the app on any mobile device. The page also has links for desktop applications.

On the desktop version, NextivaONE has a really simple learning curve. The communication pane is on the left, where you’ll find your calling, messaging, and collaboration options. The extended menu is on the right, which has your calendar, contacts, storage, file sharing, and profile setting options.

By default, the app will show all your communications in one place. Use the filters to show unread communication updates, messages from different channels, or interactions with specific contents. Click on any communication to send the person a message or call them back.

On the top right corner, you will find the phone icon, which opens the dialler. You can also click on the Contacts button on the right to make calls.

3. Managing Nextiva Billing and Costs

All office manager and admin roles for Nextiva accounts have access to billing information. When you open the app or the Nextiva site, check the top of your main dashboard. Click on the billing tab to view your payment details and usage history.

Select the date range for which you want to view the billing history. Click on the Print button on the top right to generate invoices for your expense account.

4. Making a video call from Nextiva

Starting a video meeting with your teammate is a simple process. Go to contacts and open the call recipient’s contact card. You will see four buttons under their name – for calling, SMS, video, and chat. Click on the video button to jump into a meeting right away.

You can also click on the + button on the top right of your Nextiva app window to start a video meeting.

Should You Get Nextiva VoIP?

Nextiva is among the country’s top Voice over IP providers for a reason. It has a wide range of features, including unlimited calling and video, and excellent customer support. Small to mid-sized businesses looking to manage their online reputation and customer queries can do so using a centralized hub.

While Nextiva is a little more expensive than some of the alternatives, it also provides a lot of value, such as simple, zero-effort integrations and the option to lease hardware. Complementary toll-free minutes are also something that we appreciate.

The user experience is where Nextiva could likely do a little better. While the app is fast and smartly designed, it can be a little difficult to navigate for new users. Companies that want scores of integrations may find Nextiva a little lacking.

Overall, it scores major brownie points as a reliable, value-for-money VoIP service that will help you grow your business.

Nextiva Review FAQs

References

• Nextiva Acquires AI Company Simplify360
• What is G.711? And Why is this VoIP Codec Important?
• How Much Internet Does Video Conferencing Need?
• Nextiva – Customer Service Department of the Year | Stevie Awards
• Gartner Peer Insights Reviews for Nextiva Business Phone Service 

The post Nextiva Review – The Good and the Bad From Our Testing of This VoIP Service in 2024 appeared first on The Tech Report.

As businesses increasingly switch to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), our detailed Vonage review helps you decide on the best VoIP solution today and pits it against other alternatives.

Vonage was originally founded in 1998 as Min-X.com but was rebranded as Vonage in 2001, went public in 2006, and since 2013, it has acquired several technology companies to strengthen its business communication product.

Today, Vonage is a full-suite VoIP provider with solutions for contact centers and unified communications. Apart from Vonage Business, there’s also Vonage’s Home service for individuals. In this Vonage review, we discuss the pros and cons of Vonage and how it stacks up against other popular VoIP options.

What is Vonage Business?

Ericsson acquired Vonage in 2022 and further boosted Vonage’s considerable presence in the VoIP market with its technology. The company continues to operate independently, with its own solutions and pricing plans.

Vonage is great at what it does, receiving several awards in the VoIP and communications space. It was named:

• A Leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Communication Platforms as a Service (CPaaS).
• A 2023 Hot Vendor by Aragon Research

Beyond this, Frost & Sullivan has applauded the company for its market leadership in North America. With Vonage, you’ll get APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to provide your apps with communication capabilities, unlimited calling, a social CRM, and loads more that we’ll cover in-depth in this Vonage review.

How Does Vonage Work?

When you make a call, the device converts your voice into digital data that travels across the Internet to the call recipient. Once the data reaches its destination, Vonage transforms it back into an audio form that humans can understand.

To do this, Vonage uses a range of high-definition (HD) codecs for superior call quality, such as Opus and G.711u. Beyond this, if you have programming knowledge, you can also refer to Vonage’s API documentation to integrate its functionalities with your other applications.

For example, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform or an app you’re building from scratch. All settings and controls can be handled from Vonage’s web-based portals: the Admin Portal for the administrator and the User Portal for regular users.

Since our Vonage review focuses on telephony, we didn’t spend much time on how the contact center experience works. However, this is built on Vonage’s same, trusted VoIP infrastructure, coupled with advanced contact center software and various automations.

Another way it works for customer service is through conversational interfaces – i.e., messaging apps. For this, Vonage uses artificial intelligence.

Who is Vonage Best For?

Vonage is best for small to mid-sized enterprises, particularly the ones that operate in the retail industry. Aside from reliable VoIP, you also benefit from its internal communication solutions, Vonage Business Communication or VBC, contact center tools, and chat options.

Customer reviews of Vonage showcase its popularity across a range of industries, including real estate, government agencies, and finance.

From our experience, we’d say that Vonage is best for:

While our Vonage review focuses purely on its VoIP capabilities, it’s important to note that it offers all the bells and whistles for both home and business VoIP needs.

Vonage’s Pros and Cons

Like any VoIP solution, Vonage has its own upsides and downsides. We found that, in most cases, its benefits outweigh any disadvantages. Let’s review the pros and cons of Vonage in detail:

Exploring Vonage’s Pricing Plans

Vonage offers three VoIP pricing plans that you can tailor based on the size of your workforce. The higher the number of your employees, the lower your per-line Vonage cost:

Let’s now review the cost of Vonage across its three available pricing plans:

1. Mobile

A more descriptive name for this plan would be Vonage Business Essentials. You get one of the best softphone apps for smartphones and desktops, as well as unlimited domestic calling, SMS, and MMS. Vonage calls this its most basic plan, and it’ll cost you $14.99, $17.99, or $19.99 per month per line.

The pricing all depends on how many employees you have. For comparison, pricing for Phone.com starts at $12.74 for 500 minutes a month, and RingCentral‘s base plan costs $20, both of which make Vonage look quite good.

2. Premium

The Premium subscription includes everything in the Mobile one plus unlimited video meetings with up to 200 participants. You also get a virtual receptionist who will attend to calls when you’re not around, as well as analytics and reporting.

This is the cheapest Vonage plan that supports VoIP desk phones and other integrations. It’ll cost you $24.99, $27.99, or $29.99.

3. Advanced

This plan includes everything in Mobile and Premium plus a few enterprise features like single sign-on for added security. You also get on-demand call recordings, voicemail transcriptions, and call groups that let you route inbound calls to a fixed group of phone numbers or extensions.

The plan costs $34.99, $37.99, or $39.99. For companies with 100 or more employees, they’d have to schedule a call with sales for custom Vonage prices across all three plans.

Overall, the pricing is flexible, and we found the company’s interactive pricing calculator quite useful when choosing a plan for our test.

Other Vonage Offerings

While VoIP takes the spotlight in our Vonage review, let’s quickly look at the pricing considerations for some of the other Vonage offerings:

Based on our Vonage review and test, your Vonage monthly billing will usually reflect your real usage and business communication needs pretty accurately.

A Review of Vonage Business’ Core Features

Let’s now dive into our review of Vonage’s key business features:

The Admin Portal

The admin portal is a dashboard that lets you monitor and manage your business’s entire VoIP phone system. It has audit logs, analytics, billing visibility, and options to scale. From call history to active users, you can view all your important account details using this feature.

And you can add on new services, such as new business apps, as your communication needs change. Admins can log into the portal from any computer using their private credentials, while employees can manage their lines from the user portal.

SMS and MMS

With a US Vonage VoIP number, you can send and receive SMS and MMS anywhere in the world. This is available on any device, even your personal computer, and when you make calls, the recipient will be able to view only your work number and identification.

This way, Vonage protects your personal privacy while giving you the convenience of making work calls from personal devices.

VoIP Calling

You can make and receive VoIP calls using the app on your mobile, desktop version, or desk phone if you have a Premium plan. We found the call quality to be excellent in good network conditions, and you can also enjoy video conferencing built-in, so you won’t have to worry about paying for a separate tool for this.

Vonage also supports VoIP calling to other countries. You can make calls to 50+ countries in total, and the locations are classified into two tiers. Pricing for Tier 1 countries starts at $50 for 1,000 minutes per month, and Tier 2 starts at $110 for 1,000 minutes per month.

Receptionist Console

The receptionist console is a special feature available to US and UK customers. It makes it possible for a front-of-desk employee to handle up to 50 concurrent calls. To get started, the admin must set up a user or extension with the Receptionist Console.

Once this is done, the user can log in from their user portal to start navigating multiple calls simultaneously. All plans come with one Receptionist Console extension, and you can assign multiple extensions as the Receptionist by paying an additional fee.

Team Messaging and Chat

Participate in group chats, send and receive files, exchange SMS, and enjoy voice and video calls from the VBC app. We’ll look at the user interface and UX for this feature further down in our Vonage review. It’s neat that the same interface lets you communicate with colleagues and customers alike.

Work From Anywhere

Need to work from home? No problem. Vonage’s Work from Anywhere feature gives you an end-to-end business telephony experience at home. You can transfer calls to your cell phones, route calls to multiple phones simultaneously, and access all the features from Vonage’s desktop, web, and mobile apps.

While remote working is technically possible with most VoIP solutions, Vonage allows ultra-portability. You can plug your desk phone away and join using your high-speed home Internet for a similar experience. This includes classic contact center features like ringing multiple phones at the same time.

Voicemail

We were impressed by Vonage’s powerful voicemail-handling capabilities. You can automatically send voicemail messages to your email, and the user portal gives you four options to choose from when setting your voicemail greeting, as shown below. Transcriptions cost $4.99 per month per extension.

A Rundown of Vonage For Home’s Features

In addition to Vonage Business, individual users can also consider a separate VoIP home service from the company. It comprises a VoIP adapter and an Internet-based calling service, which, as we discovered in our VoIP vs Landline analysis, costs much less than a traditional landline.

Vonage For Home is best for consumer use or even for solopreneurs looking to build a highly productive office right from their residential address. Here’s an overview of Vonage for Home’s core features:

Vonage for Home costs $9.99/month for the domestic plan and $14.99/month for the international plan, and no annual contract is necessary. You can also benefit from the 30-day money-back guarantee, which isn’t yet available with Vonage for Business.

A Look at Vonage’s Interface

One aspect that consistently stands out in Vonage reviews is its user interface. We found both the desktop and mobile apps easy to use. For our Vonage iPhone app review, we could download the VoIP software directly from the App Store.

It also offers a web app that you can start using directly from your browser using your Vonage Business credentials or single sign-on if you’re an Advanced user. Here are the highlights of the Vonage user interface:

When we first opened the Vonage VBC desktop app, we found it minimalist in design. The navigation bar is on the left, and you can scroll up and down to check out its many features. Right at the bottom, there’s the dialer, where you can quickly place a VoIP call to any number.

Right on the top left-hand side, you’ll find the “New” button where you can start new interactions. As a company installs additional features and plug-ins, they’ll all turn up on the navigation pane. We found keyboard shortcuts like control + shift + A (to answer calls) extremely handy.

The mobile app is equally easy to use and synchronizes with the desktop experience. The caller ID will always show your business name when you make VoIP calls from the Vonage mobile app and never your personal information.

The mobile app can be used as a file-sharing tool, letting you add attachments, and we were happy to see download options for iPads as well.

What Integrations Does Vonage Support?

Depending on the Vonage solution you choose — UC or CC — you can download and install your preferred integrations. Some of the popular integrations include:

• Salesforce CRM ($4.99/month) to create centralized call logs. Customer info from your CRM will also pop up in the Vonage calling interface, so you can access your contacts right from the dialer.
• Microsoft Teams (free) so you can make Vonage calls from the Teams interface, taking advantage of Vonage’s reliable VoIP infrastructure.
• G Suite (free) enjoy the Vonage calling experience from Google Apps such as Gmail, Calendar, Tasks, etc. Keep in mind that this isn’t an integration with all of Google’s tools.
• Zapier (existing Zapier plan required), where you can create automated events in Vonage. For example, a new incoming call can act as a trigger for another task, like starting a recording. Zapier also provides Vonage-specific templates.

Apart from this, Vonage integrates with payment solutions, healthcare apps, authentication tools, applicant tracking systems, and other industry-specific systems. The integration marketplace is impressive, but we’ve found that this is the case with many VoIP services we’ve tested.

For example, RingCentral offers tools for legal, financial, and enterprise resource planning (ERP).

Vonage’s Uptime and Security

Vonage offers 99.999% uptime, commonly known as Five-Nines availability. Overall, you should expect less than 6 minutes of downtime per year, which puts Vonage on par with other industry leaders like 8×8 and RingCentral.

We could check the real-time status of Vonage Business C communication Systems directly from the online portal, too, which also shows all previous downtime incidents. Companies like RingCentral also publicly disclose their real-time availability and uptime status, but Vonage’s downtime history is far more detailed.

When it comes to VoIP security, Vonage products are audited for compliance by independent third parties, including ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, SOC, HITRUST, and CSA STAR.

The company has also completed Level 1 self-assessment as per CSA STAR, and it complies with the strict standards of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the General Data Protection (GDPR) to protect your users’ data. It’s safe to say VoIP compliance won’t be an issue with Vonage.

How Does Vonage Compare Against Other Leading VoIP Services?

The global VoIP market was worth $40.2 billion in 2022 and will cross $100 billion in the next 10 years. Here are the big names in the industry to show you how Vonage stacks up against its competitors:

To review Vonage in more detail and to see how it stacks against the competition, check out our comparison and review of the best VoIP solutions.

Vonage vs 8×8 in 2024

While we haven’t mentioned 8×8 in the previous table, it’s among the most popular VoIP solutions today. No Vonage review would be complete without a look at how it compares to 8×8.

Founded in 1987 as an integrated design circuit firm, 8×8 relaunched as a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service in 2000 and acquired several companies over the next few years to shore up its calling capabilities.

There are a few similarities between the two companies. Like Vonage, 8×8 is also a publicly traded company. Both support unlimited calling and UC + CC offerings. However, one important difference is the absence of pricing transparency with 8×8. You’d have to request a quote across all solution tiers.

The X2 tier costs $24 per user per month, and the X4 tier $44. This is significantly more than Vonage. Further, there’s no way to opt for a basic 8×8 solution if you don’t want all the bells and whistles.

8×8’s partner ecosystem is also limited, with only 58 integrations in its app marketplace, much less than Vonage’s 100+. We also found 8×8’s CPaaS offerings underwhelming when compared to Vonage.

One place where 8×8 does shine, however, is its industry solutions. It has tailored offerings for different sectors like education, transportation, manufacturing, and a few others.

Overall, Vonage offers greater versatility in terms of the different sizes of businesses it can support, as well as its CPaaS market presence. Its transparent pricing is also a welcomed aspect.

How Good is Vonage? What Other Vonage Reviews Say

In addition to our experience with this VoIP, we found other largely favorable reviews of Vonage. Vonage ratings are 4.5 on Gartner Peer Insights, with its best ratings in product capabilities and the evaluation aspect of the customer experience. Here’s an example of a Vonage VoIP review on Gartner Peer Insights:

On G2, it has a rating of 4.3 out of 5 and is among the top 50 in its category. Customers appreciate the ease of use, the convenience of the mobile app, and the integrated interface. Here’s an example of Vonage customer reviews on G2:

Vonage has a rating of 7.2 out of 10 on TrustRadius. The most well-reviewed Vonage features include messaging alerts and iOS apps. Check out this detailed Vonage business phone review on TrustRadius:

Overall, Vonage boasts a great reputation which puts it at the forefront of the VoIP industry for both business and residential needs.

Our Other VoIP Guides

We’ve got loads of useful resources to help you navigate the complicated world of VoIP solutions and make the best choice for your company. Feel free to check out our popular VoIP guides:

• What is VoIP? The Definitive Guide to VoIP
• VoIP vs Landline — Everything You Need to Know
• Best Mobile VoIP Solutions
• What is a VoIP Number & How Does it Work?
• VoIP Security: The Ultimate Guide to Encryption and Vulnerabilities
• How to Choose a VoIP Provider (Beginner’s Guide)
• The Best VoIP Services Compared and Reviewed

Why You Can Trust Our Review of Vonage

We started the review process by installing the mobile app, which is the company’s lowest-tier offering, and also conducted detailed testing of the desktop platform. This included its key functionalities (VoIP and others) and the end-to-end user experience, and we tried out some of the common integrations during this process.

In addition to our experience with Vonage, we’ve referred to customers’ opinions from small businesses to large enterprises. We analyzed reviews from leading forums such as TrustRadius, Gartner Peer Insights, and G2 to refine our conclusions.

Our experience with leading VoIP providers like Ooma, 8×8, RingCentral, and others gives us a unique perspective when comparing and reviewing Vonage.

How to Use Vonage — A Step-By-Step Guide

To start using Vonage, first subscribe to a plan from the company’s pricing page. You’ll have to speak with a Vonage sales executive, choose a plan as per your organizational needs, and obtain the necessary credentials.

You may receive a 30% Off Monthly Plan Fee discount during checkout, available for a limited period. Once this process is over, getting started with Vonage is as easy as opening the web app to access the Admin Portal. Here is a step-by-step guide:

1. Accessing the Admin Portal

To access the Admin Portal, enter the URL admin.vonage.com into your browser. From the login screen, enter your credentials to start using Vonage Business.

From the Admin Portal, you can access and configure other core features like the phone system, business apps, your company’s account details, and more. Keep in mind that all the applications, including desktop and mobile, need to be downloaded separately.

2. Setting up the Phone System

To set up the phone system, log into the Admin portal and head to the Account Summary section from the left navigation pane. The setup process is quite simple, which was a highlight in our review of Vonage’s phone service.

From here, you can click on any extension to edit it, which includes assigning users, changing the extension number, setting up call forwarding, etc. Similarly, you’ll be able to view all the users and devices associated with your company account and edit their details.

3. Managing Applications

By default, Vonage has two apps – the Business Inbox and the Receptionist Console. As per our Vonage app review, the first one lets you send and receive text messages. As an Admin, you can view all the messages within the organization.

You can also add an extra Inbox from the Admin Portal. Similarly, the Receptionist Console is another app available from the portal. You can set up its extension, call handling rules, greetings, etc., from the Business Apps section on the left navigation pane.

4. Overseeing Billing

VoIP cost management is an important task for any company, and Vonage’s billing module is helpful here. You can track billing and payment history in real-time from the left navigation pane.

The module consolidates your past invoices, open orders, payment information, and payment schedules. As part of billing, you can also manage the different services you subscribed to. Click on a service to add or remove any extensions linked to it.

5. Analyzing Reports

At the very bottom of the navigation pane, you’ll find the Reports Section. This includes analytics from your calls, user activity, live call queues, call quality, and more.

If you create and save a report, these will show up here as well. Click on the Subscribe icon for a report to receive it via email on the following day. The Vonage mobile app provides a similar experience on a smartphone or tablet.

For end-users, the Admin Portal is replaced by the User Portal with slightly fewer functionalities. For example, regular users will not be able to view organization-wide call analytics in the same level of detail.

Vonage Review Conclusion — Is Vonage Worth It?

At a starting price of $14.99 per month per line, Vonage is worth the effort it takes to set up. It offers unlimited domestic calling, an easy-to-use mobile and desktop app, and a smartly designed user experience.

You can add as many features, integrations, and add-ons as you need in a full-fledged unified communications landscape. Or, you can keep it very simple with only a mobile app or even a residential VoIP number and benefit from Vonage’s robust infrastructure.

The only downside is that the complexity of features may be overwhelming for some, particularly solo users. The lack of visual analytics (like graphs or heat maps) may be a disadvantage for certain users. Also, some add-ons and third-party integrations will cost extra.

However, we still found the billing management process for Vonage and its integrations much simpler than competitors like Microsoft Teams VoIP. There are no hidden fees, and you can avoid exceeding your monthly budget.

For businesses looking for a scalable VoIP solution that can scale to meet contact center and conversational commerce needs, Vonage is a solid option. It’s also suitable for solo professionals looking for a mobile-based VoIP workhorse.

FAQs

References

• Global Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Market Size To Grow USD 108.5 Billion By 2032 – GlobeNewswire
• CSA Star Level 1 Self-Assessment – Cloud Security Alliance
• Latest Research From Aragon Research – Aragon Research
• What is An API? – FreeCodeCamp

The post A Full Vonage Review From Our Testing of This VoIP Service in 2024 appeared first on The Tech Report.

Business communication systems are now central to every organization’s success, and knowing the difference between VoIP vs landline can help you make the right decisions for your team and support all of their communication needs.

The main difference between VoIP vs landline is that VoIP relies on the Internet to connect the caller to one or more call recipients, while landlines use physical wires known as the Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTN.

In this article, we’ll go over how VoIP differs from landlines in terms of costs, functionalities, and flexibility, and we’ll go over all the core business considerations. We’ll also cover the pros and cons of VoIP vs landlines and compare the best VoIP services on the market today.

The Key Difference Between VoIP and Landline

Desk phones and landlines were the traditional services used for business telephony since the 1900s, but with the explosive growth of mobile phones and the Internet, their usage began to decline in the 2000s.

Interestingly, it’s the Internet that would define the key characteristics of the VoIP vs landline debate. Hence, Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is a new kind of telephony that came to the forefront in the late 90s.

From the 2000s until the pandemic and the post-pandemic period, which necessitated remote communication at scale, VoIP has found its place as the most popular business communications system of our time.

Today, VoIP is widely used for Internet-based telephone calls, as well as data communications – e.g., softphone apps installed on a computer. Here’s a full overview of how VoIP compares to landlines.

What is VoIP and How Does it Work?

VoIP works by converting the caller’s voice, which is an analog frequency, into digital data. This data can be sent across the Internet in real-time and received on the call recipient’s device, where the frequencies are converted back into a form that humans can understand.

This job of conversion is performed by programs called codecs (short for compression and decompression). Modern VoIP solutions like Ooma, Vonage, Nextiva, and others enable data communications via VoIP.

Ooma, for example, supports advanced codecs like G.722 and OPUS for clear audio and minimal call dropping.

It’s also worth noting that VoIP services can work via VoIP applications installed on computers and other devices, called softphone apps. Some are also compatible with traditional telephones, i.e., landlines, by working through a VoIP adapter.

What are Landlines and How Do They Work?

A major difference in the case of landline vs VoIP is that the call signal remains in its original analog state as it’s transferred from the originating device to the network to the recipient’s device.

Landlines can work using a variety of wiring systems, such as the Plain Old Telephone Service or POTS networks comprising copper wires. Some landlines may even rely on fiber telephone wires to transfer the analog audio signal.

When you have a landline phone on business premises, it’ll be connected to the company’s Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system at the backend. The signal passes through the PBX, traveling across a network of wires and switches until it reaches the recipient’s premises.

Landline phones are identified using local area codes and extension numbers so that the signal knows which building it’s intended to reach and the specific device within that building.

As such, due to this fixed identification system, changing your landline number or adding a new one can be a time and effort-intensive process, but having these area codes does make them reliable in emergency situations.

VoIP vs Landlines Summary

As such, VoIP solutions can work using any kind of Internet system, be it Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) lines, Software-Defined Networking (SDN), or Wi-Fi. For this reason, it’s a popular choice among businesses of all sizes, including home offices.

Beyond this, VoIP connections are possible in any location on any device that has an Internet connection, which is why VoIP is also easier and cheaper to set up than landlines.

In contrast, a landline relies on a physical connection, and both the caller and the call recipient’s telephones must be connected to PSTN, a large-scale physical grid typically maintained by governments and government agencies.

At its core, VoIP is a digital technology that’s untethered to the hardware it uses, while landlines are analog in nature.

The Pros and Cons of VoIP Services and Landlines

The pros and cons of VoIP vs landline are what will determine your decision to choose one over the other. One of the biggest advantages of landlines is that it was the first telephony technology to become widely accessible to consumers and business users alike.

But over time, the cons of landlines, like price and lack of flexibility, have outweighed the pros. In contrast, Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP services have the upper hand in terms of the features on offer, ease of use, and accessibility. Let’s discuss these factors in more detail:

Key Pros and Cons of VoIP

Did you know that VoIP technology is now so popular that several countries are turning off their PSTN infrastructure altogether? For example, the Netherlands moved from PSTN-based landlines to VoIP in 2018.

The Australian Government announced its plans to switch off its PSTN services by 2023, and in the UK, BT intends to move on from PSTN networks by 2025. These decisions are fueled by a clear understanding of the pros and cons of VoIP and, indeed, its overwhelming advantages.

However, it does have a few disadvantages as well. Here’s an overview of the main pros and cons of VoIP that you need to know:

Key Pros and Cons of Landlines

Even though landlines are on their way out, many businesses and consumers still rely on these systems for the occasional call. In the UK alone, a survey conducted in 2021 found that 69.5% of businesses still use landlines.

In the US, over 40 million households own landlines, and more than half use them for 16 to 50+ calls a week. That’s because, despite its shortcomings, landlines do offer a handful of key advantages. Here are the pros and cons of landlines compared to VoIP:

The Cost Comparison for Landline vs VoIP

One of the key differences between landlines vs VoIP is their cost component. On the surface, you may feel that they cost largely the same; a traditional landline service may start from $20 per month, whereas VoIP services start from $15-$20 and go up to $60 or more.

But if you unpack the costs further, you’ll find that there’s a gap between how much you’re billed monthly and your real expenses with a landline connection. In comparison, the costs of VoIP are predictable and depend on scale.

Monthly Expenses for VoIP and Landline Services

Leading VoIP providers such as Ooma, Vonage, Nextiva, Phone.com, MightyCall, RingCentral, and Grasshopper all cost between $12.74 and $20 per month. Among these, the cheapest VoIPs are ones that offer a limited number of minutes, whereas the more expensive ones come with extra features and unlimited calling.

When you opt for VoIP services, you’ll be billed per user account per month, and most VoIP providers allow more than one phone number per account. Compared to VoIP, landlines can be more expensive month on month, although there can be lower-priced options as well, depending on where you live.

For example, AT&T’s traditional home phone with a primary residential number costs $46 per month. Keep in mind that this includes unlimited local calling. The real difference between the monthly expenses for VoIP and landline services starts to show when you need more than one number.

A small business can get multiple numbers under the same VoIP account at a relatively low cost. In the case of landlines, you’ll need to multiply the monthly fee for each line by the total number of employees, and there are zero cost benefits as you scale.

Equipment and Installation Costs

VoIP installation costs vary depending on the type of hardware you want. Do you want a dedicated VoIP phone? Are you looking to integrate VoIP into your existing business apps? Or do you simply want to make VoIP calls from a smartphone or computer?

The costs of installing the service can range from $0 to $50 or more, but if you already have smart devices where you’d like to use VoIP, then you can save on hardware costs. That said, keep in mind that porting your existing numbers to a VoIP company will incur a fee of $20-30 (or thereabouts).

On the other hand, installing a landline is a complex process, where you may have to hire a skilled phone installer. This will cost between $50 and $80 per hour, depending on the location.

Expect to incur high hourly labor charges if you’re a small business or a medium-sized call center. Plus, the copper cable phone line itself is worth $100-300. The landline phone, on the other hand, will typically come bundled with the monthly fee.

To sum up, a VoIP setup can cost approximately $200 per line, starting from scratch (new Internet connection, new device, new VoIP account). In comparison, landlines will cost around $400 per line, and it won’t get any cheaper as you add more numbers.

Long-Distance and International Calling Charges

International calling charges on landlines are significantly higher than VoIP calls. For compassion, AT&T’s pay-per-use rate for calls to Australia from the US is $4 per minute. Ooma charges $0.038 per minute for the same service.

Keep in mind that you can get specialized plans for long-distance and international calling. These plans for landlines come with a discounted rate, whereas many VoIP service providers like RingCentral include unlimited calling plans.

Potential Savings With VoIP

The potential savings with VoIP vs landlines can be several thousands of dollars for a team of 10 employees or more. When choosing one over the other, keep the following factors in mind:

• For greenfield installations – a fresh setup in a new site – VoIP and landlines will cost nearly the same. The difference is that you can use and re-use the VoIP infrastructure for additional lines, while landline setup costs will multiply as you scale.
• Monthly fees for VoIP are lower than landlines and also more predictable. You can take advantage of the same VoIP company in different locations around the US. This leads to considerable savings.
• Landline devices are expensive, and they aren’t multi-purpose. You can use VoIP with your existing or new smart devices, and VoIP phones can serve other functions, such as help in video conferencing. The value you get from VoIP equipment is higher.
• VoIP technology is updated at regular intervals. Your vendor, along with your in-house IT team, will look after this process. While this is an added cost, VoIPs aren’t subject to physical wear and tear like landline copper cables.
• VoIP is cheaper for international calls by a wide margin. VoIP business services even offer virtual international numbers so that you can establish a credible presence in other countries while working remotely.
• The lack of integration with landlines can lead to lost opportunity costs. VoIP services can exchange data with apps like Salesforce and Microsoft Teams, making it easier to do business. Nextiva, for example, shows you a pop-up with customer info as soon as you receive a call.

Landline vs VoIP Functionality

Companies and countries aren’t switching off their landline connections only for cost reasons. The landline vs VoIP debate also has to do with functionality and the non-calling features you can expect from each.

Landlines are considered more reliable with zero risk of dropped calls. On the other hand, VoIP offers features like call transfers and forwarding for free. It also integrates with your other communication tools. Let us discuss these differences in detail.

Call Quality and Reliability Comparison

Which is more reliable, landlines or VoIP? The answer is more complex than you may think. VoIP is more reliable in locations with a strong Internet connection. You can receive a call from any device, even if you don’t have access to a fixed telephone.

Plus, since VoIP data packets are transmitted over the Internet, no one can intercept them. VoIP calls also offer excellent quality when you opt for a leading VoIP provider. Plus, the ability to share files while calling enhances your experience.

On the other hand, landline connections are more reliable in remote areas where high-speed broadband is difficult to come by. The issue of latency doesn’t arise as the audio signals are transmitted in their original analog form. However, old or low-quality wiring can lead to poor call quality.

Also, if you’re calling a fixed landline number, you can never be sure if you’ll reach the intended call recipient because, in a world of WFH and increased mobility, fixed desk-based working isn’t common.

In other words, VoIP services and landlines can be considered reliable in different scenarios and should be used accordingly.

Voicemail, Call Forwarding, and Other Features

One of the main advantages of VoIP systems is that they come with a host of value-added features that you couldn’t imagine in a traditional landline phone. Traditional services like voicemail or call forwarding are now better.

For example, you can get automated voicemail transcriptions and get an AI tool to analyze them for trends. Similarly, for call forwarding, you can set up different forwarding patterns so that no call is ever ignored.

VoIP also adds new features to the telephony experience like:

• Built-in call recordings
• Virtual receptionists
• Detailed call analytics
• Intelligent call queues
• Digital call deflection (to SMS or any other channel)

Integration With Other Communication Tools

As we mentioned, interoperability and the ability to connect to business apps are one of the main advantages of VoIP in the VoIP vs landline debate. Integration refers to the ability to exchange data between different applications – for example, between a CRM like Salesforce and a telephony service.

When you can move data from one system to another, you can also turn data flows into “events” that act as triggers for other actions. For example, a new customer being onboarded on Salesforce can be an event. When such an event occurs, it can automatically trigger an action, like sending a welcome SMS to the customer.

This is how integration makes way for the automation of business processes. The above is an example of how Nextiva integrates with Microsoft Teams, here are the 3 main ways that VoIP supports integration with communication and other business apps:

• WebRTC: An open-source protocol that lets browsers and mobile apps enable real-time communication through pieces of code called Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
• Preconfigured APIs: Top VoIPs give you ready-to-use APIs for popular apps. Here, you don’t need to mess with code snippets, documentation, or WebRTC technology. All these backend components are packaged into VoIP add-ons called connectors, which you can download from the vendor’s marketplace.
• SIP: Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a technology that helps integrate VoIP with PSTN. This lets you access Internet-based VoIP services from a fixed, on-premise phone system.

Compared to VoIP, landlines don’t support any native integration with your apps. This is because the two systems are built on different technologies, so the only way to introduce integrations in a landline-based environment is by using VoIP adaptors.

Landline-Specific Features and Limitations

Despite the cons in terms of lack of value-added features and integrations, are there any specific capabilities that are unique to a landline? The answer is yes. There are a few reasons individuals and companies still hold onto their landline phones; the first is discoverability.

As landline numbers are fixed and trackable, you can choose to list them on the Yellow Pages or online. If someone has to reach you in an emergency or wants to look you up, landlines can be useful.

Another important feature of landline phones is emergency use. It allows 911 responders to quickly find your address directly from the call. Even if a person calls 911 and has to hang up in an emergency without sharing their address, the phone number makes it possible to find you faster.

It’ll also work during a power outage as it neither relies on a battery-operated device nor does it require an Internet connection. That said, as we move from landlines to VoIP services, the latter now also comes with emergency support.

The same capability in VoIP is called Enhanced 911 or E911. Here’s an example of this on Nextiva, which allows you to input your address and details for emergency services:

When you get a Voice over IP number, you also have to configure a fixed physical address that’ll show up whenever you make a call. Next Generation 911, or NG911, is an advanced version of this same idea.

It’s an IP-based system that lets you send texts, videos, and other data to emergency responders instead of only calling them. To sum up, discoverability and emergency use are two important landline-specific features, although VoIP technology is catching up fast. That said, landlines have several limitations, such as:

• Wear and tear of physical infrastructure
• Lack of portability
• Expensive and cumbersome wiring systems
• Declining support in several regions

Comparing the Flexibility of VoIP vs Landline

Another major factor that defines the VoIP vs landlines debate is flexibility. The whole point of getting a landline connection was to maintain a fixed, unchanging telephony address. In some cases, this would even act as a proof of residence.

The premise behind VoIP is exactly the opposite. You can take it with you wherever you go, the number remains the same even as you switch locations, and many devices can work with one VoIP connection. This gives you the flexibility to use VoIP calling services in a variety of situations:

Hybrid Working

More than 2 in 3 full-time US employees prefer a hybrid work schedule, working remotely for at least one day a week. This is different from 100% WFH, where you are entirely at home.

WFH employees can still communicate with their coworkers via fixed landlines. Hybrid workers, on the other hand, need more flexibility. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) works seamlessly across your home phone, your laptop, and your desktop in the office.

Field Service Professionals

Like hybrid workers, field service professionals, too, don’t work out of a fixed desk. Social services, healthcare, construction, law enforcement, and several other jobs require people to constantly move from one place to another.

They require a flexible way of communicating, which landlines simply cannot provide. Some may choose cell phone connections as an alternative, but VoIP is cheaper and more feature-rich.

Scalable Work Environments

Industries that need to make a high volume of calls often choose VoIP because it allows them to quickly scale. For example, imagine a call center for a health insurance company that receives thousands of calls every day.

Landlines don’t provide the flexibility to quickly add new infrastructure, set up connections, onboard the user, and get them started with calls.

Jobs with Fluctuating Call Volumes

Another benefit of flexibility is that it not only lets you scale up but it also lets you scale down equally easily. Let’s say a major retailer is running a series of holiday shopping campaigns. Between November and December, the company will be inundated with calls.

But what happens when the holidays are over and call volumes drop? With landlines, you’d be left paying for all those fixed connections and copper cabling for months. In contrast, VoIP gives you the flexibility to commission and decommission new numbers as and when needed.

You always have the calling capacity you need but don’t have to pay for idle systems.

Senior Executives

CEOs of companies, board members, and other senior professionals rarely work out of a fixed desk. They may have to travel for work, attend meetings and events in different locations, give interviews, and fulfill other obligations.

All of this is centered around a high degree of mobility. While most senior executives will have a fixed landline for redundancy reasons, VoIP gives them the flexibility to make and receive calls wherever they need.

Not only this, but they can also make use of their downtime – e.g., in airports – to catch up on conversations. Since VoIP services also support data exchange, that’s an added layer of flexibility in their work day.

In addition to calls, they can send and receive documents, view files, etc., and choose their preferred pattern of productivity. To sum up, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has the upper hand when it comes to flexibility.

Companies choosing between VoIP vs landlines must account for their current and future flexibility requirements. Landlines are great for small, desk-based teams, but you need VoIP if you want to keep up with high demand, employee expectations for flexible work arrangements, and field-based work needs.

The Best VoIP Services to Consider in 2024

Given all the above considerations, let’s look at some of the leading VoIP providers today and the differentiated value they offer:

Given that VoIP is a multi-billion dollar market, it can be difficult to choose the best VoIP service when you’re leveling up from your landlines. These 7 providers are among the best in the industry in terms of the rates they offer, feature set, and international coverage.

For a deeper look into these, we recommend reading our full review and comparison of the market’s best VoIP services.

Key Considerations for Businesses

Here are 7 key factors that’ll determine your decision to choose VoIP vs landline for your business:

1. VoIP sets the stage for scalability and growth: Companies that want a scalable calling environment typically choose VoIP as you can grow by adding new numbers and connections with less effort and cost than landlines.
2. Internet-based calling can integrate with other apps, unlike landlines: If your business already has a solid digital footprint – a collaboration app, a CRM, or HR software – VoIP can fit into your existing systems. Landlines don’t provide this option.
3. VoIP can cost thousands of dollars less than landlines: The total cost of ownership or TCO is the money you end up spending on technology over time. Apart from initial costs, the TCO of landlines is very high, especially if your business needs to make international calls.
4. Landlines fulfill a key redundancy need (for now): Redundancy in technology is like a Plan B; i.e., it’s there to take over if the primary system fails. A landline now serves this purpose for most businesses as it works during outages and in emergencies.
5. Businesses with multiple locations will find VoIP more suitable: Many landline numbers across your multiple offices or stores or construction sites of any other location can be challenging to manage. VoIP, on the other hand, is designed for distributed working.
6. Fast Internet is a must-have for VoIP: When choosing between VoIP and landline, businesses must first assess the kind of Internet connection they have. You may need to strengthen your network before making the switch from landlines to VoIP.
7. VoIP requirements for emergency services need special attention: VoIP phones or devices need to be specially set up for emergency services. Whenever you take a new number, remember to configure the E911 first and update it at regular intervals.

Our Other VoIP and Business Communication Guides

If you want to learn more about modernizing business communications, feel free to check out our other VoIP guides:

• What is VoIP? The Definitive Guide to VoIP
• The Best VoIP Services Compared and Reviewed
• Cheapest VoIP Phone Service Providers for Business and Personal Use
• VoIP Security: The Ultimate Guide to Encryption and Vulnerabilities
• How to Choose a VoIP Provider (Beginner’s Guide)
• The Best Mobile VoIP App Solutions Reviewed

Conclusion

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the next milestone in the evolution of telephony services. While landlines have remained unchanged for decades, VoIP has advanced in leaps and bounds.

The key difference between the two is that landlines use fixed copper cables and analog data, while VoIP uses the Internet to transfer audio signals after they’re converted into digital format. This basic difference gives rise to several advantages in the case of VoIP, from software integrations to portability and lower costs.

But this doesn’t mean that landlines are obsolete. In fact, individuals and businesses often opt for landline connections for discoverability, credibility, and reliability reasons. As such, you need to carefully assess your own requirements and expectations from telephony infrastructure to make the right call.

Alternatively, many choose to have both coexist in their communications environment. We highly recommend checking Ooma out — whether you’re after a residential or business VoIP solution.

VoIP Vs Landline FAQs

References

• Americans Are Embracing Flexible Work—and They Want More of it [McKinsey & Company]
• Internet and Social Media Users in the World [Statista]
• United States Landline Insights Report For 2023 [CommunityPhone]
• Almost 70% of UK Businesses Still Use Landlines [HR News]
• Digital Telephone Switchover [House of Commons Library]
• Web Audio Codec Guide – Web Media Technologies [MDN]

The post VoIP vs Landline — Everything You Need to Know in 2024 appeared first on The Tech Report.

With new malware types like MetaStealer threatening Apple products, you need the best antivirus for Mac to protect your devices from online threats. Antivirus software specifically designed for macOS acts as a defense mechanism against malware, ransomware, spyware, adware, and more.

The best tools not only strengthen Apple’s built-in defenses, but they can also improve system performance. Using a strong antivirus, you can keep your Apple PC free of junk files and unwanted apps and optimize its operations.

But you can get these benefits only if you choose one of the best antivirus for Mac in 2024. To help you make an informed decision, we tested and reviewed the top security software available for Apple machines today.

The Best Antivirus Software for Mac in 2024: Top 10 Shortlist

With so many antivirus options available – both free and paid – it can be difficult to select the best tool for your Mac. Importantly, many security apps are designed for Windows and later retrofitted to meet the needs of macOS, which means they don’t work as well as expected.

Now, cybersecurity shouldn’t be a matter of trial and error. Here are the 10 best antivirus software for Mac, as revealed in our tests, which are sure to offer you robust protection.

1. TotalAV – Best Antivirus for Mac Overall
2. Nord Threat Protection – Best Antivirus for Mac Users Focused on VPN
3. Norton Antivirus Plus – Best Antivirus for Mac Users Looking for Targeted 100% Virus Protection
4. Surfshark Antivirus – Best Lightweight Antivirus for Mac with Unlimited VPN
5. Trend Micro – Best Basic Antivirus for Mac at an Affordable Price
6. ESET Smart Security Premium – Best Mac Antivirus for Large Cross-Platform Households
7. Avast – Best Antivirus for Multiple Mac Devices and Frequent Public Wi-Fi Use
8. Intego – Best Antivirus for Mac Device Maintenance and Backup
9. Avira – Best Antivirus for Apple Environments with 20+ Devices
10. Panda Dome – Best Antivirus for Mac Users Looking to Protect Unlimited Devices

The Top 10 Antivirus Tools for Mac Reviewed

Let us now take a closer look at each of these antivirus options for Mac, along with the findings from our review and tests.

1. TotalAV — Overall, the Best Mac Antivirus Software in 2024

UK-based TotalAV offers three products: Antivirus Pro, Internet Security, and Total Security. All of these tools are compatible with Mac. Our tests found that the Total Security plan is among the best security tools you can choose for your Apple devices.

TotalAV protects your Apple device on several levels. It finds and eliminates viruses, trojans, and malware through 24/7 real-time scanning. It also performs zero-day cloud scanning to protect against unknown threats.

Since the company also offers a Virtual Private Network (VPN) app, online security is also central to its capabilities. It ensures safe browsing by masking your identity online.

TotalAV has a built-in browser manager and cleaner to optimize your browsing experience on macOS.

Another impressive feature enabled by TotalAV is protection from Potentially Unwanted Applications or PUAs. It will monitor all the programs installed on your Apple PC and flag unwanted ones (even if they are not explicitly dangerous) so you can take steps to remove them.

In addition to protecting your Mac, you can extend the TotalAV license to iPhones and iPads; one license covers 3-6 devices. Some of the value-adding features we found in our TotalAV tests include its excellent password manager (complete with secure password generation), a disk cleaner, and an ad block tool.

Pricing

TotalAV pricing for Mac starts at $29 for the first year when you sign up, which will automatically renew at $119/year for the second year onwards. This is the entry-level Pro plan. You can level up to the Internet Security plan at $39 for the first year or Total Security at $49 for the first year.

2. Nord Threat Protection – Best Antivirus for Mac Users Focused on VPN

Nord, the cybersecurity company best known for its VPN tool, also offers one of the best antivirus software for Mac. NordVPN Threat Protection prevents online threats from infecting your Mac systems. It provides file protection and vulnerability detection as well.

Nord will automatically scan every URL you visit and block access to malicious websites. It enforces several other online security measures like web tracker blocking, ad blockers, and phishing prevention, which make it a lot safer to browse the web.

You can even filter traffic through Nord’s own DNS servers to remove out any harmful content before it can reach your Apple device.

Indeed, Nord Threat Protection’s web scanning capabilities are among the strongest we’ve seen in our exhaustive tests. In addition to online security, Nord will monitor local files for virus or malware. It’ll stop you from clicking on files with fake or double extensions.

Pricing

NordVPN Threat Protection costs $4.79/month when you purchase a two-year plan. You could also buy a basic plan at $3.79, but that includes only VPN. While it is a powerful antivirus for Mac, Nord can get costlier when you purchase a one-year ($5.49/month onwards) or monthly ($13.99 onwards) plan.

3. Norton Antivirus Plus – Best Antivirus for Mac Users Looking for Targeted 100% Virus Protection

Founded in 1990, Norton is among the most recognized antivirus software for Mac owners. It has won several awards, including AV-TEST’s Best Protection 2022 Award and PC Mag’s Best Consumer Security Brand recognition.

Antivirus Plus is its entry-level and most affordable offering.

Norton is a pureplay antivirus software that protects you from viruses, malware, ransomware, and hacking. Unlike several other top antivirus for Mac, it doesn’t include a VPN. However, to keep you safe online, Norton Antivirus Plus includes a firewall service for Mac to block unauthorized traffic.

In addition, Norton’s PC Cloud backup lets you safely store important files away from your local machine as a preventive measure against data loss.

Pricing

Pricing for Norton Antivirus Plus starts at $19.99/year, but you may be able to get a discounted price during seasonal sales. The company also offers localized pricing (e.g., INR 799 or approximately $11 in India) to make the app affordable to users worldwide.

4. Surfshark Antivirus — Outstanding Antivirus Software for Mac With a VPN

Surfshark is a relatively new antivirus tool that also offers one of the best VPN services out there. It’s one of the few companies that does both VPNs and antivirus protection well, and it does so at an affordable price.

Surfshark’s affordable antivirus software provides a host of security features. It’s easy to set up and configure, with a single app for all functionalities, including IP address masking, malware detection, and security alerts.

Webcam protection is a unique feature that Surfshark offers – Mac users will be immediately notified if someone is trying to access their webcam remotely.

The company also includes the Surfshark Cloud Protect service in its antivirus plan. This is essentially a threat intelligence database that scans for new viruses that may appear every day. All things considered, Surfshark makes a great pitch for value.

Pricing

Pricing starts at $2.30/month, which is quite affordable for a top antivirus for Mac. You can also upgrade to the Surfshark One Plan which includes a VPN, incognito search, personal data breach alert, and more, apart from the powerful antivirus.

5. Trend Micro – Best Basic Antivirus for Mac at an Affordable Price

Trend Micro is globally known for its consumer-facing and enterprise-grade security tools. The Japanese company offers dedicated antivirus software for Mac users, distinct from its Windows and cross-platform offerings.

Trend Micro Basic Antivirus for Mac is an entry-level product for securing Apple devices. It offers ransomware prevention, spam blockers, and safe transactions – covering just one Mac device per license.

Mac owners can also choose Trend Micro Maximum Security, which covers 5 devices. The plan has a far wider feature set, including parental controls, social media privacy, and a password manager.

Trend Micro’s Maximum Security will automatically monitor, repair, and optimize your systems for better performance.

You can protect your iPhones and iPads with Trend Micro Maximum Security. Our tests found that both antivirus plans for Mac use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to learn and adapt to new threats.

Pricing

Trend Micro offers two types of antivirus for Mac devices – Basic for $29.95/year for 1 device and Maximum Security for $49.97/year for 5 devices. The cheaper plan is sufficient if antivirus is all you’re looking for. Opt for the premium plan if you regularly make online transactions on your Apple device.

6. ESET Smart Security Premium – Best Mac Antivirus for Large Cross-Platform Households

Slovak software company ESET offers powerful cybersecurity tools for personal use, home offices, and companies of every size. ESET Smart Security is the company’s premium home security solution, which includes a robust antivirus for Mac.

Using ESET, you can run 24/7 automated scans on your macOS desktop. This offers multi-layered protection, including viruses, trojans, spyware, and other types of malicious attacks. Besides this, you can run fast scans that work in the background without interrupting your browsing or gaming sessions.

ESET’s password manager lets you store and synchronize your login credentials across devices, including Apple products. Another useful feature is parental control, which allows Mac users to enforce network restrictions and manage all the devices in the household from a single app.

Pricing

ESET Smart Security costs $69.99/year for 3 devices. Keep in mind that in addition to antivirus for Mac, it offers powerful features for Windows PCs, such as military-grade encryption of files and folders and metadata removal from images.

You can benefit from a 15% discount if you sign up for a two-year commitment. If a family member using Windows joins the plan, then the unlimited VPN feature is an added bonus.

7. Avast – Best Antivirus for Multiple Mac Devices and Frequent Public Wi-Fi Use

Best known for its free antivirus for Mac, Avast also provides powerful paid protection against security threats. You can use it to avoid email scams, prevent Wi-Fi vulnerabilities, and stay vigilant when you visit potentially malicious websites.

Avast for Mac scans for viruses, spyware, and other threats in real-time. Importantly, this feature is available with both free and paid apps. Our testing found that paid plans, like Avast’s Premium Security, add a number of protective shields for various types of activities on your Mac.

For instance, the web shield kicks in when you click on a suspicious link. The email shield blocks incoming or outgoing malicious attachments, and the ransomware shield protects sensitive data stored on your computer.

The antivirus includes strong network security capabilities that can detect weaknesses in your home Wi-Fi or a public network. If an intruder is trying to break into your network connection, Avast alerts you immediately.

Pricing

You can purchase Avast premium Security for $39.99/year, which covers 1 Mac, and for an extra $10, you can protect up to 10 devices. Avast Ultimate starts at $69.99/year.

8. Intego – Best Antivirus for Mac Device Maintenance and Backup

Intego is among the few security companies specializing in antivirus for Mac, although it has a few offerings for Windows as well. Intego’s product line for macOS is comprehensive, with tools for Internet security, VPN, firewall security, parental control, and backup.

For our tests, we explored Intego’s new Mac Total Protection offering, which is an all-in-one antivirus and cybersecurity solution. It scans your Mac PC for malware and removes junk files that may be occupying storage space on your Apple device.

Intego will scan any external devices that you connect to your computer, and its NetBarrier feature monitors the active network for unauthorized access.

In addition to intrusion prevention, Intego also blocks data exfiltration attempts. By subscribing to the Premium bundle, you get several value-adding features like your own personal backup, built-in VPN for privacy, and ContentBarrier to block inappropriate content.

Pricing

Intego costs $39.99/year for the entry-level plan, Mac Internet Security X9. The Mac Premium Bundle X9 is priced at $69.99/year, and the Mac Premium Bundle + VPN costs $89.99. These prices are for a simple device, and adding devices costs $15-20 more.

9. Avira – Best Antivirus for Apple Environments with 20+ Devices

Avira, best known for its free antivirus for Mac and Windows, also offers a powerful paid security software called Avira Prime. This is an end-to-end suite that protects up to 25 devices, with a VPN and password manager built-in.

The free antivirus for Mac protects you from ransomware, spyware, adware, and other types of threats. It’s built on native Mac technology, which means that Avira is optimized to run on your Apple PC. It also includes a free VPN (500 MB/month).

You get unlimited VPN with the Prime package and a handy computer cleaner to quickly eliminate junk files for better Mac performance.

Pricing

Avira Prime costs $36.99/year if you choose to protect 5 devices. A 25-device license will cost between $120 and $150, depending on any ongoing promos or discounts.

10. Panda Dome – Best Antivirus for Mac Users Looking to Protect Unlimited Devices

Panda Dome offers two antivirus options for Mac – Essential, which includes antivirus and safe browsing, and Premium, which adds on premium VPN and 24/7 tech support.

Panda Dome constantly scans your Mac for malware and flags them in real-time. It will quarantine infected files, and you can restore them later if needed.

It also ensures safe browsing by blocking access to fraudulent and malware-infected websites. It automatically detects if a website is making a phishing attempt so you can avoid visiting these potentially harmful pages.

The premium VPN included in Panda Dome supports unlimited bandwidth on up to 5 devices. It has 1,000+ servers distributed in 60+ countries, and you can choose which one you use to mask your IP address.

Pricing

Panda Dome Essential costs $35.99/year, while Premium will cost you $100.49/year. This pricing is for one device only and will increase slightly when you add more devices during checkout. In our tests, we found that Panda Dome Premium for unlimited devices costs $239.24/year.

The Best Antivirus Programs for Mac: Quick Comparison

Our tests revealed that TotalAV is the best antivirus program for Mac overall because of its comprehensive (but not bloated) feature set, multi-device coverage, and affordable pricing. However, the best antivirus will depend on your unique need and use case. Here is a quick comparison:

Do I Need an Antivirus for Mac in 2024

Contrary to popular beliefs of Mac owners worldwide, Macs can and do get viruses. While it is true that PCs are more susceptible to malware, that doesn’t mean you can let your guard down when using a Mac.

We spend a large portion of our lives online, and even if you’re extra careful, there’s no guarantee that your computer is safe from online threats. In fact, all it takes is visiting the wrong website for your computer to become infected. So why do you need an antivirus for Mac?

Cybercrime is On the Rise

Cyber theft has been steadily rising over the years and is only expected to increase in the future. As our lives move increasingly online, we are more at risk for malicious attacks through the internet.

All it takes to get infected nowadays is to click on the wrong link or download the wrong file, and all your devices and payment methods can be exposed. Trust me, you don’t want to be on the phone with your bank during a holiday.

Macs Are No Longer Immune to Viruses

For a long time, Macs were considered immune to viruses because of their Unix-based operating system. However, this is no longer the case, as there have been several malware attacks specifically targeting Macs in recent years.

The more people bought Macs, the more lucrative it became to design malware for macOS.

Even if You’re Careful, You Can Still Get Infected

Even if you’re careful about the websites you visit and the files you download, it’s still possible to get infected with a virus. This is because viruses can be spread through email attachments and downloads from trusted websites that have been compromised.

There Are so Many Online Threats

There are a number of different types of malware, including:

Each type of malware has a different purpose and can cause different kinds of damage to your computer. The most common now is “ransomware”, which can lock up your computer and demand payment for release.

While antivirus software protects against viruses, it also protects against various other threats, such as spyware, phishing attacks, and malicious websites.

Protect Your Kids

If you have young children who use your computer, it’s important to have an antivirus program installed. Most antivirus providers on our list offer parental controls that allow you to block certain websites and monitor your child’s activity online.

Free Mac Antivirus VS Paid Antivirus Services

Free isn’t always the best, but free solutions can be a great way to test the software before committing to a paid plan. Here are our top picks for the best free antivirus software for Mac:

Avast

Our best free Mac antivirus pick is Avast Free Mac Security, which offers excellent malware protection and a generous selection of extra features. It’s not quite as light on system resources as some competitors, but it’s still reasonably efficient. The interface is attractive and easy to use, making it a good choice for less experienced users.

Avira

Avira Free Antivirus for Mac is our second-best pick.

It has good malware protection, although not quite as good as Avast’s, and a decent selection of extra features. However, its system-resource usage is higher than average, and the interface isn’t quite as user-friendly as we’d like.

Intego

Intego Mac Internet Security X9 is our third-best pick. It has excellent malware protection and a good selection of features. It’s also quite efficient in terms of system resources, making it a good choice for users with older Macs.

While those are some good free antivirus programs available, they don’t offer the same level of protection as a paid program. In addition, free antivirus programs often lack some of the extra features that can be found in paid options, such as firewall protection and parental controls.

If you’re looking for the best possible protection for your Mac, we recommend investing in a paid antivirus program like TotalAV or Nord Threat Protection.

How to Get Started with the Best Mac Antivirus Tool

Installing and setting up an antivirus tool on a Mac is straightforward. Let’s use TotalAV as an example:

Step #1: Download and Install TotalAV

Step #2: Click Continue to Install

Step #3: Enter Your Password to Complete the Installation

And, that’s it. It automatically updates itself, so you don’t need to do anything else.

What’s the Best Antivirus Software for Mac in 2024?

Apple computers can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, with the M2 MacBook Air costing $1,099 at launch and the M2 MacBook Pro available for over $2,000. So, you want to make sure they’re well-protected against the latest threats and performance issues.

Even if you have full faith in Apple’s built-in security features, you also need to have a reliable antivirus program installed.

TotalAV is our top pick because it provides excellent protection against all types of malware, has a user-friendly interface, and doesn’t slow down your Mac. It’s also one of the most affordable antivirus programs on our list, starting at $29/year.

Plus, it protects you from ransomware, phishing attacks, and other online threats consistently so that you can rest easy whenever you’re online. Thanks to the free app, it’s easy to get started with TotalAV before you finally decide which is the best antivirus to purchase for your Mac.

Mac Antivirus FAQs