RingCentral Mobile Hosted Phone System
When the people over at RingCentral asked me to try out their hosted phone system, the geek dad in me couldn’t say no. Yeah I know, a virtual PBX is not exactly a topic I usually cover on my dad blog. But I can see value in a hosted phone service for work-at-home dads and moms. Why order a separate work line when you can manage all your calls with RingCentral? And if you’re a blogger with a service or product for sale, you can market a toll-free number from RingCentral (instead of your home or cell number). BTW, other than a three month test trial, I did not receive any compensation for writing this review.
What is RingCentral Mobile?
RingCentral Mobile is a virtual phone system for mobile professionals, home offices, and small companies. RingCentral Internet phone service gives dads and moms the power of a Fortune 500 phone system without having to buy and maintain hardware. With RingCentral Mobile, dads and moms can answer calls on a computer or on existing mobile, home, and office phones. Parents can also use RingCentral to send and receive faxes, route calls to any member of their team (or family) and to provide callers with an answering service (e.g., push 1 for sales, 2 for geek dad, 3 for the ball and chain). RingCentral gives small businesses the flexibility to easily configure their virtual phone system to match their needs and achieve a big company image.
How much does RingCentral Mobile cost?
The cost depends on the plan, which starts at only $9.99 a month:
- Professional
$9.99 per month, 100 minutes, 5 extensions, 6.7¢ per additional minute - Business Plus
$24.99 per month, 500 minutes, 10 extensions, true 800 number, dedicated fax, dial-by-name directory, 5.9¢ per additional minute - RingCentral Office 1-line
$49.99 per month, unlimited calling and fax for one user, 10 extensions, local direct dial number, toll-free number, dedicated fax - RingCentral Office 4-line
$99.99 per month, unlimited calling and fax for 4 users, unlimited extensions, 4 local direct dial numbers, toll-free number, dedicated fax, multiple office or location support
What are the features of RingCentral Mobile?
- Toll Free Numbers
Regular toll free (866, 877, etc.), true 1-800, or vanity number (e.g., 866-geek-dad). - Local Numbers
You can live and work in one city and get a local number in another. - Voicemail
Professional greetings, multiple delivery options, and alerts. Pick up voicemail via email or online account and play over your computer speakers — or pick up by phone. - Internet Fax
Send and receive faxes by email and online. Free fax software to electronically sign and edit faxes. - Virtual PBX
Create a business phone system using the phone number and extensions that you get with your subscription. Connect teams across the country or create virtual departments that are meaningful to you. - RingCentral Mobile App
An iPhone application that provides access to your RingCentral voicemails and faxes. It also enables you to use your RingCentral number as your Caller ID when you make business calls from your iPhone. Add, edit, and dial personal and business contacts. - Visual Voicemail
Manage voicemail and fax messages visually. Visual voicemail lists all your received voicemail and fax messages and lets you select any item from the list. - DigitalLine
Optional DigitalLine VoIP Phone Service allows you to instantly add digital phone lines anywhere you have high-speed Internet access. Quickly and easily connect satellite offices, home offices and remote employees. - Dial-by-name Directory
Auto-generated, the directory provides a list of departments and employees to callers, who can dial by first or last name. - Call Forwarding
Callers who dial your toll free or local number are directed to any of your phones (cell, home, and office phones). You can also direct calls to employees, partners and departments around the country. And with call transfer, you can transfer calls in progress between your landline and your mobile phone. - Call Queues
Never have another important call go to voicemail. With call queues, callers are automatically placed on-hold until one of your pre-designated agents becomes available to take the call. - Answering Rules
Direct callers to voicemail, extensions and alternate phone numbers based on date and time, date range, and caller ID as well as the number they dial (if you have more than one). - Call Screening
Auto-attendant calls you first before connecting a call, and announces the caller’s name; it then gives you options: accept, reject or send it to voicemail. - Real-Time Call Control
Manage your calls online, in real time. Call Controller (call management tool) displays a caller ID and gives you clickable options. - Message Alerts
Get text messages on your cell phone or PDA alerting you to new faxes and voicemail. - Music/Messages On Hold
Reflect your business brand through the music and messages you play to callers on hold. - Click-to-call Out
Return calls instantly or highlight a number on a Web page or application and click. - Click-to-call Me
Drive more traffic to your sales phones with RingMe, an embedded button for your Web site and email signatures. Visitors can reach your business with a click of a mouse. - Outlook Integration
Fax directly from MS Outlook and applications such as Microsoft Word. Synchronize your Outlook contacts with your RingCentral account. Place calls from Outlook with click-to-call dialing. - Call Logs
A record of your calls and faxes is stored in your Web-based account. You’ll see who called, the phone number, and the date, time, length and result of the transaction. - Calling Card
Convenient, safe and inexpensive: use your RingCentral phone number to place calls from any phone, just like a calling card. - Support
Customer service representatives are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. - Extensions
You’ll have a flexible extension structure to incorporate local and satellite offices and employees, wherever they are. You’ll be able to configure each extension individually through answering rules that give you a wide range of blocking, screening, fax and routing options through an easy-to-use interface. - Call Transfer
You will be able to transfer calls from any phone to any other phone, permanently or on the fly. - Dedicated Fax
Every RingCentral number can be used for phone calls and fax; however, if you need an additional toll free or local phone number for sending and receiving faxes, you can get a dedicated fax number. - Professional Recordings
Use professional voice talent to record your greetings and announcements.
12 Comments
Leave a Comment
Subscribe to Daddy Forever
You make them sound very good. Being the good American that I am I have the sudden urge to purchase this system :) It is snowing here again. I really hate the snow :P
There’s a no snow setting in RingCentral, but why would anyone not want snow?
This is interesting to say the least….. I wouldn’t have a use for it though. At least not yet.
I think it would be a great way to discourage sales call (by making them press another number to reach us). Of course, that would also annoyed our friends and they would probably stop calling us.
I agree Daddy Forever. Most callers do not want to waste time waiting or being put on hold so much for pressing too many numbers to reach the proper person.
lol, we’re in the text messaging days now. i don’t really do too much calling anymore.
Not that you need more followers, I did give you the lovely blog award on my blog! :op
Hmmm, wonder if there’s a reverse product available? One that would make my phones stop ringing??? LOL
Hugs,
Holly
Hi Holly,
Wish there is one in the market LOL! But kidding aside answering rules is a nice option to consider especially if your business is being flooded with inbound calls.
I am hearing positive feedbacks from different bloggers about RingCentral. I appreciate their call controller application which provide easy configuration of their phone systems.
The Local number and virtual PBX system will surely help business advance locally. The full pack features offered by the system will be of great help to unify all communication lines.
First thing that is really nice is the control panel that you get a log in to. At any time, from any where, you can log in and see what activity has taken place inside your business and who is making calls to where.