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Saturday, February 4th
Ooma was founded in 2003 and focuses on small to medium-sized businesses. Their cloud-based VoIP platform can be set up in less than 20 minutes.
Over three dozen features included
There are two basic business phone plans with Ooma, Office and Office Pro. Both come with over 35 user-friendly features, like extension dialing, forwarded calls during device outages, call flip, SMS messaging, and many more. The Pro tier adds some of today's more advanced features: video conferencing, desktop app, call recording, voicemail transcription and caller info match, plus higher usage limits for call park, extension monitoring, and audio conference room participants. Both plans are affordably priced: you'll pay $19.95 per month per user with Ooma Office and $25.95 per month per user for Ooma Office Pro.
Business Phone System Costs
Schedule a consult if you need enterprise-level features
If you're looking for more advanced capabilities, like API integrations, customized call center flows, SIP trunking and so forth, Ooma offers Enterprise Solutions. These business phone systems are custom-designed to meet your company's unique needs, and you'll need to schedule a consultation to even get an inkling of what your monthly or annual costs would be. You can get that process started by selecting the Enterprise option in the Business Phone dropdown at the top of the page.
Not so up-to-date?
However, we're not entirely sure Ooma is keeping pace with the times. Not only did we find several typos and strangely-worded phrases on their website, but also their Awards section seems to have petered out in 2016. That gives the impression that Ooma was a go-to service a decade or so ago, but not so much anymore. There's also a heavy emphasis on desk phones throughout their business phone system descriptions and quote process; most small businesses today are looking for quick, seamless integration with the mobile phones they already have. Ooma can do that, but you might not know it if you just glanced at their site.
Customer service hassles
Beyond that, Ooma's reputation is definitely not on par with our higher-rated providers of business phone services. Despite having an "A+" and accreditation from the Better Business Bureau, Ooma's BBB listing had over 100 complaints and negative reviews in the year leading up to this review. Our biggest concern stems from client comments about Ooma's requirement that service be cancelled strictly by phone, but attempts to do exactly that result in endless wait times and unexplainably-disconnected calls - effectively leaving small businesses with no way of getting out of the service. Other customers describe problems getting Ooma to release their business phone numbers when trying to port their service to a new provider, having to change their credit card number to get Ooma to stop billing them for services they're no longer receiving, and other significant issues.
Lowest-ranked option for business phone systems
Ooma has business phone systems that won't cost an arm and a leg - but their service is inconsistent at best. Some business owners love what they've gotten here, but others call the Ooma experience a nightmare, unreliable, and even fraudulent. You've got other inexpensive options for decent business phone coverage among the higher-rated platforms in our evaluation.
To answer that question, you first need to decide what exactly you need your system to accomplish. Is it just the basics, like having a separate number for business calls and being able to route them to different employees? Or are you looking for something fully-featured, with the ability to handle video conferencing and file sharing, integrate with apps you're already using, and extend your reach globally?
No matter what type of phone system your business needs, you've got options! Even if you're a solo entrepreneur, there's a provider for you. If you're wondering whether it's going to be a huge investment to set up your business phones, that depends on how you look at it.
Gone are the days of having to buy equipment and install landlines: most business phone systems today rely on mobile phones and can often use what you already have, minimizing hardware expenses like never before. That doesn't mean it's going to be cheap, though: expect monthly costs ranging anywhere from $12 to over $100 per user, depending on the features you require and which provider you choose.
However, that doesn't mean you'll end up spending more money. Those costs can quickly be offset by increased productivity, getting more customers because of faster response times, and all-in-one packaging that eliminates the need for multiple vendor contracts.
There are a lot of business phone system services out there, and it can be a little daunting narrowing down the possibilities. Want some help? Keep these four Cs in mind as you look for the one that will be the best fit for your company:
To help you get the right phone system for your business, TopConsumerReviews.com has evaluated and ranked the top providers on the market today. We're confident that this information will help you easily sort through the options and find the perfect match for your company!
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