Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology is a worldwide system of hard-wired and wireless networks that use the Internet Protocol to facilitate voice communication and video communication. Most best VoIP software rely on Internet architecture for the underlying delivery infrastructure, rather than traditional telephone infrastructure. Through this article, I will cover some of the best VoIP software from companies like Cisco, Sipcom, and Aastra.
What is VoIP?
VoIP is short for Voice over Internet Protocol. This is a technology that allows you to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog) phone line.
Some VoIP services may only allow you to call other people using the same service, but others may allow you to call anyone who has a telephone number – including local, long distance, mobile, and international numbers.
Also, while some VoIP services only work over your computer or a special VoIP phone, other services allow you to use a traditional phone connected to a VoIP adapter.
If you are calling someone who has a regular analog phone number, that person does not need any special equipment to talk to you.
VoIP services convert your voice into a digital signal that travels over the Internet. Calling a regular phone number, the signal is converted to a regular telephone signal before it reaches the destination.
15+ Best VoIP software
Zoom
$15 per user per month
Zoom’s cloud-based VoIP service offers a feature-rich solution for business users, with a number of features not available elsewhere.
Zoom is a cloud-based VoIP phone system that offers phone service to businesses of all sizes. The service boasts the most realistic HD audio quality via the internet, and is easy to use thanks to its clear and well-designed dashboard. The feature set is excellent, thanks to its flexibility and ease of configuration.
At $15 per user per month (for up to 100 users), Zoom is one of the more expensive VoIP providers around. But it’s also one of the best services we’ve reviewed, with a host of features that are not available from many competitors.
There’s also an enterprise pricing tier that costs $16 per user per month (up to 500 users), $17 for 501–1,000 users and $18 for 1,001–5,000 users. All plans come with free local and toll-free minutes, unlimited meetings and unlimited cloud storage If you require more than 5,000 users or would like to discuss other options, you can speak with a Zoom sales representative.
Sipcom
The best voice over internet protocol (VoIP) software will give you the ability to do more than just make phone calls. It should also provide features like text messaging, video conferencing, screen sharing and more.
With so many VoIP software available on the market in 2020, choosing the right one for your business can be difficult. So, we’ve done the hard work for you and created this guide to the top five VoIP services for small businesses.
Sipcom VoIP software is our pick for the best overall solution for entrepreneurs because it has a robust feature set and comes with competitive per-user pricing. However, if you’re looking for a free option that still provides great call quality, check out Nextiva. Alternatively, RingCentral has a great mobile app and scalability if your team is growing quickly.
If you’re thinking about switching to VoIP software or want to learn more about what it has to offer, read on to find out everything you need to know about how it works and which providers are best.
Aastra
Aastra VoIP software is a program that is used by people for the purpose of making calls via the internet making it possible for you to make calls to other people using their phone numbers. The software provides you with a platform through which you can keep track of your call history and also see the various incoming and outgoing calls that you have made since you started using this software.
With this program, there is no need to dial any number before making a call. Once the number is saved, all that is needed is to click on it in order to make a connection with the person on the other end.
The Aastra VoIP software has an audio setting option on its control panel that gives users an opportunity to adjust the volume of their voice when they are making calls. This controls how loud or soft they speak into their microphone during conversations. With this program, there is no limit to the duration of time that one can be on a call as long as there is network connectivity and your data plan hasn’t expired yet.
Slack
From $6.67/month
Slack is a VoIP and chat software that allows you to quickly and easily stay in touch with your team. It gives you the ability to create channels for different projects, teams, or topics, so each person can join only the conversations they care about. Slack also integrates with a number of other workplace software tools, which means that you can receive updates on your tasks without having to leave the app.
Slack’s clean interface and intuitive chat features make it easy to communicate with your team. The app has a lot of features that allow you to manage communications across large teams. For example, it allows you to create different channels for different projects or teams, so each person can join only the conversations that are relevant to them.
The app also integrates with many other tools like Google Drive, Trello, and GitHub, making it easier for you to communicate with people who are not on Slack. You can also share files from apps like DropBox and Google Docs directly from Slack.
RingCentral
$19.99 / £7.99 per user/month
RingCentral is an all-around VoIP solution that comes with many features and applications. If you’re looking for comprehensive business VoIP software, RingCentral can be a good choice. However, because of its high monthly price, it’s not the best option for small businesses.
There are two plans to choose from: Office Standard and Office Premium. The Office Standard plan costs $24.99 per user per month. It includes a wide range of features packed in one system, making it suitable for companies of all sizes. These include an auto-attendant, paging and intercom, HD video conferencing, unlimited calls within the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, web and video meetings, unlimited SMS messages, extension dialing, call monitoring and recording capabilities, online faxing and voice APIs.
RingCentral also offers an enterprise plan called Office Premium that costs $44.99 per user per month and includes everything found in the previous plan plus the following: team messaging with group chat rooms and direct messages (1:1), file sharing via Google Drive or Box integration, visual voicemail with transcriptions sent via email or text message (SMS), as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android devices that allow employees to access their apps.
Grasshopper
The Grasshopper solution is one of the best voice-over internet protocol (VoIP) softphones in the market. This is a cloud-based phone system, which offers small businesses with flexibility, scalability and a scalable business phone software solution. The phone system is accessible from any device, including mobile devices.
Businesses using the software will get access to all the features they need to run their business efficiently, including toll-free numbers, extension dialing, local numbers, professional greetings and call forwarding. What’s more, you can add new team members or extensions at any time.
For this reason, businesses that want a flexible business phone software solution should consider this product as an option.
8×8 eXperience Communications Platform
$15 per user/month
8×8 has been a leader in VoIP communications for more than 20 years, and its eXperience Communications Platform (ECP) is one of the more popular platforms on the market.
The 8×8 VoIP software platform supports phone and video calling, instant messaging and mobile integration. ECP provides a suite of desktop and mobile applications, including 8×8 Work for Android, iOS and desktop devices.
It’s important to note that the VoIP software itself isn’t the only component of ECP. The system also includes a cloud service that you can use to host your communications system in the cloud. 8×8 is a popular option for businesses that need to scale their systems for growth or have other infrastructure needs.
For example, if you’re looking for an enterprise-grade communications platform with an extensive suite of features, 8×8 ECP is an excellent choice. It includes features like analytics tools and call recording capabilities, along with several built-in collaboration tools.
If your business has specific needs that are not met by open source VoIP software or other free options then take a closer look at 8×8 ECP as a paid alternative.
GoToConnect
GoToConnect VoIP software is a unified communications solution for small businesses that want to combine voice, video, online meetings and collaboration.
The software, powered by Jive Communications and the service is provided by LogMeIn. It’s compatible with your existing phones and doesn’t require any proprietary equipment, making it easy to set up.
All of the standard features are here, including call forwarding, auto-attendant, visual voicemail, and a web portal to manage your account. GoToConnect also offers advanced features like Microsoft Outlook integration and call recording.
The company has a very attractive pricing plan that starts at $19.95 per user per month (billed annually). That gives you unlimited calling in the United States and Canada plus all of the standard features mentioned above.
If you’re interested in enhanced features such as call recording or integration with CRM software like Salesforce, GoToConnect offers separate plans for those as well.
A 7-day free trial is available so you can test out the service before committing to a subscription.
Ooma Office
$19.99 /user/month
Ooma Office is a VoIP service with a full slate of features and options. It’s very scalable, with options that include a desk phone or softphone, the choice of analog or digital lines, and support for up to 100 phones per office.
It’s priced per user per month, rather than per line, which can make it cheaper than other systems, depending on how many users you have and how they use the system.
Ooma Office works well overall, but has a few rough spots in setup and configuration. The call quality isn’t as good as some competing services. It also lacks certain advanced features such as call recording and call monitoring for supervisors.
The service is available only in Canada and the U.S., and pricing varies by location. It starts at $19.95 per user per month. Ooma Office offers a free trial period, but requires a credit card number up front (refunded if you cancel during the trial) while most other services offer true no-credit-card trials that don’t require payment information before using them.
Vonage Business
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that enables you to make voice calls using the internet instead of a standard phone line. Businesses use VoIP software to communicate with customers, employees, vendors and other stakeholders.
VoIP software is used by businesses of all sizes ranging from small startups to enterprises. To get the most out of your VoIP system, however, it’s important to choose the right VoIP software for your business.
This buyer’s guide includes some basic information about how VoIP software works and what it can do for your business, as well as an overview of the various features available in this type of software. Additionally, we’ll look at licensing options and how much you can expect to pay for VoIP software based on each factor.
OnSIP
OnSIP is a cloud-based VoIP service provider that offers unified communications to small and medium-sized businesses. OnSIP’s monthly plans are not only affordable but include call recording, voicemail transcription and much more.
Here’s why we like it:
Integration with more than 100 business apps including Salesforce, Highrise, Zendesk and Slack
Provisioning of new extensions takes minutes rather than days or weeks
Offers a mobile app for iOS and Android so you can access your OnSIP extension from anywhere
OpenPhone
OpenPhone is a VoIP software that offers virtual phone numbers, custom greetings and voicemail transcriptions. It enables users to set up a virtual business phone system in minutes. OpenPhone offers multiple pricing plans for small businesses, enterprises and teams.
OpenPhone offers three flexibility plans:
1. Basic plan: $10/user/month
2. Pro plan: $20/user/month
3. Business plan: $50/user/month
The basic plan offers unlimited incoming calls and texts, advanced call management and visual voicemail. The pro plan includes all of the above plus custom greetings, voicemail transcription and advanced analytics. The business plan includes all of the above plus number porting, toll-free numbers, local numbers, team directory and conference calling.
Features:
- OpenPhone is focused on small businesses. One of the big advantages is that businesses can sign up and start using OpenPhone almost instantly.
- The software comes pre-built with a set of phone numbers in any area code, allowing business owners to focus on other pressing matters while they wait to get started with their new number.
- They also offer the option to port your existing phone number over.
The dashboard allows businesses to manage multiple employees, giving each one their own unique work number. Another feature allows users to forward calls to any device of their choosing, such as a computer or home phone. This lets employees stay connected at all times, even if they’re out of the office. Users also have the ability to send SMS messages from a web browser or mobile app, which can be useful if an employee isn’t available or doesn’t have access to email.
Nextiva
$18.95 per user/mo
The best business phone service for most small businesses is Nextiva. It offers everything you need at a competitive price and has the infrastructure to scale as your company grows.
Nextiva’s pricing was among the most straightforward we encountered, too. Most services charge per user, per month, with a discount if you pay annually. Nextiva doesn’t. You buy three licenses and then pay a monthly fee based on how many extensions you use. If you need more than three users, it’s still very affordable with predictable monthly costs.
One downside is that Nextiva doesn’t offer many advanced features. For example, it lacks the ability to hunt down a caller who hangs up before they leave a voicemail or to automatically ask callers to press 1 for sales and 2 for support when they reach your main line. But that may not matter for smaller operations.
We also liked RingCentral’s mature product and well-organized account management tools. However, its setup process is confusing and its pricing is unpredictable if you want to add more than a couple of users or extensions at once.
Cisco Webex Meetings
Cisco Webex Meetings is the best VoIP software for most businesses because it offers a generous free tier and integrates fully with Cisco’s other products.
While Cisco Webex Meetings doesn’t have the same level of integration with other popular apps (like Slack or Google Calendar), its VoIP service has been around longer than most, and it’s well-integrated with the company’s other offerings. For example, you can start a whiteboarding session within a Cisco Webex Meeting, which is great for collaboration on projects.
If you’re interested in using Cisco Webex Meetings but aren’t sure if it’s right for your business, try out the free version first. The free version offers a lot of features that are usually reserved for premium plans – like video conferencing, screen sharing, and instant messaging. You also get unlimited meetings and access to the mobile app with up to 100 participants.
Skype
Skype is a VoIP service that enables people to make and receive free voice and video calls over the internet using a computer, web browser, or mobile phone. Users may transmit text, video, audio and images. Skype allows the creation of video conference calls.
Skype operates as a freemium business model. Much of the service is free, but Skype Credit or a subscription is required to call a landline or a mobile phone number. At the end of 2010, there were over 660 million worldwide users, with over 300 million estimated active each month as of August 2015.the company was acquired by Microsoft in May 2011 for $8.5 billion.
Skype division headquarters are in Luxembourg but most of the development team and 44% of all the division’s employees are still situated in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia.
They allow users to communicate over the Internet by voice using a microphone, by video using a webcam, and by instant messaging. Skype implements a freemium business model. Much of the service is free, but Skype Credit or a subscription is required to call a landline or mobile phone number or use certain other services such as voicemail and call forwarding.[22] At the end of 2010, there were over 660 million worldwide users.
Mitel MiCloud Flex
Mitel’s MiCloud Flex, formerly ShoreTel Sky, is a cloud PBX, UCaaS and contact center solution that offers users the ability to leverage their existing on-premises equipment in a hybrid cloud model. Mitel also provides its standard cloud PBX deployment for companies that aren’t looking to keep their legacy telephony equipment.
MiCloud Flex offers all the features expected from a full-featured business phone system such as call routing and forwarding, voicemail, conferencing and call recording. Additionally, Mitel offers its own communication terminal device with either Android or Windows 10 operating systems.
Mitel’s MiCloud Flex unified communications platform is easy to set up, configure and manage through an intuitive web console. It offers all the basic features you would expect from a VoIP service and can scale with your business as it grows.
Because of its hybrid deployment model, MiCloud Flex may not be right for small businesses without any existing IT infrastructure.
How to choose a VoIP phone system
The best VoIP service providers will offer low rates, a variety of phone system types, and exceptional call quality We examined the top VoIP service providers and compared the best plans, prices, and features to find which service satisfies small businesses’ phone needs.
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone systems are becoming more and more common as businesses look for ways to cut costs without sacrificing reliability. A VoIP phone system allows employees to make calls from any device, location, or operating system.
With a VoIP phone system, businesses benefit from low-cost calling, unlimited extensions, and advanced features such as call forwarding, call recording, and auto attendant. We looked at the most popular options that covered the range of services for small businesses in terms of number of users and found that RingCentral Office is the best overall for its reliable service and ability to scale with your business.
How We Evaluated
We evaluated each provider based on price per user per month, number of users allowed per plan, included features like voicemail boxes and integrations with CRM software, additional capabilities like business SMS text messaging and toll-free numbers, customer service quality and availability, ease of use of included mobile apps (if any), contract requirements — namely whether or not you’re
How does VoIP work?
VoIP works by taking your analog voice signals, converting them into digital signals, then sending them as data over your broadband line.
When you make a VoIP call, your analog voice is converted into a digital signal that travels over the internet. It is then converted back to an analog signal so you can speak to the person at the other end.
When it comes to VoIP calls, the sound quality can vary based on your internet connection. A fast and stable connection will lead to better quality calls than a slow and unstable one.
A poor connection means that not all of the data packets will reach their destination in time for reassembly. This can lead to audio artifacts such as clicks, pops and crackles, or even distorted speech when using low-quality codecs (the software used to encode and decode audio).
Advantages of VoIP
- VoIP is cheaper than traditional phone service because it transmits data over the Internet, instead of a dedicated phone line.
- VoIP usually has features that traditional phone services don’t, such as voicemail delivered via email and text messages sent to your cellphone.
- Since you’re using the Internet, you can communicate with anyone around the world who also uses VoIP.
- You can use your VoIP connection to make calls from anywhere in the world as long as you have an Internet connection.
Disadvantages of VoIP
- Video and voice quality: Video calls can be choppy and voice calls can sound robotic. This isn’t a problem with your internet connection but with the VoIP provider you’re using. Some VoIP services may only allow you to call other people using the same service, meaning you can’t call someone who has a traditional landline.
- Power dependence: VoIP is dependent on having an online power supply, so if there’s an electrical outage in your area, you won’t be able to use VoIP. If you have a mobile VoIP service, you will be able to call others since the connection is made through the data plan on your phone.
- Jitter: You may experience disruptions in service due to jitter, or latency variation. Poor internet connections can cause jitter issues.
- Security risks: Since VoIP uses the internet, problems that arise with security also affect VoIP phones. Security breaches such as hacking and eavesdropping are possible through certain vulnerabilities in phones and networks that utilize VoIP technology.
- Potential outages: Due to storms or other weather issues, your internet connection may go down which means that you won’t be able to use your VoIP phone until it comes back up.
- The technology is newer than that of traditional phone service, which means there are still things to be worked out. For example, 911 emergency services are not readily available on most VoIP networks.
Conclusion
Skype is the most popular and well-known VoIP application which offers calls to other Skype users free of charge, as well as calls to land-lines and mobile phones at substantially reduced rates. Being a uni-platform means that it is available on all operating systems, including Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android and iOS. It also comes in several different languages. All of these factors helped make it such a massive hit when it launched in August 2003. Since then the technology has evolved and there are now more consistent and reliable options from companies like Dialpad.
