Connect With Confidence: Vonage Business Review

At a Glance

Headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey, Vonage has been a well-known cloud communications provider since their establishment in 2001. The company, now owned by Ericsson, boasts over two decades of experience and specializes in unified communications, contact centers, and communications APIs. Vonage aims to transform business communications by offering flexible, intelligent, and personal solutions. The company supports more than 100,000 businesses worldwide and has over 2,200 employees. Vonage is renowned for their innovation, holding over 300 patents and winning multiple industry awards for their services and solutions. Vonage is recognized for earning accolades such as the TMC Labs Innovation Award and the INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award.

Features

Unified communications: Vonage integrates voice, video, messaging, and conferencing into a seamless platform, enhancing collaboration and productivity across various channels.

Business SMS: The company allows you to send and receive text messages using your business number, ensuring professional and efficient communication.

Call routing: Vonage's advanced call routing directs incoming calls to the right person or department, optimizing customer service and reducing wait times.

Virtual receptionist: The automated virtual receptionist answers and routes phone calls 24/7, offering professional call handling without the need for a full-time receptionist.

Mobile app: The company's mobile app offers full communication capabilities on the go, ensuring employees stay connected and productive outside the office.

Desktop app: Vonage's desktop app provides a comprehensive communication toolset, including voice calls, video conferencing, and messaging, all from your computer.

Click-to-Dial plugin: The Click-to-Dial browser plugin allows users to make calls directly from their browser by clicking on any phone number displayed on their screen. This feature is compatible with popular web browsers, including Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge​.

Call recording: The company enables call recording and storage, which is essential for compliance, training, and quality assurance and helps businesses maintain accurate records.

Toll-Free numbers: Vonage offers toll-free numbers, allowing customers to contact businesses without incurring charges. This enhances customer convenience and accessibility.

Video conferences: Vonage offers robust video conferencing capabilities, including HD video and audio, viewing of inactive/active attendees, screen sharing, and virtual backgrounds to enhance professional meetings. Users can also benefit from integrated chat, meeting recording, and easy scheduling with calendar support.

Pricing & Plans

They offer three plans with varying levels of flexibility tailored to meet businesses' diverse needs. Each plan is designed to provide a range of features and scalability options, ensuring that companies can choose the best fit for their communication requirements and budget.

Mobile Plan

Priced at $19.99 per month per line with a promotional rate of $13.99, the Mobile Plan includes essential features such as desktop and mobile apps, unlimited domestic calling, SMS and MMS, and voicemail. This plan is designed for businesses that require basic communication tools accessible from both mobile devices and desktops, ensuring employees stay connected wherever they are.

Premium Plan

At $29.99 per month per line with a promotional rate of $20.99, the Premium Plan builds on the Mobile Plan by adding VoIP desk phones and unlimited video meetings with up to 200 participants. It also includes team messaging, access to the VBC App Center, and single sign-on capabilities. This plan is ideal for businesses that need more advanced features and integration with desk phones for a more traditional office setup.

Advanced Plan

The Advanced Plan is priced at $39.99 per month per line, with a promotional rate of $27.99. It encompasses all the features of the Premium Plan and introduces on-demand call recording and visual voicemail, which are crucial for compliance and training purposes. This plan is perfect for businesses that require comprehensive communication solutions with the added benefit of call recording for maintaining detailed records and ensuring quality control.

Advantages

Mobile app available

Vonage offers a robust mobile app compatible with both iOS and Android devices. This app allows users to make and receive calls, access voicemail, send messages, and manage their business communications. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for remote workers and employees who travel frequently, ensuring they stay connected no matter where they are.

Customizable

Vonage's business phone system is highly customizable, allowing businesses to tailor the service to their specific needs. Users can configure various settings through the admin portal, such as call forwarding rules, voicemail options, and call routing. This customization extends further; if you can't find the third-party app you need on their list, you can use Zoho through Vonage to access many other integrations.

Unlimited domestic calling

One of Vonage's standout features is the unlimited calling included in all plans, which covers calls within the United States. This feature helps businesses manage their communication costs effectively by eliminating per-minute charges for domestic calls, which can be particularly advantageous for companies with high call volumes.

Scalable

Vonage's VoIP services and system are designed to scale with your business. Whether you are a small startup or a large enterprise, Vonage can accommodate your needs by allowing you to easily add or remove lines and features as your business grows. This scalability ensures that you only pay for what you need and can expand your communication capabilities seamlessly​.

International calling to 96 countries

Vonage Business VoIP offers a comprehensive international calling plan that covers calls to 96 countries, significantly benefiting businesses with global operations. The extensive coverage includes key business hubs across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and other regions, ensuring that companies can maintain strong international connections. This capability helps businesses manage communication costs efficiently while enhancing their ability to operate on a global scale. 

Third-party integrations

Vonage integrates with a wide range of third-party applications, including popular CRM systems like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Microsoft Teams. These integrations help streamline business processes by connecting your phone system with other essential tools, enhancing productivity, and providing a more unified communication experience​.

Bring your own device (BYOD) solutions

Vonage supports BYOD, allowing employees to use their personal devices for business communications. This feature helps reduce hardware costs and provides greater flexibility for employees. The ability to use existing devices also means easier adoption and less training required, facilitating smoother transitions to the Vonage system​.

Disadvantages

Free trial unavailable

Unlike some competitors, Vonage does not offer a free trial period for their business phone services. This means potential customers cannot test the platform's features and usability before committing to a subscription. Many businesses find this lack of a trial period challenging as it makes it difficult to assess whether the service will meet their specific needs without first making a financial commitment​.

Lack of integrations and collaboration tools on the basic plan

One significant drawback of Vonage is the lack of third-party integrations, collaboration tools, and desk phone integration on the basic plan. These limitations can hinder businesses that rely on various software tools and need seamless collaboration in traditional phone setups. To access these essential features, companies must upgrade to higher-tier plans, which will increase overall costs.

Paid add-ons on typically covered services

Many essential features in Vonage's business phone service, such as business call recording, call queues, and local paperless fax, are only available as paid add-ons. This model often leads to higher costs for businesses, as these functionalities are typically included in the basic plans of other providers like RingCentral and 8x8. Consequently, Vonage's approach can be less economical, especially for businesses needing comprehensive communication tools without incurring additional expenses for standard services​.

Expensive

One notable drawback of the Vonage Business Phone System is their cost compared to other providers. Not only is the base plan price higher, but the system also requires additional paid add-ons to access many features that competitors may include in their standard packages.

Limited working hours

Another limitation of the Vonage Business Phone System is their restricted customer support hours. Support is available Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 12 AM EDT and Saturday through Sunday from 9 AM to 9 PM EDT. This schedule may not be ideal for businesses operating outside these hours or those requiring 24/7 support, potentially leading to delays in resolving urgent issues.

Vonage Business Communication Customer Reviews

Vonage Business Communications has received a range of ratings from various review platforms. On TrustRadius, they hold a score of 7.8 out of 10. Trustpilot users have rated them 4.3 out of 5, while on G2, they earned a 4.5 out of 5. Additionally, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) has given them an A+ rating, although they score a 1 out of 5 based on customer reviews.

These ratings reflect a generally favorable reception. Users appreciate the platform's robust features and reliability while also noting some areas for improvement.

Positive reviews

Many users highlight Vonage's robust features, reliability, and ease of use. Customers frequently praise the seamless mobile-to-desktop transitions, efficient call routing, and the ability to integrate with other software. One customer shared how the voicemail and call forwarding features greatly enhanced their workflow efficiency, allowing their team to stay connected, whether in the office or working remotely. Another appreciated the text messaging capability, which made client communication more efficient and streamlined.

Negative reviews

Negative feedback often centers on customer service and technical issues. Users have reported difficulty reaching support, with some noting long response times and unhelpful interactions. One user experienced frequent outages and found customer support to be lacking, impacting their business operations. Another mentioned issues with billing, describing multiple instances of incorrect charges and the challenges faced in resolving these disputes. These reviews suggest a need for improved customer service and technical support to meet user expectations better.

How Can I Contact Vonage Business?

You can contact Vonage by calling their support center at 1-888-616-6414 or by emailing [email protected] to submit a ticket. For enterprise users, visit the Vonage Enterprise Portal. Additionally, you can join the Vonage community to ask questions and gain insights from other users' experiences. Live chat support is available Monday to Friday from 8 AM to 12 AM EDT and Saturday to Sunday from 9 AM to 9 PM EDT. Follow Vonage on Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube for updates and support.

Conclusion

Vonage, established in 2001, is a global leader in cloud communications, offering unified communications, contact centers, and communications APIs. Known for innovation and holding over 300 patents, Vonage supports more than 100,000 businesses worldwide. Their key features include integrated voice, video, messaging, business SMS, advanced call routing, virtual receptionist, and robust mobile and desktop apps. The company's plans which include Mobile, Premium, and Advanced—offer varying features but are expensive due to paid add-ons. While Vonage excels in scalability and international calling, they face criticism for higher costs, limited customer support hours, and lack of a free trial. Despite these drawbacks, Vonage is valued for its comprehensive and customizable communication solutions.

Use our comparison tool to put business phone system companies head-to-head and find the best fit for your needs. Check out our blog for more expert insights and advice. Lastly, you can explore our list of top VoIP providers for more options and detailed evaluations.

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