Slack and other team-messaging apps keep the office conversations flowing, but the phone call isn't dead. Businesses large and small need reliable phone systems, and these days, that's a Voice over IP (VoIP) service—a virtual or cloud PBX, if you will.
This year, 14 major business VoIP companies made the cut to be included in our Business Choice survey. While the competition is fierce at the top, there's only one winner, and it's a service that readers have recommended for almost a decade.
Voice Over IP (VoIP) Providers for 2021
As workers retreated to home offices in 2020, internet-based productivity services skyrocketed in popularity, from video conferencing to VoIP providers. That's the case for the top two companies in our survey, Ooma and RingCentral, both of which see their scores improve over the last year.
But only one dominates: OomaOoma, which earns a 9.0 (out of 10) for overall satisfaction and top scores in every category we asked about. Even when another company gives it serious competition—such as the free Google Voice, which receives a 9.0 for cost/value—Ooma stays ahead (it earns a 9.3 for cost/value). Click through the charts below to see all the metrics.
Ooma earns several incredible scores over 9.0, not only for satisfaction and cost, but also installation/setup (9.2), reliability (9.1), ease of use (9.3), call quality (9.1), system management (9.1), and the likelihood to be recommended to a colleague (9.1). Ooma also features a lot of products that best serve the small office/home office (SOHO), as well as the SMB and small enterprise crowd.
It might seem like there isn't much to say about the rest, but you won't be disappointed with this year's Business Choice runner-up, RingCentral. Its scores are all high 8s, except for tech support, which comes in at a still-respectable 8.4. It also lands within a fifth of a point to Ooma on things like reliability and call quality—measures that are all-important in the business world.
As for the rest, middling to low would sum up most of what you see, with a couple of interesting exceptions, such as RCN and Microsoft both having an 8.8 out of 10 for reliability, and Spectrum's 8.8 for ease of use, plus an 8.6 for install and call quality.
But if you're talking to an IT pro about VoIP, you can't go wrong with Ooma.
For more, read The Best Business VoIP Providers for 2021The Best Business VoIP Providers for 2021.
Full Results
The PCMag Business Choice survey for VoIP was in the field from February 1, 2021, to February 22, 2021. For more information on how our surveys are conducted, read the survey methodology.
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