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RingCentral MVP Review

Enterprise-class VoIP with industry-leading features

editors choice horizontal
4.5
Outstanding

The Bottom Line

RingCentral MVP is a veteran Editors' Choice pick, and for good reason. It evolved from a top-notch, enterprise-class VoIP service to a rich, collaboration platform that includes AI-enhanced video captioning and a large menu of third-party integrations.

Per User, Per Year, Starts at $19.99
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Pros

  • Much-improved video conferencing
  • AI-backed transcription and call analysis
  • Enhanced collaboration capabilities
  • Numerous add-on apps

Cons

  • Limited report customization
  • Tedious, wizard-based configuration

RingCentral MVP Specs

Voicemail Transcription
Software Phone
SMS Messaging
Automatic Call-Back
Call Monitoring
Voicemail to Email
Electronic Fax
E911 Service
SIP Phone Support
Toll-Free Option
Video Conferencing

RingCentral continues to be one of the top business voice-over-IP (VoIP) offerings we've tested. The "MVP" moniker the company adopted for its newest releases represents its evolution beyond a basic voice-calling provider to one that offers "message, video, and phone." These days, it could be more accurately described as a unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) platform. For its rich feature set, RingCentral MVP again gets our nod as the Editors' Choice pick for enterprise-class VoIP services. Smaller companies should look to our other Editors' Choice pick, Intermedia Unite


RingCentral MVP Pricing and Plans

RingCentral's business VoIP comes in three pricing tiers. You can pay monthly or yearly, but annual subscribers receive a 33% discount. 

The entry-level Core plan ($30 per user per month, or $20 per user, billed annually) includes unlimited domestic calling, interactive voice response, video conferencing (up to 100 participants), and Google Workplace, Microsoft 365, and Slack integrations.

The mid-tier Advanced plan ($35 per user per month, or $25 per user, billed annually) builds upon the Core plan by adding internet faxing, whisper and barge, business analytics, multi-site management, and integrations with Salesforce, ZenDesk, and over 300 other apps. It also has a 100-person video participant cap.

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The top-tier Ultra plan ($45 per user per month, or $35 per user, billed annually) removes many feature restrictions, offering unlimited video conferencing hours, whiteboards, messaging, file sharing, and storage. It also has customizable business insights and an enhanced business analytics suite. This plan lets up to 200 people join a video conference.


Client User Experience

RingCentral MVP is a full-featured, cloud VoIP PBX based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). This means it supports a wide range of desktop SIP phones. However, with an increasing number of people working from home these days, it may be more efficient and convenient to deploy RingCentral's softphone apps that are available for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

The softphone apps provide many features that traditional SIP desk phones don't. For example, in recent versions, RingCentral placed a lot of focus on its video capabilities. The newer product does away with past dependence on Zoom for video conferencing by incorporating advanced features, such as closed captioning, audio transcription, and the ability to share your screen while in a 1-to-1, group, or team conversation.

Screenshot showing contacts sync in RingCentral MVP

The user interfaces for RingCentral's mobile and desktop apps have been improved since our last review, and now provide an experience on par with what you would find in Microsoft Teams. For example, the collaboration features include channels, file sharing, and ad hoc voice or video. You can pin files, images, view tasks, and code snippets shared during a conversation in a separate window on the app's right-hand side.

You can connect and sync contacts and directories from Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. This integration is bi-directional, meaning you can add or edit contacts in RingCentral's desktop or mobile app, and those changes will sync with either cloud platform. All calendar events are synced between RingCentral MVP and your email or scheduling app. 

Selecting Workplace from the More list opens a new UI with a collection of information, including your Calendar, Tasks, Events, Files, and Notes. This web interface serves as a central location to find all the pertinent information connected with your collaboration and communications. Notes taken during a meeting show up here, along with any shared files or media. 

Screenshot of a RingCentral MVP Workplace view

On the mobile front, the RingCentral mobile app has seen incremental improvements. For example, you can now transition between your desktop and mobile device more smoothly during a meeting. You can also escalate a VoIP phone call to either a video call or a presentation, should the need arise. Transcriptions can be viewed on mobile devices now, as well.

These are all welcome enhancements to what was already a top platform. In fact, we'd rank RingCentral's softphone offerings right up there with Dialpad and other vendors that focus primarily on softphones.


The AI Advantage

RingCentral has invested heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance its services. For example, RingCentral Video now has automated closed captioning based on the company’s AI-backed voice transcription technology. Entire meeting conversations can be automatically transcribed, backed by AI to improve the quality of the transcript. This is a great feature that lets people who join late easily catch up without disrupting the meeting. It also helps people who are hearing-impaired stay engaged with the conversation. No other product we tested offers this type of capability. 

In addition, RingCentral MVP can also perform AI-based deep analysis of conversations, based on technology the company gained when it acquired DeepAffects in 2020. As a result, the platform gives you insight into participants' speech patterns and their emotional sentiment. It also detects accents, and recognizes meeting participants through their voiceprints.


RingCentral MVP Administration

RingCentral MVP really shines from an administrator’s perspective. The web-based Admin Portal provides quick links to the primary tasks typically encountered. At the bottom of the main portal page, you’ll find tutorials to help accomplish those tasks. If you can’t find what you’re looking for on the main page, you will find links to resources like a community page, RingCentral University, and a direct link to open a support case. 

In addition, you should check out Quick Start: 7 Easy Steps to Configure RingCentral for Your Business. This guide breaks up the setup process into seven, short instructional videos.

Screenshot of the RingCentral MVP Admin Portal

One minor ding, though. While the procedural wizards used to configure RingCentral's back-end services make configuration easier for VoIP newcomers, experienced administrators (or admins working with a significant number of user entries) many find them tedious.

RingCentral MVP’s reporting features have been incrementally enhanced in the service’s latest version. Reports now include at-a-glance system health, end-user satisfaction tracking, and comprehensive analytics. Selecting Analytics from the main admin page launches a new window with a full range of performance reports and quality of service information. RingCentral reports the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) to grade the voice quality of a particular connection. It also tracks the type of Internet connection, ISPs, endpoints, and quality versus call volume.  


What's the Latest in RingCentral MVP?

Since our last review, RingCentral MVP added a flurry of new features. It now has better integration between multiple communication methods, so you can quickly switch between voice and video, for example. 

RingCentral has also introduced support for a variety of devices for conference room use from Cisco, Lifesize, Logitech, Poly, Polycom, and Yealink. In addition, RingCentral offers room kits to work with a variety of devices running Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

Integrations with popular tools like Salesforce, Slack, and ServiceNow add to the value of RingCentral. The full list now also includes DocuSign, Jira, and GitHub, just to name a few. New support has been added for companies running virtual desktops using software from VMware and Citrix. Enterprise identity integration includes Azure Active Directory and Okta.


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RingCentral MVP has the most functionality of any business VoIP platform we've tested. Its various product tiers handle the needs of small, midsize, and larger organizations (and even enterprises). RingCentral MVP's prices are higher than many competing services, but it's more than reasonable for the deep feature set.

In its newest iteration, RingCentral MVP stepped up its game from a collaboration perspective. The product's already impressive closed-captioning capability gains welcome improvements that significantly enhance your ability to see and hear what's being said during video conferences. 

This rich feature set is why RingCentral remains our Editors' Choice for larger businesses, while still being a solid offering for small and midsize businesses. If you don't need all the bells and whistles of an enterprise-grade solution, check out Intermedia Unite, our Editors' Choice pick for smaller businesses.

RingCentral MVP
4.5
Editors' Choice
Pros
  • Much-improved video conferencing
  • AI-backed transcription and call analysis
  • Enhanced collaboration capabilities
  • Numerous add-on apps
View More
Cons
  • Limited report customization
  • Tedious, wizard-based configuration
The Bottom Line

RingCentral MVP is a veteran Editors' Choice pick, and for good reason. It evolved from a top-notch, enterprise-class VoIP service to a rich, collaboration platform that includes AI-enhanced video captioning and a large menu of third-party integrations.

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About Paul Ferrill

Paul Ferrill is a freelance writer and reviewer for PCMag. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @paulferrill.

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