Who buys a fax machine anymore these days? For most small businesses, an online faxing solution is usually adequate and much more cost-effective (cheap.) I’ve used many of these services, and loved some and hated others. Here’s my review of two of the popular services: RingCentral and MetroFax.
RingCentral Brief Background
RingCentral is an Internet based fax service aimed at improving the functionality of small and medium business houses. This company claims it has developed the first type of virtual phone system especially designed for mobile professionals and small business houses. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, RingCentral is funded by Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures.
The Pros of RingCentral
RingCentral offers you a toll-free number or a local number enhanced with a number of features such as PBX, call management, voicemail with multiple extensions, automatically screen calls, place and forward calls, recorded greetings, call logs, music on hold, message alerts and send/receive fax messages. The system also offers an automatic dial-by-name directory such as press 1 for marketing department, press 2 for support system, press 3 for sales and so on. You can network with your team members no matter where they are physically located.
(Click here for RingCentral’s 30-day free trial page)
The 800 toll-free number gives the company a very important business façade. If you would rather use it on your cell phone, you would be able to use all the features while you are traveling.
You can send fax messages from any type of PC you are using with just a few clicks of the mouse. You will be able to control the whole system from your free desktop software, which makes it user-friendly and efficient.
You can try the system free through a 30-day trial package. This is a great opportunity to find out whether you would like to have such a system installed at your home or with your business.
The Cons Of RingCentral
RingCentral offers an exhaustive FAQ page and customer support Monday through Friday, but it does not have any support outside business hours. The lack of 24×7 support is definitely a minus point. It comes in three packages that would cover the home user, small and medium business houses. The best features are of course, with the higher end package.
Overall rating
RingCentral is definitely a great buy. It brings to your finger tips not only a full-size virtual PBX, but also offers a huge number of features plus fax receiving and sending facilities. It is simple to use and the best of all it offers you a month to test it and see whether it suits you or not. The only downside is that it lacks the 24×7 support, which in this case could be critical to the customer. The overall rating is 9 out of 10.
MetroFax Brief Background
MetroFax is a personal virtual fax service – and that is all you get from it. No more, no less. Though relatively a new company, it has already become popular among its peers for its advanced features and extremely simple interface.
The Pros Of MetroFax
MetroFax allows for 1000 fax pages per month, which is huge even for a medium-large size business. It has very easy-to-use interface that anyone can master within minutes and it does not charge per minute but per page that is sent. It does not matter how long it takes the page to get through. MetroFax offers 24×7 customer support.
(Limited time MetroFax offer: Get 1-month free)
The Cons of MetroFax
The greatest disadvantage with this system is that it has a start-up fee. It also does not offer any free trial by which people can check out whether this system suits their business or not. They do offer a 30 day free service, but that is the second month after you become a member. The charge per extra user email is high, while they offer only one email id as a recipient channel for incoming fax messages.
The States Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina do not get local numbers to use, though there are offered toll-free numbers instead.
Overall rating
MetroFax is a great program designed for medium and larger business houses. The interface is easy and simple and the fee is low. It is a good program to use. The overall rating is 8 out 10.
