Zoom Telephone Review

hey guys it's prince rich with rich
technology group and this video is our
zoom phone
voip phone system review for 2021 we got
a lot to go over in this video so if
you're watching this and you've been
contemplating zoom phone for your
voiceover ip phone system or business
communication needs for your company
i would recommend that you maybe grab a
pin
pin and pad take notes or if you don't
want to take notes sit back and relax
but we got a lot to go over in this
video but
before we hop into who zoom phone is
some of the features what they do and
the pros and cons a quick disclaimer i
want to throw out there for you guys
we get a lot of phone calls and a lot of
emails for people that are looking for
zoom phone on a regular basis and while
we do represent zoom phone and we know a
lot about it can get you special pricing
and can also coordinate demos for you
we cannot get credit for any
zoom phone opportunities or quotes that
are less than five users or extensions
so if you're watching this and you've
got only you know one user need one
extension two extensions as much as we'd
love to help you and we don't have that
limitation with other service providers
unfortunately this is a limitation that
we have only with zoom at the time of
this video and we won't be able to help
you you have to go direct if you're
watching this and you've got five or
more extensions and you'd like our help
like to get access to our special
pricing quotes demos have us connect you
up with one of our contacts at zoom i'm
more than happy to do that all day long
so anyways let's jump right into this
zoom phone review for 2021.
starting at the top zoom phone was zoom
sorry zoom the corporation or the video
conferencing company as we know it was
founded in 2011 but zoom phone the
actual voice over ip platform is
actually younger it's actually at the
time of this video less than two years
old i think it's actually coming up on
its second birthday here pretty soon
zoom is actually headquartered out of
san jose california and their estimated
revenue for 2010 i mean for 2020 was
approximated at 2.6 billion dollars
which was reported
at a staggering 326
revenue increase over the previous year
so for those of you watching you
probably know you know in the previous
year with the pandemic and all that kind
of stuff zoom stock just went through
the roof so the good news is is even
though zoom phone at the time of this
video is a very young platform they got
plenty of funding to hopefully improve
upon it and build a pretty killer
platform as time progresses
what makes zoom unique at the time of
this video is obviously their video
meetings platform
you know none of you that are watching
me you anybody around you know worldwide
even kids these days nobody is a
stranger to zooms virtual meetings or
video conferencing platforms zoom
meetings
the thing that makes their phone system
unique is while every other service
provider out there actually does offer a
video meetings platform zoom tends to
offer what could be hailed as one of the
best ones out there and as you can
imagine it integrates seamlessly with
their zoom phone system if you get the
right package
so let's see here
pricing at zoom starts at about eight
dollars per month per user to as high as
30 dollars per month per user or
extension now keep in mind this is for
their ucas platform this is not pricing
for like their ccas or for their contact
center platform or what we would call
voiceover ip for call centers or
enterprise level stuff that's a whole
nother thing which we'll end up probably
doing a video with the zoom in engineer
on that on in a future video
let's see here um one other thing that's
very interesting about zoom is
unlike most voiceover ip service
providers who actually include
video meeting at no extra cost for
example vonage includes vonage meetings
ring central includes ring central
meetings
uh nextiva includes
amazon chime these are all video
conferencing platforms that are zoom
like that all are included with the
phone systems that i just mentioned at
no extra charge for every user one of
the things that makes zoom phone very
different in its own right is they don't
actually include the you know
full-featured video package in all of
their regular extensions you actually
have to pay more for that or pay for a
higher tier which at the time of this
video is called zoom united which we're
going to get more into that a little
later
oh i mentioned the pricing but i
actually didn't mention to you guys
exactly what
um
what the plans were the plans
approximately are 25 a month for the pro
uh 25 per month per user for the pro
plan
29 per month per user for the premium
plan and 35 dollars per month per user
for the enterprise plan and then the
call center stuff is something totally
different um that's something else
zoom phone features include but are not
limited to
mobile app
desktop app
mms support i know for those of you who
are watching that are thinking wait does
it support mms yes it does
toll-free number included
unlimited auto attendance voicemail
transcription which is included which i
was actually surprised to see because
that's usually an add-on with most
providers out there not all of them but
most of them that you guys see me talk
about on the channel voicemail
transcription is usually an add-on it's
not an included thing voicemail to email
which that's always a given with most
reputable providers and even
international calling for some accounts
unlimited international calling for up
to 40 countries that's a very unique
feature
with zoom that is
quite a money saver depending on the
type of company that you are and what
type of international business you may
be doing
zoom is a hipaa compliant voiceover ip
platform and it is one of the few and
only voip service providers that can
actually on paper
say that it has a hipaa compliant video
conferencing platform
there's a lot of carriers out there that
will say that their video conferencing
is hipaa compliant some of them out
there won't say that because they know
that they could potentially get in hot
water but zoom actually has the ability
to have a hipaa compliant video
conferencing platform which is a rare
feature and an excellent feature
especially in an age where telehealth is
becoming like a big thing um so one
thing that i do want to point out is you
do have to pay extra for that feature um
that is not
a given uh per se
let's get into the pros and cons of zoom
before we wrap this video up um pros
easily one of the best video
conferencing platforms out there you
know that really needs no more
explanation you know zoom has kind of
almost defined
the standard as far as their video
conferencing platform and other people
you notice are trying to kind of create
a zoom-like video conferencing platform
so they've kind of created the standard
in their own right for the video
conferencing or virtual meetings
experience so that's obviously a pro
there to have something like that that
could be potentially integrated
alongside your business phone system
let's see here as i already mentioned
truly hipaa compliant video but which is
a rare feature but you do have to pay
extra for that um from what i've heard
from people in the telehealth sectors
that we've worked with or that i've
spoken with that gave me you know the
good and bad about zoom phone for their
business
let's see what else uh number three very
stable infrastructure and platform
that's a given this is zoom i mean
if they have potentially literally a
platform that has the ability to house
millions if not billions of virtual
meetings and whatnot simultaneously day
in day out all week long you know it's
safe to say that their business phone
system it's probably running running on
the same backbone so it should be pretty
stable and pretty reliable um you know
i've heard people say things about zoom
that weren't necessarily positive but
i've never heard anybody period say that
the reason that they didn't like it or
the reason they switched was because of
platform instability or downtime or
anything like that i've never heard
anything like that from anybody that did
have anything negative to say about the
platform
another pro that i want to throw out
there is support for polycom and ya-link
phones which are widely used
zoom also supports
a phone brand that i'd never heard of
called audio codes which i've been
seeing more and more of with some of the
other providers out there so stay tuned
we're going to be probably hitting them
up at some point to see if we can get
some of those get our hands on some of
those phones for some actual reviews
here in the studio
zoom also has big support for algo and
cyber data enter cyber data uh date the
cyber data intercom equipment for those
of you who are watching this and you're
wondering what is algo and cyber data
basically what they are is they are
interfacing equipment and enter an
intercom
interfacing equipment for intercom
systems new but they also have the
ability for you to connect
like
intercom atas to in this case the zoom
phone platform so that you can actually
communicate over you know older analog
or legacy paging systems like paging
systems that you probably saw like in
the ceiling when you went to high school
or something like that or that may be in
a warehouse to be able to call somebody
or have a loudspeaker to speak over loud
machinery or whatever but zoom phone
does have the ability and support to
support those interfaces whether you're
looking for new intercom systems and
this could be intercom systems outside
like like door security or intercom
systems inside for just being able to
call people over a loudspeaker or page
people to a front office or to
administration or something like that
let's see here
final pro before we move into cons for
zoom phone is pricing for metered
extensions is very competitive at about
eight dollars per extension
where in comparison to most competitors
out there that charge about 15 and up
for metered extensions that's actually a
really good price for eight dollars a
month for metered extensions
for those of you watching who are like
what's a metered extension
um even though we don't sell a lot of
them over here and people don't really
look for them much we do often come
across some businesses that are looking
for what's called a metered extension
which is an extension that doesn't
really have a user or it doesn't really
need a lot of use so instead of paying
like a high monthly fee on a seat you
pay a very low monthly fee for either a
block of minutes or you pay a very low
monthly fee and then pay a per minute
usage charge
uh common times that we see metered
extensions is like
i've seen them in parking decks i've
seen them in front lobbies i've seen
them in um
you know you go into a uh what is it you
go into like a like a bank where you
where you see a safety deposit box and
there's a phone
inside of like the like booth where you
can you know rummage through your safety
deposit box those are typically metered
extensions
so anywho let's move on to cons
cons monthly price is a bit high um
their monthly price typically ranges
from about 25 to 30 dollars in extension
and zoom doesn't really negotiate like a
lot of the other providers that we work
with do
while they don't tend to negotiate like
some of the others i don't know that's
their prerogative
but
zoom's pricing tends to be a little bit
and sometimes a lot higher than most of
their competitors out there
the thing that we've always found
that's kind of interesting about that is
how high their price is for their voip
platform but they're still kind of a new
player in the game and they tend to out
price their competitors that i'm just
going to honestly say
have significantly
sometimes a lot better features than
what zoom phone has but also have more
maturity in the market
is probably the best way that i can put
it
let's see here
um
con number two very very basic platform
on the ucas side um
i've talked to a number of persons that
either switched from zoom and shared
with me why they were thinking about
leaving or they were just kind of
venting a little bit and one of the most
common things that i hear is not that it
was a bad platform but that it was
quote-unquote very basic and had very
basic features and lacked a lot of
intermediate to advanced features now
i've seen the mobile app and desktop app
in the platform myself and i can kind of
agree and see the angle from where
people are coming there but
in fairness i mean these guys have only
been around even though zoom has been
around for quite a minute you know and
they've got deep pockets zoom phone
hasn't even been around for two years
whereas a lot of their competitors you
know like your vonages and your ring
centrals of the world these guys have
been around for eons for like anywhere
from you know 14 to 20 years and some of
them even higher than 20 years like your
doll pads and things like that so
while i can concur
with some of the rumors that i've heard
that it's extremely basic from people
that have felt like it wasn't really for
them after having it for a bit you know
let's give them time because they
haven't been around that long only about
two years they're coming up on their
two-year birthday for zoom phone here
pretty soon
let's see
con number three and this is one that um
well this is an interesting one
quoting process takes forever now i
can't speak for everyone out there
that's ever gotten a quote for zoom
phone but i have talked to customers
that have quite literally contacted me
and said prince you know i chatted with
somebody i emailed him i called him on
the phone i left a message
and you know i've been waiting almost
like one to two weeks for somebody at
zoom to get back with me with a quote in
pricing and i've heard from nobody and i
saw on you guys website or on your
channel that you represent zoom can you
get me a quote
then we turn around and get a quote and
then it takes us on average guys i'm not
even gonna lie i mean even when i'm like
super adamant and just all over people's
tail and i'm a huge follow-up nazi on
average for us
i mean it takes like a week or two to
get a zoom quote like and that's like
i'm usually impressed if we get a quote
back to a customer in like a week after
the time that we've asked but that we've
requested one why it takes this long how
in the world it takes this long when
most of their competitors out there or
or voip providers that i work with day
in day out will get a quote for you same
day or next business day at like the
latest
i don't know i couldn't tell you why but
just expect to have to wait until
something changes over there
okay
con number four and this is a really big
one you guys um
non-existent customer service and
support um
i can't speak for this myself but as you
guys know i work with hundreds of people
on a regular basis so i hear all the
stories i hear the good i hear the bad
about all the service providers and even
service providers that i've never even
heard of and
i get a lot of people that say that
they felt like once they signed the
contract and got it they got no help
like i don't know if it's because zoom
is big i don't know if it i think some
of it has to do with if you're a
if you're an account of a certain size
meaning a certain dollar figure you get
no support now
for you guys watching my channel you
know that we're no stranger to dealing
with voip service providers that some
unless you pay a certain dollar figure
before taxes a month the support is
limited but that's not what i've heard
from rumors what i've heard from more
than just a half a dozen people is
for smaller accounts under a certain
dollar figure or under a certain c count
you they don't they're not able to get
anything they're not able to call anyone
they're not able to get setup assistance
they're just kind of on their own i
guess with like an faq or like a web
base or something like like a web
knowledge base or something like that so
um i don't know
if customer service and being able to
have like hand-holding levels of
services for you based on what i've
heard and seen in passing with zoom
phone it may not be for you but for some
of you out there you know you might be
tech savvy or you might be able to
muddle your way through it i've talked
to some people that said that they
didn't care that there was no service so
really it's up to you it's your
prerogative
okay so
wrapping this up my thoughts and final
comments before we wrap up our zoom
phone review for 2021. um if you're
looking for a voip phone system solution
that seamlessly integrates with video
conferencing zoom may be the one while
all of the others out there do have some
sort of free integrated video
conferencing let's be real zoom has some
excellent video conferencing and it's
got that familiarity that that brand
that familiarity of the virtual platform
that everybody has become used to so
much so that i've worked with people
that work with like senior citizens
and work in other industries where their
clientele is not very technically savvy
and they gravitate more towards zoom
phone for the for the integrated video
because they know that their clients
won't have any issues or obstacles
trying to technically figure out how to
use what would otherwise be an
unfamiliar video conferencing platform
or experience or something like that
um cost of zoom phone is not cheap
uh you know it's it's when you look at
it apples to apples to the other
competitors out there it's just not
cheap it tends to be a little high um so
it really boils down to how bad do you
want it and if the price is the big
determining factor for you and trying to
find a voip service provider that meets
the needs that you require zoom may not
zoom in a lot of other ones that charge
more than a lot of the others it may not
be the one that you want to look at if
price is your
biggest determining factor it's probably
not going to be the one you want to look
at
let's see here
probably one of the best plans with um
competitive pricing
for international calling so again while
for the average customer the price might
be a little bit high for people that do
a lot of international calling i can
almost promise you you're going to make
up
for them you're going to make up for the
difference in price compared to the
competitors with the amount that you're
not going to be spending and a bunch of
international rate charges and overages
calling overseas and things like that
other thing is quotes in pre-sales
follow up with zoom quite literally
takes forever
not only what i've heard from customers
but we can honestly attest to that on
more than a half a dozen occasions
so that is something that we hope will
improve as time progresses um and that
usually
i've seen quotes take as long as
five to ten calendar days and sometimes
longer um to get to a client which can
be really frustrating especially if it's
a client that needs a new solution like
yesterday
and last but not least
just to sum things up is customer
service and initial setup and assistance
for smaller accounts is very limited
it's very limited lacking in a lot of
cases from what i've heard and seen it's
more or less non-existent
so anywho
giving credit to zoom zoom phone is
still very very new it's less than two
years old we think as time progresses it
will improve we think hopefully the
customer service and response time will
improve and we also think
we know the platform will improve
because zoom has a lot of you know
marketing funds and they have a lot of
money
thanks to like i mentioned earlier a 326
growth increase over the previous year
i'd say that they've got some pockets
when they're ready to basically dump
some money into development wisely to
improve upon the platform and give it
some features and give it some
functionality and an interface that we
quite frankly think one day it may be
able to hang with the big boys who have
been around for decades and whatnot so
um anyways if you're watching this video
and you're interested in zoom remember
we do represent zoom phone but we cannot
get involved in on or quote or get or we
can't touch any opportunities that are
less than five extensions so if you're
watching this and you're less than five
extensions i hope you found this video
helpful and you're more than welcome to
take this video information you learn
run with it and get a direct quote from
zoom for comparison um if you're
watching this and you're interested in a
zoom quote or demo or you'd like to just
pick my brain and you've got a need for
five extensions or more i would
absolutely love to chat with you our
service is free we don't charge anything
always be sure to come to us first
before you get a quote from the service
provider direct so that you can get
access to our special pricing if you
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every single week prince rich with rich
technology group your go-to guy for the
best deals on business phone and
internet service in the united states
i'll catch you guys again in the next
video
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