3CX vs. MiCloud Connect / ShoreTel (discontinued)

The 3CX system is a well-thought out phone system with many features and options. The plan pricing is very affordable and flexible depending on your business needs. However, the key to having a solid, well-performing system with 3CX is the quality of your Internet connection. You may want to discuss your Internet connection type and speeds with a 3CX reseller before deciding on a 3CX system.

Incentivized

If your company has relied only on an on-premises system in the past, Mitel is a fantastic alternative. Mitel provides an excellent hosted option for businesses looking for scalability as they expand as well as ease of deployment for use by branch offices and remote employees. However, I would recommend caution if the company plans to utilize Mitel as its only communications platform because its conferencing solutions are not ready for prime time.

Incentivized

• The 3CX Phone System has a really nice auto-provision feature that works with plug and play phones, so then all that's needed is for each to have an extension assigned to them.
• The 3CX Phone System web portal is exceptional. I love how I can keep it open during the day and quickly see who is busy on the phone and which lines are available. I can also call quickly by a simple click of the mouse.
• The app that accompanies this allows me to provision my cellphone via the app to my classroom extension so that if I am out of my classroom and someone calls my phone, it also rings on my cell phone. I can also call via the app and it appears as if I am calling from my classroom extension.

Incentivized

• The system up-time has been 100% over 3 years.
• With separate systems and two locations we used to have to fake the system into 4 digit dialing by forwarding all remote extensions to DIDs. Now with Shortel extended to the remote location we have true 4 digit dialing.
• The Shortel desktop application makes managing calls and call routing a breeze for even our most novice users.

Incentivized

• I would like to be able to see direct-dial numbers on the handsets. Currently that is not possible but that would be a nice feature.
• You need an SBC per location, which can be a point of failure.
• You also need a server that might get disconnected, which is another point of failure.

Incentivized

• The Shoretel Mobility app for iPhone does not work very well and is not very intuitive in my experience.
• We have had many intermittent instances of employees reporting that call quality is bad, sounds like the caller is garbled and underwater.
• I deployed Shoretel Sky to eleven branches in four states over a 6 month period and experiences were not very consistent. Had issues with not enough power bricks being sent with the phones, some phones not having the the face sticker showing messages, directories, etc., user guides (quick start guides) not getting shipped with the phones at some branches, and phones being programmed incorrectly. This made it very difficult to plan my trips to train employees and install these at the various locations.

Although the price is higher than some of the other Hosted systems out there, the value is definitely worth a renewal. Everything is relative: there are some companies out there who need phones, but don't necessarily care how they work, the functionality/features available/durability etc., they just care that they have phones that make and receive calls. There are other companies that are completely reliant on phones and certain functionality that is provided by the system. There are even some companies who are straight up dependent on the phone system and are losing tons of money anytime they are down, ShoreTel is the perfect fit for theSMB client who sees value in a solid,robust, reliable and high functioning phone system

Incentivized

I have not used a wide array of communication software, but this far ShoreTel/MiCloud has been the simplest and easiest to get into. My work employs several temps at certain points throughout the year, and they use this piece of software frequently, and new hires seem to have little to no issue using this software. Additionally, this is our primary telephone communication infrastructure, and I have yet to encounter any issues when signed in and regularly using it handling external calls to our department.

Incentivized

The system has gone down on us MULTIPLE times. We asked them to move us to a different cluster. Shoretel declined. Basically we had problems or outages every month of the year from June 2012 to date. Our old phone system was just that: OLD, no bells or whistles. But it was up every day and I never had to think about it much until it was time for an upgrade. That's how I want Shoretel to be. I want it so reliable that I never have to think about it.

Even though the system uses a lower bandwidth connection we have experienced a higher call quality than our previous system which required a T1 line and back up broadband connection.

I didn't have to use support personally but I have talked to the administrators of the system and they confirm that any issue is dealt with quickly. As we haven't had big issues I can't talk about priority 1 incidents which require immediate attention, but normal issues are answered fairly quickly and accurately.

Incentivized

ShoreTel Sky's support is amazing. The only reason why I didn't give it a 10 is that we still need to contact them for stuff that we should be able to do, for ourselves, within the management portal. I know their portal is being worked on, so hopefully they will get the "little things" included for self-management.

I attended the first ShoreTel installer class in Austin,TX. It was a week of intensive study with a live lab and having hands on experience made the class worthwhile. I have taken all of the sales courses and remaining technical courses either online or self study to keep costs down. I send my techs to the first installer course in Austin as I feel it gives them a solid foundation and most of teh other courses they have taken have been online.

Incentivized

The training identified some things M5 (ShoreTel's cloud division) could provide, however it was only using it every day and asking the Shoretel support several questions that I got the hang of it. The training was able to highlight functions but I did not learn how to use the phone from the training.

I feel that the current features that ShoreTel provides are pretty solid, but in future I would love to see it expand into more features to assist inter team communication if possible. Considering that there was not a single issue with ShoreTel in my whole work period of 6months I think it is safe to say that the implementation is pretty standardized.

Incentivized

We had offers from a local company to do VoIP and we were looking at cisco even Microsoft for our solution, but in the end, we wanted control over our phone system not a service with good support, yet at the same time we didn't want to pay a lot of money for solutions like Cisco.

Incentivized

Costs are lower with Mitel's offering than was the case with SureTel's offering. Switching from SureTel to MiTel was simple and painless. A software update was pushed by IT, and users migrated with relative ease. The vast majority of users did not need any involvement from IT during and after the switch over

Incentivized

Shoretel has been very scalable for our organization. We first installed Shoretel in 2003 to standardize three sites on one phone system. As our needs have changed, our Shoretel system has adapted with our growing needs and added locations. Initially, we were using analog phones and have been rolling out VoIP as our budgeting has allowed.

Incentivized

• Much lower cost than other PBX options: Our company paid nearly 1/5 the cost of purchasing a hardware-based PBX when we instead switched to 3CX. In either case we would have had to replace all phone hardware, but with 3CX we saved a ton of money on licensing and server hardware.
• Many locations, one phone system: We were able to tie all of our locations into a single 3CX phone system. This means each location is an extension, allowing call transferring, increased flexibility in auto attendant, and simpler numbers to remember.
• Elimination of carrier service: With 3CX we were able to replace carrier service at many separate locations with SIP service. This reduced each locations' phone bill from $50 per month to $5 per month.

Incentivized

• We've definitely seen a business impact on our company in a positive manner. We've been able to provide the best possible service that suits our needs, while not being gouged by ISP's or Telco providers.
• We can better serve our customer service reps and tech support people by managing our own system, creating our own ring groups and control use.