8x8 Virtual Office is a unified business phone and VoIP communications service. It includes features such as instant messaging, softphone, video calling, web conferencing, call recording, visual voicemail. Prices range from $22-$175 per user per month, depending on amount of features desired.
$24
per month
Google Hangouts (Classic)
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
The classic version of Google Hangouts is a communication platform that includes messaging, voice, VoIP, and video call capabilities. It was part of Google’s G Suite offering and integrated with applications such as Gmail and Google+. Users of the classic version of Hangouts will be migrated to the new Hangouts Chat collaboration tool, and Google continues to support conferencing via the new Hangouts Meet.
8x8 works well for our Call Center because it allows us to easily log into all or some call queues and it distributes incoming calls between whomever is currently logged in. It also works well for our corporate team, who uses it to make calls to others within and outside of the company, especially if they prefer to not use their own cell phone number. We also use it to message individuals or groups within the company.
Had I completed this review a couple years ago, I would have given a rating of 9 or 10 as Hangouts (Classic) is an excellent product. However, now that Google Chat has succeeded Hangouts, I would not recommend that any new users begin using it where other more modern options are available. Android users who want an internet based instant messaging that also supports calling and video calling could benefit from using Hangouts (Classic) as Google Chat requires the user to also have Google Meet installed to make video calls and there is no voice only calling option.
Caller ID is good when calls come in, but caller ID doesn't show up in call history. We don't know which number belongs to anyone. The caller ID I see when calls come in is gone in the history
Too many clicks when using Front Desk from caller to recipient
The shortcut keys are too elaborate! I changed the shortcut keys for answering and hanging up calls, but there is no ability to simple place a call on hold only using a shortcut - and I can't change any of the shortcut keys except for the first 3 and only 2 of them are ones I use most.
The 8x8 app crashes in mid-call sometimes and has to be restarted.
Having to "park" a call to pick up another call coming in is a hassle. Too many clicks! Again the shortcut keys are too elaborate to use efficiently.
The screen color is too stark and hard on the eyes. The ability to change the background color would be amazing.
Conference calling is unavailable because the 8x8 app doesn't interface with users with Teams Integration and not everyone uses a handset phone.
Why doesn't 8x8 work with the physical phone? Sometimes I don't want my earpiece in and I can't use the 8x8 app and the phone together. Also, when a call is transfered on the poly phone, there is no caller ID attached if a caller leaves a voicemail.
I would like to see improved video support, so that saved videos can be sent back and forth via Hangouts more easily, without having to start a separate meet chat
More pronounced notifications of messages would be helpful; pop up notifications are good, but once there is one, additional messages do not pop up
Custom muting times would be great, so that if I am in a 90 minute Zoom meeting, I can set it for that time; right now, it is 1 hour or 2 hours. Easy to forget.
All our employees love this product. No one has ever had an issue, whether it be the phone or fax. Great during the winter when employees have to work from home because of the snow. Never had an issue with the phone app. Highly recommend this product
Again for a large call center with many needs, and full time people to manage this may be a good system, but for a small business needing a phone system in my opinion it is overly complicated and difficult to manage without multiple calls on support.
The tool is almost self-implemented. It is likely to be available in every pc or mobile device a user or potential user might have, and all you need to do is adding the company's account and you are done. Once you are setted up, you have almost all actual communication methods available in one tool
As mentioned before, we have not had an outage with the phone system per say, There was an issue with the call center where we did have an outage, but it was quickly and promplty handled by 8x8 support, they got us up and going again within 24 hours. The 8x8 hard phone and softphone side of things have been rock solid, I couldn't ask for anything more seeing we are in health care and it's exactly what we were looking for. When and if there is an issue 99% of the time it's user error
None of the features that are available slow down the application. The reports (even the ones with hundreds of records) complete very quickly and the web interface as well as the mobile application never struggle to load or complete a task. The analytics will sometimes take some time to reflect the online status of users but it is to be expected due to connection speeds.
8x8 support can be phenomenal. After getting in touch with a support member, all of my problems are either solved right away or throughout a small time frame, fine-tuned to my circumstance/issue. Whether they are following up via phone call or email, I have full confidence and faith that any matter will be resolved. Trying to contact the support team is where things get a bit tricky. Raising an issue in the chat can be taxing as we are mostly referred to the general FAQ section of the site. Although it may be helpful to some, it does nothing for those of us that have very specific problems. If each account holder can receive access to a customer service line that differs from non-member account holders, I think we'd have a higher level of trust and a lower level of frustration.
Google Hangouts works great and does not require a lot of work to troubleshoot. Everything is simple and easy to use. Google provides all of the tools that one requires to utilize Google Hangouts and any information can be found in the built-in help tools. There is also a forum for users to report issues and typically, Google responds well and will try to work out any issues.
The person giving the training was very engaged, He also listened and answered all the questions. He created a video for our company while he was training in case we needed to reference it again in the future. The questions he could not answer were answered within 24 hours via an email to the IT support staff here so we could share the answers with the rest of the group
The implementation of 8x8 X was rather smooth. We had training prior to getting the system. The IT company did a good job on the training. The whole system is wonderful. Saves me so much time with the faxing, as i can just let it go by itself and not have to make sure pages don't get skipped, as with a regular fax machine.
I put my signature of approval on this product due to the fact I trust the internal process and the people at the enterprise, business, and organization, Majestic, that we were doing something good for everyone and making everyone's job easier, better, and hassle-free as we pivoted when the pandemic occurred and several teammates were able to work from their homes and or travel and work.
Google is the white cotton socks of the conferencing world. It’s a great ad-hoc tool, but not too much more. If you are not looking to spend money or operate completely on WiFi (without data charges), it’s a great free option as well. The benefit of being free and open is also the liability. It doesn’t have a great integration story with other corporate tools, but [it doesn’t have to] if you aren’t looking for that. All in all, it’s as helpful and ubiquitous as a public payphone…without the pay…and with a video capability.
At this time, we’re very happy with the pricing model that we have worked out and they have provided for us. Just be sure to do your homework, and use your comparisons to work out your cost with 8x8. They will be very straightforward with you on what they can adjust for you.
We've had periods where our organization has grown a considerable amount and we have had no issues in scaling our communications with 8x8. The number of possible extensions that we can use is far more than we expect to go through in a very long time. The only complaint that I have is a very minor inconvenience for me where I have to download activation codes for each phone. I would prefer to have the phones automatically activated as soon as they are plugged in.
PS had all the users etc. set up by our go-live date. All hard phones were activated and when we received them, all we had to do was set them up and punch in the activation code to activate them.
We have used several other VOIP companies and 8x8 has had the best pricing and service compared to the ones we have used in the past. We experienced 40-55% savings with 8x8 from our previous companies.
The previous companies didn't offer comprehensive mobile apps like 8x8. If our internet or power is off at the office we still have the ability to answer calls which was not a capability with the other companies we have used.
The 8x8 system has been the most user friendly which saves a significant amount of time on an administrative level during set up or maintenance.
I believe it was part of the google suite that was purchased. It was worth the cost as it was cheaper. I believe it is now free, but also becoming deprecated. It is much better to use Teams, Discord, Telegram, etc. Google does not provide enough support or features to make using hangouts worth it these days.
