FoxDen (Discontinued) vs. Signal Open Source Messenger

FoxDen tended to work slightly better for very small video conferences. The audio was typically reliable, so it would be ok to use for audio conferencing. It is definitely not ready for prime time: it cannot handle very large conferences. It didn't seem ready to be used on mobile either. I also think it's better suited for a smaller company.

Incentivized

Signal is great for high-security applications where privacy is a concern, perhaps because of the sensitive nature of the materials being communicated. For instance, if you are sending sensitive information about a film that hasn't been released yet, and you want to make sure that paparazzi and fans don't get access to spoiler information, Signal is a great way to communicate.

Incentivized

• Easy to join meetings
• Audio is fairly reliable
• Moderately easy to host meetings

Incentivized

• Encryption end to end
• Audio quality
• Ability to permanently delete messages and history

Incentivized

• Horrible video quality. It basically never worked, and we stopped using the video feature.
• Buggy behavior all the time. Dropped calls, loss of screen sharing, rendered unusable most of the time.
• Poor response by the vendor to issues. The answer was basically "we know it's unusable, and we're trying to figure that out. There's nothing we can do right now."

Incentivized

• Backup functionality on iOS devices
• Sometimes messages can be delayed

Incentivized

I've never contacted support but I see that they are on the ball for bug fixes, highly communicative in release notes, and continually releasing updates to Signal that address common user complaints. Given how responsive the development team is, and how they are continually improving Signal, I think their support is top notch.

Incentivized

I believe they selected FoxDen because we use ReadyTalk for voice conferencing and FoxDen represented a cost savings compared to our previous Skype for Business investment. However, in the end, most of our company has abandoned ever using FoxDen and, instead, still uses all of the products listed above (Skype for Business, Google Hangouts, Slack) or just plain ReadyTalk voice conferencing.

Incentivized

Signal is far and away better and more feature-rich. Skype is no longer the app it used to be before Microsoft acquired it, and WhatsApp, while trying to be much like Signal with claims, has too many features that lead to a sense of insecurity as it's too widely used and used for too many things.

Incentivized

• Increased the length of our meetings due to copious amounts of time spent trying to fix the video and screen sharing.
• Added frustration for everyone who attempted to use it.
• Ultimately resulted in a lot of money lost on video equipment that everyone stopped using in favor of voice-only conferencing due to the faulty video.

Incentivized

• Communication is crucial to accomplishing our mission
• Cost of similar commercial apps could be very prohibitive

Incentivized