OpenPhone vs. Rakuten Viber

If you have more than 2 people in your organization, then this will save you so much time. Delegation is the key to starting a business. Even when you're a 1 person show, being able to present to your user base the differentiation of options for client communications is critical. As a founder, feeling compelled to be always on is something I strive not to be. OpenPhone gives you that flexibility. I have found it to be less appropriate in complex HIPPA compliant areas, but that is it. OpenPhone really does seem to suit an open array of use cases.

Incentivized

As mentioned previously, it is easy to use and access since the you can chat, send voice memos or stickers in a conversation. So in overall it's very entertaining. But throughout that, the audio quality can seem to be a bit off. (Could be personal headset issue) Overall that is the only issue that is present or consistent.

Incentivized

• It's great for texting.
• It's great for making phone calls. You get a new, unique phone number and can text/call from phone or desktop.
• UI is great and really intuitive.

Incentivized

• Viber is a cross platform product. It does not matter if someone uses Android or iOS device, it will work exactly the same.
• Also the desktop version is very good. You can switch between the desktop and mobile versions within a conversation and see updates right away.
• It's a very international product. It has been available for very long time, which makes it very wide spread - it has a good user base.
• You can see the status of your messages.

Incentivized

• Web app could work better in my experience
• Pricing could be lower
• Somehow connect with whatsapp or / and other messaging apps that people commonly use

Incentivized

• When someone sends a file in Viber, the program automatically saves it in your phone memory. This means that you must delete them manually and it really annoys me, as it takes a lot of time to do that.
• It contains enormous amounts of adds.
• There is file sharing limit.

Incentivized

In my experience, App features are buggy and confusing, and they often don't match the descriptions and screenshots in their documentation. In fact, many of their help links go to 404 "page not found" errors. In my experience, there are frequent outages and quality issues. My customers prefer to talk to me on a different line, because they find it difficult to understand me on OpenPhone.

For me, there have been too many outages to rate this higher than "1 worst".

I think the platform is buggy and confusing. There are numerous outages. And the call quality, according to my customers, is atrocious.

In my experience, their support feels like the opposite of support. They send you in circles, never directly answer questions, provide vague suggestions with unwanted platitudes, and they often take days between responses to provide that. For me, it's a frustrating experience that leaves you with a net loss of time and energy versus before you reached out to them. In my opinion, you definitely don't get "support".

I have not frequently used the support for Viber as I have not had many problems with it on my phone. I did use support one time for problems with the computer application and used the forums to solve my problems. They were fairly easy to follow and I appreciated the online help in that format.

Incentivized

OpenPhone has an easier user interface than Grasshopper. Years ago when I was using Grasshopper, I recall that their user interface looked antiquated and full of complications. They would also update the interface just as everyone was getting used to using it. OpenPhone has many more functions. Grasshopper's app did not offer basic functions such as in-app texting between team members, and its call transfer function was incredibly complicated to use. In my opinion, Grasshopper was an inferior service/product in almost every way.

Incentivized

End-to-end encryption scrambles my messages and delivers them as a scrambled code to my friend's device, whether mobile or desktop, so that only their device can decode them into plain text. If my friend's phone is turned off or they don't have access to the internet, my message will be stored on Viber's servers (for a limited time) until their device is ready to receive it.

Because Viber can't access or read my private conversations in the first place, Viber can't sell them.

Incentivized

In my experience, Billing lacks transparency, and they have made billing errors (overcharging me) since I started using them. I think the "trust registration" is an insane ripoff charging around $20 for every attempt. Crazy.

In my experience, I can't even scale up to sending messages from a single number because of their broken and messed up "trust registration" system.

• Provided us with a simple, yet robust phone system for our small business
• Price can be lower for premium, and for multiple users

Incentivized

• Viber saves me financially since I am now able to communicate with my international clients for free.
• Viber helps keep my clients engaged by the fact that I can so easily share photos, which is important as a freelance photographer.
• Viber allows me to make my messages to clients appealing in a visual way, which I have noticed helps drive actions of my clients, such as remembering to book their next session or pay for their photo order.

Incentivized