RingCentral Meetings is an HD video conferencing and screen sharing solution that lets the user host unlimited video conference calls and share content while meeting and collaborating with anyone, any time, on any device. RingCentral Meetings helps boost business efficiency and customer engagement without costly and time-consuming travel.
$19.99
Per Month Per User
Skype
Score 7.3 out of 10
N/A
Skype (the personal edition) is a free web meeting, video conferencing, and VoIP software. The free version includes audio and video Skype-to-Skype calls, ability to call mobile phones and landlines, paid international calling, and conference calling capabilities for up to 25 people.
We chose [RingCentral] Meetings because its integrated with our phones and makes it user friendly being all on one platform for our company. Meetings are streamlined with calendar events linked, all contacts are integrated, and it's easy to add someone who is outside of the …
Ring Central is a more comprehensive and streamlined solution compared to the other options out there. Additionally, it seems to be more reliable and has less breakdown or issues as well. It allows you to do many of the same capabilities as the other rival products out there, …
I would recommend RingCentral for any business that looking to make the jump to Voice over IP and also want business essentials like video meetings all in one app. RingCentral Meetings integrates very well with its other communication tools which makes it very easy for a business to manage their communications in a single platform. The only scenario I see where RingCentral Meetings not being a good fit is if a business will be using video meetings as a marketing tool where they need extra marketing features like lead form captures and notification emails to be sent out.
Skype is well suited for quick calls back and forth, in both video and audio, among team members who have it already installed and who know how to use it. It is less well-suited when trying to do a presentation for somebody who does NOT have it installed or who lacks internet speed.
The instant chat function is great. Very straightforward, easy to use, easy to learn, no technical issues.
Video calls are pretty easy also, user friendly and a mostly stable connection with no issues.
Voice calls are easy also, eliminates the need for an external landline or the need to use your cell phone. Clear connections, not really any dropped calls.
Screen share functionality is rather limited in capability. Screen takeover functions seem limited to desktop devices (view-only for mobile device users)
Interface feels a bit clunky. Workable for advanced technical users, but a bit confusing for older senior-level executives
Integration with existing RingCentral software. Jumping between RingCentral meetings and telephone feels wrong, they should be integrated into one application for the business user with a standalone application for non-subscribers who wish to join the meeting
This is really small, but I'd love to see the emoticons updated to emojis.
Make calling free like some other communications app providers.
Grant the ability to not show that you're online even when you are. Sometimes you want to make a call, but you don't want other people to see you're online and start messaging you.
We are grandfathered into an unlimited toll-free minutes plan with RingCentral, so as long as we have them as a VoIP provider, we get Meetings free. If they ever start to charge us for using meetings as well, we'll drop that part in a second and switch to Skype for Business, which we currently have as well part of our Office 365 package.
The interface is easy to understand for a wide variety of user experience levels. The only real negative are the links included in meetings being in a format that first opens a browser before launching the RingCentral Meeting app, and as mentioned previously, this may be a platform-specific issue for macOS.
Skype is not as good as Facetime in terms of ease to glance at it and figure out how it works. I think that's a result of Skype trying to be too many things at once. A lot of the menu and UI could be streamlined, and I would jettison some of the additional functions that have been tacked on over the years to simplify. That being said, while some options are slightly hard to find, they all work flawlessly once found.
RingCentral is a great tool for everyone interested in making animations. The thing that appealed to us most about it is that it is very simple to use and works with much perfection. Like lip-synchronization goes so well with the character as soon as we add voice-over in it. Also, we can add characters and scenes without any hardship. We highly recommend this software.
I am not aware of the current support level for Skype for business, as I have never used even though I have the product. However, the support for Skype's personal paid users is not where it could be. Users who pay for Skype features do not have a clear path to reach out to support. So, rating 6, can be better as soon as I need to use Skype for business support and get a good experience. I will say that I will renew Skype for Business subscription, which is a significant inconsistency on my end. The explanation is that Skype for Business comes bundled with Office for Business, with no additional cost, so why not.
As a consulting company, we often have to adapt to our customers' needs in communication - which can mean using whatever system they're already on. Most of the time, they come around to preferring RingCentral Meetings over whatever they're using, and we've found it's a great value for us since it's already included in our RingCentral subscription, and runs on Mac, Windows, and Mobile devices. Despite the big drawback of needing to install the app locally and not having an in-browser solution for guests, it's lightweight, intuitive interface makes it an easy conferencing tool to adopt.
Microsoft Teams provides basically the same services. Local number calling is not available (that I know of) but that only matters if you have any need to use it. Teams is a little more stable, especially with a lot of people on a call. Skype is easier to set up and to operate. Skype also has a larger install base.
It has had a positive impact. We replaced an archaic solution with a more modern, streamlined version or product. Like anything else, it has its downfalls and isn't perfect, but overall it's been a good product and has outshined its predecessors like Zoom and Skype.
It also has an integrated office phone feature which has been great as our phones are essentially our laptops. It cut down on those costs and in general freed up space on our desks since we didn't have to have them anymore and everything is on our computer now.
Overall Skype is a good investment. We use regular Skype so its a product that comes with Windows PC's as a standard app. We dont use Skype for Business so this cuts cost overall.
Using the basic functions of Skype and not Skype for business does have some downsides but you do save money. There are many other apps we use as well as Skype in order to accomplish all of our goals.
The downside of course is that the more you want Skype to do, the more money it will cost the organization as a whole. It does have many more functions which you have to upgrade to Skype for business for. That is my only criticism.
