Is ShoreTel Worth the Cost? You Get What You Pay For.
June 21, 2014
Is ShoreTel Worth the Cost? You Get What You Pay For.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
13
Overall Satisfaction with ShoreTel VOIP
I work for a managed service provider supporting clients who use ShoreTel for voice calls (internal & external) and presence/instant messaging.
- ShoreTel Phones are top-notch; they're built like "tanks."
- ShoreTel works exceptionally in all sorts of environments.
- Call quality is usually excellent, even w/o QoS enabled at the network layer (in most cases).
- ShoreTel can be challenging to setup (plan ahead).
- ShoreTel should does NOT provide much documentation, unless you're working with a reseller.
- The appliances - although high quality - need to be rebooted if a network port change is made.
- Using ShoreTel company wide, with offices throughout the country, saves costs on long-distance charges.
- Increased employee productivity via the use of presence information with Outlook integration.
- Lync,RingCentral,Grasshopper
Microsoft Lync is a worthy alternative, offering the same feature setup and more, but can be more difficult to setup. Lync is NOT a "Next-> Next -> Finish" implementation/setup process. RingCentral is ok. It is a low-cost alternative that is hosted and works well for small businesses (less than 50 users). However, they have a ways to go. The service can be spotty, the software is buggy, and sometimes the call routing is a mess. Grasshopper is excellent. Extremely easy to use!