I'm currently running about 80 Mitel 485g phones and a few 655 conference room phones across seven buildings on my campus, all linked by our own fiber connection. Our internet is symmetrical at 1GB, and we have a single PRI line that hasn't hit capacity yet.
We utilize hunt groups, page groups, and some small workgroup setups for our call centers. However, I'm looking to transition away from our existing Mitel setup. We have a Mitel Director Server plus an app server for voicemail, conference bridges, and IM (which we don't really use). Ideally, we want to move to an eFax system to eliminate some leftover copper lines.
I'm considering options like Zoom, RingCentral, and similar alternatives that match Mitel's feature set. Quality of calls, system uptime, and support are my top priorities. I've heard a lot of mixed feedback regarding RingCentral. We would plan to use our current Mitel support vendor, who also sells and supports RingCentral, so dealing with them for support versus contacting RingCentral directly is a concern.
Looking for advice or experiences you might have with other systems that could meet our needs!
8 Answers
We're looking at RingCentral as well. Their presentation was impressive, and they have great pricing through our VAR. I plan to start the migration in Q2 if everything aligns with management’s approval. I’ve also heard that if you negotiate well, they might throw in some hardware for free!
Were you on an on-prem SIP trunk before this? I’m worried about the cost differences moving to a per-user model from SIP trunking.
I recently moved to Teams Voice with CallTower, and it was super easy. They took care of all the back-end details like number porting and AutoAttendants. I have no regrets; everything just works now, and users have way more flexibility without needing desk phones.
We switched from Mitel to RingCentral in 2021, and honestly, our experience has been pretty good so far. We're a small company with around 90 users and haven’t had any major issues. I’d definitely recommend checking them out if you’re looking for something reliable. We’re interested in eFax too, and I think they offer shared department numbers.
Thanks for the insight! Are you doing anything with eFax through them? I'd love to know if it’s user-specific or if you can have a shared fax number for departments.
Migrating to Vonage from Mitel was a nightmare for us. We switched again to Zoom, and it was fantastic! Everything from call flows to user management is pretty seamless now.
We explored lots of cloud solutions and ultimately decided on RingCentral. It feels a lot simpler to manage, and there’s an integration option with Teams for users who prefer it. This setup has been smooth for us, and our users love having flexibility with phone options.
Teams seems promising! But I really dislike the Microsoft admin interface; it’s super clunky.
We're in the process of moving away from our Mitel setup and exploring generic SIP phones. We've been considering Snom models and integrating them with 3CX since they seem to match our needs well. In my experience, when using services like e-Fax, I prefer Westfax as it's been more reliable than others. Overall, the apps and interfaces have also been decent.
What’s stopping you from just porting your numbers to a cloud service? I thought that was a standard practice now.
I'm in the process of moving to Zoom Phones from Mitel, and so far, it’s been alright. The pricing between vendors has been similar across the board, so that’s a factor to consider too.
We transitioned around 800 users from ShoreTel to RingCentral last year and can't complain at all. We worked with a partner for the transition, and it went off without a hitch. One perk is that you can still use your existing Mitel phones if needed.
I see lots of negative reviews about RingCentral's support and billing practices, which makes me wary. Do you think it's just those experiences that are getting amplified?
I’ve got a demo scheduled with them next week. I provided a list of our key features from Mitel and ranked them by importance, so fingers crossed they can demonstrate how their platform meets those needs!