VoIP Ease of Use
When evaluating the ease of use of a VoIP provider, it's
important to consider not only whether it's easy to configure the
phone's features, but also how easy it is to register for the
service and to set up the hardware required. We tested the
registration, setup and control panels of all of the top VoIP providers to determine how easy it would
be for both novices and tech-savvy consumers to get their VoIP
systems up and running. Here are our conclusions:
| VoIP
provider |
Registration |
Hardware Set
Up |
Control
Panel |
Visit ITP >> |
- User interface was easy to understand
|
- Kudos to ITP for being one of the only VoIP providers to label
their hardware and provide printed directions with the kit.
|
- Control panel with simple design makes most tasks easily
executable
- Some tasks (such as creating a voicemail greeting) were missing
from the control panel, and no directions were provided for how to
complete the task
|
Visit ViaTalk >> |
- Quick registration process
- Username and password included in the confirmation email which
was both unusual and exceptionally helpful
|
- ViaTalk's hardware did not come with any explanatory materials,
but the Linksys router was a standard device and setup required
only minimal effort
|
- Uncluttered control panel
- Helpful FAQs in control panel, though customer support phone
number was obviously missing
- Voicemail setup is done by calling in, which is not obvious
from the control panel
|
Visit PhonePower >> |
- Straightforward registration for residential plans
- Business registration more complicated
- Monthly taxes listed on the pricing page so there were no
surprise fees
|
- Both Phone Power's softphone and telephony hardware were easy
to install when following the directions provided
|
- Textual explanations found in the control panel make it easy to
fulfill desired tasks
- Chat support is conveniently located in the control panel
|
Visit Phone.com >> |
- Straightforward registration with a complicated confirmation
process
- Phone number not provided with the confirmation information,
which was troublesome
|
- Phone.com provides a link with exact directions for setting up
the hardware
- Our setup process worked exactly as the company promised
|
- Straightforward interface - text-to-voice greeting
transcription is especially easy to use
|
Visit RingCentral >> |
- Trouble-free registration process
|
- The 1-user business VoIP package comes with a softphone only,
which wasn't immediately clear. Once we figured this out, setup was
painless and instantaneous
|
- Voicemail setup can be done in several ways which was nice,
though the directions were a bit confusing
- Intuitive user interface makes it possible to truly customize
your RingCentral plan to meet your business's needs
|
