RingCentral Fax Reviews

RingCentral has proven itself several times as a VoIP provider with truly enterprise-grade features, so it’s not surprising that faxing is also treated with the same care and professionalism.

Interestingly, however, booting up RingCentral Fax for the first time may give you the impression that this service is not as advanced as it may have first appeared . For starters, features like electronic signatures or uploading documents are out of question, as well as the option to organize incoming and outgoing faxes in a way that suits you. Yet although custom organization is indeed missing, faxes can still be searched with different criteria – date, phone number and the method of transmission – under the “Call Log” tab in the online account.

Speaking of which, there is a very good reason for this tab to exist. Faxes are in fact treated like phone calls, meaning that the system displays the transmission time of each fax message. This may seem insignificant at first, but it’s actually a rather thoughtful step from RingCentral, since it allows users to easily see whether transmissions were successful or not with a single glimpse.

The same attentiveness is also present when it comes to the overall security of the service. Aside from being able to block certain calls and faxes, the service will also lock access to the account after a certain amount of time, and only allow authorized devices to access your data. It’s important to know that RingCentral Fax is also fully compliant with HIPAA regulations, too, by being capable of automatically deleting all communications after 30 days from all RingCentral accounts managed by the same user.

Sending and Receiving Faxes

Not only do faxes have outstanding quality, but managing them from RingCentral’s online account, desktop software or mobile app is easy too, even for less tech-savvy users. This is especially true for inbound messages, which are not only automatically forwarded to the email address provided in the account’s settings, but can also be downloaded, sent to other email addresses or have their sender blocked.

Still, the real achievement is fax message composition – even if this function is only represented by an unclear icon without very clear signposting. First off, one message can consist of up to 200 pages and can be sent to 1-50 recipients simultaneously, whether the message is created with RingCentral’s fax composer or in a simple email client. Then there is the option to choose from 13 different cover pages, which can even be replaced with a fully customized one when using the RingCentral desktop app.

Also, the system can add attachments not just from computers, mobile devices and even scanners, but from cloud storage apps like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box, too. And then there is the most convenient feature of all, the option to schedule outbound fax messages to be transmitted at a later date.

RingCentral’s online fax manager is not perfect, but despite its flaws it still manages to be simple and straightforward, whether the day-to-day handling of faxes or setting the account up. The latter is especially where RingCentral truly shines, since even inexperienced users can tweak many aspects of the service with ease. This includes the ability to control the outbound caller ID, the different notifications that the system sends out, or even which email addresses are permitted to send faxes via an email client – all of it customizable with ease.

This same ease of use is also true of both the desktop software and the iOS and Android mobile apps, all of which include every feature available in the RingCentral Fax online account. However, there are a few differences, especially where contacts are concerned. While the mobile app is a bit more advanced in that regard – since it uses the phone’s contact list by default – the desktop client is also capable of directly fetching contacts from Gmail and Outlook. Speaking of Outlook, there is the option to add an extra tab to the email client with which the fax composer of RingCentral’s desktop version can be launched with a single click.

Getting Started

Although the setup process of a RingCentral account is pretty easy, there are a few things that need to be taken into consideration. First, selecting a new fax number is a must for everyone, whether they have an existing number or not. Second, newcomers are also required to provide their credit card data, which is charged on the spot unless making use of the seven-day free trial – in which case billing starts after the expiration of the trial period.

Once these steps are completed, RingCentral immediately sets up the new account and can be used right away, without the need for any actual faxing hardware – though RingCentral can connect fax machines to the system provided that a new extension is created and an analog phone adapter is purchased. It’s also worth noting that by default accounts can only be accessed with the associated fax number and a password; to be able to use the default email account for that purpose the feature should be activated manually in the online account manager.

With the exception of international fax numbers – which can only be added to the account as an additional number upon request – every type of possible fax number is available for RingCentral Fax. This means that new customers can freely select from a range of local numbers based on the city or area code or toll-free numbers that are generated by the company. Additionally, RingCentral provides the option to associate a true 800 or vanity number to the account, but in this case users are required to pay an additional $30 setup fee.

There is also the option to port existing fax numbers from other providers, but the process is rather complicated – taking several steps – and could last from anything between two to 14 days. Also, it’s worth noting that number porting is free of charge, but that rule doesn’t apply to true 800 and vanity numbers: they cost an additional $30.

Although going for a RingCentral VoIP subscription is worth considering – due to the fact that it includes unlimited domestic faxing as a default feature – the RingCentral Fax subscription plans are still satisfying enough on their own, too. And with the exception of the number of free pages – which is indicated in each plan’s name – all plans provide the same set of faxing features alongside the option to buy additional fax lines, the cost of which is $4.99 per month.

If paid by the month the price of the lowest-tier package, Fax 750, is $14.99 per month, which can be reduced to just $12.99 per month when paid on an annual basis. The other two plans are Fax 1500 and Fax 2500, with the former costing $17.99 and the latter $49.99 per month when charged annually.

Regardless of the chosen plan, RingCentral provides a seven-day free trial, but annual subscribers can also enjoy a 30-day prorated money back guarantee that refunds the remaining 11 months of payment if the subscription is cancelled within 30 days of purchase.

Although the regular plans are satisfying on their own, corporate users may also consider Fax Unlimited, which provides unlimited fax pages alongside two fax lines instead of the basic one for the equivalent of $39.99 per month. Note, however, that if this subscription plan is to be chosen then you are not entitled for the free trial and you are also required to contact RingCentral personally.

There is no better word for it: RingCentral’s customer service is close to perfect since all types of support are present and very well implemented. To get direct assistance – which is, unfortunately, not available 24/7 – there are plenty of options, such as initiating a live chat, opening a case via an inquiry or turning to the community forums. Whichever is preferred, you can always expect prompt, courteous and quick answers to all of your questions. That same professionalism is present in the phone support as well, but compared to the other live support options there is one major difference; this is the only way to officially cancel a RingCentral subscription.

As for the other support options, there is the RingCentral Learning Center with an entire section dedicated to just faxing and the knowledge base with thousands of fax-related articles. RingCentral also provides a short FAQ, a downloadable quick start guide, a regularly updated blog, and video tutorials that cover virtually everything under the RingCentral brand.

Bottom Line

These negatives are particularly disappointing because if we only focus on the advantages of RingCentral Fax then the service is unbeatable. Faxing is a true pleasure in all versions of the manager thanks to the relative ease of use, while advanced features like scheduling transmissions or the outstanding quality of fax messages enhance the overall service. And if we take into consideration other features like the vast selection of cover pages, HIPAA compliance, and the integration with third party apps then we can firmly say that using RingCentral Fax can indeed be quite a satisfying experience.