8x8, Inc. VoIP Review: Virtual Office Plans

Metered Extension

The metered extension plan costs $24.99/month, plus a $39.99 activation fee. This plan includes 250 minutes of calling within the United States and Canada. Minutes after the initial 250 cost $0.029/minute.

Unlimited Extension

The Unlimited Extension plan costs $29.99/month per extension during their special bonus. The rest of the time it costs $39.99. There is also a $39.99 activation fee.

It does not cover calling to mobile phones or special phone lines.

Global Extension

The Global Extension plan costs $79.99/month, plus the $39.99 activation fee. It includes unlimited calling to landlines in the following countries. However, you should note that calls to mobile phones and special service lines are not covered by the Global Extension plan.

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

The Global Extension Plan includes the following territories and cities:

Caracas, Guadalajara, Guam, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Monterrey, Moscow-Central, Moscow-Suburb, Puerto Rico, Sao Paulo, Singapore, St. Petersburg, US Virgin Islands

Virtual Office IP Phone Annual

Because you pay for the whole year in advance with the Virtual Office IP Phone Annual plan, you end up saving about $130. The Virtual Office IP Phone Annual plan costs $350/year, plus the standard $39.99 activation fee.

8x8, Inc. VoIP Review: Virtual Office Pro Plans

8x8, Inc.’s Virtual Office Pro plan actually refers to a collection of office VoIP plans. You can choose different Virtual Office Pro plans based on the number of extensions and features that you need.

The Virtual Office Pro plans are distinct from the Virtual Office plans based on the following included features. All of the Virtual Office Pro plans include:

• Voicemail
• Internet Faxing
• A Direct Inbound Dial Number
• Online Meetings
• Call Recording
• Internet Faxing
• 1 GB of Storage
• iPhone Virtual Calling app

Metered Extension Pro Plan

The Metered Extension Pro plan costs $49.99/month with an activation fee of $39.99. This plan includes 250 minutes of calling within the United States and Canada. Any additional calling time costs $0.029/minute. There is no international calling covered on this plan.

Unlimited Extension Pro Plan

The Unlimited Extension Pro plan costs $49.99/month per extension during their special discount. The rest of the time, it costs $64.99/month per extension. There is also a $39.99 activation fee when you start up service with the Unlimited Extension Pro plan.

This plan gives you unlimited calling to landline numbers in the US, Canada, American territories, and a selection of European countries. See the locations list for the Unlimited Extension plan to see which locations are also covered under the Unlimited Extension Pro plan.

Global Extension Pro

The Global Extension Pro plan costs $104.99/month with a $39.99 activation fee. This plan includes all of the same features as the other Virtual Office Pro plans, with some different international calling features.

The Global Extension Pro plan includes unlimited calling to a larger selection of countries than the Unlimited Extension Pro plan.The Global Extension Pro plan covers calling to the same locations listed in the Global Extension plan, which we covered above.

8x8, Inc. VoIP Review: Virtual Contact Center

The 8x8 Virtual Contact Center is a VoIP solution for building your own contact center. It is a hosted cloud-based turnkey solution that allows you to start a calling center for your business without having to manage, supply, and host a contact center out of your own location.

A cloud-based contact center means that your contact center is based off of a cloud system that exists and functions entirely on the Internet. This means that your agents only need a computer and a phone or headset to seamlessly integrate into your contact center system. “Hosted” just means that your service provider hosts, or manages, the system for you.

A turnkey solution means that it comes to you pre-assembled, or pre-configured. All you have to do is turn the key, or turn it on.

8x8, Inc. makes it very easy for you to implement their Virtual Contact Center solution, even if you’ve never tried to develop a contact center before. Check out their website to watch their demo video, and read through their informational pamphlets.

8x8, Inc. doesn’t offer prices on their Virtual Contact Center solution. However, you can call them at 1-866-446-2067 to get a price quote on a contact center solution for your office.

8x8, Inc. VoIP Review: IP Trunking

8x8, Inc.’s IP Trunking program is a SIP trunking solution. SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) trunking is a technology that allows you to enable your IP PBX to process VoIP calls so you don’t have to buy a new IP PBX or get a hosted PBX solution if you already have an IP PBX.

A PBX (public branch exchange) is the hardware or software system that an office uses to route calls in the offce. An IP PBX is an Internet protocol PBX, meaning it is a PBX that can process IP calls, like VoIP calls.

8x8, Inc. doesn’t give a price quote on their IP Trunking solution, but they do provide a particularly comprehensive explanation of how their system works on their website.

8x8, Inc. VoIP Review: 8x8 Virtual Room

8x8 Virtual Room allows you to integrate cloud video conferencing into your office. Cloud technology is a hosting system that stores a program or system entirely online. This means that you can access your cloud system from any location, and you can include people in the conference from any location with an Internet or phone connection.

Cloud conferencing systems like the 8x8 Virtual Room are popular because they allow you to hold video conferences in your office without having to buy lots of expensive video conferencing hardware. You can enable most any computer to work with the 8x8 Virtual Room system with the purchase of a simple web camera. This is true even if your computer doesn’t have a built in webcam. You can now buy simple webcams at very low prices, around $15.

The 8x8 Virtual Room program can be fairly expensive, so you should consider your needs carefully before choosing a plan.

You can choose between the following 8x8 Virtual Room plans:

• Low-Def Plan for $199.99 (as of October 2012, 8x8 was offering a $99 special rate on the Low-Def Plan for the first year)
• Standard-Def Plan for $349.99
• High-Def Plan for $499.99

With the Low-Def Plan, supports a maximum video bandwidth of 384 kbps. You can use the Low-Def Plan with a very simple system of computers and phones. 8x8 does not recommend that you invest in more sophisticated systems like any of the Polycom HDX equipment because the plan offers such a low-definition video picture that it wouldn’t enhance anything to get the more sophisticated equipment.

There is an upper limit of 20 participants in any given video conference.

The Standard-Def- Plan provides you with a higher level of definition and it supports a maximum video bandwidth of 512 kbps, so you can use some more sophisticated technology with the Standard-Def Plan.

Finally, the High-Def Plan supports HD screens, as well as standard definition screens, and it supports a maximum video bandwidth of 2048 kbps. You can use the High-Def Plan with any level of video conferencing equipment.

With each Virtual Room plan, you can only hold one conference in a Virtual Room at a time, so if you have meetings overlap, there will be a $24.99/meeting charge.

8x8, Inc. VoIP Review: 8x8 Virtual Meeting

Virtual Meeting is a conferencing system that is supported by 8x8 VoIP technology. You can use Virtual Meeting for video conferences as well as voice conferences, though the video conferences with the Virtual Meeting program are not quite as advanced as the Virtual Room program.

The 8x8 Virtual Meeting system is easy to use on any computer with Internet access. You just download the softphone application for your computer. The Virtual Meeting solution will support computers from any location, so you can easily host conferences and meetings with your remote offices and partners.

The 8x8 Virtual Meeting service is included in the 8x8 Virtual Office Pro plans, but you can also get the Virtual Meeting program on its own. 8x8 Virtual Meeting varies in cost depending on whether you choose to pay monthly or annually, and based on the number of participants you want to cover in your virtual meetings.

Plans for up to 15 participants

New customers can get the plan for 15 participants for $39.99/month or $369.99/year if you pay for the year in advance. If you are willing to commit to the annual plan, you will save about $109.89 annually.

For current 8x8 customers, the plan costs $29.99/month or $325.99/year.

If you choose the plan with 15 participants, you can add individual participants one at a time for an additional fee. However, 8x8 doesn’t list the individual price to add extra participants to the 15 participant plan. This is probably a better plan for people who will usually have meetings with 15 or fewer participants. If you expect to regularly have more than 15 participants, you will probably get a better deal with the plan for up to 50 participants.

Plans for up to 50 participants

Regardless of whether you a current or a new 8x8 customer, the cost for the plan for 50 participants is the same. Either way, it will costs $49.99/month or $489.99/ year. If you choose the annual plan over the monthly plan, you will save you about $109.89 each year, but that is only if you plan to use the service each month. If you only want to use your Virtual Meeting program a couple of times, you can pay for it for the individual months in which you will need it and save money that way.

This plan covers Virtual Meetings for up to 50 participants maximum. You can not add individual extra participants to this plan as you can with the plan for up to 15 participants.

8x8, Inc. VoIP Review: 8x8 Mobile Talk

8x8’s Mobile Talk solution allows you to use 8x8 VoIP technology on your smartphone. Specifically, the Mobile Talk application was designed to help customers save money on their international calling. 8x8 advertises that they can save regular Mobile Talk users as much as 90% on their international calling.

To use the Mobile Talk app, you simply download the app onto your smartphone. You can do this through the smartphone itself, or through your computer.

You do not pay a regular fee to use the Mobile Talk app. Rather, you pay for the individual minutes of international calling. 8x8 offers some pretty low rates on international calls.

However, some of their rates are a little more expensive than some other VoIP services with international calling rates. For example, it costs $0.18/minute to call the Philippines with 8x8. So, you should shop around for international rates for the countries that you will need to call most frequently. If, for example, you needed to call Israel frequently, 8x8 would be a great choice as they charge $0.01/minute for calls to Israel, while it might not make as much sense to use 8x8 for regular calls to Afghanistan, which cost $0.70/minute with 8x8.

8x8, Inc. VoIP Review: 8x8 VoIP Equipment

8x8 offers a detailed list of recommended hardware that will nicely complement a Virtual Office plan. Most of these are phones and accessories from Polycom and Cisco. It’s important to note 8x8’s recommended models. Frequently, a VoIP provider will design certain elements of their programs to work specifically with certain hardware, so while you could probably use the Virtual Office with other hardware, it may not work as well.

You can also get a softphone application from 8x8 to use your computer for VoIP calling.

8x8, Inc. VoIP Review: 8x8 Legal Terms

It is important that you read through the legal terms for VoIP service with 8x8. 8x8 offers residential as well as business service, so make sure that you read through the legal terms appropriate to your service plan.

Regardless of the plan you select, it’s important to note that 8x8 makes it clear that they do not support 911 service. This is a typical problem with VoIP service, but it is important to note.

8x8 does support e911 service, but there are some limitations as to which numbers will be covered by e911 service. For example, e911 numbers aren’t supported on virtual numbers or toll-free numbers from 8x8.

8x8 also offers a one year warranty on any equipment that you purchase with them. However, this warranty doesn’t cover stolen, lost, or altered equipment. It only covers faulty equipment.

8x8 also reserves the right to terminate or suspend service as a result of late payment. There will also be an additional late fee added to any existing charges which will be $10 or 1.5% of your monthly total.

Please note that the above information is not offered as legal advice. Please consult 8x8’s website to read their legal terms in full.

8x8, Inc. VoIP Review: 8x8 Money-Back Guarantee

8x8 offers customers a money back guarantee within the first 30 days of service. However, this money-back policy only covers the cost of activation fees and equipment. You are still responsible for paying the monthly fee, and the accrued cost of any minutes on metered plans. Shipping and handling costs are also not covered by the money-back guarantee.

8x8, Inc. VoIP Review: 8x8 Promotions

8x8 does offer some promotions and discounts, so you should check in regularly to see if they have any special offers going on at any time for new or existing customers. For example, at the time of publication of this content, you could get a special discount on the Unlimited Extension Pro plan for $49.99/month per extension, rather than the usual rate of $64.99. You could also get the Low-Def Virtual Room plan on sale for $99 instead of the usual $199.99.

Contact 8x8, Inc.

You can reach 8x8, Inc. for customer support for businesses and residences at

• 1-888-898-8733
• 1-408-687-4120 (for customers outside of the US)

You can reach 8x8, Inc. for sales at 1-866-879-8647.

Their local office phone number in California is 408-727-1885.

You can reach an agent to discuss technical support for businesses from 5am to 9pm Pacific Time every day Monday through Saturday.

You can reach support for business billing from 7am to 5pm on Pacific Time Monday through Friday.

You can reach customer support for residences from 7am to 7pm Pacific Time on Monday through Saturday.

You can also chat with an agent on 8x8’s website. This service is available business hours on weekdays, 8am to 5pm on Pacific Time.

You can also check 8x8’s website to see their regular service alerts. If 8x8 is experiencing any network-wide problems, they will let you know via their service alerts. This way, if you aren’t sure if its 8x8 or your Internet service provider that is causing you trouble, you can find out quickly if 8x8 is having any issues that might be contributing to errors in functionality on your end.

8x8 is located in California at:
2125 O’Nel Drive
San Jose, CA 95131