AT&T Office@Hand vs. Skype (discontinued)

I wish I had read the reviews before purchasing. AT&T is simply the worst company I have ever dealt with for any service. Ever. I have spent hours on hold trying to explain that my newly purchased AT&T phones from Yealink do not work. "Searching for base". That is all I get. After several attempts to figure out what is going on or why or how to fix I am still without working office phones. I finally got thru to someone that informed me that my phones were removed from my account. I offered the order number to prove I did in fact purchase the phone's from AT&T but they could not use this information. It is unsettling how this could happen and I cannot fix it. I have been deleted. I know I am not alone in my frustration. I will now begin working on removing AT&T from my life. Including the shotting Fiber Optic line at home and at work

Skype is an excellent choice for phone calls, both local and international, and is also one of the most affordable solutions for business office line. It is simple to use and get started with and provides a call experience on mobile that is similar to a regular phone call. It is not the ideal tool for team chat. For text-based team communication, a separate dedicated tool is still ideal

Incentivized

• [I think] they do nothing well.
• They do not respond timely, and they fix very few issues.
• I had to go out and hire an IT person just so he could do their job for them.
• They could not even port our numbers correctly.
• They lost two of my numbers.
• I have lost thousands of dollars in business because of them.

• Perfect for chatting via text. Has emojis, file sharing, audio sharing, and even video sharing capabilities.
• Good for video chats. You can do 1 on 1 sessions with a good quality video.
• Privacy is also another important function they have. They allow for private conversations between users.
• Ability to delete conversations with sensitive information you may not want seen by users not authorized. Can share confidential information via Skype.
• Customizable profiles to fit your company culture.

Incentivized

• Terrible customer service
• Many advanced features that most now want are not developed yet
• No Voicemail to text or even as an attachment to emails so getting voicemail remotely is horrible/difficult

• Skype is a RESOURCE hog. People who have limited bandwidth will have poor call quality.
• It is hard to figure out how to use emojis and upload images in the chat.
• The background images do not fool anybody....it is clearly not your real background.

Incentivized

I have given this rating as this need to give more than that as it's very helpful for us and makes our work more efficient and fast.

Simply the worst customer service I have ever experienced. It took me over 72 minutes to write this review. That is how long I have been on hold unsuccessfully. I cannot imagine that anyone in charge of AT&T would care that I will gladly take my business elsewhere but if you do... someone in the system has my contact information. I won't hold my breath.

Skype is not as good as Facetime in terms of ease to glance at it and figure out how it works. I think that's a result of Skype trying to be too many things at once. A lot of the menu and UI could be streamlined, and I would jettison some of the additional functions that have been tacked on over the years to simplify. That being said, while some options are slightly hard to find, they all work flawlessly once found.

Incentivized

I am not aware of the current support level for Skype for business, as I have never used even though I have the product. However, the support for Skype's personal paid users is not where it could be. Users who pay for Skype features do not have a clear path to reach out to support. So, rating 6, can be better as soon as I need to use Skype for business support and get a good experience. I will say that I will renew Skype for Business subscription, which is a significant inconsistency on my end. The explanation is that Skype for Business comes bundled with Office for Business, with no additional cost, so why not.

Incentivized

It can be used on the phone via mobile application as well as on the desktop by logging in to the website. Easily installed and ready to use.

Incentivized

Selected AT&T due to name recognition. Some other vendors had much superior systems but CEO demanded name recognition. Lesson learned that name does mean better service.

Selected Skype because it was the only platform that was available for such purposes for video conferencing or audio conferencing. Since Microsoft, the tech giant, backed it, it was assured that it would work great in terms of productivity, with utmost security measures for all data, conversations, work materials, and personal information.

Incentivized

• I wish I had never switched from my local VOIP phone provider
• Office at Hand is a mistake I wish I'd never made

• Skype has contributed to increased efficiency for remote collaboration, especially now due to the ways things are and having so many remote employees. Without this tool, or any collaboration tool, business could not move forward.
• I think Skype is the cost effective solution also between it and the other competitors out there. I'm not privy to the exact costs, but it strikes me as the cheaper option.
• The only negative impact I would say is its lack of functionality and customization for larger organizations or groups that have employees spread out or require inter-departmental collaboration.

Incentivized