RingCentral launched its AI Receptionist in 2025. If your business already runs on RingCentral phones, that is a strong reason to use it. It is right there, and its page says it picks up your numbers, extensions and hours without being told.
Ours starts from the other end. It is built into NameCRM, the system that holds the client's record, so it knows who is calling before it speaks. We phoned both on October 11, 2026, and RingCentral's two calls were the least alike of any of the nine.
Checked October 11, 2026 on each vendor's own pages
Timed by phone
RingCentral had the widest swing of the nine. Its typical wait was 3.4 seconds on the first call and 1.7 on the second. The first call held one silence of 7.7 seconds. Its slowest answer under five seconds took 4.9 seconds. It never talked over the caller, though our caller cut in on it five times on the first call.
On October 11, 2026 we phoned each demo number twice. The caller was an AI of ours playing a new customer, and it was not told whose number it had dialled. The wait is the time from the caller's last sound to the receptionist's first sound. The typical wait is the middle value on a call. Talking over the caller means it started speaking while the caller was mid-sentence and the caller kept going.
Read the full test of all nine| What we timed | Nametech (ours) | RingCentral |
|---|---|---|
| Typical wait, two calls | 1.6 s and 1.9 s | 3.4 s and 1.7 s |
| Talked over the caller | Never | Never |
| Waits over 5 s | None | 1 (longest 7.7 s) |
| Slowest wait under 5 s | 2.4 s | 4.9 s |
Our caller cut in on RingCentral five times on the first call. RingCentral never spoke over the caller.
Our column is the receptionist that answers our own business line. RingCentral's column comes from its AI Receptionist page, read on the date shown.
| What you need | AI receptionist in NameCRM | RingCentral AI Receptionist |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | It is the receptionist inside NameCRM. | Launched in 2025 inside RingCentral's phone system, where it picks up your numbers, extensions and hours. It can also sit on top of another phone system through call forwarding.[1] source 1 |
| How you get it | In progress Only with NameCRM, which is not on sale yet. It runs our own agency in Surrey, BC, and businesses can request access for a walkthrough. | Yes Offered to new and existing RingCentral customers in the U.S. and Canada, with its own licence or as an add-on. You enter your website and it builds a first setup.[1] source 1 |
| Books appointments | Yes Books, moves or cancels meetings in your real calendar during the call, checked against your open hours, with a Meet link or a meeting place. | Yes Books and moves appointments in Google and Outlook calendars, can create a meeting link and texts a confirmation.[1] source 1 |
| Knows who is calling | Yes Reads the caller's record before it speaks: open deals, recent texts, upcoming meetings and past calls. | Connects to CRM systems such as Salesforce, HubSpot and Zoho to capture leads and update records.[1] source 1 |
| Puts the call through to you | Yes You can listen live from your phone, whisper an instruction the caller cannot hear, or take the call over. It rings you in when a caller asks for you. | Yes Routes calls by name, department, location or keyword and hands over a summary with the call. Each location can have its own hours, routing and greetings.[1] source 1 |
| Is the call recorded? | Yes Yes, on two channels, stored privately, and the caller is told at the start of every call. | Yes Every call can be recorded and transcribed.[1] source 1 |
| Languages | Understands French, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi callers as well as English, and replies aloud in French or Hindi. | Six languages listed on its page, English and French among them, with a switch during the call.[1] source 1 |
| Texting | A recap text to the caller when a meeting is booked or a callback is owed. | Yes Answers text messages as well as calls, and can book an appointment by text.[1] source 1 |
Facts about other products come from their own websites, read on October 11, 2026; the numbers in brackets lead to each page. Products change, so check the vendor before you decide. No prices appear here, ours or theirs.
RingCentral is the clearest example of why we print two numbers beside each name and not one average. Its typical wait was 3.4 seconds on the first call and 1.7 on the second. Average those and you get a number that describes neither call.
The first call also held one silence of 7.7 seconds, the longest of the whole test. The second had no wait over five seconds.
We do not know why the two calls differed, and a stopwatch cannot say. The usual reasons are what was asked, how busy the service was at that moment and how clearly the caller's sentence ended. On the first call our caller also cut in on RingCentral five times. We cannot say whether that slowed it.
RingCentral is a phone company, and its receptionist arrives with the rest of a phone system: extensions, departments, several locations and texting. It also lists six languages.
Ours is one receptionist on one business number, inside one client system. It does less, and what it does is tied to the client's record.
The AI receptionist is part of NameCRM and is not sold on its own, because it books into the calendar, reads the caller's record and turns promises into tasks. Request access on the NameCRM page and we will set up a walkthrough.
Book the free 30-minute assessment. Seemab Akbar looks at how your business runs today and tells you plainly what to buy, what to build and what to leave alone. We come to you, meet somewhere near you, or talk online.
Questions
If you want the receptionist to work from your client records and not from your phone system, ours is one. It reads the caller's record before it speaks, books into your calendar and files the call in NameCRM. If your phones already run on RingCentral, its own receptionist is the simpler choice.
We called its public demo number twice on October 11, 2026. Its typical wait was 3.4 seconds on the first call and 1.7 on the second. The first call held one silence of 7.7 seconds. It never talked over the caller, though our caller cut in on it five times on the first call. Two calls to a demo number is a small sample.
According to its own page, yes. On October 11, 2026 it said the product is offered to new and existing RingCentral customers in the U.S. and Canada. Ours is built in Surrey, British Columbia, and answers our own business line.
Its page says it can sit on top of another phone system through call forwarding, and that it is offered with its own licence. Ours is the other way round. It needs NameCRM, because that is where it books, reads the caller's record and files the call.
RingCentral's page lists six, English and French among them, and says it can switch during a call. Ours understands French, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi callers as well as English, and replies aloud in French or Hindi.
