Intermedia Unite review July 2024: Features, call quality, integrations and more
Corey McCraw specializes in writing about voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and unified communications as a service (UCaaS). Corey has been working and writing in the business communications space for more than a decade, and holds a degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
With the company reporting over 125,000 business users in 2021, Intermedia Unite is clearly shown it can deliver needed tools to its customers. Specializing in voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) and unified communications as a service (UCaaS), the provider has internet-based options for a variety of communications needs. With a subscription, you’re provided VoIP calling and texting, video conferencing, chat, business email, and file sharing and backup.
Fortune Recommends ranks Intermedia Unite as one of the best VoIP services for small businesses. With that in mind, what businesses will Intermedia Unite best serve? In this guide, we walk you through some of the features of this provider and help you understand if the service is a good fit. All rates and fees are current as of April 26, 2024, and are subject to change.
Intermedia Unite
| Price: | Starting at $27.99 per user, per month |
| Features: | U.S. and Canada calls and texts… |
| Best add-ons: | Toll-free numbers, contact center features… |
| Noteworthy integrations: | Slack, Zendesk, Salesforce, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, and Service Now |
Pros
- Mix and match plans
- Unlimited international calling to 33 countries
- 99.999% service-level agreement (SLA)
Cons
- Lacks integrations
- No annual or volume discounts offered
- Mobile app is required when syncing contacts
Businesses looking to bring all of their communications channels into one system will also find Intermedia Unite to be a strong provider. Not only is VoIP calling included, but the provider delivers video conferencing with screen share, virtual fax, voicemail with voicemail-to-email transcription, and team chat with user presence. Intermedia Unite also has hardware options for those who want to do more than install softphone apps on their computers and mobile devices.
Intermedia Unite service plan overview
Unlike many modern VoIP providers, which offer three plans or more, Intermedia Unite only offers two: Unite Pro and Unite Enterprise. Still, with both plans, a wide variety of important features are included, such as caller ID, unlimited domestic calling, call park, call transfer, an auto attendant, and even a free IP phone. The primary differences between the two plans are high-definition (HD) video conferencing attendee counts, file backup space, and the number of supported integrations.
| Plans | Pricing | Free Trial or Plan Available? | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unite Pro | $27.99 per user, per month | No | 100-participant video conferencing 50 GB file backup, sync, and share Call recording |
| Unite Enterprise | $32.99 per user, per month | No | 200-participant video conferencing 200 GB file backup, sync, and share Exchange mailbox |
| Unite Pro | |
|---|---|
| Pricing | $27.99 per user, per month |
| Free Trial or Plan Available? | No |
| Features | 100-participant video conferencing 50 GB file backup, sync, and share Call recording |
| Unite Enterprise | |
| Pricing | $32.99 per user, per month |
| Free Trial or Plan Available? | No |
| Features | 200-participant video conferencing 200 GB file backup, sync, and share Exchange mailbox |
Best Intermedia Unite VoIP plan for small businesses: Unite Pro
It’s important to note that both plans from Intermedia Unite have relatively similar features with the exception of the differences we listed above. As a result, for the average small- to medium-sized business (SMB), the Pro plan is more than enough. Intermedia Unite doesn’t offer volume or annual discounts, so without add-ons, the price for this plan is $27.99 per user, per month.
Like Unite Enterprise, Unite Pro allows for five concurrent endpoints. A VoIP endpoint is a device or app that utilizes the service, which could be an IP phone, desktop app, smartphone app or, in the case of this provider, a Chrome extension. The number of endpoints is perfect for many small businesses and allows up to five agents to be on calls with customers at a time. Intermedia Unite also includes the majority of features in both plans. These include:
- Call park
- Call park pickup
- Three-way calling
- Call hold
- Call transfer
- Usage reports
- Voicemail box
- Paging
- Call history
- Business short message service (SMS)
- Call recording
- Receptionist mode
- Intercom
- Auto attendant
Other services Intermedia Unite offers
Aside from VoIP calling features, Intermedia Unite offers a large variety of unified communications (UC) features and other services. Some of the notable additional services include:
- Contact center tools: Intermedia Unite also provides some light contact center as a service (CCaaS) features for businesses. Offered as an integrated service with Intermedia Unite, its contact center solution upgrades the auto attendant to an interactive voice response (IVR) system.
- Presence detection: This feature helps relay the availability of your agents within the Intermedia Unite app. For example, under the name of the employee, Intermedia Unite will label their position within the organization as well as if they are offline, online, busy, working under a do not disturb (DND) status, on vacation, and more.
- Artificial intelligence (AI) assistant: With Intermedia’s Spark AI solution, voicemail, video conferences, and customer call recordings are automatically transcribed. These transcriptions are complete with notes as well as action items. Spark also provides users with an AI assistant that will answer queries.
- Video conferencing: Intermedia Unite offers video conferencing in both its plans. Pro provides support for 100 attendees and Enterprise has support for 200.
- Business email: Intermedia Unite’s business email is very robust and even features an AI Guardian that weeds out spam and potentially dangerous emails. Some other included features are regulatory compliance, the option for unlimited storage, email archiving, and calendar sync.
The Intermedia Unite platform and customer support
Insofar as the interface of Intermedia Unite, we found it to be very intuitive and easy to use. The icons and the accessibility make it user-friendly and, if there is information lacking during the setup process, the knowledge base has detailed instructions to help clarify. There is also training available to help you through the process.
Customer support is available 24/7, regardless of the plan you subscribe to with Intermedia Unite.
The viable channels to reach this provider are phone, chat, email, forums, and knowledge base. We also found that the support team is quick to respond to inquiries via phone, chat, and email.
Is Intermedia Unite secure?
This provider uses several technologies to keep its customers’ information secure. To protect data while it’s in transit, the provider uses transport layer security (TLS), but this has to be enabled by the user for IP phones and softphones. With most modern providers, AES 256-bit encryption is the standard, and Intermedia Unite is no different in this regard. AES 256 protects your data while it’s at rest on local and cloud-based servers.
In addition to this, Intermedia Unite also protects customer data using geo-redundancy. Since Intermedia Unite’s servers are positioned on three continents, this means that when one goes down as a result of natural disasters or attacks, the others will pick up the slack. Each of these data centers also employs ISO 27001 certifications and is routinely audited for security.
Intermedia Unite user reviews
Overall, the user reviews for Intermedia Unite are overwhelmingly positive. Many users boast about how intuitive the app is to use and many also compliment how responsive the support staff is to inquiries. One of the biggest complaints is that there is not a plan available that is less of a cost commitment. However, if you need a full-fledged virtual phone system, Intermedia Unite seems to check off all the right boxes.
Compare Intermedia Unite alternatives
 Intermedia Unite |  Nextiva |  8×8 |
|---|---|---|
| Starting pricing | Starting pricing | Starting pricing |
| $27.99 | $30.95 | $28.00 |
| Unlimited domestic calling and texting? | Unlimited domestic calling and texting? | Unlimited domestic calling and texting? |
| Yes | Yes | Yes |
| International calling supported? | International calling supported? | International calling supported? |
| Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Read our 8×8 review |
Is Intermedia Unite right for you?
Intermedia Unite stands out as a VoIP/UCaaS provider that provides its customers with just about all the tools they need to get started. It has integrated business email, AI tools, unlimited domestic calling, and the always-important video conferencing. For small businesses looking to get started quickly with a nice selection of ready-made tools, Intermedia Unite delivers the goods.
Frequently asked questions
Is Intermedia Unite Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant?
Yes, Intermedia Unite is compliant with HIPAA. This ensures that patient-protected health information (PHI) is encrypted against cyberattacks and is audited by a third party to ensure compliance. Intermedia Unite also executes business associate agreements (BAAs) with covered entities.
How does Intermedia Unite work?
Intermedia Unite serves as a full-fledged unified communications system. It folds in voice calling, video conferencing, texts, chat, and email to provide small businesses with an easy way to build their communication stacks.
Does Intermedia Unite record calls?
Intermedia Unite does record calls. With the Automatic data capture features, Unite users can capture calls, video conferences, and text messages for later review. These recordings are backed up in data centers in the U.S., Canada, and multiple European locations, and are backed up for up to 10 years.
About the contributors
Corey McCraw specializes in writing about voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and unified communications as a service (UCaaS). Corey has been working and writing in the business communications space for more than a decade, and holds a degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE: The advice, opinions, or rankings contained in this article are solely those of the Fortune Recommends™ editorial team. This content has not been reviewed or endorsed by any of our affiliate partners or other third parties.