8x8 vs Host Gator

"Mid-Market" 8x8 customer since 2012 with 34 lines and 10 toll free numbers. I was hired in 2013. From the moment I was hired I was getting complaints about dropped calls, spotty call quality, and issues with the softphones. After cleaning up the network, I came to realize it wasn't us (or our 500Mbps DIA connection) it was 8x8. Constantly have had problems over the past five years. If you need support, expect long hold times (30 minutes +) and to have to start running the gauntlet at the base level of support. If, you can get the person on the other end to understand that you're in a higher tier of support, expect more hold time. It's incredibly frustrating considering hosted PBX/VOIP services are supposed to save you time and make your life easier. I'm constantly having to call 8x8 support due to not being able to call certain numbers. Their softphone app constantly crashes or interferes with other programs like webex, chrome/firefox, VNC, Lync, Skype, Hipchat, etc. and often causes issues with computer sound (running Dell optiplex and XPS in this office) forcing a reboot to restore sound levels. The "meetings" part of the softphone app is a disaster. It's so bad we just ended up using gotomeeting instead. The conference lines kept having a problem where if you called in with an iPhone people could hear you but you couldn't hear anyone else. Billing is absolute nonsense. My company's accounting team and IT got together with 8x8 trying to determine what we were being billed for and no one at 8x8 could actually tell us. it's been 6 weeks and we're still waiting on an answer. This company has been an absolute nightmare to work with. If you decide to be brave and use them, you'll regret it. Here's an image of their softphone desktop app (and the amount of time I've been on hold with their support team for yet another number that can't be dialed. You'd think calling from Austin to Anaheim would be easy, huh?) http://imagehost.phoenix-nest.com/?di=6154948616415