Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
Which business phone service in DFW includes video conferencing and team messaging?
Look for a business phone service where video conferencing and team messaging are part of the service itself, not separate subscriptions with their own logins and bills. Cleod9 Voice, based in Arlington, includes x-bees for team chat, calls and meetings, alongside Video Conferencing and browser-based Web Collaboration on one Wildix-based platform.
Book a DemoUpdated October 2026 · Cleod9 Voice, Arlington, TX
Included means
Part of the service you already pay for, under the same users, not a second subscription with its own bill.
The app
x-bees is Cleod9’s collaboration app for team chat, calls and meetings, and it is included rather than sold separately.
Guests join easily
Web Collaboration runs in a browser with no plug-in downloads, so clients and vendors can join without installing anything.
Before you sign
Ask every provider to show chat, a call and a video meeting working together, using one test user.
What “included” should actually mean
Plenty of phone providers now say their service comes with video and messaging. That word, included, covers a lot of ground. Sometimes it means the features are part of the service. Sometimes it means a separate product with its own subscription, so ask what will appear on the invoice.
Here is a fair standard. Video and team messaging are included when they come with the service you are already paying for, use the same user accounts as the phone system, and do not need a separate contract. If adding a new hire means creating a phone user, then a meeting account, then a chat login, the pieces are sold together but not built together.
Get it in writing either way. Ask the provider to list, on the quote, every feature that is part of the service and every feature that costs extra. Cleod9 quotes per business rather than publishing a flat per-seat rate, so that written scope is where the answer lives, and it is the same thing you should ask of everyone else on your list. For the bigger picture on unified platforms, see what UCaaS is and whether a small DFW business needs it.
How meetings and chat should connect to the phones
The value is not in having a phone, a chat window and a meeting tool. Most offices already have all three. The value is in how little effort it takes to move between them in the middle of a workday.
These are the questions that tell you whether the connection is real. Ask the provider to answer each one by showing you, not telling you.
- Can I call a coworker straight from our chat conversation, without switching apps or looking up an extension?
- Do meetings run under the same user accounts as the phone system, so one new hire means one setup?
- Does the mobile app carry both chat and calls, with the business number on outbound calls?
- Can an outside client join a video meeting from a browser without downloading a plug-in?
- When someone leaves, what exactly has to be turned off, and where?
What team chat is good for
Quick questions that would otherwise interrupt someone. “Is the Hurst job still on for two o’clock?” does not need a phone call, and it certainly does not need an email thread with four people copied.
Coordination that several people need to see. A front desk telling the whole team that the parking lot is flooding after a spring storm, or a manager posting the holiday schedule, belongs in a group chat where nobody misses it.
Handoffs. A receptionist can drop a note that a caller is holding for a coworker, and the coworker sees it before picking up, without a sticky note on a monitor.
What still belongs on a call
Anything with tension in it. A billing dispute, a frustrated patient or a client who has just heard bad news should get a voice, not a typed reply. Chat strips out tone, and people fill the gap with the worst interpretation.
Anything that would take more than three messages to settle. If a chat thread starts going back and forth, someone should press call. On a unified platform that takes one click from the same app, which is exactly why you want chat and calls in one place.
And anything a customer started by phone. If they called you, call them back. A short text afterward is a good way to confirm what was agreed.
Where x-bees fits
On Cleod9’s platform, x-bees is the collaboration app for team chat, calls and meetings. It is included with the platform, not sold separately, which settles the included question for the chat side without any fine print.
Alongside x-bees, Cleod9 offers Video Conferencing for meetings and Web Collaboration, which runs in a browser with no plug-in downloads. That last point matters more than it sounds. The client joining your meeting from a hospital lobby in Fort Worth or a job trailer in Celina will not install software to talk to you for 20 minutes.
All of it sits on the same platform as the phone system, built on Wildix. Each person keeps one extension whether they pick up on a desk phone, in a desktop or browser app or in the mobile app, and AI transcription and summaries work on both voice calls and chats. Desk phones are optional, so a team that lives in x-bees on laptops and cell phones does not need to buy hardware just to have extensions.
How DFW offices use video and team chat
The same tools fit differently from one industry to the next. Here is how video and team chat can fit a few of the industries Cleod9 serves across the metroplex.
Medical and dental: telehealth video visits and team chat between front desk and clinical staff; Cleod9 will sign a BAA, so confirm which services it covers.
Law firms: client video consultations for people who cannot come downtown, and chat that keeps the team from interrupting an attorney on a call.
Trades and contractors: crews on job sites use chat for quick updates, and a video meeting when a problem is easier shown than described.
Schools and sports teams: staff spread across buildings or traveling for games use chat for logistics and video for meetings that would otherwise mean a drive.
Healthcare offices should remember that a vendor storing patient information, such as recordings, texts or transcripts, is generally treated as a business associate. This is general information, not legal advice.
A checklist for the demo
Bring this list to every provider demo, including Cleod9’s, and do not leave until each item has been shown on screen. Anything that cannot be shown should go on the written quote as a question.
Cleod9’s booking page also offers a free test drive. Ask what it includes and whether you can run it on your own connection with your own staff, and hold it to the same list.
- Watch one test user send a chat, place a call and start a video meeting from the same app.
- Have someone outside the company join a meeting from a browser on a phone and on a laptop.
- Place an outbound call from the mobile app and check that the business number shows on the receiving phone.
- Ask for a written list of what is included and what costs extra, including any fees and taxes.
- Ask who you call when video freezes in the conference room, and whether that person can come on site.
The conference room is a network question
Video is where an office connection that handled phone calls just fine starts to struggle. Cleod9’s own guide to internet speed for VoIP and video calls puts a group video meeting of four to six people at 2.5 to 4 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up, with about 1 Mbps more for screen sharing. Two meetings at once in a small office, plus the phones, plus everyone’s email, adds up fast, and upload is usually the bottleneck.
Cleod9 recommends planning for at least double the minimum on upload, and its internet guide sets targets for your connection: latency under 150 ms, jitter under 30 ms and packet loss under 1%. Dedicated internet access gives symmetrical, SLA-backed bandwidth. Business broadband is cheaper but shared and best-effort. Run the free C9 Speedtest from the conference room during a busy part of the day, not at 7 a.m. when nobody is in yet, and Cleod9 can quote a better connection if the numbers come up short.
Common questions
Is team messaging secure enough for client or patient information?
Cleod9 states that the platform uses end-to-end encryption and that access is set per user. For healthcare offices, Cleod9 will sign a business associate agreement; confirm which services the BAA covers for your setup, including chat and transcripts. Law firms should treat chat like email, set clear rules about what goes in it, and ask any provider their confidentiality questions in writing. Treat this as general information rather than legal advice.
Do customers need to install anything to join our video meetings?
Not for Cleod9’s Web Collaboration, which is browser-based and needs no plug-in downloads. That is the standard to hold any provider to, because the people you meet with most often, such as clients, patients, vendors and job candidates, are the ones least likely to install your software. In a demo, ask to join a meeting from your own phone’s browser and count the steps it takes.
Can staff use the system from their own cell phones?
Yes. The same extension a person uses at the desk also runs in the mobile app on their cell phone. Outbound calls and texts from the mobile app show the business number rather than the employee’s personal number, and call history stays with the business when someone leaves. If chat and meetings on the phone matter to your team, ask to see both running on a cell phone during the demo rather than assuming.
Do we still need a separate meeting service if we switch?
Usually not, but check before you cancel anything. List the meetings your office runs in a typical month, including client calls, webinars and internal check-ins, and confirm the new platform covers each one. Keep the old meeting service until your staff have run real meetings on the new one for a couple of weeks. Then compare total spend, including the subscriptions you can drop, not just the new monthly figure.
Can calls and chats be transcribed?
On Cleod9’s platform, AI transcription and summaries work on both voice calls and chats, which helps when a manager needs the gist of a conversation without replaying it. Call recording is automatic on the platform. Texas is a one-party consent state, but some states, including California, Florida and Washington, require every party’s consent, so announce recording if you talk with people there.
What if most of our staff never use video?
Plenty of offices use team chat every day and video only a few times a month, sometimes less. The question is whether you are paying for video as a separate subscription you barely touch, or whether it comes with the phone service you already need. If it comes included, light use costs you nothing extra and is there when a client asks for a video meeting.
Talking to Cleod9
Start with the bills. If your office pays separately for phone service, a meeting subscription and a chat app, total them and carry one plain question into every demo: what would be left over if one service covered all three?
Cleod9 supports its own customers locally, so the person you work with is in your time zone and can come on site if needed. Its booking page offers a free consultation, which is the place to ask that question with your own numbers, and a free test drive; when you book, ask whether x-bees and Web Collaboration are part of what the test drive covers.