What Is Required To Install A Hosted PBX System?

Picking a phone service for a business is a difficult choice. Usually, businesses can choose between traditional landlines and hosted PBX or VOIP systems. A common office will need 50 handsets. You may also need extensions for fax lines, credit card machines, and point of sale operation systems. You may want to think about what your future needs will be going forward 5 or 10 years to ensure you don’t have to make a major overhaul anytime soon.

Types of Phone Connections

Analog

This is the basic old-fashioned kind of connection. Each line allows for one call at a time. A rule of thumb is to assign one line for every four employees. A small business with around 10 employees typically needs three phone lines- two for voice and one for fax. You can use analog lines with other forms of phone lines as well. If you have fewer than 50 employees, an analog phone line should offer everything you need.

Digital Phone Lines

Digital phone lines (ISDN PRI) allow additional communication through regular phone lines. One circuit will accommodate 23 voice channels. Digital service is obviously more cost-effective and efficient than analog lines. To use a digital phone line, you also need customer premise equipment like a PBX so you can connect to the service.

VOIP

VOIP (Voice over IP) uses the Internet to deliver phone communications. Usually, VOIP allows a business to conduct as many calls or lines as they want through their Internet service. VIOP is extremely cost effective, but it does depend on your Internet connection to operate effectively.

2 Effective Solutions

Traditional PBX

In traditional PBX, the phone system is located at your office. The system is connected to the office using analog or digital phone lines. PBX manages all calls. Each employee or electronic item has its own extension for receiving and sending calls. A PBX will provide voicemail, call conferencing, and caller ID.

Hybrid Phone System

A hybrid system is similar to PBX but with VOIP options.  This allows businesses to use the same phone system through multiple locations and make it possible to connect to the phone system from anywhere, making it possible for employees to work from home.

Benefits of Business Grade VOIP

What are the benefits of a business grade VOIP? Take a look:

Low Cost:

Usually, a business phone line can range from $40 to $80 per month. This is a significant savings over traditional phone lines. The up front cost is also significantly reduced. The start up cost only includes the cost of the hardware- no labor or installation costs involved.

Low Operating Costs:

You don’t have to pay for additional services or service to your existing hardware with a hosted PBX. Any place that can connect to the Internet can connect to your phone system and you don’t have to supply hardware.

Follow Features:

Hosted PBX allows for follow features. Voicemails can be emailed, and most systems come with caller ID, time of call, length of message, and much more.

Connect Multiple Locations:

Have multiple locations? That is no problem for hosted PBX. You can easily connect multiple locations to the same virtual phone system.

Simple to use:

Most VOIP business systems come with softkeys that allow easy access to traditional phone functions like transferring calls, hold buttons, do not disturb, redial, and three-way calling.

A hosted PBX system is clearly the best way to go in the modern world of business. You will not be sorry that you set up this form of phone system for a new or existing company.