What is the Difference Between Hosted VoIP and a Traditional PBX?

A hosted VoIP solution will help you save money on hardware costs and maintenance upgrades.

Thanks to the Internet (which many people now like to reference as "the cloud"), many technologies at different locations can be accessed and shared across the web. Traditionally, businesses required a PBX  that was large, required lots of power, and was expensive to maintain. Traditional PBXs also required physical copper phone lines and phone trunks, which were prone to noise and almost impossible to reroute during emergencies or outages. Therefore, a majority of businesses have started to make the switch to a hosted VoIP solution for a more upgraded, tech-forward system that is feature-packed.

By using their existing Internet connections, businesses can now connect with VoIP providers that operate very large state of the art PBXs and rent extensions to businesses for affordable rates.

Switching to Hosted VoIP allows businesses to throw away their old internal PBX and save both space and power; but more importantly, businesses will now have access to all of the enterprise level, state of the art features not available in their legacy PBX. And the best part is that any business of any size can no matter the size of their business. Maintenance costs for software upgrades, adds, moves and changes are also eliminated, saving you hundreds or thousands a month for telephone service.

How Can Hosted VoIP Benefit Me?

A Hosted VoIP solution will help you save on monthly maintenance costs and costly hardware upgrades.

Choosing a hosted VoIP system for your business has big benefits. Hosted VoIP can help you and your business in the following ways:

1.      Eliminates maintenance costs for software upgrades, adds, moves and changes

2.      Provides state of the art enterprise level features (and oftentimes for free)

3.      Provides higher quality voice connections and is more fault tolerant

4.      Ease of use for staff and administrators via user and admin portals

5.      Integration with state of the art CMS and CRS systems like Salesforce, Quickbooks, and other software

6.      The price! Because with VoIP you can save thousands compared to a traditional PBX

These are just a few of the ways in which a hosted VoIP system can help take your business to the next level. If you want to get yourself a Hosted VoIP, you need to know a little more in order to make the most out of your investment.

What should I expect from my Hosted VoIP provider?

Hosted VoIP solutions provide customers with enterprise-grade features and extensive functionality.

All VoIP providers are not created equal, and like most service-oriented businesses, each VoIP provider will target a group or segment that best suit their capabilities. Shopping for a VoIP provider can be simple and quick if you take a few minutes to gather your thoughts and create a list of your absolute needs as well as your wish list. Some things that we think you should consider when evaluating VoIP providers is if they provide the following free services:

·   Keep my existing phone number (local number portability )

·   Auto Attendant

·   Conference Calling

·   Enhanced Voicemail

·   Call Recording 

·   CMS and CRS integration

·   Fully automated data backups and software upgrades

·   Call Forwarding 

·   Provide and easy to use web-based user interface to manage your users/extensions

All VoIP providers will connect your calls to traditional landlines and mobile networks, and vice-versa. You place your calls just like you would on your traditional PSTN network. Most providers (but not all) also offer a toll-free service on 800 and 8XX, and give charge per number and per month for toll-free numbers (in addition to per-minute charges). So if you need a toll-free number, check and compare prices with providers before you commit.

One the biggest differentiators between business VoIP providers will be their customer service. Read the reviews pertaining to each provider on this site, and use our innovative plot graph to see all reviews across our featured providers. You will see some that some providers rate better with small to very small businesses while other providers like RingCentral are better at catering towards mid-sized and enterprise businesses. Read our user reviews in order to get a better look at each business VoIP provider.

OK I’ve Made My Decision to Switch To VoIP. What's Next?

Switching to VoIP will help reduce your overall spending, provide you with enterprise-grade features, and boost your business' productivity.

Beyond the time-saving and free features, the benefits of a Hosted VoIP system are pretty clear:

Reduced spending: There’s really no denying that building up your own private phone network can put a lot more at stake than just how much you’re going to spend on it. Aside from just the extra hardware, there’s labor involved. In more drastic cases, you might even have to remodel an office, when in reality you could’ve just made a few clicks and few calls to your VoIP provider. Cut spending on upkeep and maintenance, and you’re free to invest in other areas of your business.

Different strategies: It is important to remember the flexibility offered by a Hosted VoIP service lets you execute bigger strategies than ever before. Bigger strategies are usually the result of having more room to combine various tactics. It hardly matters what kind of hierarchy or chain-of-command your business follows. As long as communications become seamless and easy, there’s a lot more you can get done. It gives you the freedom to focus your business on what really works.

Availability for everyone: Different connections provided by a your own Hosted VoIP still go both ways. They can make it easier for you to contact somebody, and vice-versa. Connectivity is simple yet effective, no matter the distance.

With Hosted VoIP PBX you get the benefits of a big-business-style phone system without the expensive equipment cost of an IP PBX phone system. Each of the hosted VoIP providers above offer Hosted VoIP PBX at reasonable rates.