Where Hosted PBX Solutions Save

Business telephone systems range from the very simple with a few phones and a few lines to complex private branch exchanges that support multiple sites. The new approach is a hosted PBX that makes things simple again. But do hosted PBX solutions really save anything and can they maintain voice quality?

With the simplest arrangement of a single landline phone connected to the local phone company, there really isn’t much to manage. You pay so much per month for “dial tone” that makes your phone work and gives you typically unlimited local calling. You have the option to switch to a different provider for long distance service or use a dial-around service for international calling. These are options to save you on the per minute calling rates.

The basic analog or POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) phone service seems simple because all the complexity is at the other end of the wire. What you don’t see or have to deal with is the intricacies of connecting your line to any of billions worldwide or to even more billions of wireless callers. If you have, say, 3 business locations with 1 phone each, they talk to each other by dialing up the desired location just like any other phone number.

Businesses found out just how complex the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) was when they got big enough to have lots of desk phones and a dozen or more outside lines. What many companies did was to buy their own telephone switching system called a PBX (Private Branch Exchange.) The advantage of having your own PBX system is that calls within the company stay on your own wiring and you don’t have to pay the telephone company to connect them. That includes more complex PBX arrangements with digital tie lines that connect multiple locations in a private network. Once again, the motivation is to keep as many calls as possible off the public network to avoid “toll” charges.

Many companies have rued the day the got into the telephone business. PBX systems are expensive to buy and need constant updates as employees move within the company. There is also maintenance activity for both the PBX and its telephone network wiring.

Hosted PBX is a fairly new service that offers to offload the expense of in-house phone systems. It only became possible when most companies installed Local Area Networks for their computers and the price of private digital lines became affordable. The enabling technology is VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol. In this case, Internet refers to the technology standard and not necessarily use of the public Internet.

Hosted PBX refers to using a large PBX telephone system that is located or hosted by a third-party service provider. This PBX is big enough to handle the telephone traffic of many different companies to gain an economy of scale. In a way, this is similar to going back to the days where each phone was individually connected to a local telephone company that took care of call switching.

So, where does the cost savings come from? Network consolidation is one area. Both telephones and computers run on a single converged voice and data network. There are no separate telephone wires. This network is extended to the hosted PBX provider using a private digital line called a SIP trunk. You are not tied to a particular service provider. There are many competing hosted PBX solutions and that competition is another way that cost savings can be offered.

The private SIP trunk helps to maintain high voice quality because it provides the characteristics of low latency, jitter, packet loss and congestion, along with quality of service mechanisms that keep data packets from interfering with voice packets. You can also buy Internet based hosted PBX services at lower costs, but the vagaries of the public Internet can introduce distortion and clipping in the conversations.

Do hosted PBX solutions offer a real cost savings for your company? It depends on how many seats you have, what features you want and what your existing system is costing you. If you are close to replacing an aging PBX or one that has run out of capacity, the economics highly favor hosted solutions. To decide for yourself, get competitive pricing on hosted PBX solutions for business. It may come down to whether you want to pay as you go versus investing in your own in-house phone system.

Advantage of Independent Toll Free Numbers

You may have a toll free number that you got from your telephone company, or you may be considering one. Toll free numbers have tremendous advantages for all size businesses when it comes to sales and customer service. If you shop carefully, they are so affordable right now that even the smallest start-up companies and independent professionals can have their own toll free number. You’ll have the most flexibility if you order an independent toll free number.

What’s an independent number and why is that important? Independent toll free service is not associated with your landline or cellular phone bill. You'll have the ability to have your toll free number ring to any telephone you wish. You can even change your mind and have it ring to another phone anytime you want.

So what difference does that make? It makes a huge difference if you move or want to switch to another phone company. You may or may not be able to take your telephone company supplied toll free number with you. If they allow it, there can be a high fee charged to transfer the number to another service. Otherwise you’ll have to start all over with a new toll free number and change all your advertising and business cards.

You also won’t likely have the ability to decide which phone your toll free number rings to. If it is attached to your landline phone service, that’s the number that will ring when toll free calls come in. That may be no big deal if you are always at your desk or have a full time receptionist to take the calls. Otherwise you can be out and about when you get that important call that means the difference between sale and no sale. If you can’t grab it, the prospect may go elsewhere.

The alternative is an independent toll free service such as Kall8. With Kall8 toll free service, you get to pick from their suite of available 866, 877, 888 or 800 toll free numbers. Find one you like and by the time you are done placing your order online, your number will be ready to accept calls. You get an online control panel that lets you decide if toll free calls will come to your cell phone, home phone, or business phone. Change that any time you like. Some sales people switch it between phones depending on where they happen to be at the time.

You also get Kall8 toll free number features that include voice mail that you listen to online, by calling in or by having a sound file sent to your via email. Any incoming FAX messages will be converted to graphic files and sent to you via email. You also have conference call ability, so that you can conduct a conference call with up to 25 participants at any time for as long as you like. Even use your toll free number in reverse as a long distance calling card at the same rates.

That’s a lot of capability for just $2 to order an 866, 877 or 888 toll free number and $2 per month to maintain the service. Incoming calls are 6.9 cents per minute from the 48 contiguous states and a bit higher for calls from Alaska or Hawaii. Traditional 800 numbers are $5 each and $5 per month for service, plus the 6.9 cents per minute rate for incoming calls.

Lower Rate Long Distance Options

Want to save money on your phone bill quickly and easily? Simply switch to a lower cost long distance service.

What? Didn't that ship sail years ago? How can you expect to save money on phone service without buying a bundle or changing to VoIP?

Surprisingly, the newest technology options aren't always the cheapest. Good old analog telephone service works just fine for many users. It's especially good if you have only one or two phone lines and your Internet service is a bit flaky.

Not everybody needs unlimited local and long distance calling. That's because not all of us hang on the phone all day. You may think you're getting peace of mind by having no limits on how much you can talk and not change your monthly phone bill. But how much of a premium are you paying to have that luxury?

Try this. Keep a phone log for a week. Just write down every time you pick up the phone to make a call and how many minutes you talk. Don't worry about incoming calls. With most standard landline plans incoming calls are free.

So who did you call and for how long? Are most of your calls local? How long are they? Or, do you mostly call out of state? This isn't just a game. Your calling pattern really makes a difference.

Here's a suggestion. Check out the cheapest service from your local phone company and see what it costs. Now, use the domestic long distance rate finder tool to price out competing long distance plans. You enter the first 6 digits of your phone number, which identifies the phone company office you are using. Then, from your log, enter the number of minutes you call in-state long distance and state to state on a monthly basis. If you logged for a week, just multiply those numbers by 4 to get a monthly estimate. Click the "Get Long Distance Rate Now" button and you'll see the results.

Since I'm not a big caller, I entered 60 minutes for in-state minutes and 120 minutes for out of state calls. The best deal for this arrangement on a residential line is Pioneer with a total bill of $6.22 for long distance service per month.

You see correctly. It's $6.22, not some enormous bill. That's with 3 hours of calling. There are months when I'm not on the phone calling long distance numbers even that much.

Click on the total bill amount (it's a link) and you'll get a breakdown of the cost. For the search I just ran, it's $3.24 for the 60 interstate minutes (state to state) and $1.14 for the 30 intrastate (in-state) long distance minutes. Add the federal taxes and fees plus a 99 cent monthly and the total adds up to $6.22. This doesn't include state or local excise taxes, which are too many and varied for this tool to deal with. These tend to be the same for every service, so comparisons between carriers will still be valid.

What's with the 99 cent fee? That's due to low usage. If you spend more than $15 a month for long distance calls, that fee disappears. Some carriers charge these fees. Others don't. It doesn't matter, because what you are looking for is the lowest total cost each month. A competitive carrier like Pioneer has such low per minute rates that it often makes them the best deal.

So, do you have a local landline phone service you like, with reliable service, good voice quality and a low monthly bill? You don't have to give it up to save money. Just switch to a different long distance provider. You can order quickly and easily online and the long distance carrier you choose will make the change in conjunction with your local phone company. See, it is quick and easy. Now, find out how much you can save on your long distance phone bill.