The advantages of hosted VoIP

When starting out on your way down the voice over internet protocol communication route, you will find many people to tell you how inexpensive calls are, how there are no investment costs, and all the services are very cheap with VoIP services. While it is definitely possible to save cash with VoIP, it’s also feasible to spend similar or higher amounts than a POTS (plain old telephone system).

Hosted VoIP is generally the way which works out the most cost-effective for small business owners. This is where the servers and PBX systems are maintained by a third party VoIP provider. This service is then usually accessed via a softphone on a computer network using a headset or IP phone over an internet connection. One of the benefits of this includes the investment cost; most companies already have a computer network with internet access, so all that is required is for a monthly subscription to a VoIP provider. And since the system is set up through a net connection, location isn’t a factor, making it very easy for people to access the VoIP service from home or a mobile device, a service which often costs more on other systems.

An additional benefit of these systems is, whilst you pay a monthly bill for the service, the hosting company will deal with all system upgrades, servicing of the system and redundancy systems, which aside from the setup is one of the biggest costs of hosting your own VoIP server. And considering that the company supplying the hosting service should have a large amount of equipment available above and beyond your requirements, it’s typically possible to change contracts conveniently to increase the number of phone lines needed, or even to add new products and services such as conference calling (though many VoIP providers may offer such services included in the price), which is a much more affordable solution than replacing a complete PBX system.

Hosted services may become less viable for a business when the requirements of the telecommunications system get to a particular point. Since many suppliers charge extra for services such as conference calling, when using multiple services, the monthly costs could quickly add up. Also for large numbers of users you could run into similar issues where the cost per person becomes comparable to hosting your own system. Typically at about 100 telephone users it becomes feasible to think about premises managed VoIP systems, however hosted systems may still end up less expensive and more practical.

As with many things, it can help having a clear idea of what you want to achieve, what you need to accomplish, and what else could be advantageous to your organization. Even if you’re not sure, it’s worth contacting somebody to find out what services may be available for your business.


The Author works for a company who specialise in hosted phone systems, hosted VoIP and VoIP Solutions