Virtual PBX Phone System

The most common VoIP based phone service used by small and medium sized businesses is a Virtual PBX system. You will also hear this being referred to as Hosted VoIP, Hosted PBX or a more general term - Business VoIP.

Quick re-cap on Voice over IP

First of all a quick re-cap on VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) since this is the technology behind it. You still use a telephone but the call is passed over the Internet rather than the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). It may still end up in the PSTN but it travels over the Internet for as long as it can which is why the service is low cost - the Internet is not heavily regulated and taxed like the PSTN. What are the requirements for VoIP - all you need is a decent Broadband Internet connection and yes it can share the same pipes as your current Internet access.

A Virtual PBX System

Now we have addressed what VoIP is, let's now focus on service and what it actually is. What is the PBX part - well PBX just means Private Branch eXchange (PBX). Larger Corporations often have PBX equipment residing on-premise. This equipment handles call routing to extensions and connecting calls to the PSTN. The on-premise PBX is not required for a Virtual PBX system as this functionality is located at a remote data center, owned and maintained by the service provider. This is where the word "Virtual" comes from - it is called Virtual in the sense that no hardware is required on-premise other than the phones. The "smarts" are performed in a virtual manner, in the "cloud".

Before Virtual PBX systems became available, the only option for telecommunications entailed buying, managing and maintaining costly PBX switching hardware which included the equipment, wiring, phones, installation and maintenance. One PBX switch can cost between $500 and $2,000 per user, which is an expensive proposition.

Benefits of a Virtual Phone System

Now that you hopefully understand what this is, why should you choose it for your business phone service and what are all the benefits it brings:

• Capital Costs: There are no capital costs. The service is hosted in the cloud so no expensive PBX equipment to be purchased, installed or maintained.
• Monthly Cost: Pay a low monthly fee for unlimited phone calls within the USA and Canada. Businesses can save up to 80% on their phone bills compared to legacy analog PSTN based phone service. Payment can be made in two ways: (1) a monthly fee with unlimited free minutes for calls, or (2) metered plans that are based on usage.
• Scalability and Configurability: You can upsize or downsize at will so long as you have enough broadband with your Internet service. Simple configuration on a secure web page to add or subtract phone lines.
• Features: You will have high end features available to you that used to only be available to large Corporations. Auto-attendant, voicemail to email, call forwarding, call hunt groups and many more are standard. Free long distance calls anywhere in the continental United States and Canada, No need for a separate fax connection, or even a fax machine.
• Flexibility: Do you have some employees working from home, no problem. The extension dialed can be set to ring at home, on cell phones or at work. VoIP is very flexible.

Main Disadvantages of a Virtual Phone System

There are of course some disadvantages to this service, with the main ones listed as follows:

• Training: This should be a minor issue. As the service is hosted it is simply a matter of becoming familiar with the management GUI.
• Service Transition: This is a bit of hassle but any hassle here is worth it as the cost savings will ultimately make you quickly forget about any hassle. Regardless of the decision to move to a virtual service, there will likely be some headaches with any type of changes that are made to the phone system or service.
• IP Phones: These are very cool and have lots of functionality and lot of buttons to make life easy. The only problem is that there will be an upfront cost for any IP phone that you purchase (if not already owned). As the alternative is to run your existing phones with ATA (Analog Telephony Adaptor's) connected to every phone, we highly recommend that you factor this cost in and make the switch to these newer phones. These phones can directly plug into your network via an Ethernet cable and subsequently provide wired network connectivity to a PC.

A Complete Phone Service

The low cost of the Virtual PBX system does not translate into cheap, low-grade or third-rate service. The Virtual PBX system is highly efficient, feature-rich and is highly suitable for small businesses. It is a business phone service at an amazingly low price. The system is streamlined and totally effective.

Here are a few of the benefits which come with using Virtual PBX systems:

• Myriad of features plus high functionality;

• Simple, user-friendly browser-based management;

• Monitoring and real-time reporting;

• Customer service and 24/7 support; and

• Quality and reliability.

In summary the advantages of this type of phone service far outweigh the disadvantages. To help with comparison of different providers you can read Virtual PBX reviews submitted by real users. Refer to the comparison table opposite to access user reviews for popular providers.

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Author: Andy Forgrieve

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