One question we hear often from our clients is, “How can I ensure I get VoIP rates that are
affordable for my business?”
Well, just as in the copper wire telephone game, there are a lot of VoIP providers out there. Plus, it makes a very simple and natural upgrade procession. Your company simply transitions from one phone service provider to another, and most of your processes likely won't change.
The Basic Advantages of Using VoIP Providers
In cases like this, the VoIP rates you end up paying are mostly going to be for services rendered. Basic VoIP calls are extremely inexpensive and are effectively free for your provider. Anyone who's charging more than a very modest sum for basic Voice service is overcharging you.
No, the changes for VoIP are for the various features you might make use of, such as:
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Increasing bandwidth consumption
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Service across remote offices
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Integrated cloud storage and backup services
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Enhanced security features
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Videoconferencing
For a small company looking for a bargain, this is both a good and a bad thing. On one hand, the immediate costs for moving to a VoIP provider are often quite low. On the other hand, they'll never be so low again, since you'll undoubtedly be adding services and features before too much time passes.
Getting The Best Rates From Your VoIP Provider
Generally speaking, we'd advise you to first focus on what you need to get a Unified Communications system in place, in order to centralize your networking. From there, look towards Cloud services to start offloading a lot of the work being done in your office. Then start bringing in bandwidth-heavy applications like videoconferencing as you can afford to.
At the end of the day, the VoIP rates that really make sense for your business are going to be the ones tailored to your business, by experts in modern networking.
Unless, you were to eliminate the ongoing VoIP rates altogether with an on-site PBX system.
The On-Site Alternative
For some, hosting your own PBX System may make more sense. The PBX is the combination of hardware and software that allows a VoIP network to utilize the same telephone grids as all other calls, and it's the primary service actually being offered by those hosted providers.
While there is a higher up-front cost for the hardware needed, hosting your own VoIP system virtually eliminates all extraneous ongoing payments for your communications besides your bandwidth costs.
This means having direct control over every other aspect of your business communication system – no more calling someone else and waiting on them to fix their problem. You would need a higher level of expertise in your systems administrator to run such a system, and would gain a lot of independence in the process.
Further, from a pure numbers perspective, the TCO of an on-site PBX system will ultimately be lower than that of a hosted service, for those who can afford the initial outlay.
Picking The Right VoIP Service For Your Business
For many, the high cost of on-site PBX equipment make hosted VoIP providers their own option. For them, the best strategy is simply to comparison shop. This is an emerging market – there are few standards, with pricing very much at the seller's discretion. Look for the service that allows you to get exactly what you need with few frills, to get the best prices.
For everyone else, an on-site PBX system will pay off in the long term, while also giving your own people full control of your communications grid. You can cut out the middleman entirely, with nobody in between you and your bandwidth.
If you have questions, don't hesitate to contact us with anything you might need!
