Get Rid of Your Existing Phone System

If you are still using a traditional business phone system, you should consider getting rid of it once and for all because there is a vastly superior business phone solution, VoIP, which allows you to connect with your clients and contacts over your IP address.

Because the calls are routed over the internet instead of traditional phone lines, you can get the same level of business phone features at a much lower cost. Here are the 5 reasons why they are growing and why you should consider getting rid of your existing phone system.

Below, we use RingCental as the primary example of a business VoIP service provider as they are one of the largest. There are many good choices. Some providers offer services at a much lower price point than RingCentral. If you want to compare several different providers on price and feature, visit this article.

1. No Expensive Hardware to Maintain

Traditional business phone services generally require a significant upfront investment in hardware, often $500 - $1000 or more if you want to have several connected phone lines configured/installed. In most cases, you will also need ongoing maintenance of the lines, which will cost you also.

This is not the case with RingCentral. Although in some cases you may want to purchase VoIP compatible phones for the office ($50-$150ish/phone), you do not have to in order to get started. With RingCentral, you can use your desktop or mobile phone as your primary calling center, foregoing handsets all-together. This can be an especially good option if you are always on the go and are rarely at a central office. And with all your business phone features being hosted online, you do not have to worry about expensive fees for installation and ongoing maintenance.

2. Low Monthly Rate Compared to Traditional Phone Provider *

According to an estimate by virtualpbx.com, a traditional business phone system will cost you around $245/month in service costs for 5 users (4 year period and 1000 minutes per user). If you factor in the original PBX cost (system cost: phones would add even more) and ongoing maintenance divided over a 4 year period, it adds another $154/month onto your tab. So, adding everything together, you should expect to pay around $400 or so per month for a traditional PBX business phone system.

With RingCentral, you basically just pay a monthly fee per user. For nearly all of RingCentral’s features and 2,500 minutes per user, you will pay around $35/month for one user or $175/month for 5 users. Basically, you are getting the same features, 2.5 times the minutes, and getting it at less than half the cost of a traditional phone system.

* For the purpose of this pricing comparison, the virtualpbx study does not include phone costs and applicable taxes for either system, since they are relatively similar for both VoIP and traditional PBX systems.

3. Lots of Great Features, Including a Killer Mobile App

Another reason to make the move to RingCentral’s VoIP, is the wealth of features you are able to use. RingCentral does all of your traditional business phone tasks, such as conference calling, auto-attendant call routing, call queuing, find me/follow me, call scheduling, and call recording. However, because of its utilization of the internet, it also has an expanded set of online features, such as sending/receiving online faxes, voicemail to email transcription, and video calls.

Also, RingCentral has a killer mobile app. When making calls over wi-fi, you can record calls with a single click, put the caller on-hold, or even transfer the call, all right from your mobile phone. What’s really cool, is that if your wi-fi tanks during the call, RingCentral’s app will seamlessly re-route the call through your cellular network, without any call interruption/callbacks, talk about slick.

4. VoIP Call Quality has Improved with Leaps and Bounds, and Continues to Do So

In the past, many business owners have shied away from VoIP solutions because they were afraid of poor call quality. Their fears were certainly justified. Early VoIP phone solutions were notorious for being choppy/dropping calls whenever the internet was interrupted or service was inconsistent. However, in the last 4-5 years, internet and VoIP solutions have made serious advances. Now, with an adequate internet connection, VoIP call quality is just as good as a traditional PBX phone provider.

Wondering if your internet connection can handle a VoIP solutions? Want to figure out how many phones you can support on your connection without sacrificing call quality? Here is a link to serveral VoIP speed tests.

5. Transitioning from a Traditional PBX Phone System to a VoIP Solution has Never Been Easier

In the early days of business VoIP phone systems, transitioning from your traditional PBX provider to a VoIP solution could be a big ordeal. You had to make multiple phone calls to customer support to see if your number could be changed over. In many cases, it could not, which meant a business had to re-work all their marketing, advertising, and vehicle wraps. Many business owners decided the time and effort just was not worth it and stayed with their traditional PBX provider.

Now, the transition process is easier than it has ever been. If you are wondering about whether or not your business number will transition over from your old provider, you can just get on RingCentral’s number transfer page , type in your number, and find out immediately if your number is portable or not. The process is free and can generally be completed in a month or less. The only tricky part, is that you have to maintain service with your traditional provider until the transfer is complete, at which point you can cancel.

Conclusion

If you are a traditional PBX holdout, now may be the time to make the switch to VoIP. With advanced features, low cost (compared to traditional PBX), and a killer mobile app, RingCentral is hard to beat.

Hang It Up: Why You Should Get Rid Of Your Existing Phone System