VoIP Phones Vs. Traditional Phones or Cell Phones

Looking start your own business?  Phones will likely be a key component to getting up and running. From the start, what you choose can really make the difference as your business expands.Here are some things to consider.

Cell Phone Business

A cell or mobile phone business is pretty much what it sounds like. It uses a cell or mobile phone as its primary form of communication. Clients will reach you on that number, and if you are fortunate enough to grow, this will be known as your main number.

There can be several issues that come with using a cell phone. First is perception, people know when you use a cell phone as the business line and it may cause some clients from wanting to work with you. People still like working with established companies in traditional settings. Using a cell phone can come across as a small and brand-new business. 

The second issue is with the feature limitation of cell phones. You have little to no features when using a mobile device. For example, you can’t connect the lines as you add employees and you cannot have automated messages. Furthermore, you cannot setup schedules based on the time of the day.

Enter VoIP Phones

VoIP, or Voice Over IP, is extremely popular right now. Traditional phone systems require you to purchase and order phone lines from the local carrier. You also have to purchase and install the phone system itself. This can be cumbersome and annoying. First of which is scalability. If you are starting a business scaling that business should be front of mind at all times. What will you do as you need to add employees or get help?  With a traditional system you are pretty locked in or only able to grow, never able to adjust to the other way. You will also overspend on the phone system itself taking precious capital out of the business.

VoIP solves most of these issues.  A VoIP system uses your internet connection to connect to a hosted phone system. The hosted system will handle all of the equipment and setup for you.  

There are great VoIP companies out there that can give you all of the features of a major phone system and even extend to your cell phone. VoIP systems can also scale up or down as needed. It really is the perfect solution.

VoIP phones use a shared phone system. Several companies will be using the same system on the back end.  But you will have a reserved spot, called a tenant.  Your tenant ID’s are just yours. No one else can see or access your system. But the brains and the power are shared.  This enables your system to scale for you as needed. It is up to the provider to maintain all of the equipment so you never need to be in the phone system business.

Yet pricing is usually simple. Around $30/month per line. That will include all of the backend features such as Auto-Attendant, schedules, extensions, voicemail, etc.

You will not pay for any service or support either, so really all your phone costs are fixed.

Also, the system is not geographically limited. Thus, if you have a relative in another state you want to work for you or you want to have a work force that works from home, it is simple. You will just send them a phone that will connect to the main hosted system and you will have extension dialing between you, just like in a traditional office! This also enables you to use a third party to handle answering your phone calls so if you want to use a shared receptionist or assistant.

The other benefits include mobile. Many of the providers use a mobile app that will act as an extension of your phone system so you can make and receive calls on your business lines while traveling.

You really can scale your business faster and grow your workforce by considering what phone you use. The call quality with VoIP has come a long way.