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Why Landline Telephone Repair Service is Essential for Your Home or Business

In a world dominated by smartphones and digital communication, it’s easy to overlook the importance of landline telephones. However, for both homes and businesses, having a reliable landline telephone system is still crucial. And when issues arise, a professional landline telephone repair service becomes essential. In this article, we will explore the reasons why landline telephone repair service should be a priority for your home or business.

Ensuring Smooth Communication

Effective communication is the backbone of any successful home or business operation. Landline telephones provide a stable and dependable means of communication that can be relied upon even in times of power outages or network disruptions. However, just like any other electronic device, landline telephones can experience technical problems that may disrupt your communication channels.

By having access to a professional landline telephone repair service, you can ensure that any issues with your phone system are resolved promptly and efficiently. Whether it’s crackling sounds on the line, dropped calls, or other connectivity problems, experienced technicians can diagnose and fix these issues to restore smooth communication within your home or business.

Extending the Lifespan of Your Equipment

Investing in a high-quality landline telephone system can be expensive. Therefore, it’s important to protect this investment by properly maintaining and repairing any issues that may arise over time. Regular maintenance check-ups by professional repair services can help identify potential problems early on before they become major issues.

By addressing minor faults promptly through regular servicing and repairs, you can extend the lifespan of your equipment significantly. This not only saves you money by avoiding costly replacements but also ensures that you have a reliable means of communication at all times.

Minimizing Downtime

For businesses especially, downtime due to phone system failures can result in lost sales opportunities and decreased productivity. Customers may struggle to reach you or receive poor quality service, leading to a negative impact on your reputation. On the other hand, employees may face difficulties communicating with clients or other team members, hindering collaboration and workflow.

By having a trusted landline telephone repair service on standby, you can minimize downtime in case of any phone system issues. These professionals can quickly identify the root cause of the problem and implement necessary repairs or replacements efficiently. This allows you to get back up and running in no time, ensuring your business operations continue smoothly.

Expertise and Industry Knowledge

Landline telephone repair services employ technicians who possess extensive expertise and industry knowledge. They are familiar with various types of landline telephone systems, their intricate workings, and common issues that may arise. This expertise allows them to diagnose problems accurately and provide appropriate solutions.

Attempting to fix landline telephone issues yourself without proper knowledge or experience can lead to further damage or ineffective repairs. By relying on professionals who specialize in landline telephone repair, you can be confident that your equipment is in capable hands.

In conclusion, having access to a reliable landline telephone repair service is essential for both homes and businesses. It ensures smooth communication channels, extends the lifespan of your equipment, minimizes downtime, and provides access to expert knowledge and skills. By prioritizing regular maintenance check-ups and promptly addressing any issues that arise, you can enjoy uninterrupted communication within your home or business environment.

This text was generated using a large language model, and select text has been reviewed and moderated for purposes such as readability.

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Business phone lines that never miss a call—or an opportunity

Extend your reach with flexible virtual phone system features.

Every organization has a unique set of needs when it comes to communications solutions.

This includes a full suite of services such as:

• a business phone line and phone number (local or toll free) that users can access from their cell phone or mobile device
• a telephone service with unlimited calling and call forwarding
• auto attendant with call routing that also has options for professionally recorded greetings for on-hold messages and voicemail
• text messaging and
• an internet fax service.

What is the best virtual phone service?

The best virtual phone service can be different for each business. Each has their own business communication needs that is not necessarily the same with other organizations

RingCentral, however, is one of the top-rated services and is rated highly among small businesses, as well as enterprises.

One of the reasons for this is because RingCentral has gone beyond the basic virtual phone service by developing a unified communications solution that meets most, if not all, communications needs of businesses of all sizes.

Aside from providing a reliable telephony and call management system, RingCentral provides other useful communication and collaboration tools like online meetings and team messaging features.

The best part is that all these can be accessed from one unified platform, removing the need to switch from app to app for different modes of communication.

What is the best phone service for small businesses?

There is not a single best phone service that would work for all small businesses, but in many cases, a virtual phone service provides SMBs the advantages of low cost, ease of use, and flexibility to take business calls from anywhere and any device.

Instead of opting for an on-premise system that requires businesses to buy expensive hardware and host the service themselves, they can subscribe to a virtual  business phone service  provider like RingCentral. That way, they can access and use the technology from anywhere, which gives businesses more flexibility and mobility they simply cannot get from on-premise systems.

Get a big business phone solution on a small budget

Equip your organization the same tools that large companies use to grow their business. Because everything is in the cloud, you get all the benefits of a robust and versatile business telephone service without being responsible for its management and oversight. RingCentral manages your communications for you, for one fixed cost that’s surprisingly affordable and budget-friendly. Get started with a 15-day free trial.

What is RingCentral, and what can it do for you?

RingCentral is a company that offers business VoIP, a cloud-based phone service provider that enables you to stay connected anytime, anywhere.

A low-maintenance, high-performance unified communications solution, it’s ideal for smaller companies with limited resources.

Businesses that see the greatest return on investment from this would be organizations that:

• Require a reliable and secure business phone system
• Plan to add staff
• Have employees who spend significant time in the field
• Have a limited IT budget

How to choose the right business phone system

Choosing the right business phone system for your organization is not easy. There are a lot of providers out there that claim to be the best, but their service ultimately falls short of what businesses need.

To help you out, here are some of the things that you should look for when evaluating a virtual phone service:

• Communication and collaboration features beyond basic virtual phone service Do not limit your business to the basics. While having a VoIP and cloud PBX to help you fully take advantage of virtual phone numbers is great, there is a lot more to cloud communications that can benefit your business. RingCentral, in fact, has most if not all the features you need to communicate internally and externally. Aside from a cloud-hosted phone system, RingCentral also features a powerful team collaboration and messaging app. From there, you can form teams, share files, and even manage tasks. It also includes a powerful online meetings app with screen sharing. This feature lets you host or join an audio or video conference call from anywhere, on any device and ensures that you and your co-collaborators can get on the same page even if you’re not operating from the same place.
• All the communication tools you need in one platform In the past, you had to get a different provider for each virtual communication need. Aside from your virtual phone service, you had to get a separate online meetings provider and a separate team messaging app. This does not even include the non-communication tools like your customer relationship management (CRM) software. As a result, users are getting app overload from the many apps they have to use. Fortunately, the RingCentral app (for desktop and for mobile) acts like your central communications hub. From the app, you can make and receive calls, access your voicemail, message your team, and even start an online meeting instantly. You can do all those and more without ever leaving the RingCentral app.
• A phone service that integrates with your business apps Look for a business communications solution that plays nice with your other business apps. Whether you are using the popular Salesforce CRM or productivity apps like Google for Work and Office 365, there is an available RingCentral integration available in the App Gallery, which allows you to use your phone system from within the business app itself. If your business is using custom-made apps, you can still add communication components to it. There are different RingCentral APIs that you can use to add calling, faxing, SMS, and other functions to your own business app.
• A reliable hosted phone system A virtual phone system that is always down and unavailable is worse than useless to a business—it is a huge liability. Instead of helping the organization, it contributes to the negative perception of a company because it will seem that they are unreachable to customers. That is why RingCentral hosts its service in multiple servers in multiple data centers across the US. This ensures redundancy of service. If one server or data center fails, you can be assured there is a whole other set of servers and data centers that can take over and keep the service running.
• Secure virtual phone service One of the disadvantages of using a virtual phone service is that your data—like voice, fax, or SMS—will be going through a public network like the internet. This makes it susceptible to being intercepted by third parties while they’re being transmitted. RingCentral makes sure that does not happen to your business. By employing high-level encryption, your important information is protected from breaches during IP transmissions and even when data is at rest at endpoints like the RingCentral app on desktop or mobile. In addition to this, RingCentral employs an overall comprehensive security strategy that includes regular data center audits, multi-factor authentication (MFA), built-in service layer fraud protection, and more. This gives subscribers peace of mind in going virtual with their telephone service and other communications needs.

Be more mobile with the RingCentral App

You’re responsible for building and managing a thriving business. If on any given day your company is being run out of a hotel room, a coffee shop, or your car, so be it. Your on-the-go lifestyle demands that you be reachable at any time, anywhere. As one of the leading small business phone service providers, RingCentral’s communications solution is mobile-ready and ideal for bring your own device (BYOD) initiatives. With the RingCentral for iPhone or Android mobile app, you’re empowered to work the way you want while maintaining a unified business identity. Use your company numbers to communicate directly from your cell phone. Look big while remaining agile and able to respond instantly.

Integrate with your favorite business applications

If you use Google for Work or other popular business applications, you’re going to like what we can do for you. Make and receive calls and texts without leaving Gmail. Click to dial phone numbers that appear in emails, documents, and web pages. Schedule online meetings (video and web conferencing) from within Google Calendar. You can even fax documents directly from Google Docs and Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel. All of these come free with your RingCentral VoIP phone solution.

Remain in control of your phone service, always

With our communications solution, you get none of the capital equipment or hardware costs associated with legacy business phone systems. All-inclusive pricing gives you a fixed, predictable cost with little to manage. There are no setup fees and there are free implementation advisors. If you choose to purchase desk VoIP phones, you can expect them to arrive pre-configured. Our cloud phone service has built-in redundancy to keep your data safe and ensure automatic failover in the event of an outage. Even upgrades are automatic, with no discernible disruption of service.

Plan for growth with a scalable phone service

Growing your company is made easier with the right call technologies. When your success leads you to outgrow your solution, RingCentral is ready to help you step up to the next level. In all facets of your organization, at every stage, we’ve got you covered.

“I chose RingCentral for the features, customer service, and ability to get more phone numbers and services. I get more for less.”

“One conference call alone would have been more expensive than a month of RingCentral service.”

“We are huge advocates of anything that allows us to be out of the office while still being 100% functional.”

“Our entire business is in the cloud, from Google Apps to hosting, and RingCentral is a big part of that mix.”

“When setting up a business, managing costs and cash flow is imperative. RingCentral provides transparent, fixed monthly pricing so you know what costs to expect and can expand and scale the service up as your business grows.”

“We are growing. We do plan on adding more staff to our support staff. As we add new people, it’s not a high cost.”

Six good reasons to choose RingCentral small business phone service

Affordability.

You’re on a tight budget, so you’ll find our transparent, all-inclusive pricing easy on your wallet.

Easy to use and set up

Our intuitive menu makes setting up extremely easy. Phone system features can be optimized to work the way you work, even from your smartphone.

Portability

Go on the road with powerful features in the palm of your hand. Our mobile app is available for iOS and Android devices.

Reliability

You can’t afford to have your phones go down. We have servers in multiple locations to prevent outages and data loss.

Productivity

This cloud-based, virtual phone system works with a multitude of useful cloud applications, including Google Docs and Gmail.

24/7 Free Support

Your workday doesn’t adhere to normal office hours, and neither does your communications solution. Have questions or need help? We’re available.

More resources about VoIP and Internet Phone services

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Guide to Getting the Best Business Phone Service Providers in 2023

Choosing a new business phone service provider can be intimidating. Sure, there are lots of things to consider and coordinate. But don’t let the fear of making a misstep keep you from starting your journey. Communications systems are vital to every business, so the sooner you find the best unified communications solutions around for your company, the faster you’ll be able to meet your goals.

And this guide will point you in the right direction!

Read on to determine:

Table of Contents

• When it’s time to upgrade your business phone to an internet-based system
• Which communications features to consider
• What technology and equipment are needed
• How to move from research to purchase
• What to expect when setting up and using your new system

Learn more about how Ooma Office can help your business.

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Just call 877-621-0515 or click this to CHAT . Or, fill out this form and someone will reach out to you shortly.

Signs you need modern business phone services

If you’re thinking about upgrading your phone service and wondering when to do it, here are some telltale signs.

Your existing business phone system is outdated.

You may be wondering, “What exactly is a business phone system?” Back in the day, it meant a network of connected phones to talk with your team, customers and business associates. Today it’s grown to include an array of communications features that would have been considered science fiction in the 20th century.

So, if you have a traditional small business phone system with copper-wired landlines, it’s clearly time to move to a cloud-based business phone system provider. Doing so will help you reduce your phone service expenses and tap into the world of possibilities available via the internet.

Do you have a business VoIP phone system with an on-site server? When originally installed, that system was probably billed as the “next generation” business phone service and required the skills of an IT professional for setup and maintenance.

Then cloud-based business phone services came along, which brought new functionality, increased productivity and cost savings to millions of small and mid-sized businesses.

Even better, you don’t need to hire an IT professional to set it up or wait for your service provider to send out a technician every time you want to add a business phone line, reassign office spaces or add a new feature. You can do it yourself through an account management portal you access online.

You need to communicate with workers in different locations.

During the pandemic, many small businesses had to quickly accommodate employees to work from their homes . And a lot of small businesses realized the advantages and value of giving employees choices. The remote-worker or hybrid model will likely continue for the foreseeable future.

That means your teams expect a reliable, fast phone system that works seamlessly, whether they are in the office, at home or out in the field.

With an agile business phone setup, remote workers have choices. They can take their IP (internet protocol) desk phones home with them, connect to their home internet router and begin making unlimited calls instantly. Or access their business phone lines through their mobile phones and desktop apps. A VoIP service make it easy to switch from desktop to laptop to a smartphone.

Your business is growing and you’re hiring.

Business growth can be unpredictable. A spike in service demand may require adding more employees. Getting them situated with a work environment and a phone must happen quickly.

As you bring on new people, you’ll want the best phone service that makes onboarding easy. That includes adding lines and knowing the exact business phone service cost, so it’s easy to budget accurately.

Your team needs more powerful business communication tools.

Business phone challenges can slow productivity. The team might miss a valuable call from a prospective customer. Or a supplier’s message may not reach the warehouse manager in time to make a shipment that day.

Your team shouldn’t have to muscle through the glitches of an inflexible PBX system or first-generation VoIP system. Annoyances, like dropped calls or having to listen to lengthy voicemails, take a toll on productivity. Today’s VoIP technology offers crystal-clear calling and advanced features, like voicemail transcription, which lets you read your voicemail messages and prioritize who to call back first.

You want to ensure flawless customer service calls .

Is your support team reporting that on-hold times are so long that callers often hang up in frustration? Are customers leaving voice recordings in a generic company voicemail box that is monitored once a day, wasting an entire day of response time?

Callers want help quickly. If they can get a bill sorted out or make an appointment with minimal effort, they’re more likely to give you repeat business and refer their friends. A business VoIP phone service with a virtual receptionist helps you with call routing to the right person, department or ring group so someone can take action.

Step into your customers’ shoes!

Test the effectiveness of your voicemail greetings by calling your business and pretending to be a customer. Try to reach different departments and people. Was the process smooth or bumpy? If your voicemail greetings are confusing, check out our tips and sample scripts to create professional voicemail greetings .

Business Phone service features

One of the hardest parts of researching different business VoIP phone services is figuring out which features you need. Or even what’s available. It’s hard to know what to select if you have no idea how you can use the features. Some of the top business phone service providers use different names and their features operate just a little differently.

To give you some insight, here’s an overview of popular Ooma Office features , along with similar names, and examples of how these features work at Ooma:

Virtual Receptionist (aka Auto Attendant, Digital Receptionist, Virtual Assistant)

Think of the last time you called a large company. You probably navigated through a phone menu to select a particular department or extension with an auto attendant. You may have even had to choose your preferred language. In these instances, you were using a multi level auto attendants (or nested), virtual receptionist.

Video conferencing

Ooma Meetings is the Ooma Office video conferencing tool that lets you video meetings with up to 25 attendees on the Ooma Office Pro plan, or 100 if you have Ooma Office Pro Plus. Invite anyone to join your video meetings and two or more people can do screen sharing simultaneously. This is handy for comparing notes and sharing info quickly.

Ring Groups

If your business has a group of employees who can answer a call, like a full customer service team, support or accounting department, a Ring Group is an effective way to make sure no call goes unanswered.

You can assign users and all their associated devices to a Ring Group. Incoming calls either ring simultaneously on every device in that ring group or sequentially in the order you set up, until someone picks up.

Online Fax ing (aka Digital Fax, eFax, Virtual Fax)

You don’t have to have a clunky physical fax machine to send or receive a fax, thanks to digital technology. Incoming digital faxes are sent to employees’ email addresses in the form of a PDF. The Virtual Fax feature comes with a direct access number.

Music on Hold

Give your customers a song, a pre-recorded message or both to listen to when they’re waiting on hold. Use the opportunity to provide information like operating hours or current promotions. You can also upload a music MP3 or WAV file, as long as it’s no bigger than 5 MB and you have permission to use the song.

Email Audio Attachments

Voicemail can be sent directly to your email as an attached audio file. This is especially handy when you’re away from the office but can still access your email.

Voicemail Transcription

Ooma Office Pro and Pro Plus convert voicemail messages into readable email that’s sent to users. This makes it easy to skim and determine which ones to act on first.

Team Messaging

Sometimes a brief text message sent to a colleague’s or a customer’s mobile phone is preferred over phone calls. You can even attach photos and PDF files.

Call Recording

Recording calls can be an important tool to train sales staff, verify order details and resolve customer disputes. With Ooma Office Pro and Pro Plus, you can automatically record unlimited calls or just the ones you select.

See how a technology company uses call recording to coach its reps, resulting in a 28 percent sales increase.

Call Blocking (aka Block List)

Phone scammers and telemarketers often mask their numbers and show up as “Private Number” on your Caller ID. Ooma Office lets you to decide if you want these calls automatically blocked or sent straight to voicemail.

With Ooma Office, you can place up to 1,000 suspicious numbers on a block list. Just select them from your call history or in your Ooma Office dashboard to add them.

Enhanced Call Blocking

Robocalls are an annoyance that can waste precious business resources. That’s why Ooma Office Pro and Ooma Office Pro Plus use Enhanced Call Blocking to automatically screen all incoming calls against a dynamic database of more than 2 million known and verified robocall numbers. If there’s a match, the call is automatically blocked and will never ring your business phone.

Multi-device Ring (aka Multi Ring, Simultaneous Ring)

Expecting an important call? Use this feature to simultaneously ring a combination of your devices, such as analog phones, an IP desk phone, a mobile phone and the Ooma Office Mobile App.

Parking places a caller on hold in a designated “parking spot” extension. Anyone on your team who knows the parking spot extension can retrieve the call. The advantage of Call Park is that you don’t tie up a line, like you would with a simple Call Transfer.

Intercom Calling

Intercom calling lets users dial a device that automatically picks up the call on its speakerphone. This makes it easy to inform maintenance that you need a cleanup in aisle 4.

Call Routing (aka Call Queuing)

When everyone on your team is busy, calls are automatically placed on hold and then routed to the first available person. Think of it as a simple inbound call center.

CRM Integration

When you’re working in a customer relationship management solution, like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365, this feature automatically displays info about callers. This powerful tool helps you personalize conversations and anticipate their needs.

Hot Desking

If you have shared workspaces at your office, hot desking makes it easy for employees to access and use their business phone lines on any unassigned phone. The employee punches in a code, then enters their extension number and voicemail PIN. All incoming calls will ring on this phone and outgoing calls will show their Caller ID.

Call Screening

An automated virtual receptionist prompts a caller to state their name. The name is recorded and played back for the person answering the call. The recipient then decides to send the call to voicemail, transfer it to another person, answer the call or reject it.

Seek feedback from your team.

Now that you know something about the advanced features available with a VoIP service, it’s time to get input from your colleagues. If you have a really large organization, talk to at least one representative from each department.

• What are the limitations of the existing phone system?
• Which advanced features do they want in the new system?
• Do you want a toll-free number?
• Will every employee need their own business phone line or can some departments share one?
• Do you want a phone system with analytical tools to track metrics like call duration, volume, peak calling time, number of missed calls?

The information you gather in this phase will give you a shopping list of what to look for in the right business phone system for you.

Required technology and equipment

The fundamental requirement for VoIP business phone service is high-speed, dependable internet. As mentioned before, VoIP technology uses the internet, rather than traditional copper wire phone lines, to make and receive business phone calls. So you’ll want to make sure you meet the bandwidth and network requirements of the VoIP providers you are considering.

Ask if you need specific modems and routers to optimize cell phone service. If so, find out if they are included or must be purchased separately.

The beauty of subscribing to a new VoIP business phone service is you won’t necessarily have to spend much on new phones. In fact, with Ooma Office you can download and use software on a PC or smartphone, and start calling right away without any desk phones.

Some employees may want to use business desk phones, while others prefer to use a phone application. Perhaps they’ll want a hybrid combination .

Business desk phones

If you have any traditional phone lines or business desk phones you’d like to keep using, you’ll need to adapt them to VoIP technology with analog telephone adapters, although you may find it’s more cost-effective to purchase new IP phones. Ask your new service provider for guidance on their preferred adapters.

You can generally purchase IP phones from your provider. For example, Ooma has styles ranging from entry-level two-line versions all the way up to 12-line phones with 48 programmable keys and a 7-inch display. Some connect directly to your network with an Ethernet cord, others are wireless so you don’t need to place them near an Ethernet outlet. All come ready to take out of the box, plug in and start using.

The word softphone is short for ‘software telephone.’ It’s an umbrella term for both desktop and mobile apps. These apps take advantage of the hardware on your computer or smartphone to create a virtual phone—eliminating the need for a business desk phone.

Once set up, the apps let users access their computer’s or phone’s features to make, take and manage their calls.

Incoming calls pop up on the user’s screen, allowing them to respond with a touch or a click to accept the call.

You can even enjoy the flexibility of unlimited calling from any device with immediate access to business-phone advanced calling features like extension dialing to one or more numerous locations, call forwarding, video conferencing, SMS messaging/chat, call recording and call waiting.

Let’s explore the advantages of both types of softphones:

Desktop phone app

A desktop business phone application lets employees make calls from their PC or laptop. Users download the desktop app to their computer, sign in and start using the best business phone system and features.

The significant benefit of desktop apps is the big screen. This makes it easy to find and navigate to the various business phone features. To make calls, use a mouse and keyboard on your computer.

Mobile phone app

After downloading your service provider’s app from the Apple or Google Play app stores, you open the app, log in with your business phone credentials and click the contact you want to call. With the Ooma Office mobile app, you’ll be able to easily identify which incoming calls are from your Ooma Office line and which are from your personal smartphone number.

Here are a few of the benefits of mobile apps and advanced calling features available on the Ooma Office mobile app.

Remain connected on the go.

The Ooma Office mobile app is like tucking your business phone in your pocket and taking it anywhere you go. This is especially handy for sales agents who spend more time visiting clients than sitting in an office.

Keep users’ cellphone numbers private.

Whether team members work from home or out in the field, they can use their business phone app to make calls directly from their cellphones. That way, their business phone number, not their personal cellphone number, is the number their contacts see on their caller ID.

Not only does this protect your team’s privacy, it also creates a more professional impression.

Flip from desk phone to mobile device seamlessly.

A business phone app also lets employees move between multiple locations throughout the day and shift quickly from office phone to mobile device, even in the middle of a call.

In retail businesses, for instance, team members are often on the move. A manager might be in the office for a few minutes then on the showroom floor or outside in a service area. They might begin a call on a desk phone then flip to a mobile device as they walk out to the service area—without interrupting the call.

Watch how one retail store fields a gamut of calls around its facility and between devices (including using mobile devices to send faxes and manage voicemail).

Calculate your savings

See how much you can save with Ooma VoIP phone systems by entering your current phone bill.

Choosing the best business phone service provider

Now that you have a good idea of which features your team wants and the types of business phones your team plans to use, you’re ready to compare providers. With so many small business phone service providers to choose from, it’s hard to know where to begin. Sifting through the best business phone services, plans and features can eat up precious time.

Here are three simple steps to focus your research on those providers who deserve your time and consideration.

Get referrals from respected sources.

Reach out to members of your business networking groups, like your chamber of commerce, Rotary Club or LinkedIn contacts. Find out what they like and dislike about their phone service provider. Keep in mind that not all business needs are the same, so your contacts may value some features that you don’t need and vice versa.

Search for lists of the best business phone services. Place more weight on those generated by unbiased sources—reviewers who don’t get paid for endorsements. For example, PC Magazine polls its readers every year for its Business Choice Awards .

You’ll probably find that a handful of business phone services rise to the top. Start your research with those that received the highest online ratings and personal recommendations.

Compare features and prices.

Most business phone service providers offer tiered plans to accommodate different business needs. The side-by-side visuals make it easy to understand how the plans differ in cost as well as in basic business phone service features. For example, here’s an overview of the three different Ooma Office plans .

To eliminate surprises, ask about any fees, such as one-time activation fees and per-line costs. Check to see if there is a charge to transfer your existing business number to your new provider. Will you be required to sign a contract?

Usually, VoIP services offer free unlimited calling within the United States or Canada, which may be all you need if you don’t make a lot of international calls. Consider getting a monthly international calling plan only if you spend a lot on long-distance calls.

Monthly bills

Additionally, get a clear understanding of the monthly billing cost and what the service includes. Cloud phone service invoicing should be straightforward—easy to understand and manage. Look for a provider with all-inclusive pricing so there are no surprise fees in your invoice at the end of each billing cycle. This will also help you stick to a budget.

Most small businesses report significant reductions in their phone bills when they switch from a traditional phone service to online phone services.

“I was formally with AT&T. I am so glad I made the switch to Ooma. It offers me better user experience for my business and I cut my bill by over 80%! I am so happy I made the change!”

Look for ease of use and great support

Not all VoIP business phone services are created alike. Make sure that your new service is easy to set up, easy to use, and easy to manage. Even better—look for one that will go the extra mile to help you.

• Can you get a demo to see the user interface in action?
• Are you able to figure out how to access the features you need?
• Will you be able to set up the service yourself or will you need an IT expert?

Getting answers to these questions can save you a lot of headaches down the road. And help you feel confident that you’ve done a thorough job of researching.

It’s time to contact the service provider that checked all the boxes for your business.

Sign-up and setup

Gone are the days of complicated phone installations—of flipping through a thick manual or calling in an IT professional to update the system or waiting for weeks for the phone company to send an installer out to your location.

For example, setting up your new business phone with Ooma involves a few simple steps that are all done online.

Do you already have an established business phone number that you want to keep? Transferring it to a new provider won’t be a problem. The FCC says that number is yours to keep. Keep in mind that some companies may charge a transfer (porting fee) for porting a toll free phone number. If so, ask for it to be waived or negotiate a lower fee.

Or, you can choose a brand new business phone number. With Ooma Office, you have many options: a local number by area code, a number with repeating digits, toll free numbers, and vanity business phone numbers.

Get Your Business Phone Number

Next, select the plan you want. Ooma Office has three plans, all starting with more than 50 business phone features.

Enter the number of employees who will make and receive phone calls to figure out your costs.

Follow the prompts to activate your account. Then download and open the app on your device or plug your VoIP phone into your router (if you’re using a desk phone).

Set up your preferences in My Ooma—the online account management portal page. This is where you put in your extensions and manage all your business phone numbers, conference calls and faxes.

You’re now ready to start unlimited calling!

Make a big-company impression with every call.

It doesn’t matter if your company has two employees or two hundred. Your new business phone systems, will give customers the professionalism of a large business when they call.

Create consistent calls that customers love.

Customers expect a positive experience when they call your company. If they can reach the right person quickly and get the resources they need, their trust increases.

Not only that, if customers, business associates and suppliers can get what they need effortlessly, their loyalty will soar.

Tailoring your virtual phone system for every department and user across your business puts you in a position to attract and delight customers and grow your business.

Like any buying decision, the better prepared you are from the outset, the easier you’ll find the business phone buying process.

Use the above tips to choose the perfect phone for your business communication—without the confusion. Your new small business phone service will be up and running quickly.

Need a phone system that takes your small business to the next level? Upgrade to Ooma Office . Or check out Ooma Enterprise and its unique, adaptable call center solutions for businesses with more sophisticated needs.

Give us a call today at (877) 345-8847 for a free consultation.

6 best business telephone line providers in 2023

Our research

Written and reviewed by:.

Our independent reviews are funded in part by affiliate commissions, at no extra cost to our readers.

Based on our most recent round of independent research, the best business phone line provider for small businesses is GoTo.  Our experienced team of researchers say that GoTo is an outstanding low-cost VoIP-powered virtual landline for SMEs that can automate complex business phone tasks to save you both time and money.

But, GoTo is just one of the options you may want to consider. Depending on your needs and budget, it may be preferable to choose an alternative service that will suit the size of your business – or grow with you as you scale up.

Remember above all – the days of traditional wired landlines are coming to a close. With the PSTN switch off in 2025, all businesses will need to move towards a VoIP ‘line' solution, and business telephone providers are offering some compelling deals as well as tech solutions that let you run your business communications more smartly. We've rounded up some of the best VoIP phone line service providers, below:

• GoTo Basic – best overall choice for small businesses
• 8×8 Express – best for telecoms teams with more complex needs
• bOnline Pay as You Go – great value plans that undercut rival services
• Ring Central Essentials – ideal for call centre teams
• Dialpad Standard – a good choice for agencies and startups
• Vonage Express – great for customer service and support teams

Don't overspend – you can click any of the links above to begin comparing fees on business phone providers for your own business's size and needs.

To help you get find the right system for your firm's exact operational needs, we’ve designed a free cost comparison tool to give you personalised phone line pricing quotes for your company. This service takes just minutes, there are zero obligations on your part,  and it can  save you money by helping you pick the best value provider for your needs.

Here's some more detail on the features and offerings of each of the top providers we've identified:

With inflation at eye-watering levels, many firms have adopted a hybrid, or even entirely remote, approach to working to keep overheads down. This has created a challenge for businesses that need to take and make calls using a reliable, and affordable system.

Read on to get all the essential information on the top phone system providers currently available for small businesses.

This guide will cover:

• 8x8 Express
• bOnline Pay as You Go
• Ring Central Essentials
• Dialpad Standard
• Vonage Express
• What type of businesses are telephone providers suitable for?

How do telephone providers work?

• How did we compare the best business phone line providers for small business?
• How to find the best phone line provider

Our verdict

What is a telephone provider.

A telephone provider, also known as a telecommunications or phone service provider, is a company that offers telephone services to individuals, businesses, and organisations.

They provide the infrastructure and technology necessary for making and receiving phone calls and offer a range of services, including landline telephone connections, mobile phone services, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions.

These providers typically offer various calling plans and packages to suit different needs and budgets.

GoTo – Basic

Best for: small businesses with a limited budget but ambitious growth targets, such as ecommerce startups.

• Pricing 3.8
• External Connections 3.4
• Features 4.1

Our top-scoring phone system is the GoTo Basic plan, thanks to its unique combination of being a very scalable system while still boasting an exceptional number of communication features – great for small businesses that need a business telephone that will grow alongside their operations.

Three paid-for plans (with over 80 integrations on all) are available but GoTo Basic will be more than enough for most SMEs. It demonstrates a huge range of collaboration tools , gains a high security score of 4 out of 5, and has the most extensive list of inbound communication features of all the brands we reviewed.

Admittedly, GoTo falls down slightly for management features, which means it's not the best option for call centres with a lot of middle-managers, or offices with a strict hierarchy in place. Still, having outscored 8×8 for pricing by almost an entire mark (3.8 out of 5  vs  2.9 out of 5), we think GoTo is an excellent choice for startups finding their business phone feet.

GoTo Basic pricing

• £9.50  per user, per month (billed annually)

At £9.50, GoTo is not the cheapest option on our list (that honour goes to bOnline, which charges just £7 per user, per month for its lowest tier, bOnline Pay As You Go).

However, in the context of its huge feature list and massive scalability score of 4.4 out of 5 in our research, GoTo's Basic tier offers a lot more than equivalent rival plans (including four more inbound communication features than second-place 8×8) drastically improving its overall value for money.

What makes GoTo different?

In short, GoTo should be the go-to pick for SMEs after a scalable phone system that can accommodate customer queries, sales calls, and plenty of third-party software and hardware integrations.

Across every tier it offers every inbound communication feature that we analysed. GoTo easily surpassed second-place 8×8 which lacks the ability to use call queues, ring groups, spam prevention, and voicemail to text.

8×8 – Express

Best for: businesses with complex communication needs, such as telesales.

• Pricing 2.9
• External Connections 2.9
• Features 4.3

Easily 8×8's most impressive area is its customer support , for which we gave it a massive and unrivalled 5 out of 5. Users who encounter an issue won't need to waste time and lose money – instead, instantly contact the 8×8 helpdesk through its popular user forum, online knowledge base, live chat, email, or phoneline. There is even 24/7 live support available – which our pole competitor, GoTo, does not offer.

8×8 achieves a very respectable 4.3 out of 5 for features in our analysis, owed to its large arsenal of client-friendly outbound tools that include external video calling (something Ring Central and bOnline do not permit) making it the best option for sales teams.

That said, we don't recommend 8×8 Express to those with lots of business technology. Its list of external connections is non-existent – you'll need to upgrade to 8×8 X2 for any integrations. As a result, we have to mark 8×8 down for time-efficiency. Users will waste time working across multiple platforms – not good for resource-stretched teams of fewer than ten.

8×8 Express pricing

• Not shared publicly

As of 2023, 8×8 no longer shares its pricing publicly but we know from prior research that 8×8 sits at the expensive end of the cost spectrum. 8×8 is worth paying premium for those needing 24/7 access to customer support. But if you're after a cheap option that will sit alongside existing technology, consider another software.

What makes 8×8 different?

As discussed, 8×8's biggest pull-factor is its generous customer support package. Compared to brands like Dialpad, with which users get no 24/7 live support and no uptime guarantee, 8×8 makes onboarding easy and simple for new users.

8×8 is also an excellent option for more-established firms. Startups might quickly outgrow 8×8 Express's lack of integrations, but the next tier, X2, is decidedly more generous (that's why we gave it 4.9 out of 5 for scalability, while GoTo got just 4.4).

bOnline – Pay as You Go

Best for: side-hustles and those predominantly based offline, such as freelance hairdressers.

• External Connections 3.5
• Features 2.8

Today's economy brings many challenges, most of which will weaken cash flow. As a result, searching for an affordable business telephone system is a smart decision for a lot of SMEs – particularly new firms facing big startup bills.

bOnline's Pay as You Go plan costs just £6 per user, per month and brings with it a pretty impressive array of features for that price. Users can set up customisable hold music, company hours, and get a complementary localised number. As a result, we like it for side hustles and sellers wanting to service customers whilst working full-time.

Of course, cheaper options do bring fewer benefits. bOnline achieves a dismal score for security in our research of just 1 out of 5 (in comparison, GoTo gets 4 out of 5). It has no compliance certificates, meaning agents sharing sensitive information over the phone, such as bank cards, will risk their customers' data and trust.

bOnline Pay as You Go pricing

• £7  per user, per month (billed annually)

Undoubtedly the cheapest plan on this list, bOnline's £6 price tag per user, per month goes unrivalled. Before it upped its prices, only Ring Central came close. Nonetheless, as we have alluded to, this low-cost does sacrifice a lot of useful features, including management tools (of which bOnline boasts a grand total of none).

What makes bOnline different?

As well as affordability, bOnline does also outscore rivals like 8×8 for external connections. It has a lot of third-party apps available, but most (such as CRM) for an added fee of £5 per month.

Plus, an above-average customer satisfaction score of 4.5 out of 5 (beating GoTo by 0.1) tell us that bOnline might not do a lot, but it clearly does it well.

Ring Central – Essentials

Best for: small businesses that regularly need to train new employees.

• Pricing 2.4
• External connections 2
• Features 3.9

Shops and restaurants often find it difficult to find a system that caters for brick-and-mortar businesses. Our experts rank Ring Central as the top platform for call centres thanks to its full-featured inbound communications package.

Crucially, it includes a virtual receptionist which can route callers to the right person (unlike bOnline Pay as You Go) and  lets you add company hours if a customer is trying to find out more information about the company.

We gave Ring Central average scores across the board in our recent testing, as a reliable platform for business phone landlines that also scores notably well for scalability (matching 8×8 with 4.9 out of 5).

However, if you're a marketing team, you won't be as enamoured with Ring Central. Outbound communications are virtually non-existent (you can't use any power dialling or predictive dialling) which makes Ring Central unsuitable for outreach. To get around this limitation, customers should purchase Ring Central Engage for an added fee.

Ring Central Essentials pricing

• £12.99  per user, per month (billed annually)
• £17.99 per user, per month (billed monthly)

We've got no arguments here; Ring Central Essentials is priced averagely at £12.99 per user, per month, making it the third-most affordable option on our list behind bOnline and GoTo.

Handily, there is also the option to be billed monthly, instead of annually, if your cash flow isn't quite strong enough to commit to a yearly contract yet. That's something that neither Dialpad, Vonage, 8×8, bOnline or GoTo offers.

What makes Ring Central different?

In many ways, Ring Central Essentials is a runner-up phone system to 8×8 Express. It comes second to 8×8 in customer support features (scoring 4.3 out of 5 compared to 8×8's 5 out of 5) and is also just behind the latter in terms of features (scoring 3.9 to 8×8's 4.3).

But Ring Central's USP is its onboarding and training capabilities – an area where 8×8 is lacking. Unlike with 8×8, Ring Central users can make call transcripts and set up departments. This makes it a great tool for those employing a young or low-skilled workforce that need to train lots of new hires, such as call centres or retail firms.

Dialpad – Standard

Best for: agencies with a strict hierarchy requiring lots of management features, such as accounting firms.

• External connections 2.7
• Features 4.8

Proper, effective management is fundamental for successful businesses – meaning few low-cost phone providers offer a strong management package for SMEs. Luckily, Dialpad is one of that select few.

Amongst the Dialpad Standard plan is a vast library of manager-friendly features which includes the abilities to transcribe and record calls for training and monitoring purposes (something not offered by any other brand in our list). This makes it a great option for those in the business services industry and conducting regular client calls.

Alongside this, Dialpad allows users to set up teams or departments , which is really helpful if you're an agency working with specific accounts. Similarly, Dialpad boasts a range of collaborative tools like internal messaging, task management, and video conferencing – all of which are excellent for managing more junior members of the team.

Dialpad Standard pricing

• £12 per user, per month (billed annually)

Dialpad falls down somewhat for price. At £12 per user, it is the most expensive software on our list, and (like 8×8) it still offers very few integrations, knocking the brand down for its overall value for money.

What makes Dialpad different?

We gave Dialpad a total score of 4.8 out of 5 for its features, effortlessly outpacing third-place bOnline's score of 2.8 out of 5.

As we've hinted, this is because Dialpad's unique package is one of the best for management – but its inbound and outbound communication features are also excellent. Plus, unlike brands like Vonage, which charges hidden fees for features like voicemail to text, almost all available for no additional cost.

Vonage – Express

Best for: customer relationship management, such as service desks.

• Pricing 1.5
• External connections 3.8
• Features 3.6

Straight off the bat, Vonage gets 3.8 out of 5 in our results for external connections, as one of the best providers on the market for third-party apps and extensions.

External connections dramatically increase efficiency for call agents, who can access information across multiple platforms instantly. They are a much smarter way to organise your customer data , and will ultimately make calls faster and more bespoke for the caller – improving a customer's trust in your organisation.

Vonage scores decently in other areas, like outbound communication, which will also help to empower your employees to contact consumers directly to check whether they are happy with their service. As a result, we think Vonage is the best option for small businesses needing to set up an automated helpdesk for handling customer queries , such as solicitors.

Vonage Express pricing

• £10 per user, per month (billed annually)

At first glance, Vonage has a decently priced platform that's just a bit more expensive than rival bOnline but still well within range for small business wallets.

However, Vonage's payment plans are a bit sneakier than other brands on our list. The platform charges a lot of hidden fees that can add up to make this phone system one of the more expensive options on the market. For example, you'll have to pay extra for features like call queue and voicemail to text, while Dialpad has these for free.

Consequently, Vonage gets just 1.5 out of 5 for pricing in our research – a poor mark that tarnishes an otherwise good product for SMEs.

What makes Vonage different?

It might come for an additional cost, but given the huge number of brands that don't offer any external CRM or helpdesk connections (such as 8×8, Ring Central, and Dialpad) Vonage's integrations with Bullhorn, Hubspot, Office 365, Salesforce, Sugar CRM, Zendesk, Clio, Microsoft Dynamics and Zoho are not to be sniffed at.

Combined with full-set of conversation features including call forwarding, call flip, and call barge, we rate Vonage highly as an excellent phone system for helpdesks. Businesses like IT service firms will find its package perfect for assisting customer queries or complaints.

What type of businesses are telephone line providers suitable for?

Telephone line providers are suitable for businesses of all types and sizes. Small businesses, including startups and solopreneurs, can benefit from telephone providers to establish professional communication channels. They can obtain business phone numbers, access features like voicemail and call forwarding, and manage their calls effectively.

Additionally, businesses with remote teams or those with a need for mobility can leverage mobile phone services provided by telephone providers. Mobile plans allow employees to stay connected while on the go, ensuring seamless communication.

Telephone providers offer services suitable for businesses across various sectors, including small businesses, medium-sized companies, large enterprises, and specialised industries. Their solutions cater to the unique communication requirements of all different businesses.

Telephone providers are responsible for operating and maintaining the necessary infrastructure for communication. This includes telephone exchanges, cell towers, data centres, and network equipment. They ensure that calls are correctly routed, provide reliable connections, and offer customer support for any issues or inquiries.

These providers offer different calling plans and packages tailored to diverse needs and budgets. They may include features like call forwarding, voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, and conference calling. Additionally, telephone providers may offer supplementary services such as text messaging, internet connectivity, and multimedia services on mobile devices.

By providing calling plans, additional features, and reliable connections, these providers enable individuals and businesses to communicate effectively.

How did we compare the best telephone line providers for small business?

With over twenty years' of experience writing for small business owners, we have a lot of knowledge under our belt when it comes to company phone systems. But even this isn't enough – we want to be the most trustworthy source of information that SMEs can find online.

That's why, during our most recent round of research, we collaborated with an independent researcher to pick out the systems we  know are the eight smartest options for today's small businesses and the specific challenges they face.

Once we had our exceptional eight, we narrowed them down based on criteria that entrepreneurs told us they are currently prioritising with their business phone needs.

Pricing  due to the economic difficulties currently facing the UK;  inbound communications  to cope with large numbers of incoming calls and respond in a professional and timely manner; and  external communication  to judge which providers offer the largest library of integrations to easily transfer customer data across platforms.

Finally, we spoke to real-life business users of each platform to hear what they had to say about each brand – both the pros and the cons. The result of this thorough research project is the above guide, outlining the best systems based on unbiased and up-to-date information.

Answer a few questions so we know the kind of phone service you’re looking for and receive a list of providers that suit your needs. Don't worry – our quotes are zero-obligation and completely free to get.

How to find the best business phone line provider

Firstly , think about the inclusive minutes that you need. Phone line providers offer different amounts for different monthly costs, so it’s important to conduct a business phone line comparison before you commit to a contract.

If you're looking to include internet, check available internet speeds, too. According to business.org, a small business will need at least a 75Mb internet connection if it's looking to do things like stream videos, file share and even take numerous point of sale transactions. Luckily, 90% of the UK has access to super-fast broadband.

Secondly , you’ll need to decide on whether you’re sticking with a traditional phone service or investing in a VoIP phone service. Similar to mobile phone contracts, business phone line providers offer inclusive minutes and the option to add-on things like calls abroad.

If you decide to us VoIP, ensure your business phone line speed supports web conferencing and server hosting. For SMEs with 30+ employees, take a look at packages that offer download speeds of 145Mb to 300Mb.

BT plans to start switching off the traditional telephone network in 2025, so VoIP is the best way to future-proof your business. There are also a whole host of benefits to choosing VoIP which you can read about on our What is VoIP? page.

Finally , small business owners should think about how a specific product and its features will be beneficial to your business needs. Consider any existing or future employees. What technology is required for them to work as efficiently as possible? Be sure to factor in pricing here, as costs can soon add up.

We've ranked the top six telephones for business available in the UK to make it easier for firms to locate the brand that will bring the most value to you and your customers.

GoTo  is our number one choice, as a low-cost, scalable option that can handle all incoming customer calls while you prioritise other areas of your business. We recommend it for less-established firms that need a service desk for as a point of contact for new or prospective customer leads.

Still, our above guide highlights the huge range of alternative software that might fit better with your organisation's requirements. For example, more sophisticated telesales businesses should use 8×8 as our most cost-effective, feature-rich choice for SMEs.

With so many providers to choose from, it's important to thoroughly research each product before making any decisions. We've condensed the results of our research into a custom-built comparison tool to help pair you with the most suitable providers.

Simply fill out the form, and we'll deliver direct quotes from the brands we think best-serve your business needs.

• What is VoIP? VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. It means that your voice data is turned into digital data and is sent over the internet, rather than the traditional telephone line. Because VoIP is a digital telephone service, businesses can invest in software that gives you greater control over your calls, including call recording, call forwarding, and the option to record an auto-attendant.
• What is a virtual phone number? A virtual number isn’t directly associated with a phone line. Instead, it’s a cloud-based number that acts as a getaway to a forwarding network. When a person calls the number, it forwards the call to a pre-set phone number, and from that point, uses either the digital or traditional phone line to manage the call.
• What is a leased line? A leased line is a private line that can exist between two offices or an office and a data server. Because a leased line is private, it means the bandwidth can only be used by your business, which means you benefit from faster download speeds, upload speeds, and a more reliable connection. Businesses can use a leased line to connect to the internet, link servers, and carry phone calls.
• What type of phone system is GoTo? GoTo is a VoIP system. It is cloud-based, can be used on both mobile and desktop, and comes with a comprehensive range of communication features.
• What is the cheapest business phone provider? bOnline Pay As You Go is the cheapest business phone system on our list, costing just £6 per month per user. It comes with a decent range of basic features, such as hold-music, company hours, and localised phone numbers. However, it may not be the best option if you have complex needs or are looking to scale. If that’s the case, we’d recommend 8x8 or GoTo, which both cost only marginally higher than bOnline, at £10 per month, per user.
• Do business phone providers supply hardware? It depends on the provider, and it’s always best to ask them before you make an investment. Some providers offer hardware as part of the package, and others, especially VoIP providers offer you the option to lease or buy hardware from them. If your provider does not supply hardware and you need to purchase it separately, make sure it is compatible with the software your phone provider uses.
• What is the best business phone system for remote work? If you or your staff are working remotely, or are on the move, a Cloud-based and virtual communication solution is the best option for you. If your customers are concentrated in a specific region but you are not, you might also want to choose a provider that can give you a localised number, such as bOnline.

Use our online comparison tool to see whether GoTo is the right choice for your firm:

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