A hosted phone system is a phone system in the Cloud not at all like the image above. This image shows a system at the beginning of telephony and a Cloud system is the latest in technology. As you likely know the Cloud refers to the collection of computers somewhere and all over the Internet.
Phone systems do not need to be on premises equipment. Phone systems are available in the cloud. If you choose this option for a phone system you do not have to worry about purchasing or replacing your phone system…ever…because you do not have one. You rent your phone system. All maintenance, upgrades and so on are not your problem and do not cost you 1 cent. You could purchase or rent phones or just use your computer as your phone; buy headphones with a mic and you are good to go!
So how does it all work?
Your calls are routed over the Internet and not the traditional dial tone provider.
Sometimes this is called a VoIP or SIP dial tone provider. You could use your current Internet connection for your phone service. This could be a DSL/cable/fibre connection. Bandwidth is shared with staff computers and other devices. Another option, which is preferred, is to purchase a separate Internet service that is dedicated for voice but this option will really depend on your current Internet service. Voice does not use a ton of bandwidth (amount of speed available) so the service does not need to be the Cadillac package from your ISP but the “quality” needs to be good. I do not want to bore you with the technical details of what good quality Internet means for voice but suffice it to say that is something we can help you out with if you are interested in a VoIP solution.
Your phone lines will be SIP in the cloud and phones would be SIP or H323 devices that connect to the cloud phone system. Both SIP and H323 (another VoIP technology) are IP based. See my blog article for more information on SIP.
Telephony as a Service (TaaS), Cloud Telephony, Hosted Telephony or whatever you want to call it is not for everyone. Hosted phone systems are an option that you may be interested in. One of the major reasons is reduced capital costs. In fact, it could cost you almost nothing for startup cost but this will depend on your current IT infrastructure. Hosted Telephony has some advantages and disadvantages as I described above. Looking at Hosted Telephony holistically and the fact that is a major force in the future of the industry, it is my opinion that it is good choice for many businesses. Call our knowledgeable sales team for more information and to see whether it would be a good fit for your business…or home.
Contact us about your phone system questions.
