Hosted VOIP Services – What to Look For
Hosted VoIP is a big industry standard these days and has proven itself as the industry standard in many fields. Do you use Hosted VOIP or Are You?
With the latest advances of the Internet, more companies are looking to upgrade from a local phone line to a hosted VOIP service. It’s a lot less expensive than switching, and if you can’t afford that you can still get a great value with a hosted VOIP service.
You can choose to host your own VOIP phone system or use a service provided by an ISP. There are many choices and it is best to research a few different choices before you make your final decision.
If you want to host your VOIP system yourself, there are many ways to do it. You can purchase a PBX or have a company come out to install it for you. But both are very costly and not everyone has the budget to pay for them.
A Hosted VOIP provider will provide you with a PBX or hosted VOIP service for a much cheaper price than a company will charge to install it on your property. They will give you several different options such as the amount of PBX service you need, your own telephone number, if you would like an additional telephone line and if you would like an unlimited plan with unlimited calls.
It’s important to look at the options that Hosted VOIP provides you with. Some providers will not offer you all of these options, so if you are not sure what is available to you it’s best to do your homework and find out what they do. You may find that a hosted VOIP provider is better than your other options, or that a free trial is available for you to try it out for a couple weeks to see if it works for you.
You may also find that a Hosted VOIP provider will offer you different types of services such as a hosted SIP server, hosted PBX server or hosted VOIP phone services. If you don’t mind paying the extra money for one of these services then it is easy to take advantage of what is available to you.
However, when choosing Hosted VOIP services there are things to consider. If you decide that you don’t like the way your service works or if you aren’t happy with the prices then it may be in your best interest to pay the higher price for another service provider in order to keep your existing service provider.
Another thing to consider when choosing Hosted VOIP services is the customer support. Some Hosted VOIP providers offer great customer support and it is usually easy to get answers to any questions or to troubleshoot problems that you may have with your service. If however you find that your customer support is slow and not very helpful then it may be best to switch providers or find another provider to use.
Some Hosted VOIP providers also have the ability to add extensions to their service which is great if you have an existing voice service that you use often. There is a limit to how many extensions you can add but sometimes you just have to deal with the fact that your phone service isn’t available with more extensions and your voice service is already in place.
Other things to consider when considering Hosted VOIP is if the Hosted VOIP service can be changed from the phone service. If you have a certain phone number and you want to add new numbers to your VoIP service then you will probably have to buy a new VoIP phone or change the service itself to allow you to do so.
So it is up to you to decide what is best for your particular situation. Once you have decided to go with a Hosted VOIP service, you will probably have to buy your phones or make some other changes to the phone service itself.
So before deciding on which Hosted VOIP provider is best for your needs take the time to do your homework. Find out how well they handle your questions and if their customer support service is good and if they can accommodate all of your needs.
