5 Myths About Hosted Phone Service

by Phoenix in Business

Now small businesess and entrepreneurs can have what big business has kept to themselves for years. Don't let bad information keep you from taking advantage of today's most powerful communication technology!

There are far more advantages than disadvantages using hosted VoIP phone service.

Myth #1 - My existing phone system works so it's cheaper just to wait until it dies.

This is like insisting on using a horse and wagon to transport heavy things instead of a truck. As a matter of fact, your productivity will stagnate and your costs will remain high if your business stays with that outdated phone system in your closet. When you factor in maintenance and support fees, increasing carrier fees, the cost of expansion and relocation, as well as being unable to take advantage of many new VoIP features that integrate with your business you might just be losing money.

Most new VoIP customers often regret not switching sooner. Not only for the savings and features but for simple things like being able to make changes to your phone system from anywhere, anytime.

Waiting for a forced change such as equipment failure may find you without replacement parts. Switching to hosted VoIP now will help you stay ahead of the game and remain competitive before you hit a bump in day-to-day operations.

Myth #2 - If my internet connection is down, my phones are down.

I hear this one all the time, in fact one of the best features of hosted phone service is that it won't go down with your internet connection. Unlike that old rusty phone system in your closet, there typically isn't a single point of failure with hosted VoIP.

It's true that VoIP phones rely on your internet connection, however, if your internet connection goes down your hosted phone system will keep right on answering calls, your numbers will still ring, and your auto attendants and voicemail will still work as all of this exists "in the cloud".

Also, good providers will have a way to automatically connect calls to your mobile phones if your VoIP phones are offline. In most cases, your callers won't even know you've had a problem, you don't have to panic if your internet connection goes down.

Myth #3 - Internet phone calls are usually poor quality.

This might be the biggest myth of all with roots in consumer VoIP services. Users that experience poor VoIP quality at home often expect the same of business VoIP services. Truth be told, your kids aren't in the next room watching streaming high definition movies, playing video games, and downloading music, and typically your business computers aren't going to be riddled with viruses.

Business grade equipment and internet connections are far superior to their consumer counterparts and can do things like prioritize voice over data to ensure a consistent call quality experience and are enhanced by sophisticated compression and load balancing technologies.

Most of the time VoIP calls are as good or better than land line calls and at very least they are better than mobile phone quality. Where internet connectivity is above average you can even find VoIP providers that support high definition audio for a calling experience never before possible with traditional phone service.

Myth #4 - We don't need a business phone system, we can just use our mobile phones.

Using mobile phones makes your business look small and potential customers may consider doing business with you risky because you may not be there next month. You need a business presence for your phone service, just like a website. Not to mention that once you start giving out your personal mobile phone number to customers you can't get it back, at some point you'll likely have to give it up for a new number.

Most hosted phone service providers will take this a step further and give you a wealth of information about your phone usage, you might be surprised at what you learn.

Mobile phones can play a critical part in your overall VoIP strategy, calls can be easily connected to mobile phones and remote offices and even be recorded for evaluation. Today's smartphones can even use VoIP apps that act as just another extension to your hosted phone system that you can use from anywhere.

Myth #5 - You have to understand the technology to setup hosted phone service.

If you can check your email you can setup hosted phone service, every good provider will have an easy to use web based portal. Unlike traditional phone systems, there is nothing complex or scary about using VoIP and hosted phone service.

I hope these myths are sufficiently busted. Hosted phone service can be a powerful business tool, don't let your competition get a head start, make the switch today!