When considering what type of phone system to invest in, the hottest buzzword right now is Hosted PBX. The reasons for that are simple. They’ve been around for a while, they pack a lot of features compared to traditional phone systems and they are cheap. If someone is asked to make a business case, it’s an easy one to make as Hosted PBX is a common term, even outside of telecom.
It’s kind of like – since everybody else has one, why shouldn’t we?
The problem with that is, since Hosted PBX’s were first introduced over a decade ago, technology and levels of service has passed them by. Most Hosted PBX’s simply aren’t scalable and often lack many of the enterprise features that modern workplaces demand.
The new “must have” is the Managed Business Phone System because they provide an increased level of voice and data integrity, a greater feature set, superior support and are just as affordable.
Let’s compare the two available systems and highlight the differences.
Hosted PBX systems provide business owners phone functionality as a service, where typically the public Internet is leveraged as a method of connecting calls to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The term “hosted” comes from the fact that the telephone company or service provider has moved the Business PBX hardware that would normally reside at business location into their own premises. This means the customer does not have any PBX equipment in their office, just desktop handsets that connect via switches on the company’s local area network (LAN) and then route voice traffic to the Hosted Provider through an Internet connection. Hosted service providers use the same core equipment to service multiple hosted PBX customers.
A Managed PBX is installed in the customer’s office and runs on the provider’s proprietary core network. The term “managed” means there is one supplier for the phone system and voice lines, and a single point of contact for support. This offers the provider the ability to remotely manage the PBX and phones, and grants them full control and visibility into all voice and data traffic transited through their core network.
What do these two different service strategies mean to an individual businesses?
The NEWT Business Phone System is a Managed PBX, and our Product team laid out some of the key differentiators and advantages between NEWT Managed PBX and a Hosted PBX service.
- No ongoing per extension/per line monthly pricing (No expensive monthly line or extension charges with a NEWT PBX solution)
- Hosted PBX per seat monthly price model does not scale well beyond a handful of extensions (No monthly extension charges with a NEWT PBX solution)
- Extension to Extension dialing between phones at same location does not use up voice line capacity (Hosted PBX = 2 lines per internal call, NEWT PBX = No lines)
- Loss of Voice connection to Service Provider does not render phone system inoperable (Hosted PBX = no extension to extension dialing in this scenario, NEWT PBX = Phones remain operational on-site)
- Most Hosted PBX Providers leverage the Internet to transmit voice packets, which offers no end to end control over Voice Quality (NEWT PBX Solution is provisioned over a Private Network = No Internet and full end to end quality control)
- Majority of Hosted PBX Providers are not a registered CLEC and must rely on a 3rd party for number porting and PSTN voice access (Fibernetics is a CLEC so the Phone System, Voice Network and Voice Lines are from the same provider = No finger pointing)
- Often there’s no Professional On-site Installation & Training offered via a Hosted PBX Provider (NEWT PBX includes full on-site professional installation and training)
- Hosted PBX service is frequently delivered over a 3rd party platform (NEWT PBX is developed and supported by NEWT – New features, bug fixes, etc. controlled by NEWT)
NEWT’s Managed PBX delivers a fully managed end to end voice solution, including complete professional on-site installation and training, plus ongoing 24/7/365 local support.
For more on the NEWT Managed PBX, and how it can make your day-to-day business more efficient, drop by the NEWT Website or give us a call at 1 (888) 996-6398.
