Hosted PBX Guide

Businesses always need to carefully control their expenses, and in the modern economic situation it's especially important to get the most bang for your buck. I've been asked by a visitor to the site to put together a comprehensive cost analysis of the different groups I've reviewed here, and after a bit of investigation I have the results readily available for any interested party. I've decided to divide this between fledgling businesses (1-5 people), small businesses (5-20), and medium-to-large businesses (20+). This will also take into account how much you get for how much money you're spending, and keep in mind that for specific circumstances you might like one more than another. So here you go:

This is how we rank the services:

Fledgling Businesses

VirtualPBX - For 1-3 employees, it's hard to beat VirtualPBX's SOHO plan. They provide full quality service at only a few cents more per month than GotVMail, and a half-cent less per minute than said competitor. So if you talk for at least sixty minutes a month, they're the best deal available.

GotVMail - As aforementioned, GotVMail is a major contender for first place. They also provide full services even for small businesses, and are sometimes a better choice for 4-5 employees (more employees means more interest in certain features VPBX has over GVM, however).

VoiceNation - Actually #1 for a single-person business, but VoiceNation lags behind for other small businesses, quickly moving near the bottom of the list as you hit three or more employees. So if it's just you, take a look.

Ringcentral - Ringcentral really could be a major competitor with VirtualPBX and GotVMail, except that they require a year-long commitment to get the same deal. While I'm not personally fond of commitment contracts, if you have no problem with them then they'll narrowly beat out GotVMail and be a hard-to-call contender for first.

FreedomVoice - At a similar starting price to the top competitors, it isn't until the by-minute rates are counted that FreedomVoice gets knocked to the bottom rungs. If you plan to spend a great deal of time on the phone, they may even be the worst choice.

Onebox - At anywhere from $15 to $30 per person, Onebox isn't a sound choice for cost-concerned purchasers. They have a solid hosted PBX system, but not at the best price.

Small Businesses

Onebox - While they've got a higher base monthly charge, they don't charge for minutes unless you go past several thousand a month. This means that Onebox is an excellent and cost-effective choice for businesses that fall into the correct range of minutes.

VirtualPBX - While they're no longer the low-price-leader for base price, VirtualPBX keeps the best per-minute price for volumes larger than Onebox is comfortable with. VirtualPBX also changes strategy dramatically once you move to a larger size, focusing on higher quality of features in their product. They'll have a slightly higher monthly up-front cost, but if you're on the phone constantly and/or need a more sophisticated system, they're an excellent choice.

VoiceNation - This is a good place for VoiceNation, who provides excellent rates for reliable service. You don't go wrong with that.

GotVMail - A solid, low-price choice when you're using significantly fewer minutes per month than would make Onebox profitable.

Ringcentral - There's a small part of this bracket where Ringcentral offers the best price in the market with a steady set of good features. If you happen to have 15-20 employees, Ringcentral becomes a good cost-saving choice.

FreedomVoice - Boasting the lowest base price per month for a business of this size, FreedomVoice retains the problem of having the most costly per-minute fees from amongst these providers. If your intention is to not be using the phones very often, they might become a much better choice. They also charge extra for some of their more advanced features.

Medium to Large Businesses

VirtualPBX - Not actually the cheapest service at this size, VirtualPBX nonetheless is the only company that provides some of the advanced services designed for larger businesses that become increasingly necessary as number of employees are increased. They do this at the best rate for this bracket, making them the first choice even though they cost more than a few of their competitors. If you don't need to have ACD Queues, integrated phone usage reports, and real-time phone usage monitoring, you might choose someone else.

Ringcentral - Becoming incredibly inexpensive at the higher volume of extensions (50+), Ringcentral's less outstanding service features and customizability may still keep you from making it your hosted PBX solution for this size of business. If you only need the basic services, however, you're welcome to give them a try.

GotVMail - Very similar in pricing to Ringcentral, GotVMail has a slightly higher per-minute charge, putting them just behind their competition. While I would personally still choose them over Ringcentral because of the quality of service provided, that's a question up for you to decide.

VoiceNation - Becoming steadily more expensive in comparison to their competition as a company increases in size, VoiceNation might still be a good choice for the smaller side of this size of business.

FreedomVoice - Exactly as with their small business plan, FreedomVoice remains cheap at the base cost and expensive at the per-minute cost. They also, once again, have an additional charge for their additional services, like the kind most desired by large businesses.

Onebox - Either really good or dead last, the website provides no information about pricing structures for 20+ employees. As such, they're removed from the running pending your phone call with the specifics of your business.

Bookmark with: