Buying Tips for Phone Systems

Recently I bought a TV for my apartment. And I’m not one of those people who just walks into Best Buy and buys the biggest, baddest, and most advertised TV they have. If you’re like me, you probably research online for the best TV for what you want to do and then find the best price. Buying a phone system (or anything else) for your business is the same way. There are several aspects of choosing a phone system that should be considered and no one system is the best for every business out there. Here are some things to consider when choosing a phone system for your business.

Extra costs – Sure, the advertised price is the lowest on the market, but when you add the features you need for your business, is it still the lowest? Is your provider going to increase the price after a year of service? Look at the long-term aspects of the phone system and how it is going to affect your business. Contracts will often have you stuck with a service that might not be ideal for your company. Startups in particular have a tendency to change much faster than older companies and might do better with a month to month contract.

Testimonials/Reviews – My ideal sorting method when buying anything online is by reviews. A product could have been bought thousands of times, but if it has 300 one star ratings, then is it really worth the buy? Customer support and uptime are huge elements of any service, so whichever provider you decide on should have both. If a company doesn’t have many reviews, this is not necessarily a sign of a weak service or company, but could simply mean they are a smaller provider. Here at Telonium, we are still growing and reaching new customers and don’t have as many reviews as some of the larger VoIP providers, but our customer service and uptime is top notch. You can also check out the status of the company and how often the phones are up. Our site is status.telonium.com and shows the current week’s status and any problems that occured that week.

Will it last? – There are many reasons why a piece of equipment or service is no longer suitable for a company. Maybe the technology is outdated or maybe the company simply outgrew the product. If your small business plans on doing any growing, investing in an analog PBX phone system will not last the growth of the business. As more members join the company, more lines are needed to support the growth. With VoIP, the growth is much simpler because a PBX is not limiting the number of lines you use.