Does a hosted PBX system cost more than having equipment installed at my place of business?
No. You’ll even enjoy significant savings, as hosted PBX services typically only require the purchase of your telephones. This means you’ll have considerably lower acquisition costs and won’t need racks, cards, and additional cabling or installation labor. Your actual line costs (dial tone) are also included.
Are long distance costs lower with Hosted PBX?
Yes. We can bundle outbound long distance into your hosted PBX services. This way, you’ll have more predictable charges each month with no bill fluctuations as the use of long distance minutes rise and fall. International and Toll Free costs will always bill separately.
How easy is it to expand a Hosted PBX system?
So easy, it’s almost enjoyable: Just add phones. While telephone and PBX systems can require additional circuit cards, cabling, card cabinets and labor along with the cost of the telephones, hosted PBX helps you eliminate all that.
What kinds of maintenance or repair costs should we expect?
Expect none. Hosted PBX maintenance/repair costs are minimal or none at all.
What other savings will we gain with a hosted PBX?
VoIP eliminates many confusing fees and taxes that usually populate your ordinary phone company bill.
We have multiple locations. Do we need separate lines for each site?
No. If you have branch or scattered locations, you can actually pool your VoIP line resources without being restricted by costly dedicated lines at each place of business.
How should my accountant classify Hosted PBX costs?
He can expense the low monthly operating fee instead of depreciating an in-house system over 5 years.
Does a Hosted PBX increase or decrease our call capacity?
Call capacity is more flexible with a Beacon Cloud Voice server. The number of simultaneous calls is only limited by the amount of available Internet bandwidth and the number of telephones. With a traditional telephone system, call capacity is limited to the number of subscriber lines it has from the Local Exchange Carrier (LEC).
Will we still need to maintain a dedicated fax line?
You can keep your fax line number and it’ll work more efficiently for you. While regular fax lines only receive one fax at a time, many hosted PBX services terminate faxes electronically allowing for multiple faxes to be received simultaneously.
Do we have an option to receive faxes through email?
Yes, indeed. Faxes received electronically in an email can be effortlessly stored and redistributed in email form.
Can we send and receive faxes at the same time?
Yes. Faxes can be sent out while simultaneously receiving faxes from important customers.
What if we have trouble with our system?
Simple: Call us. In most cases, we can serve you remotely and quickly.
We have employees in different locations. Is it difficult to tie them all together?
It is far easier to connect users in multiple offices into a seamless voice system with a hosted PBX service than with a telephone system – even a VoIP telephone system. Hosted PBX works well across town as easily as it does across the nation and across the world.
How can we route inbound calls to different agents in different locations?
Your hosted VoIP server provides Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), and you determine how the call flow is directed.
How do we add telecommuting to our workflow?
Telecommuters can be set-up as easily as taking a phone home and plugging it into a cable or DSL modem. Traditional telephone systems can require a special IP card and other special routing equipment to make this possible.
How can numbers be assigned to our hosted PBX?
Small businesses can use Direct Inward Dial (DID) numbers at a lower price point than paying for a PRI circuit. 10-digit DID telephone numbers can be assigned to any extension allowing a customer to call a department or individual directly, bypassing a receptionist.
How is our hosted PBX phone system serviced?
Remotely, mostly. While telephone systems frequently require on-site visits from the vendor’s technicians for routine repair, hosted PBX customers may never see a technician from their provider. Generally, Hosted PBX services provide quicker response time to service issues since they do not have to dispatch a technician to their customer’s office.
Do we need a technician to come out and move phones for us?
Most of the time, you won’t need us to come out. Once we’ve shown you how your phones work, you can move phones around within your office. Because your phones contain the programming features within the hardware, they’ll work at home or on the road as if you are in the office. We call this one of the “way cool” advantages of a VoIP PBX.
Do we have to train/designate someone in our company to monitor the hosted PBX system in case of problems?
Certainly not. In the event of any issues with your Hosted PBX, WE know about it immediately and correct it quickly. With traditional telephone systems, YOU discover a problem and then must initiate the repair process with the phone company.
What happens to our business communications in the event of a serious event or power outage?
Fire, hurricane, tornado or an extended power outage can destroy your telephone system and stop your office from processing calls. Beacon Cloud Voice servers can be programmed to re-route calls automatically if your equipment loses contact with your office. Regardless, auto attendants, voicemail boxes and call forwarding will still process calls from the provider’s Point of Presence (POP).
What if bad weather keeps our staff from reaching the office?
Inclement weather in some parts of the country can keep employees from reaching the office and answering phones. Your Mobile PBX feature automatically processes calls in any weather when someone is away from the office. Further, your Hosted VoIP server can redirect calls to any 10-digit number with a simple phone call.
Can hosted PBX make us accessible in other local markets without us having to set up an office there?
Absolutely. Hosted PBX services can provide your customers with published telephone numbers in market areas where you do not have a physical presence. Companies can now test new market areas and provide the feel of a local presence with minimal investment.
If we relocate, do we have to change our phone number?
Businesses can relocate without ever having to change their telephone number. This can be across town or into another state.
How can hosted PBX help us expand our remote staffing?
Easily. When your consultant, field rep or telecommuter has one of your VoIP phones, they become an extension of your home office. It’s as if they are down the hall. You can even page their extension.
Our building provides administrative services for several smaller businesses. How can hosted PBX help us?
Supporting a business within or under a parent company can get costly and complicated to manage. An independent telephone identity (multiple published numbers in hunt) and communications for a “Tenant” can be expensive or impossible on some traditional telephone systems. Using Hosted PBX services simplifies everything and removes the cost barrier for providing professional call processing and published telephone numbers for each tenant you add.
We’re a small company, but processing live phone traffic occupies a lot of our time. How can hosted PBX help us?
Small companies can have their incoming calls automatically handled with the grace of a large company’s ultra-flexible auto-attendant system. This can greatly improve the professional image for a small organization.
Can Beacon Cloud Voice hosted PBX help us manage ‘800’ numbers?
Of course. With your VoIP-based system obtaining, managing and reporting toll-free numbers, it is cost effective and simple.