Business Phone Service in Los Altos, CA

How to Choose the Best Business VoIP Service Provider in Los Altos, CA

Most business VoIP providers in Los Altos, CA offer plans designed to accommodate businesses of all sizes. You could have a small company with only five lines, or a large corporation that uses thousands of extensions for multiple departments. There is a VoIP service that meets your business needs.

Still, having more than one provider from which to choose requires knowing how to choose what is best. The first thing you want to do is determine the type of telephone service your business needs. Answering questions such as the number of phone lines required and features used during the normal course of business are relevant to finding the best phone service provider.

If you plan to expand, you want a system that is scalable, whether you are adding a new location or increasing needs at your current one. Of course, you want to determine how much you can afford and whether you are receiving an introductory rate that expires in 6-12 months.

Next, you can use MyRatePlan to look at different offers from business VoIP providers in Los Altos, CA. Compare their services, prices and reputation for serving businesses in the area. Getting a good deal is great, but having a consistently working phone system is crucial to your business' success. A low rate is not good enough if the company does not have a positive track record for excellent customer service and being reliable.

What is Traditional Phone Service in Los Altos, CA?

With standard or "analog" phone services, calls make their way across the PSTN (public switched telephone network). This wired connection can be found all over the US and is composed of cables, satellites, cellular systems, and landlines. PSTN is the original telephone network, and its history spans almost a century.

Using an analog phone service costs more than VoIP, largely because PSTN hardware in Los Altos, CA (and throughout the US) is really old, cumbersome, and has to be regularly maintained. Analog communications are hard to transmit over great distances.

When long distance phone calls are made on an analog system, they will pause temporarily at specific places on its transmission path. Because they are "streamed" through machines that are managed by all sorts of different corporations, calls transmitted over a PSTN may be quite costly. Most of the machines originally designed to transport and pick up calls have been outdated by electronic systems, but the last quotient - the link between the client and the local phone company headquarters - still works on analog machinery.

The Cost of Using A PBX With Analog Phone Systems in Los Altos, CA

Many businesses in Los Altos, CA will use a PBX, which is known as a private branch exchange. The PBX is used to route calls through their office, and the PBX allows for a variety of useful call features. Some of the top features are voicemail, conference calls, multiple extensions and call forwarding.

The PBX for a traditional phone system can be located locally, or it can be hosted remotely. The major drawback of the PBX solution is the cost, which is much more expensive than VoIP. A variety of costly hardware components are needed to get started with a complete business phone system. The ongoing maintenance for the components is also expensive and can suffer frequent failures.

If you're planning to use a traditional PBX for your business in Los Altos, CA, then it's important to know the cost of expanding or upgrading the system. PBX systems are known to support a limited number of lines, and they can cost a lot of money to upgrade. There is also the risk that the PBX system will need to be replaced or become obsolete. These are all factors that business owners must consider before choosing a business phone service. Fortunately, MyRatePlan makes it easy to compare prices for different providers and discover the best deals.