Business Phone Service in Charleston, ME

Choosing the Best Business Phone Service in Charleston, ME

There is a ton of competition for your business when it comes to providing your VoIP service to your Charleston, ME business. While this may seem daunting in that there are so many choices and so many offers that seem advantageous - it's a fact that competition can be used to the consuming businesses' advantage, and we can leverage one competitor against another for the absolute best results.

The most important questions you should consider are how many lines you currently need, how many lines you anticipate needing in the near/farther future, what phone features your business plans on using on a regular basis and what your overall budget is.

Next, do some shopping around to see which Charleston, ME VoIP service best suits your needs - and also ensure you do a good amount of research into the company's reviews by other business customers. Having reliable and quality telephone service is critical to any business, and so you want to make sure the vendor you do business with has a positive track record of happy and loyal customers that believe in the offering before you sign up.

What is Traditional Phone Service in Charleston, ME?

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 Charleston, ME (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 Most of the machines originally designed to transport and pick up calls have been outdated by electronic systems, but the last quotient - the link between the client and the local phone company headquarters - still works on analog machinery.

Analog Private Branch Exchange Systems in Charleston, ME

Many businesses have PBX systems that handle calls internally. This makes it possible to send calls to different phones depending on the extension. Analog PBX systems also facilitate voice mail, forwarding, conference calls and other sophisticated functions. They are popular among businesses that have multiple staff members with separate offices. A company can put the PBX equipment in its own building or pay a separate facility to host it.

The main downside of PSTN-based PBX systems in Charleston, ME is that they cost considerable amounts of money. Most companies spend $1,000 or more when they buy the equipment. It can also be costly to set up this system and conduct the necessary maintenance. Some firms have employees with the appropriate expertise to perform these tasks. Others need to pay contractors who charge at least $100 per hour.

It often proves costly to upgrade analog PBX hardware. This may become necessary if a company hires more staff members or desires the latest technology. Most systems cap the number of extensions. Consequently, businesses must pay for expensive new equipment when they want to connect additional phones. Upgrades are sometimes complex, so installers need to have extensive technical expertise.

Private branch exchange systems occasionally malfunction or fail as they age. This can result in significant expenses when technicians need to replace or fix the equipment. Technical difficulties may also disrupt communications from time to time. Many of the above-mentioned problems can be avoided when companies opt to use business VoIP services instead of analog PBX systems.