Business Phone Service in Pennsylvania

Selecting The Best Business Phone Service Provider in Pennsylvania

The VoIP industry is highly competitive. Although the broad menu of choices may seem overwhelming to you at times, it is possible to leverage the competitive nature of the market to your benefit.

The initial step for narrowing down your choice is determining exactly what your needs are. It is important to know the exact number of lines you will need and what features you need to make your business run smoothly on a daily basis. Your budget will also come into play so you'll need to know exactly what you can afford. Also, be mindful of your plans for future expansion and what phone services you will need when that expansion is completed.

Information about Pennsylvania VoIP providers is readily available. Take the time to research their prices and the services that they offer. Get a feel for their reputation also. Keep in mind that your phone system is the heart of your company's communication infrastructure and that that infrastructure is only as good as the company you choose. You want to go with a company that has proven to be highly reliable and service-oriented.

What is Traditional Phone Service in Pennsylvania?

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 Most of the machines originally designed to transport and pick up calls have been outdated by electronic systems, but the last quotient - the link between the client and the local phone company headquarters - still works on analog machinery.

Using a PBX with an Analog Phone System in Pennsylvania

The PBX is an acronym for Private Branch Exchange. Most of the business owners in Pennsylvania use the PBX. It routes all the calls that are received in the office. The combination of a business phone service and a PBX allows the use of different calling features like conference calls, voicemail, call forwarding, and multiple extensions.

Customers using the traditional PSTN phone system can locate the PBX at a remote location or their premises. However, there is one major drawback with using an analog PBX system. It is very costly. A business owner can spend at least $1,000 to set up a complete business phone system that uses a PBX. There are various types of hardware that need to be purchased as part of the initial investment. The installation, configuration, and maintenance prices are not part of the purchasing price. You will save some money if you have an in-house technical staff member to take care of the installation and configuration. You may also choose to hire an expert.

It is important to remember that it will be challenging and expensive to upgrade or expand your traditional PBX at your Pennsylvania business. The reason is that many PBX systems only support lines to a certain limit. Therefore, if your business grows and needs more extensions, you will be forced to pay for more hardware to facilitate the expansion.

The PBX is prone to experiencing problems and breakdowns like any other electronic device. If something goes wrong with your PBX, you should be ready to cater for high repair expenses and hardware replacement costs. Moreover, the PBX may be outdated soon. Therefore, you will have to replace it at some point in the future.