13 Best Business VoIP Providers in 2024
Do you think it is time for your business to move on from the traditional landline to a business VoIP phone system?
It's not too late for your business and you have come to the right place that will help you pick out the best business VoIP provider from the many options in the market.
While most businesses are moving to VoIP phone systems, many business owners are still not convinced why switching to a business VoIP system may be a wise decision.
A business VoIP offers so much more than just voice calling and faxes like a landline. It is also so much more economical and convenient.
Our article will act as a guide for anyone who wants to learn about VoIP systems and evaluate the many choices available in the market and pick the best business VoIP provider in the market.
Best Business VoIP Providers
1. RingCentral
Best business VoIP service for small businesses looking for a complete solution.
RingCentral is a complete phone solution for small businesses which lets them make calls, send and receive emails, attend and conduct video conferences and so much more with the help of just an internet connection and no PBX hardware.
It is a cloud-based VoIP provider which makes it possible to use the service from any location or any device. It also has geographically scattered data centers which add layers of security to all business communications that take place.
Whether you need to make an audio call or a video call, send messages or emails, RingCentral streamlines all your business communication so that you can do it from just one application.
You can also bring your other business functions in one place by simply utilizing the integrations that RingCentral offers with the most common applications like Google Workspace, Salesforce, and others.
It offers custom integrations too if what you are looking for is not included.
The setup is very easy, it includes centralized admin control and allows admins to assign roles and permissions at each step.
Along with communicating with your customers, RingCentral’s team messaging feature makes it possible for teams to stay connected, send files, collaborate on client calls, create task lists, and much more.
You can also use the video conferencing feature along with the in-built messaging to hop onto high-quality video calls at any moment. Invite up to 200 members, join meetings on any device, send meeting recaps, and do much more.
Apart from keeping teams connected, with RingCentral you can ensure you are always connected to your customers as well.
It lets you integrate with your CRM tools and talk to your customers irrespective of the channel they use to reach out to you. You don’t just have to connect with your customers over the phone anymore.
With RingCentral, you can make your communication system intelligent as it deploys AI to streamline your workflows based on skills and other analytics.
Pricing
While RingCentral offers four different plans, for medium-sized businesses the Standard plan is the best available choice as it includes most of the features that a good business phone system should have.
If you are looking for some advanced features, you could also consider the Premium plan. RingCentral’s alternatives may also provide some of these features at a lesser price.
2. Ooma
Best VoIP provider that offers high scalability for small businesses.
With Ooma, you can get a business communication solution for both your team and customer communication needs. It includes all the features that you would look for in a good VoIP service provider.
If you receive a lot of calls daily, Ooma makes it possible for users to join calls directly from their desktop using their desktop app and even offers the option to use mobile phones to attend calls on the go using their mobile application.
Whether you want a system to make calls or one that allows you to send SMS/MMS or a solution for video conferencing, Ooma lets you do all of that through their VoIP service.
When you sign up with Ooma, you get a host of advanced features.
Instead of hiring a receptionist to attend to all your incoming calls, with Ooma you can also deploy a virtual receptionist who automatically receives your customers, plays pre-recorded messages and menu options, directs your callers to their desired departments, and more.
There is also a variety of calling features that you get. Not only can agents transfer calls to other departments, but they can also park calls, forward them to other numbers, block calls from spammers, and others.
It also includes an enhanced call blocking feature that automatically blocks robocalls by cross-checking with a database of over 2 million robocall numbers.
Whether you are an admin or an agent, it lets you access call logs, filter your list to see only particular records, export your logs, and more. You can also choose to record your calls if you need to look back at them for training or other for other purposes.
If you would like to hold a meeting with your customers or your team members, with Ooma’s conference bridge you can have a conference call with up to 10 members.
For businesses that are just putting together their phone line in place, Ooma allows such businesses to choose a company number according to the location. You can also port an existing number if you have one.
With every signup, Ooma also presents a free toll-free number and permits 500 minutes of free inbound calling.
You can make unlimited calls if you are using Ooma in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico and the calling rates are quite low for international calls as well.
Scaling with Ooma is also very easy as it lets you easily add new extensions to your existing phone line as and when your business grows.
Pricing
Ooma has only two pricing plans on offer, Ooma Office and Ooma Office Pro. While you get most of the features when you sign up for Ooma Office if you are looking for video conferencing, enhanced call blocking, call recording you will have to choose the Pro plan.
You could also look at Ooma alternatives for business VoIP if you are looking for a more feature-rich basic plan.
3. Nextiva
Best business VoIP service that provides communication, collaboration, and CRM tools for medium-sized businesses.
Nextiva presents an all-in-one communications tool for businesses that can be used to manage simple easy-to-use and service functions, attend calls remotely, and much more through one simple-easy to use the app.
You can either use the desktop app to make and receive calls, send messages, access analytics, manage sales and service tasks, and others or you can simply do all that from your phone by using their mobile app.
What’s more, is that you can even convert your analog phone into an intelligent phone by connecting it to the internet.
Irrespective of which mode of communication your caller might be using, Nextiva makes it possible to bring all your calls and messages to one common location.
One of the most attractive things about Nextiva is the ease with which you can set up a fully functional phone system. With just a few clicks you can choose a phone number, set up business hours, assign roles and access, build phone menus, and much more.
Not only is their desktop app very easy to use, but its mobile application also lets you manage calls, messages, and video calls with just a click.
You can host unlimited audio and video calls, record them, create conference calls, share your screens, and much more.
It is also one of the services that are known for its 99.999% uptime and zero outages in the past two years.
You can use Nextiva the way you want. It lets you integrate with your sales and CRM tools, lets you make audio and video calls, offer unlimited calling and faxing, include a free toll-free number, provides an auto-attendant and voicemail features.
Collaborating with your team also becomes easy with Nextiva. It lets you share files, creates group chats, schedules meetings, assigns tasks, collaborates on projects all through its business phone software.
Another attractive feature for businesses is that Nextiva also lets users access detailed call analytics. Not only can you access historical call data but also live data with custom reports and dashboards to fit your needs, and more.
Nextiva also deploys artificial intelligence in its software that helps make conversations smarter, automate many business processes and workflows, and keeps conversations flowing.
Pricing
While Nextiva offers four different plans, the Enterprise plan is ideal for medium-sized businesses as it includes all the essential features and also the professional features.
For large businesses looking for advanced features, the Ultimate plan is the ideal choice.
4. Grasshopper
Best VoIP provider for small to medium-sized businesses looking for highly mobile options.
Grasshopper markets itself as a business phone system that lets users separate their personal and business lives.
To use Grasshopper's services, you do not need to purchase any additional hardware but can simply use your desktop and mobile phone and convert them to sophisticated business phone systems.
Using Grasshopper ensures high mobility because it lets users receive and make calls anywhere using their desktop app or their mobile phone. Not only can you make calls using their service but you can use their business texting feature to send and receive messages.
You can also use it to receive faxes as PDFS directly to your inbox.
Moreover, even if you receive these calls and messages on your personal device, Grasshopper lets you know that it is a business that is calling or messaging you and helps you reply accordingly.
If your business receives a large number of calls daily, Grasshopper has some good call management features that manage the bulk of calls without missing a single one.
Its simultaneous call handling feature lets agents attend calls from multiple callers at a time. If an agent is busy, it also lets them reroute the calls to another agent who might not have any callers at that moment.
Grasshopper also lets you block callers, screen incoming calls, and more so that you receive only the important calls.
It also lets users set custom greetings that play when customers call in, set business hours, forward calls to another number when you are out of the office, and also lets you set up voicemails for your business.
In case you are unable to attend a call, Grasshopper makes it possible to get back the caller by automatically sending them an instant response buying you some time and an opportunity to call them back.
While Grasshopper offers high mobility and a combination of good features, a distinguishing feature that it includes is the ability to choose a number that you desire for your business.
You can choose between a vanity number, or a local or toll-free number, or even port an existing number that you might previously have.
Pricing
Grasshopper’s plans have been designed for small to medium-sized businesses. The number of lines and extensions differ in every plan. If yours is a small business with limited people whom you want to connect through calls, the Partner plan would be a good choice.
On the other hand, if you are a growing business, the Small Business plan would be ideal as it lets you have unlimited extensions so you can connect every member in your organization with an extension.
5. CloudTalk
Best business VoIP provider for businesses that receive high customer traffic.
CloudTalk is the ideal tool for businesses that want to update their call centers with the latest VoIP technology. All you need is an internet connection and users can then start making calls directly from their desktop or their phones.
This aspect of VoIP technology makes it possible for agents to operate from anywhere using their devices and an internet connection.
There are a lot of calling features that CloudTalk offers to its customers which make it a great choice for call centers.
To get started, you can choose the type of phone number you want. If your call center expects to receive international calls, you can also get location-based international numbers that let clients call you at low rates.
You can also port your existing numbers to CloudTalk and start using CloudTalk’s VoIP service on those numbers.
Once your VoIP phone system is set, you can also set your number to private if you do not want your clients or particular clients to see your number. This feature is available under call masking.
Some other call management features that CloudTalk offers make it very easy to manage large volumes of call traffic which is inherent to call centers.
Agents can queue calls instead of the line appearing busy. This way you do not lose a single customer. Users can also record calls on CloudTalk and access them anytime and anywhere in the future for reference.
It also lets callers leave voicemails which can be accessed on any device with an internet connection. So if you miss a call, it still gives the caller an option to get in touch with you and allows you to call back.
You can set hold music, custom greetings, and also set an interactive voice response menu that directs your customers and keeps them engaged while an agent attends to them. CloudTalk deploys automated call distribution so that calls are distributed equally among agents.
It also includes skill-based routing of calls, where the call automatically gets routed to an agent with specific skills that will help a caller solve their queries. You can also choose to design the call flow if you wish.
With CloudTalk, not only can you set extensions for your agents but it also includes call forwarding which lets your incoming calls be forwarded to another number as and when required.
Agents can tag calls to easily identify them later, add notes to a call and access them in one place if the caller calls again, convert calls to text for better recording search and also allow them to block calls from irrelevant numbers.
Pricing
CloudTalk has three pricing plans and a custom plan. For small businesses looking for just basic VoIP calling features, the Starter plan may be sufficient but if yours is a medium-sized business, the Essential plan would be ideal as it includes all the important and necessary features.
6. 8×8
Best all-in-one VoIP service for small businesses operating within a budget.
Not only does 8×8 let users make audio calls but it acts as a complete communications solution that includes audio, video, chat, messages, and many other features. Communicating with your team as well as your customers become very easy with 8×8.
You get unlimited calling, SMS, and faxes that get delivered straight to your inbox with 8×8. Agents can forward calls, transfer them to other agents or departments, block unwanted callers, record calls, park calls when there are many callers at once, and more.
Managing agents becomes an easy task as admins can set roles and controls, access call recording and call logs, and detailed call analytics that helps determine productivity and efficiency.
With 8×8, you not only stay connected to your customers but also with your team by allowing them to message each other, share files, create groups for collaboration among other features.
You can also connect with your team or your customers through HD video conferencing if the need arises. You will not have to look for an external solution as it is included in 8×8’s feature set.
Not only does 8×8 offer free unlimited calling from 47 different countries, but it also allows free calling to all extensions within a line and free calling to other 8×8 numbers as well.
If your business is within the US or Canada you can also send unlimited free SMS to any phone number within the country.
You can also get actionable insights about your business’s communication system and productivity as 8×8 provides detailed analytics reports as well.
It also lets users integrate with different other applications which makes it possible to bring many facets of a business to one common location for easy management.
Pricing
If yours is a small business looking for a simple business phone system, the Express plan would be ideal as it includes all the basic necessary features. However, if you want to have features like MMS, Team Chat, and conferencing, you might want to consider the X2 plan.
7. Vonage
Best VoIP service provider that offers high-quality services even with low internet connectivity.
Vonage offers a unified communication system that brings all your communication with team members as well as your customers under one roof.
Using Vonage, you can connect your business phone system to the internet and use the desktop and mobile app to make and receive calls.
Call management becomes easy with Vonage due to the many features that it comes with. It announces all incoming calls so you know who is calling.
Not only can you have multiple extensions connected to one line, but you can also forward calls to other extensions if a particular agent is busy at the moment. It also has the videoconferencing option where 30 participants can join.
Collaboration and team productivity can be heightened with Vonage as it lets team members connect with each other through messaging, broadcast messages to multiple members, collaborate over video meetings, and others.
On the customer side, Vonage lets agents screen calls and receive only the ones that come from their customers or clients. All incoming calls are checked for spam. Users can also set the status to Do Not Disturb and callers will directly be sent to voicemail.
When multiple callers call, Vonage makes it possible to attend every call with simultaneous call answering, call hold, call parking, call queuing, and other features. Not only do you get access to call logs, but Vonage also lets users record calls and listen to them later.
When a new business signs up with Vonage, they can choose toll-free numbers for their business or a company number that they can then circulate. It is also possible to block outgoing caller ID a business does not want their number to go public.
With Vonage, you can also get a smart number to exactly fit your business’ needs.
You can customize your business phone system the way you want when you use Vonage. Users can set hold music, configure and manage extensions, grant permissions and access, and more.
Even when the strength of an internet connection is low, Vonage’s audio quality remains high without causing any disturbance in an ongoing call.
All the available call managing features also make it a great choice for businesses that have their call centers and need to have a functional business phone system in place.
Since Vonage is a cloud-based VoIP provider, users can access records and make calls anywhere on any device. You can also integrate Vonage with other tools and applications and bring several business functions to one place.
Pricing
There are three pricing plans offered by Vonage. The Premium plan is ideal for small-medium-sized businesses because it has all the features that the basic plan offers and many other important features are included in this plan.
For businesses looking for advanced features, the advanced plan is the best choice. While the plans offered by Vonage are quite reasonable, Vonage alternatives for business VoIP may be better choices if you want cheaper options.
8. Verizon
Best business VoIP provider that includes a wide variety of calling features.
Verizon’s feature set includes more than 45 calling features that can help businesses set up their digital line with ease. With both desktop and mobile apps, with Verizon, you never have to miss a call again and can use any device to attend to your calls.
You can even switch between your desktop and mobile calls if you need to get going at any time.
If you are out of the office, you can even make calls from your mobile which will reflect as a business call to your recipient on their caller ID. Managing the service is also very seamless as you can access all permissions and call history or logs from an admin’s portal.
When you have a rush of calls at once, Verizon hunts for a free line so that your caller can be attended to by any free agent. If an agent wants to transfer a call to any other line, with Verizon, even that is possible.
In case your agent missed a call while they were away from their desk, they can even listen to the voicemail that the caller is allowed to leave, see the time they called and their number so that they can call back immediately.
Every agent has their personal account where they can access their call logs, voicemail, and other important features.
If you regularly receive calls on a single line, you can even set up a virtual receptionist who will receive all incoming calls and play menu options for them so that callers can direct themselves to relevant departments without the need of a human attendant.
You can record a message that plays when customers call or are on hold, play on-hold music, make announcements, or even advertisements that play when your customers call.
There is also a 3-way calling feature that lets the agent add another person, for eg., a manager to call if the need arises.
Some other call management features that can help agents receive only important relevant calls are auto call rejection, call blocking, call hold and resume, call transfer, call notifications, call returns, and others.
Not only can you use your digital phone system to connect with your customers, but Verizon’s feature set also includes features that let you connect internally with employees.
Pricing
Verizon offers bundled pricing where it includes a business internet connection along with the business phone system. Each plan is priced based on the internet speed that you choose. If yours is a small to medium-sized business, the 300Mbps plan might be ideal.
Another interesting aspect about these plans is that every plan comes with a price guarantee for a certain period. When you choose a plan, you can be assured that the price of the plan will not change for a set number of years.
9. GoToConnect
Best VoIP provider for businesses looking for advanced, high-quality features.
If you are looking for a VoIP provider that has advanced features, GoToConnect may be the ideal choice as its feature set is quite advanced and is priced comparatively low.
To get started with their services, you will be able to customize your call flows, set wait times, set up an auto-attendant and voicemail and so much more. You will not need to hire external help to set up your business phone system even though it may be advanced.
You may have one business phone number but you can have as many extensions as you require and you can assign one line for each device.
GoToConnect provides a cloud-hosted VoIP system due to which, irrespective of where you are and the device that you are using, your callers can reach you easily. You can set a call flow through which you can set how your incoming calls come in.
If you happen to miss a call, GoToConnect will send all the voicemails to your email and you can listen to them directly instead of having to dial into your office phone.
Not only can you make audio and video calls using GoToConnect, but you also get so many more features like call-rolling which rolls over calls to the next line if a particular line comes busy.
Instead of parking calls when all attendants are busy, there are caller engagement features to keep your caller engaged.
Training agents becomes easy with GoToConnect as it lets admins listen to calls, they can barge into calls if an agent gets stuck or even whisper into calls.
Managers and supervisors can also access call records, history, call transfer reports and track each agent effectively.
With GoToConnect, all features can be accessed through one dashboard and managers can also use real-time analytics to improve call flows and agent productivity. If you have other applications that you use to record your calls, GoToConnect lets you integrate with them as well.
Along with calls, GoToConnect also includes a video conferencing feature that lets users collaborate internally or with customers through HD video calls. It also allows screen sharing and personal 1:1 meeting rooms and supports up to 250 participants.
An advanced feature that can be useful for businesses in many industries is that it lets users connect their paging systems with their phone systems as well.
Pricing
There are three pricing plans that GoToConnect has for businesses with different needs. While the basic plan may be too basic, the Standard plan is ideal for most medium-sized businesses as it includes all important features.
If you are looking for the most advanced features that GoToConnect offers, you could go for the Premium plan as it includes all the basic, standard and advanced features.
10. Mitel
Best business VoIP provider that includes a combination of reliability and good features.
Mitel is a business VoIP provider for businesses looking for a solution that will help them stay in touch with their customers remotely. Its VoIP system is built on Google Cloud and has been named MiConnect and it lets users access it from anywhere using any device.
With Mitel, you can bring all your business communications into one solution. You get a combination of Google’s cloud and Mitel’s communication features when you sign up with Mitel.
The interface is very easy-to-use and navigable and lets all users including agents as well as managers have complete control over the way they want to use the system.
Whether you prefer working from your desktop or are working out-of-office on your phone, the desktop and mobile apps make it possible to enjoy all calling features that you would in a PBX system.
Moreover, not only can you make audio and video calls, but you can also have an interactive conference call where users can track the agenda, share screens, join with a click, and more.
Admins of calls can also manage participants and their activities, like put them on mute during the call using Mitel’s video conferencing feature. This makes it possible to use this phone system to hold meetings and training internally as well.
While call management can sometimes be a tricky job, with Mitel’s calling features, agents can easily transfer calls, put them on hold, forward calls to another number, park a call while they attend to another customer among other features.
Mitel also allows managers or admins to set call flows, set call routing patterns, set ringtones and hold music, change wallpapers and authenticate with your Microsoft Active Directory.
The vast feature set makes it possible to use Mitel for communicating with customers as well as to collaborate within the team.
The way you use Mitel’s services is completely up to you as you can use it as a simple calling system or all-in-one communications and collaborations software.
Pricing
Mitel has three pricing plans for different business needs and different sizes of businesses.
If you have a medium-sized business looking for something more than a simple PBX system, the Premier plan could suit your needs well as it has all the essential calling features and some necessary advanced features as well.
11. Phone.com
Best business VoIP provider for the most budget-friendly VoIP features.
Phone.com is an all-in-one solution that includes audio, video, text, fax, and conferencing. It is a modern-day business communication system that eliminates the need to have a complicated phone system.
You can start by choosing a business number for your business and set up your phone system just the way you want it. You also get all enterprise-level features at a very reasonable price.
If you wish to convert your current analog phone into a VoIP phone, all you have to do is simply connect an adapter to it. You do not need any extra hardware to reap the full benefits of the phone system.
When you choose Phone.com, you get such a vast feature set that it includes every feature that you might have expected in an ideal phone system. Begin by importing your contacts so that you do not have to dial all numbers again.
Sync your contacts across all devices that you use and directly send messages or make calls through all your devices.
While Phone.com offers a lot of calling features some of the most important ones are call forwarding, call transfer, call recording, call notifications, call screening and waiting, caller features, DND, and others.
It lets users set call handling rules that determine the way an incoming call will be handled. You can also use Phone.com’s VoIP system to send and receive faxes from any device that you may be using.
Even though your customers can reach you by dialing the business number or toll-free number that you choose, Phone.com lets users embed a small code on their website that allows customers to make calls to your business by simply entering their phone number.
You can also integrate your CRM with your phone system when you use Phone.com that in turn lets you bring different business functions together.
Phone.com also includes some elaborate voicemail features that not all VoIP providers include.
Not only can you listen to all voicemails left by callers directly through your online account, but you can also have them delivered to you via email, and you can also get them transcribed if you are a pro member.
Pricing
The Basic plan that Phone.com offers may be very limited for most businesses.
While most of the essential calling features are included in the Plus plan, if you are looking for advanced features like call recording, call analytics, and CRM integration, you can get them only through the Pro plan.
12. Fusion Connect
Best business VoIP service provider with very responsive customer service.
Whatever your business’s communication needs may be, Fusion Connect has a wide variety of solutions to meet every business need.
Whether you want to set up a communication system for your customers and team members or modernize your current analog system, Fusion Connect helps businesses do all of that.
It provides an all-in-one phone service that is hosted on the cloud and uses the internet to make calls irrespective of where you are and the device you may be using.
There is no extra hardware needed and you do not have to struggle with the installation of the system as well. Fusion Connect provides admin training so that users can help themselves and get familiar with the platform.
While you get many advanced features with Fusion Connect, you can use this system for more than just business communication as it lets users integrate with other important applications like Salesforce, Zendesk, Oracle Sales Cloud, and others.
When you sign up with Fusion Connect you get a lot of calling features that help improve the overall productivity of your organization.
Agents can utilize the many calling features like auto-attendant, anonymous call blocking, call waiting, call transfer, call return, consultation hold, extension dialing, secure voice, and priority alert among many other features.
This helps ensure that all callers are attended to and no caller gets missed.
You can also use Fusion Connect to send and receive faxes that get delivered directly to your inbox. If a caller leaves a voicemail for you, you can also get it delivered straight to your email inbox and listen to them directly.
Fusion Connect has a desktop as well as a mobile app which makes it possible to attend and make calls even when outside the office. If a caller calls after business hours, it also forwards it to another number so that they can be attended to.
Team collaboration and collaboration with customers and vendors also become easy with their audio conferencing feature that lets you add up to 13 participants.
Moreover, managing the entire calling system, granting permissions, setting up an auto-attendant all becomes very easy as managers can access everything from an admin console.
Pricing
Fusion Connect offers three pricing plans each of which includes their business VoIP phone service. The ideal plan here is the Hosted Voice only plan which includes all the VoIP calling features.
However, if you would like to include a VoIP phone or VVX phone with your phone system, you could consider the other two plans that they have.
13. 1-VoIP
Best VoIP provider that offers all business-level VoIP services that any business could need.
1-VoIP enables businesses to upgrade from their conventional phone systems to advanced VoIP phone systems. It includes all the features that a business or an enterprise must have in their business phone system.
When businesses sign up with 1-VoIP they can get a business number of their choice and every user or employee is given an extension number. Using the business number, all those who have an extension number can be reached.
While 1-VoIP offers digital call forwarding, it lets users decide where they want their calls to be forwarded to. This way they can attend to calls remotely too.
It lets users convert their cell phones into their VoIP phone and use it the same way to receive or make calls.
1-VoIP includes several calling features which makes it easy for businesses to manage all calls that they receive. Some of the features are call parking, call pickup group, call waiting, call recording, and others.
If you would like your business to have an internal calling system too, 1-VoIP offers an intercom feature that lets users connect with each other by simply dialing respective extension numbers.
It also includes a paging feature that lets users connect with more than one person at a time.
With 1-VoIP, you can also easily set an auto-attendant that will eliminate the need to have a human receptionist. This attendant will guide callers to get them connected to the departments that they want to reach.
You can also set business hours using this phone system, and whenever any callers call beyond the specified time, it directly takes them to voicemail. You can then listen to the voicemail through your email, or using your phone system.
If you want your customers to be engaged when they call, you can also set hold music or customize the way the music plays.
All these features combined together can help businesses get rid of their conventional phone systems and do so much more.
Pricing
1-VoIP offers three different plans out of which the Corporate plan is the best choice as it includes all the features and the monthly cost is very low too. You can use the system as much as you want without worrying about the usage.
Benefits of Using Business VoIP Providers
Every business needs to be up-to-date with the latest technology and must keep up with digital trends. In the area of business phone systems, VoIP providers are revolutionizing the way businesses communicate.
These business VoIP services not only help businesses stay connected with their customers but also provide internal communication solutions and give a unified communications solution to be connected to vendors, suppliers, and other parties.
While there are many benefits of using business VoIP providers, some of the most important features are mentioned below.
1. Reduces the cost of maintaining a conventional telephone line
Most VoIP providers offer many affordable plans for businesses of all sizes and businesses with different requirements. Moreover, all that one needs to use in a business VoIP system is an internet connection and a desktop, and a phone.
This eliminates the need to maintain an analog phone system and even allows users to convert existing telephones into VoIP phone systems. With a VoIP phone system, there is no need to pay a monthly telephone bill simply for making voice calls.
It offers an all-in-one communication system at a much lesser price.
2. Allows businesses to scale easily by adding as many extensions as needed
When you choose a plan with a business VoIP provider, almost always you will be charged on a per-user basis. You can have just one business phone number and as many extensions to the number as you desire.
As your company grows and you add new agents to your system, all you have to do is add a new extension and pay a new user fee. Also, upgrading to a higher plan can be done with just a few clicks.
3. Serves multiple functions apart from simple audio calling
Business VoIP providers offer much more than just voice calls. Depending on the service provider, you can use your VoIP phone system to make audio and video calls, send and receive faxes, voicemail, video conference with teams, and even collaborate within teams.
4. Makes it easy to manage calls with a variety of calling features
Every business VoIP service provider includes a wide variety of calling features that make call management very easy. Whether you use your system for your customer contact center or the employees in your small business, the calling features ensure seamless communication.
Some features include call transfer and forwarding, call blocking, call announcements, call barging and whispering, call recording, virtual receptionists, and many more.
5. Lets businesses stay connected with their callers outside the office
Since most VoIP services are hosted on the cloud, users can access it anywhere through any device. After business hours, it lets calls be forwarded to cell phones. It allows users to make calls using their cellphones using their business lines.
This ensures every customer is attended to and also ensures that during times like Covid-19 when employees must work from home, your business functions as usual without any disruptions.
What Features Should I Look For in the Best Business VoIP Provider?
Depending on the service provider you choose, the features that you get in your selected business VoIP system will differ. However, there are some basic features that one must look for in the VoIP system.
1. Audio and video calling
Every business must have an application that lets them make video calls as well as audio calls. Irrespective of the business VoIP provider you choose, audio and video calling features must be included in the feature set.
Some advanced service providers might even allow users to send and receive SMS/MMS on their cellphones through the business number.
The best business VoIP provider also makes it possible to send and receive faxes directly to email inboxes in PDF format. You can also complement these with the best online fax systems if you need to send a large number of faxes daily.
2. Wide range of call management features
The best business VoIP provider will include a wide range of call management features but must include some of the most important features.
The essential features that a business VoIP system should have are call transfer and forwarding, call recording, call blocking, call hold, call auto rollovers, call parking, call barging and whispering, hold music, and more.
This ensures that every caller is attended to efficiently.
3. Internal communication between teams
While business VoIP providers will let you communicate with your customers, you must look for a service that even lets you connect your teams internally.
The best business VoIP providers offer a separate channel for internal communications, offer extension dialing so that you can directly call an extension, paging to reach teams together, and more.
It also offers video and audio conferencing features with different limits on the maximum number of participants allowed. These features can also be used to hold team meetings and training sessions.
Teams that need elaborate video conferencing features must also look for the best video conferencing software to complement their business.
4. Team collaboration on calls
Most of the time, businesses will have repeat callers and businesses need to have caller history so that they have a background of the caller.
Choose a business VoIP provider that lets agents create notes, tags, and entries for each caller which can be accessed by the agent who attends to them the next time.
Also, look for a feature that lets agents include other agents or managers into calls if they need their help to solve a problem or address an issue.
5. Call monitoring and recording for training
When businesses onboard new agents on their team, it is important to monitor their calls for quality and training purposes. Choose a business VoIP provider that lets managers record and listen to calls.
Also, look for call barging and call whispering features so that managers can interrupt calls if they find agents in difficult situations with callers.
6. Auto-call screening and blocking
These days the number of robocalls and spammers has increased drastically. Your business must be safeguarded against such calls. The best business VoIP provider will automatically detect such calls by comparing them with a database.
Once detected, the numbers get automatically blocked and your business receives only genuine callers.
7. Desktop and mobile application
The business VoIP provider you choose must have a desktop application as well as a mobile app. Having a mobile app ensures that agents can receive calls outside the office and can access their accounts on the go.
This ensures that your business is always functional and you can have calls forwarded to your cell phone even after office hours so that no caller gets missed.
8. Remote call management
The best VoIP providers are hosted on the cloud so that users can access the system from anywhere using any device. This ensures that the business keeps functioning without any disruptions due to external factors and enables remote work.
The business VoIP provider must allow you to make and receive calls on your phone or your desktop app and lets you access the system from any device.
9. Virtual receptionist or auto-attendant
Instead of hiring a human receptionist, the best business VoIP provider will let you deploy a virtual receptionist that will receive callers automatically and play a pre-set menu. This virtual receptionist will guide your callers to the respective department by playing the menu options.
Choose a service that will also let you set custom menu options, a customized greeting, hold music, and will also let you make announcements and advertisements whenever necessary.
10. Extension dialing for every employee
Instead of having a new number for every department and employee, choose a service that offers unlimited extensions. This way you can connect all your employees with extensions and all callers need to do is dial the extension they want to reach.
Extension dialing is also an important feature for internal calling that allows team members to directly dial an extension they want to reach and the agent on the other end can answer directly without having to lift the phone.
Business VoIP Providers FAQ
While most VoIP service providers include basic plans that could suit small businesses if they need only basic features, some VoIP service providers are targeted towards the business needs of small businesses.
The best VoIP service for small businesses is RingCentral as it provides an all-in-one solution so businesses do not have to look at different places for different functions.
Another similar service is Nextiva which is very good for small businesses as it offers communication tools, collaboration tools, and integration with CRM tools, thus bringing multiple business functions in one place.
Yes, VoIP is definitely worth it for small businesses for several reasons. Firstly, it can do so much more than just receive calls and send faxes. It offers improved call quality, a wide variety of calling features, audio and video conferencing options and so much more.
There is no cost of maintenance and the ease of use is very high. All that businesses need is an internet connection and desktops and mobile phones which everyone already has.
By installing a VoIP phone service, small businesses get enterprise-level features and can get a sophisticated business communication system. Plus, the cost associated with conventional telephones is much higher than a VoIP system when compared with functionality.
A VoIP system can be 40-80 percent cheaper than traditional landline phones. With VoIP, all you need is a good internet connection and a device. You can have as many business lines or extensions as you wish with no additional hardware.
Most VoIP providers even provide their services as bundles and include many features. They offer international calls which are often included in the bundles.
However, with a landline, there are government regulations, telephone bills, hardware, and much more. If you have multiple telephone lines you will also need to set up a PBX which alone can cost thousands of dollars.
And, all you can do is make and receive voice calls over them. VoIP lets you do so much more at half the price or even less.
PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange that is used in business environments where there are multiple telephone lines. It acts as a central switching system between all the lines within the business.
It is not as complicated as it sounds but the hardware might be a few thousands of dollars. In traditional PBX phone systems, copper-based phone lines enter a business’s premises and are connected to the PBX box.
The box then contains telephony switches that enable the incoming calls to be distributed to different phones in the office.
In the Internet-based PBX system, there are ethernet cables instead of telephone wires, and the calls are transferred using digital signals instead of analog ones. For smaller businesses, VoIP providers host the PBX on the cloud and can be accessed anywhere.
They are also often known as virtual PBXs.
A SIP trunk is the virtual version of a traditional analog phone line. Businesses can use SIP trunks to connect multiple lines to a PBX system and make outgoing calls over the internet.
It allows businesses to make outgoing long-distance calls without disturbing the number of concurrent calls.
A VoIP number is similar to the traditional phone numbers. You get a VoIP number for your business when you sign up for a VoIP service. Some VoIP service providers might give you the choice between toll-free numbers, and local or vanity numbers.
This is the number that your business will have and your customers will dial in if they have to make a call to your business, much like a traditional phone number.
It is the process of taking an existing phone number and transferring it to the service of another provider. When you port a number, you retain the same number but start using it with another telephone service provider.
While VoIP services have very few drawbacks, one of the most pressing ones is the vulnerability towards power outages. A VoIP system needs a working internet connection at all times to function.
While analog phones continue to work even when there is no power, a VoIP phone system may not be functional without power because the internet connection may get disrupted due to the outage.
E911 stands for Enhanced 911 that several VoIP providers like Verizon, RingCentral, Vonage, and others include.
With E911, when you dial 911 in case of an emergency, along with your phone number, your registered address also gets sent to the local emergency number so that emergency operators can reach you through call as well as on the location easily without additional information.
There are not many disadvantages of VoIP systems but the few that there are might be quite strong.
Since VoIP systems function over the internet, if there is a power outage or your internet is down, your VoIP phone system will be down too.
Similarly, the quality of your calls will depend on the bandwidth of your internet connection. Weaker the internet connectivity, poorer the quality of the call. Also, like any internet-based technology, there may be latency and jitter in message delivery.
Which Business VoIP Provider Should I Choose
Considering that you have read so far, it is safe to assume that you are looking for a business VoIP service provider for your business.
The service that you choose will primarily depend on the size of your business, what are your primary needs, and the number of lines and extensions you wish to have.
If you are a small business owner, RingCentral and Nextiva could be great choices as they provide well-rounded complete solutions. Similarly, 8×8 offers an all-in-one solution too at a budget-friendly price.
For businesses looking for solutions that offer them mobility and allow them to work remotely, Grasshopper could be a good choice.
Vonage is known for its reliable service while Mitel, GoToConnect, and Verizon are known for their wide array of features. Similarly, if you are looking for a communications solution for your call center or customer contact center, CloudTalk will help you manage the traffic of calls.
Different service providers have been made with different business types in mind. Evaluate your needs, identify the service that best meets your requirements, and narrow down your options.
Don’t forget to evaluate your choices based on pricing so that you choose one that fits your needs as well as your budget.