"Cloud" based or "Hosted" service is a virtual phone service offered by a local service provider. It is phone service that provides users with basic telephony features, voicemail and automated attendant for a monthly fee. It uses the Internet and a high speed broadband connection to deliver service to IP phones on the customer premise.
Like Centrex service, Cloud service charges on a per-user basis. Cloud based service providers talk about managing costs and budgeting communication expenses rather than saving money because Cloud based service is not inexpensive. Like Centrex, a Cloud solution will result in higher long term costs because monthly payments never end. Like Centrex service, Cloud based service users will pay forever with no benefit of ownership. They will pay forever just like their Centrex service predecessors before them.
And maybe most importantly, Cloud based phone service will use a significant portion of your available bandwidth as every phone is connected by and dependent upon the Internet.
Cedar Rapids 319-393-0585
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Iowa City 319-333-7714
Contact us about an onsite IP service in which you have complete administrative control, without the ongoing monthly cost of a Hosted system... that you will 'pay forever' without the benefit of ownership.
Dubuque 563-213-5784
Des Moines 515-331-0444
New Hampton 641-394-3301
Cedar Falls/Waterloo 319-229-7454
So you have heard about Hosted phone service but are not sure that you understand the differences between Hosted service and an on premise phone system.
Providers like to call it cool things like Hosted service, a Cloud-based system, a virtual system, but at the end of the day, there's a PHONE SYSTEM somewhere.
There is a myth that Hosted service costs you less money. That is simply not true. In a relatively short time Hosted service will cost you more than the purchase of an on-premise system. Let us show you why.
“Cloud based or Hosted” phone service - the new Centrex
Centrex – the original “Hosted” phone system
If you are considering a Cloud based or Hosted service we hope you that will compare that with what we refer to as an on-site Hosted solution. We bring the IP phones out of the Cloud to save the bulk of your ongoing monthly communication expense. We complete your system with SIP trunks the 'Hosted" part of this equation.
Rather than spending a significant portion of your ongoing communications budget and take up and inordinate amount of bandwidth on telephone dial tone, invest in onsite IP telephone equipment that will serve you for years to come. This will allow you to allocate more of your monthly communications budget toward bandwidth and allow you to allocate that bandwidth to where it might be needed more.
Call us to find out more!
In the beginning there was Centrex service, a PBX-like service offered by the local phone company. Popular before companies could buy their own phone system in the mid-80s, the phone company sold Centrex on a per-line basis. If a company had 25 employees, they would rent 25 Centrex lines. While an individual Centrex line was less expensive than a standard business line, it was still not inexpensive because of the number of lines needed – one for each phone user - added up the cost.
Centrex resulted in higher long term costs because it was an ongoing charge – customers paid the same price for as long as they used the service. It was referred to as a ‘pay-forever’ service for monthly payments never ended. Once customers discovered they could significantly reduce their ongoing communication costs with the purchase of their own phone system, Centrex was phased out.