You have an essential option to make if you want to replace or upgrade your business phone system. Are you interested in using a Voice over IP (VoIP) or a PBX service? You may make a big difference in the quality of your phone conversations. The cost of your telephone service is a reasonable point to look into. And the ability of your firm to scale them up in the future is one of the issues you may need to consider. You might want to know the arguments of VoIP vs PBX. In this article, we are going to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both VoIP and PBX. So that, you can pick the best solution for your organization.
Features
PBX is a classic analog telephone system connecting your company to a provider or customer through a physical telephone connection. On the other hand, VoIP is a digital phone system that transforms your call audio into byte packets and transmits it to the caller via the Internet at the other end of the line.
The main difference, Analog vs Digital not VoIP vs PBX
The PBX and VoIP telephone systems differ greatly. To begin with, the equipment with which each telephone service may be used typically differs. PBX systems need analog phones. PBX phones require analog phones. Your telephone company may in certain circumstances sell some devices necessary to use your service.
Since VoIP networks are digital, on the other hand, nearly any digital device may use this form of telephone service. You can buy digital devices for the office or just utilize the PCs and tablets of your business as telephones.
List of features not available in PBX
The second key difference is that VoIP systems may link to a wide range of digital software platforms whereas PBX systems are not able to connect. With VoIP, it is easy to automatically record calls using computer software or to set up an automated transcript for calls and voicemails. That is a great point to mention when we are discussing VoIP vs PBX. VoIP systems are also able to connect with automation workflow software that can, for example, enable you to route calls to one voicemail account from inside your business and to call from outside your organization.
You have just the functions included in your handset with a PBX telephone system for calling routing, recording, and voices.
Larger companies might also appreciate the internal hosting of VoIP telephone systems. This isn’t the path many companies choose, as it requires greater installation costs and continuous upkeep to host a phone system. But a self-hosting VoIP system may be adapted completely to the demands of your company and lets you relocate third-party suppliers. PBX does not allow your business phone system to self-host.
Performance
The main benefit of PBX telephone systems over VoIP systems is their greater reliability. PBX phone systems are moved via dedicated telephone lines utilized in your corporation by few other devices.
Many PBX systems are really even working in the middle of a power failure (although your phone handset may require an external power source to function). That’s a huge business if your company has to work during a major storm or another event that brings power to your region. In this case, we will actually go for PBX instead of VoIP in the argument of VoIP vs PBX.
On the other hand, VoIP solutions rely on your connection to the Internet. If your power is dropping or your business has a network failure, either because of an internal problem or because of a problem at the data center of your Internet Service Provider, your phone service will not operate. If your organization uses all of its available network capacity, VoIP calling might also be poor in sound or unreliable connectivity.
Basically, PBX has a big benefit over VoIP, provided that dependability is an important concern for your organization.
First look into your future
When picking a phone system, another matter to consider is where your business is going to be several years from now. Unfortunately, your businesses may make PBX telephone systems hard to expand. A real cable connecting into your building is required for each phone line. Once the electricity supply has been exhausted, you might have to spend extra for pricey electrical work.
Contact your service provider simply to license another line using VoIP technology. You may need to raise your network capacity to meet the extra requirement on the Internet connection of your organization. However, this is quite straightforward by contacting your ISP or buying more network hardware.
Support
You will depend on your supplier for the degree of assistance you receive for your phone system. Certain PBX and VoIP providers offer assistance 24/7 to ensure the operation of your company telephones lines such as RingCentral or Nextiva. My personal experience with Nextiva is they provide support within 5 minutes and RingCentral makes you wait for about 5-15 minutes. Others have more limited hours of assistance, which might allow them to charge less.
It is a fact that many parts of your telephone system are not within your VoIP provider’s reach for technical assistance with a VoIP system. For example, if an Internet connectivity problem has produced a call quality problem you probably will have to turn to your Internet Service Provider instead of your telephone provider for assistance.
You should also consider while thinking of VoIP vs PBX is that a VoIP system will become part of the IT infrastructure of your company. You will want to make sure that the experts can integrate and serve the VoIP system if you have an internal IT department or are working with a third-party IT provider.
Pricing and plans in VoIP vs PBX
In the end, many companies have to choose between VoIP and PBX telephone systems.
As VoIP systems are digitally operational, they are nearly universally less expensive than PBX systems. Most companies have a new VoIP telephony system for between $25 and $40 per employee per month, which type of phone you buy and if you want to update your network capacity, depends on how many users you have.
PBX systems can cost ten times more than that. For a firm with 30 users, expect the installation of a new system to pay from $700 to $1,000 per user. The payment for PBX-ready phones and wiring is a major source of this expense. Use of a PBX system usually costs approximately $50 per line each month, once the system is up and operating.
Verdict of VoIP vs PBX
A VoIP telephone system provides better value for the great majority of companies than a PBX telephone system. Installing and working with a broader range of devices, including current PCs and tablets from your company is much cheaper. VoIP is also more versatile, so you may add and remove people to your organization as required.
By comparison, PBX telephone systems are highly costly to install. They are also rather rigid if more lines are required than your wiring permits.
The second main advantage of VoIP is its integration with other corporate software platforms to enhance productivity. Calls, recording and transcribing discussions, and much more that you may do digitally. No software integration is feasible with a PBX phone system.
Reliability is the single key PBX benefit over VoIP. If you run a firm that must be able to offer a telephone service during power outages or Internet interruptions. Such as an emergency or medical facility, it could be necessary to have an analog PBX telephone system.
Not sure yet!
How about a slow transition!! If you can’t decide, whether you want to move to VoIP from an older analog PBX. Keep in touch with VoIP Bible. Because we are going to have a good discussion on all the issues, benefits, suggestions, tutorials for you in this short article series on VoIP vs PBX.