In the VoIP industry, one of the most common questions we are asked is, “How much does a cloud-based VoIP phone system cost?” The answer is…it depends—primarily on three main factors. To help you get a sense of how pricing is determined in the VoIP industry, we’ve openly and honestly discussed those three factors below.
Over the last five years, though, VoIP phone technology has become increasingly mainstream, and it’s now been widely adopted by many businesses, both large and small. Consequently, the investment cost and available features have become more and more similar and competitive across providers.
A quick comparative search reveals that most VoIP providers today charge $25 per user per month. That’s not a secret. However, if you want to avoid jarring surprises when you get your first VoIP invoice, it’s essential to know that many additional details go into installing and supporting the VoIP phone hardware, and these details affect what you pay.
When it comes to the purchase and installation of a VoIP phone system, there are three primary components that make up your total price:
This fee can be as little as $15 per user per month for courtesy phone extensions (e.g., kitchen phones or wall-mounted phones primarily used for intercom) up to $25 or more per user per month (for phones that offer the feature sets most businesses utilize). The $25 per user per month fee is the most common option.
The $25 per user per month fee includes the following:
According to your office environment and business needs, some of these additional features might be beneficial:
(Not sure if call center software is right for your business? Learn more here.)
Note, these prices are in addition to the monthly user fee.
*These prices do not include Internet access fees or SD-WAN technology.
Five factors make up the project cost for your VoIP phone system:
Most customers prefer to take on the cost for the project and hardware as a sixty-month rental program. We do offer shorter terms (e.g., twenty-four months or thirty-six months), if that’s preferred.
The vast majority of small business clients elect to rent for two reasons: one, it allows the business to maintain working capital, and two, it means we can fully manage and support the overall solution at no additional charge throughout the entire business relationship.
The following are included in your fixed monthly rental rate*:
Onsite services (training, service, and account management) are available to all our clients located in Northern or Central New Jersey.
*This is not a fully itemized list of our support services. This is for educational purposes only.
Under our rental program, at the end of your term, you can determine if you want to own the existing hardware, return it, or refresh the hardware with new IP phones and updated firewall.
Let’s take as an example a single-location business with twenty users on the system.
This would be $25 per user per month. At twenty employees, the total would be $500 per month.
Depending on the necessary hardware, the results of the site survey for wiring, and your specific phone selection, the rental price would be somewhere between $100 and $150 per month (for sixty months).
Support services are included as part of the monthly rental payment.
$500 + ($100–$150 per month) = $600/month–$650/month + tax
When you’re getting quotes from multiple VoIP providers, it’s easy to fall into the trap of jumping at the lowest number quoted. That can be problematic, though, for a couple key reasons.
With so many VoIP providers now offering similar services and products, one critically important factor in your decision-making process is whether you prefer to work with a larger national VoIP provider or a local company.
In our experience, opting for a local provider provides a couple benefits:
As you can see, there are numerous choices and decisions to make prior to selecting your VoIP provider. However, the cost of a VoIP system shouldn’t be mysterious or perplexing. A company’s pricing structure should be both easy to understand and transparent. Take the time to continue to educate and to inform yourself before making any final decision. Have questions? Call or e-mail us for more answers.
Vice-President, Tele-Data Solutions
E-mail: vin@tele-datasolutions.com | Direct Line: (908) 378-1218
What brings me satisfaction is meeting with New Jersey–based businesses and genuinely helping them solve communication and business problems. As someone who has lived in New Jersey my entire life, I love working and playing here. I live in Morristown with my wife, Lisa, and root for the New York Giants.