Today, a business phone line is important because it is one of the top ways to communicate with your customers. However, the cost of implementing an exceptional one can be high and complex to many people.
This article discusses how much a small business phone line costs and its factors.
What are the Factors Affecting Phone Line Cost?
Here are the factors to consider before buying your small business phone system:
Number of locations and employees
The number of locations or number of employees per location that you have has a significant impact when it comes to your cost. Some phone system providers charge per location, which can increase costs.
Phones
Phones only differ in price points. They come in basic, feature-rich options. Depending on your business goals and needs, the phone features and price will vary.
Extra features
Some extra features come with the service provider rather than your phone. The plans you select come with their features, which may be an additional cost. Below are some of the features:
- Call Routing: With advanced call routing, you can never connect a customer call to the wrong agent.
- Auto Attendant: An auto-attendant is a virtual receptionist that helps answer, escalate, and route all incoming calls without the need for a human.
- Instant Messaging: SMS allows you to send notifications to customers or update your field teams.
- Call Analytics: This feature can record and process all sorts of call data for you to glean insight to improve your business.
- Call Forwarding: Never let a call remain unanswered. Forward calls received by office phones to mobile phones or other devices.
- Call Queue: Call queue automates the distribution of inbound calls.
- Call Recording: Call recording makes it easy to record phone calls.
What is the Average Cost Per User?
Once you have determined the number of phone lines and locations, you can estimate the average cost per user. Here’s an example of the average cost per user:
- Small Plan – $300 per user
- Medium Plan – $500-700 per user
- Enterprise Plan – $1,000 per user
The size of your business makes a huge difference when it comes to business phone costs.
Common Phone Systems Used by Small Businesses
Here are the most common phone system options small businesses use:
- VoIP: A Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone system manages all your voice communications via the internet. It doesn’t require physical hardware installation like a landline.
- Landline: Landline requires physical telephone lines to function. It does not offer as much flexibility and mobility as a virtual phone system.
- Virtual Phone System: This requires a fixed telephone line funneled to your computer screen where you can access all the phone features.
Total Estimated Cost of a Small Business Phone Line
Let’s take ULTATEL, for example. With Ignite, you can get the complete business phone system starting from $9.95/month. Our Cloud contact center solutions costs include:
Contact Center
$35.95 / starting monthly rate
The features here include:
- Fully-Managed Cloud PBX
- 24/7 Live Customer Support
- Unlimited Calling for US & Canada
- 1 Video Conference Bridge per Account
- Up to 100 Attendees
- Toll-Free Number & 100 Minutes*
- Free porting
- Auto Attendants
- IVR, & Music on Hold
- Same Phone Number SMS & Fax
- Voicemail to Email with Transcription
- Unlimited Inbound Faxing
- Call Flow & Unlimited Ring Groups
- Advanced Call Analytics & Reporting
- Extensive Additional Caller Features.
Plus
$38.95 / starting monthly rate
This plan includes all previous features plus
- 1 Video Conference Bridge per User
- Up to 100 Attendees
- Toll-Free Number & 2,500 Minutes*
- Advanced Analytics
- Quality Assurance Module
- QA Templates & Analytics
- Call Queuing
- SMS Messaging Platform
- Voicemail Notification (New),
- Voicemail Drop (New)
- Call Recording, Monitoring
- Whispering
Ultimate
$41.95 / starting monthly rate
This plan includes all previous features plus
- Toll Free Number & 10,000 Minutes*
- Queue Callback
- Customized Reports
- LDAP Corporate Directory
- Multi-Project Conference Service
- Salesforce Integration
- Dynamics Integration
- Pipedrive Integration
- Zoho Integration
- Zendesk Integration
These are the kind of expenses you need to consider when determining the cost of a business phone service plan. The prices may vary depending on the plan you choose for your business.
Summary
A small business phone line cost varies greatly depending on the plan you choose and the service provider you choose. If you want to set up your small business phone system, ULTATEL is here to help.
Keep up with the surging demand in your communications department with our cloud contact center solution. According to Microsoft, 82% of businesses report cost savings by moving to the cloud. Enjoy benefits such as low setup and operating costs, increased flexibility and mobility, and more.
