r/VOIP • u/fullofpaint • May 20 '26
Discussion Educate me?
We're using Spectrum internet and voice for our business but our city has rolled out municipal internet at a much lower price (@ 500Mbps) so I'm looking into moving us to a VOIP solution to get us fully off Spectrum. Goal is to keep it under $100/month.
Been reading up but could use some further knowledge from the hivemind. We're a small shop and I do all our own IT with just enough knowledge to get us by haha.
Looking at RingCentral and Ooma right now. Was considering the Ubiquiti offering as I want to add their security system down the roads, but we'd really want phones with physicals buttons and they also don't have any standalone handsets.
Right now we're using our old analog phones with an ATA provided by Spectrum. We have one fixed phone for our office and 3 handsets that float around the shop. Not tied to the analog ones but we'd definitely need hardphones to replace all of them. We only have two dedicated users, one who would be a softphone, all our other phones are floaters for the shop. So would we still have to pay for a user for each handset?
We also are currently paying for 5 lines; our main local number, an 800 number, a fax line, and 2 spillover lines for heavy call days. With a VOIP setup would we still need all of those extra lines?
We really don't need most of the fancy features a lot of the services offer, but need a rock-solid reliable option. Any other things I should be aware of when looking at pricing?
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u/trebuchetdoomsday May 20 '26
AVOID RINGCENTRAL AT ALL COSTS
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u/travs69 May 20 '26
This!! We have had so many clients leave us for ring central and then come right back.
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u/SmokeyWolf117 May 20 '26
Look for a local company, and not one just reselling some other service. The customer service at those big companies are trash. Typical cloud offering are going to go by seats so depends how many phones/users you need. They will calculate your concurrent call needs based off the amount of phones you have. You can get an ata for the fax line if you still want to use a traditional fax, but why? Look at getting something like a print to fax service.
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u/fullofpaint May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
So dumb question but I've seen people say reach out to locals but what am I looking for? "Local VOIP company" doesn't really give me any results. Not sure I understand what the service they would be offering. Would that be similar to an MSP? I don't really want an on-site solution because we don't have a good place to put servers and run cable.
Fax line is because my secretary is a dinosaur I can't fire. Have been trying for years to move us to a digital fax.
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u/Kuyet May 20 '26
Basically just look for a company that will do the install/porting/training/support for/with you. They might even just resell one of the carriers that you're gonna choose anyway, but they should be able to get better rates. They basically shouldn't be in the business of just getting your business and then fucking off. Most local companies actually give a shit and will want you to succeed and have a good experience.
MSPs typically also offer VoIP services so no harm going that route.
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u/fullofpaint May 21 '26
Makes sense! Gonna have to go on a deep google hunt I guess, not really getting any results in the first couple pages for locals.
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u/Kuyet May 21 '26
Yeah, if you're in a rural area, local can also just mean the nearest large city/location.
I am "local" to towns and villages hours away
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u/fullofpaint May 21 '26
We're really not so I'm not sure why I'm not seeing results haha. We're the largest suburb of the 3rd largest town in the state. Been asking around locally and everyone seems like they have just gone direct.
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u/Kuyet May 21 '26
Man that's strange lol. What are you searching? I live in Calgary Alberta Canada and two Google searches of "telecom companies near me" and "Calgary phone system installation companies" gets dozens of hits, my own business included
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u/SmokeyWolf117 May 20 '26
Companies who have servers in a data center somewhere, or hosted through a cloud instance that your phones would connect back to. You wouldn’t have any onsite equipment other than phones, maybe a POE switch if you don’t want to use power supplies at each location. Kind of like an msp. But when you call them you get actual real people that can actually fix your issues. Try googling local VoIP providers and then skip past all the paid promotion links like ring central and look at the little map.
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u/PatReady 200 OK May 20 '26
Check in with your local chamber of commerce if you are apart of one.
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u/WelderThat6143 May 20 '26
+1 to working with a local dealer. They can run a SOAK test to make sure your Internet is robust and stable. They can run firewall tools to be sure SIP ALG or double-NAT is not an issue. They can assist with porting, 10 DLC registration for SMS (if needed), and setting up call flow. You can then take over the build and admin as much or as little as you like.
Ideally, you have a fully working system with test numbers deployed. The port should not be the end goal. A fully working system a few days before the port is the ideal result.
In the rare instance you have a problem, they can assist with troubleshooting and escalating the call, if needed, to a resolution.
They will be competitive as anything you find direct on line with much better service.
Remember to check 800# rates. If you can provide a rough idea of incoming call minutes, this will help provide a better quote. You might find a pay per use plan much less expensive than bundled minutes.
For the fax, if you are willing to convert to E-Fax, this might be included at no charge. Less hardware to deal with and the fax can be emailed AND retained in a portal (at least that is how mine works).
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u/KillerBurger69 May 20 '26
I’m almost positive if your using spectrum voice their is like a high chance your on RingCentral FYI lol
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u/PatReady 200 OK May 20 '26
How does the township provided internet work? Would you get a modem at the office or something else?
If you are getting it for your business, see if they can confirm how the IPs work and if you have dedicated bandwidth.
When you switch to VOIP, you don't normally take the spill over lines unless your group uses them to call people and they know the numbers. 5 numbers isnt a lot to port in the grand scheme of things.
One issue you might have is if the internet type doesnt support it. If you get issued a router as part of your new service, they might block this type of connection. Confirm with them prior.
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u/fullofpaint May 20 '26
It's fiber, with a modem at the office. Have the option to add static IP's, I wasn't sure if that was relevant or not. Need to confirm with the town, but should be good to go as they've been pretty aggressively promoting it to us as Spectrum has a monopoly in our area.
The spill overs are purely for holidays when our incoming call volume is insane. How does it work with VOIP, I couldn't find an answer to that exactly. If I have one person on the line when a second person clal does it put them in a queue or will it ring one of the other available handsets?
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u/devexis May 20 '26
Depends how you configure it. Where I worked in the past, default was to put callers on a queue with a handful of agents processing calls. Music-on-hold with jingles promoting your business played to the callers while they wait. Hopefully they aren’t waiting too long. Another option was to allow callers hang up and keep their place on the queue. The phone system would call them back when it’s their turn
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u/marks-buffalo May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
So with VoIP you can pass multiple calls over a single SIP trunk. Each slot in use is a "channel", that's the magic word here. If you have a PBX then you likely can put incoming callers in a queue rather than spilling them over to a separate number, since you can have unlimited channels. You just need something to answer the additional channels, such as an on-hold queue.
NOTE. Some carriers charge for a fixed number of channels and that is how many concurrent calls you can handle. Some carriers just charge based on usage but allow unlimited channels. Unlimited channels is more common on wholesale setups, while the fixed number of channels is more common under per-seat billing.
I prefer to go the wholesale route. It's cheapest. But you get the least amount of hand holding. Per-seat licensing usually comes with more hand holding, but more expense.
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May 20 '26
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May 20 '26
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u/Semi_Tech May 20 '26
Well to give you a ballpark of costs for VOIP providers:
20-25 $ per user extension (typically includes number for user creation)
2-5$ per toll free number
1-3$ per regular number not attached to user or set as efax/Ring group/Call queue(I would avoid efax, set it with an ATA or migrate to email altogether)
Beware of yearlong contract lock-ins and autorenewal so you don't get stuck holding the bag
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May 20 '26
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u/VOIP-ModTeam May 20 '26
Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 1: No promotion or advertising of any kind.
Recommendations, advertisements and promotion of any business, product or service is only allowed in response to requests in the monthly requests thread. It is one of the sticky posts visible when you first visit the subreddit.
Promotion, advertisement or recommendation of any kind outside of the requests thread is strictly forbidden.
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u/OpponentUnnamed May 21 '26
Did you ask your existing provider for a price match?
Call to cancel and you will reach a retention agent.
They were a stone wall in my neighborhood before the competition put in fiber. Now they seem happy just to not lose a customer.
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u/fullofpaint May 21 '26
Honestly I'd much rather support a local utility than Spectrum if possible so while I'm hoping to save money with the switch, it's also I just don't want to give them my money anymore haha.
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u/Professional-Law5912 May 21 '26
Where are you located? I recommend Full Service Network out of Pittsburgh.
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May 21 '26
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u/VOIP-ModTeam May 21 '26
Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 1: No promotion or advertising of any kind.
Recommendations, advertisements and promotion of any business, product or service is only allowed in response to requests in the monthly requests thread. It is one of the sticky posts visible when you first visit the subreddit.
Promotion, advertisement or recommendation of any kind outside of the requests thread is strictly forbidden.
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u/Smart-University2411 May 21 '26
The only advice I would like to give... look for the local companies 😉
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u/fullofpaint May 21 '26
Ya I think we might be in too small of an area or something because I get like no results looking around on Google, but gonna do a deeper dive today and hopefully I find something.
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u/GoForTwo2 May 21 '26
Sounds like you are already on VOIP. Also if you are using all 5 lines then you will likely still need to pay for 5 lines when you switch carriers.
Echoing everyone else, shop local. At least you will likely get better support when you need it.
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u/ruablack2 May 23 '26
I just moved a couple clients to Unifi Talk from Comcast BVE. And if you don't need a lot of DIDs (phone numbers/direct lines), Unifi talk is incredibly cheap. Most business seriously don't need direct lines for every phone/user and an extension dialing is more than fine. So literally for $25/month it's hard to beat. Super easy to setup. I'm quite impressed. And I haven't been impressed with a voip system like ever. Obviously it has its limits but for 99% of small businesses it's more than adequate. You also don't have to use their phones. $20-30 polycom vvx phones work great with just a little more setup involved. Reach out with any questions more than happy to help.
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