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One of the most common misconceptions about telephone systems is that they're just 'phones'.
People often consider phone systems to be simple 'boxes on the wall' that control your phones, but this is not the case.
So, what are the different types of telephone system?
Learn more about each of these three systems below:
The grandad of business telephony is the PBX or 'telephone switch'. The PBX is a box that sits on your premises somewhere, and controls all aspects of your business telephony.
These telephone systems are robust, reliable and offer a a comprehensive set of features to businesses.
Well, when you break ti down, the PBX is a simple concept.
Each person using the same system has a set extension that is unique to them. A PBX takes all of your incoming lines, and all of the calls on those lines, and serves them up to the correct extension.
Of course, there are many other features, such as; call queueing, on-hold music, transfers, call recording and more - but at heart, a traditional PBX controls your businesses' telephone calls.
The traditional business telephone system is, as we mentioned, the grandad of telecoms. Whilst they do still support business across the UK, they do lack the newer technology being used in modern communication solutions.
These traditional systems are becoming less and less common, as the move towards digital Britain continues.
The traditional system is fast being replaced by its more modern, younger counterpart: The VoIP PBX
The VoIP PBX or VoIP telephone system is an updated version of the traditional telephone system we talked about above.
Both traditional and VoIP PBX systems are very similar, they both control your businesses' calls.
The main difference between the traditional and VoIP PBX is how the systems work and the types of technology they use.
A traditional PBX uses analogue or digital lines, called ISDN, whereas a VoIP PBX uses your broadband or data connection to make and receive calls. This can be substantially cheaper than the traditional alternative.
Above, you can see two examples of a VoIP phone system, the Mitel MiVoice and the Samsung Officeserv.
Whilst the basis of a VoIP phone system remain similar to a traditional phone system, they do come with some added benefits.
Benefits including:
The final type of telephone system is a hosted VoIP system. A hosted telephone system is the most modern, flexible type of telephone system.
A hosted telephone system does away with the 'box on the wall' model and instead uses the a cloud telephony platform. This platform serves as your business telephone system.
Hosted VoIP uses your existing internet connection and a robust cloud telephony platform to make and receive calls.
Our platform is called 'eve' and is one of the most robust and reliable
It comes with a rich feature set and is fully flexible and adjustable to suit your business requirements.
We did a deep dive blog on how hosted telephone works: How does hosted telephony work?
Hosted VoIP has a lot of benefits when compared to traditional on-premise solutions, these include:
So there you have it, the three main types of business telephone system, broken down and explained.
Telephony is so important to businesses - keeping them in touch with customers, prospects and ensuring smooth daily operations. Upgrading to a more modern solution may decrease your costs and ensure that you're ready for the ISDN switch off.
For more information about any of the solutions in this article, or for a free, no obligations chat about telecoms with one of our team, give us a call on 01934 882200 or email sales@commsplus.co.uk
