Drawbacks of hosted phone systems

While the benefits of hosted PBX services are substantial, they have some drawbacks, as well. Here are some considerations you should look into before deciding if hosted phone systems are right for you.

Internet connection
One potentially significant problem with hosted phone systems is that they are completely dependent on your data connection. If your Internet service goes down for any reason, you'll also lose your ability to make phone calls.

That's true for all types of VoIP service. However, unlike with site-based VoIP PBX, a hosted PBX service will still be able to answer your calls, even if your connection is down. Because the initial greeting, menus, and voicemail are all run at the provider's data center, they'll all continue to function normally, even if your office is offline.

A hosted phone system also lets you react quickly when problems do occur. If your connection is going to be down for a significant length of time, you can reconfigure the system to send calls to other locations that are still online, such as cell phones, home offices, or satellite offices.

Bandwidth
Just being online isn't enough to guarantee good results from hosted phone systems: the quality and speed of your Internet service is another important factor. Most providers will require a DSL or T1 connection to work properly. Even though cable modems can provide faster speeds than DSL in some circumstances, they're not suited to support VoIP.

You can test the speed of your Internet connection using this free online tool. While it's not a guarantee, it will give you sense of how well your connection will support VoIP. The providers you speak with should be able to evaluate your current bandwidth situation and your calling volumes to determine if you need to upgrade your connection.

Robust call center features
Most hosted PBX services are not appropriate for large call centers. Advanced calling features like automatic call distribution and detailed reporting are essential for call center applications and commonly available from hosted PBX services. However, they generally aren't as robust as they would be in a dedicated call center solution: while adequate for 5 to 10 agents, they may not have the capacity to handle larger call centers.

Larger call centers deserve a telephony platform designed specifically for their needs. In addition to better call distribution and management tools, they offer the most thorough integration with customer databases and other applications. And they are available both as hosted and locally-run systems. Read our call center software Buyer's Guide for more.