Evaluating business telephone services

A business telephone service vendor can connect your company with local, long distance, and toll-free capabilities. To get the right combination of telephone services for your business, you should do some careful evaluation of your current calling patterns.

Assess what type of calls you make more often: local or national. If you deal primarily with local customers, you may need a plan with unlimited local calling but a fixed number of long distance minutes. If your clients are scattered across the country, find a telephone service package that provides unlimited local and long distance calling for one monthly fee.

Business telephone service vendors can also supply you with a toll-free numbers, allowing customers and prospects to call at no cost to them. Domestic toll-free service can connect directly to your existing local numbers and supports 12 - 24 toll-free calls at the same time. International toll-free service lets you keep the same telephone number for both domestic and international callers, allowing anyone to reach you at a single number from anywhere in the world.

Preparing to shop for business telephone services
Before you start talking to potential providers, answer these questions:

• How many phone lines does my business need?
• Do I make primarily local or long distance calls?
• How many minutes do I use in a month?
• Will I need international calling?
• What are my calling patterns? (time of day, days of the week, inbound/outbound)
• Do I need toll-free phone service?
• What protection is available to save my business from fraud?
• Are my current phone numbers portable?