Business Phone Service is a must have for any company regardless of size. Phone service is the lifeline for a business, as it provides a way for potential and current customers to reach out to the business, obtain important information, and ultimately buy products or services. As technology continues to expand and become more complex, the methods of phone service continue to expand and gain complexity as well. Due to the rate technology advances, it can be challenging just to decipher what type of Business Phone Service to use. It can also be overwhelming to decide which Business Phone Service meets budget needs as well.

By understanding the basics of Business Phone Service and technology, it becomes easier to choose a system that is cost effective and adequately serves the needs of the company. Throughout the years, phone technology has evolved from legacy POTS and DS0 systems to more advanced digital PRIs and even VoIP Business Phone Service .   POTS is an acronym that stands for "Plain Old Telephone Service."

This term describes traditional wire-based phone systems. For very small businesses and consumers, a POTS line provides a physical location with a physical phone line and was the defacto Business Phone Service for many years. Although POTS users can access basic features such as voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, 911 and conference calling, these phone systems offer very little in the way of bandwidth along with poor scalability. In order to access a POTS line phone number, a physical phone must be plugged in at the physical location of the POTS line. Although POTS lines do not offer advanced features and capabilities, they are remarkably reliable due to their simple design.

The maximum speed of a traditional POTS line tops out at 56Kbps. In addition to the slow speed, POTS lines are usually assigned fees, taxes and other service charges individually. Traditional POTS lines can be combined via an analog PBX, or private branch exchange, for some savings on fees and service charges but the analog PBX does not provide advanced features that are available with digital Business Phone Service lines. Slightly more advanced than POTS line are DS0 lines. DS0 stands for Digital Signal 0, and DS0 was developed in order to provide digital Business Phone Service . This technology allowed the first digital signaling to take place and created the foundation for all future digital communications.

Unlike a POTS line, DS0 lines are capable of providing more advanced features and can be combined, or multiplexed, together to create higher speed lines. The maximum speed of a DS0 line is 64Kpbs and by combining multiple DS0 lines the first broadband connections were created. DS1, or a T1 line, is the equivalent of 24 DS0 lines multiplexed together. As digital lines progressed and became more advanced, PRI and VoIP Business Phone Service became possible. PRI is an acronym for Primary Rate Interface and this is the standard used for ISDN, or Integrated Services Digital Networks. This device takes all of the internal phone lines for a business and bundles them together and then serves as a digital gateway for the lines. PRIs also provide a wide range of flexibility for any Business Phone Service .

One of the key features of a PRI setup is the ability to combine multiple internal lines into fewer external lines, much like traditional PBXs. Often, when a person is using a phone at their desk for a business they will have to dial "9" or another number to reach an outside line. This is the PRI at work, making it so that a business can have a phone on each employee's desk without having to pay for a separate physical phone line to match each phone. For example, a company with 10 employees who are light on phone usage can use this setup to translate those 10 phone lines into only 5 outside lines. Unless each employee tries to call out at the same time, they will not realize that there is a limit on the number of outgoing calls that can be placed at once.

While the company retains the ability to have separate phones and extensions for all the employees, the business saves money by not having a separate outgoing phone line for each employee at the same time. With physical, individual phone lines, a business would have to pay fees, taxes and termination charges for each and every line that is connected to a telephone. By using PRIs for Business Phone Service companies can greatly cut down on all of these extra charges.

In addition to cost savings, PRIs and other digital Business Phone Service can provide conveniences that POTS and traditional analog based PBXs cannot. One of the most convenient features is the ability for direct inward dial, or DID. With a digital PRI or VoIP system, customers can directly dial an employee's phone number and be connected directly to their phone. With traditional POTS Business Phone Service customers would have to first dial the main number for a company and then enter an extension that would allow the company's PBX to transfer them to the phone belonging to the employee.

By allowing direct dial, PRI and VoIP Business Phone Service can cut down on the amount of time and effort needed on behalf of customers dialing into the phone system. The newest addition to Business Phone Service is known as VoIP. This acronym stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and VoIP systems are often called IP telephony as well. VoIP systems offer amazing flexibility and advanced features such as unified communications, which integrates phones, instant messaging, email and voicemail.

A basic VoIP system is a phone system that communicates via the internet instead of traditional dedicated phone lines. For smaller companies, a basic VoIP Business Phone Service can provide both Business Phone Service for voice traffic and internet connectivity for one low price. Due to the nature of having all digital components, VoIP systems offer unmatched flexibility and features for businesses and are usually a fraction of the price of a traditional phone system. Unlike POTS lines, a phone number controlled by a VoIP system is not limited to one physical location. VoIP Business Phone Service allows companies to geographically disperse their workforce while keeping a common dialing and number structure.

Along with increased mobility and features, VoIP services do not charge by the minute as traditional POTS lines would and often do not charge for long distance domestic calls. For larger businesses, VoIP Business Phone Service is often combined with stable PRI systems to provide optimal voice features with the best possible system stability. Even though VoIP is different from the traditional ISDN technology of PRI's, it is common to see companies who use internal VoIP systems that travel through a PRI to reach the outside world. In this situation, the internal systems will all be controlled by a VoIP system which is then connected to a PRI.

By using this hybrid system, the business gains the features and functionalities of a VoIP system while retaining the stability and physical connectivity of a traditional PRI. Although Business Phone Service has greatly changed in recent years, the need for a reliable phone system has remained constant. By understanding the different Business Phone Service options available, it becomes easier to choose the best possible phone system for any business.