Get the best business phone service
Learn why a unified communications solution is the best business phone service for productivity.
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Written by SanYee Dieh
Manager, Product Marketing
Reviewed by Esther Yoon
VP, Product Management
Updated: 30 August 2024
What is the best phone service for small business?
There are many small business phone service providers to choose from, so which is best for you?
In the modern business environment, the best phone service for small business is almost certainly a virtual phone service. A solution hosted in the cloud and based on VoIP provides SMBs the advantages of low cost, ease of use, and flexibility to take business calls from anywhere and any device. Benefits that were once exclusively available to enterprises.
Rather than an on-premises system that requires expensive hardware and hosting the service yourself, you can subscribe to a virtual business phone service provider like RingCentral.
That way, you can access and use the technology from anywhere, providing flexibility and mobility you simply cannot get from on-premises systems.
Signs you need a new business phone service
For small businesses, any and every expense needs careful consideration. When working within tight budgets, expenditures need to bring impressive return on investment (ROI).
Changing your business phone service may seem like a big commitment that, therefore, needs a lot of thought, So, how can you be certain whether you need to make the investment required to do so?
Here are some surefire signs that you need a new business phone service:
Your existing phone system uses outdated technology
Once upon a time, a business phone system meant copper wire landlines, lots of on-premises hardware, and a physical business phone sat on each person’s desk. If your current office phone service still looks like that, you’re behind the times and losing ground on your rivals.
Today, forward-thinking businesses—large and small—use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to power their phone systems. VoIP means calls are transmitted and handled via the internet rather than over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) of landlines.
VoIP-based business phone services have a wide array of advantages over their older-fashioned predecessors.
Not least, they’re generally much more cost-efficient for small businesses. After all, you don’t have to pay to install or maintain on-site hardware, and potentially expensive and variable phone bills are replaced by affordable monthly subscriptions.
Perhaps most importantly of all, VoIP-based business phone systems have more of a longer term future than landline-based alternatives.
In many countries around the world, governments and authorities are beginning to phase out their PSTN infrastructure. Depending on where your business operates, then, in a few years time you may have no option but to change your phone service. Getting ahead of that is just good business.
Your staff wants to work from home some or all the time
Remote and hybrid working is far more prevalent today than it has ever been before. In the past few years, employees and businesses alike have started to recognize the benefits of a more flexible working environment.
If you and your team members want to work from home—either some or all of the time—your small business phone system needs to be able to accommodate. A clunky, analog, on-premises setup doesn’t fit the bill.
A software-based solution, like RingCentral RingEX, is ideal. The service isn’t linked to a specific location (like your office). Instead, your staff can log in and get the full set of features wherever they are, on whichever device they want to use—as long as they have an internet connection (Wi-Fi, mobile internet, whatever).
That means they can take and make calls using a business number even if they’re at home, or in a coffee shop, or on the beach. What’s more, as RingEX is a unified communications solution, they can also send and receive messages and faxes, join video meetings, and more.
By giving your staff the mobility of a VoIP-based business phone service, you let them enjoy the benefits of remote working. That, then, delivers to you the benefits of a happier, more engaged workforce. It’s a win-win.
You need to both scale and improve efficiency
As a small business, one of your principal aims is to grow. That means that the scalability of any business phone service is crucial. If your current system can’t grow with you, it’s time to move on.
Your best choice of office phone service will be one that makes it quick and easy to add new users, business phone lines, and features. Perhaps there will be higher value tiers you can progress to or add-on features to invest in when desired.
As you grow, however, you don’t want your business’s efficiency—and, therefore, productivity—to suffer. That can happen if, as operations get more complex, your business tools and tech stack start to expand exponentially.
What’s better is if you can keep your number of solutions low while still ramping up functionality. You can achieve that with a business phone service like RingEX that can natively integrate with your other business tools. That leads to streamlined workflows and an end to app-hopping.
How to get a business phone line
The days when getting a business phone line meant contacting your carrier to arrange a physical phone line installation are long gone. Today, if you want to get a new line, it’s often only a conversation or even a click away.
If you’re switching to a VoIP business phone service, you’ll often get a virtual phone line for each user as part of your subscription. As and when desired, too, you can set up new lines, extensions, and users to meet your needs. Typically, all that takes is the use of a simple admin portal or—at worst—a call or message to your provider.
If you subscribe to a RingCentral RingEX plan, each of your users gets a business phone line with a dedicated number. You can then add local, toll-free, and other numbers for an affordable monthly fee and one-time setup charge. That makes them among the cheapest business phone line alternatives out there.
Get a big business phone solution on a small budget
Thanks to those advantages of small business phone services, you can equip your organization with the same tools that large companies use to grow.
Because everything is in the cloud, you get all the benefits of a robust and versatile business telephone service without being responsible for its management and oversight.
RingCentral manages your communications for you, for one fixed cost that’s surprisingly affordable and budget-friendly—You can even get started with a 15-day free trial.
Business phone lines that never miss a call—And a whole lot more
The best small business phone service is a virtual one, but is it actually a phone service? Does your business only communicate internally and with customers over the phone? Probably not.
So, wouldn’t it be better to have a holistic communications solution that handles your business line services and a whole lot more besides?
Advanced virtual phone system features
While you may want more than simply a small business phone service, that doesn’t mean you can afford to skimp on call handling and management.
The best business phone service will have a full suite of features such as:
- A business phone line and phone number (local or toll free) that users can access from their cell phone or mobile device
- A telephone service with unlimited calling and call forwarding
- Auto attendant with call routing that also has options for professionally recorded greetings for on-hold messages and voicemail
Unify all your business communications
The best communications solution can be different for each business. Each has their own business communication needs that any software or platform must fulfill.
The modern age of business, however, few companies will rely on a business phone alone. That’s why RingCentral has gone beyond the basic virtual phone service by developing a unified communications solution. One that meets most, if not all, communications needs of businesses of all sizes.
Aside from providing a reliable telephony and call management system, RingCentral provides other useful communication and collaboration tools, including:
- Unlimited Online meetings
- Text messaging
- Unlimited Team messaging, file sharing, and task management
- Online faxing
- A personal AI assistant
- IT/business analytics
- Over 300 pre-built integrations for your other favorite business tools.
The best part is that all these features and functions can be accessed from one unified platform, removing the need to switch from app to app for different modes of communication. That’s a surefire way to boost productivity in your small business.
How to choose the right business phone service
Choosing the right business phone system for your organization is not easy. There are a lot of providers out there that claim to be the best, but their service ultimately falls short of what businesses need.
If you’re still not sure what the best business phone service is for you, here are some of the things to look for:
- Communication and collaboration features beyond basic virtual phone service
Don’t limit your business to just the basics. While having VoIP and cloud hosted PBX to help you fully take advantage of virtual phone numbers is great, there is a lot more to cloud communications that can benefit your business.
RingCentral, in fact, has most if not all the features you need to communicate internally and externally. Aside from a cloud-hosted phone system, RingCentral also features a powerful team collaboration and messaging app.
From there, you can form teams, share files, and even manage tasks. It also includes a powerful online meetings app with screen sharing, interactive whiteboards, AI-powered features like video summaries, highlights, live transcription, full-featured desktop and mobile browser experience, and more. Host or join an audio or video conference call from anywhere, on any device and ensures that you and your co-collaborators can get on the same page even if you’re not operating from the same place.
Need to provide exceptional omnichannel customer experiences, too? RingCentral also has you covered there thanks to RingCX, an AI-powered contact center solution that works seamlessly with the rest of the RingCentral stable of solutions.
- All the communication tools you need in one platform
In the past, you had to get a different provider for each virtual communication need. Aside from your virtual phone service, you had to get a separate online meetings provider and a separate team messaging app.
That doesn’t even account for the non-communication tools like your customer relationship management (CRM) software. As a result, users would get app overload from the many different tools they had to use.
Fortunately, the RingCentral app (for desktop and for mobile) acts like your central communications hub. From the app, you can make and receive calls, access your voicemail, message your team, start an online meeting instantly, and even leverage push-to-talk capabilities to connect with your frontline teams. You can do all those and more without ever leaving RingCentral.
- A phone service that integrates with your business apps
Look for a business communications solution that plays nice with your other business apps, too.
Whether you use the popular Salesforce CRM or productivity apps like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, there’s a RingCentral integration available in the App Gallery, which allows you to use your phone system from within the business app itself.
If your business is using custom-made apps, you can still add communication components to it. There are different RingCentral APIs that you can use to add calling, faxing, SMS, and other functions to your own business app.
- A reliable hosted phone system
A virtual phone system that is always down and unavailable is worse than useless to a business—it is a huge liability. Instead of helping the organization, it contributes to the negative perception of a company because it will seem that they are unreachable to customers.
That’s why RingCentral hosts its service on multiple servers in multiple data centers across the US. This ensures redundancy of service. If one server or data center fails, you can be assured there is a whole other set of servers and data centers that can take over and keep the service running.
- Secure virtual phone service
One of the disadvantages of using a virtual phone service is that your data—like voice, fax, or SMS—will be going through a public network like the internet. This makes it susceptible to being intercepted by third parties while they’re being transmitted.
RingCentral makes sure that does not happen to your business. By employing high-level encryption, your important information is protected from breaches during IP transmissions and even when data is at rest at endpoints like the RingCentral app on desktop or mobile.
In addition to this, RingCentral employs an overall comprehensive security strategy that includes regular data center audits, multi-factor authentication (MFA), built-in service layer fraud protection, and more.
This gives subscribers peace of mind in going virtual with their telephone service and other communications needs.
So, is RingCentral the business phone service provider for you?
All business phone services providers will tell you they’re right for your company. What makes RingCentral truly stand out from the crowd?
Be more mobile with the RingCentral App
- You’re responsible for building and managing a thriving business. If on any given day your company is being run out of a hotel room, a coffee shop, or your car, so be it.
- Your on-the-go lifestyle demands that you be reachable at any time, anywhere. As one of the leading small business phone service providers, RingCentral’s communications solution is mobile-ready and ideal for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives.
- With the RingCentral for iPhone or Android mobile app, you’re empowered to work the way you want while maintaining a unified business identity. Use your company numbers to communicate directly from your cell phone. Look big while remaining agile and able to respond instantly.
Integrate with your favorite business applications
If you use Google Workspace or other popular business applications, you’re going to like what we can do for you.
Make and receive calls and texts without leaving Gmail. Use click-to-dial phone numbers that appear in emails, documents, and web pages. Schedule online meetings (video and web conferencing) from within Google Calendar. You can even fax documents directly from Google Docs and Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel. All of these come free with your RingCentral VoIP phone solution.
Remain in control of your phone service, always
With our communications solution, you get none of the capital equipment or hardware costs associated with legacy business phone systems.
All-inclusive pricing gives you a fixed, predictable cost with little to manage. There are no setup fees and get access to free implementation advisors. If you choose to purchase desk VoIP phones, you can expect them to arrive pre-configured.
Our cloud phone service has built-in redundancy to keep your data safe and ensure automatic failover in the event of an outage. Even upgrades are automatic, with no discernible disruption of service.
Plan for growth with a scalable phone service
Growing your company is made easier with the right call technologies. When your success leads you to outgrow your solution, RingCentral is ready to help you step up to the next level. In all facets of your organization, at every stage, we’ve got you covered.
More benefits of a business phone service from RingCentral
That’s not the end of the business phone service benefits you’ll get if you trust RingCentral as your provider. You’ll also see advantages when it comes to:
Affordability
You’re on a tight budget, so you’ll find our transparent, all-inclusive pricing easy on your wallet.
Ease of use and setup
Our intuitive menu makes setting up extremely easy. Phone system features can be optimized to work the way you work, even from your smartphone.
Portability
Go on the road with powerful features in the palm of your hand. Our mobile app is available for iOS and Android devices.
Reliability
You can’t afford to have your phones go down. We have servers in multiple locations to prevent outages and data loss.
Productivity
This cloud-based, virtual phone system works with a multitude of useful cloud applications, including Google Docs and Gmail.
24/7 Free Support
Your workday doesn’t adhere to normal office hours, and neither does your communications solution. Have questions or need help? We’re available.
Differences between business phone systems and business phone services
You’ve probably noticed that the business world is arguably as full of jargon and terminology as it’s ever been.
The niche of business communications is no exception, and you’ve probably heard the terms “business phone system” and “business phone service” both getting thrown around. But, is there a difference and what is it?
In general, the answer is no, there is no difference. The two terms are broadly used synonymously to describe a solution delivering a business’s telephony.
The only possible exception is if someone is talking about cell service. In that case, “business phone service” may refer to the signal quality available to business-provided cell phones.
The best small business phone service empowers you and your customers
Today’s employees want to work from anywhere and be empowered to be as productive as possible by their communications solutions. Consumers, meanwhile, expect instant, seamless, and personalized communication from small businesses as well as enterprises.
The right business phone service, then, is one which is accessible anywhere, has a wide range of features, and works perfectly with other business tools. More than that, it makes it easy to collaborate across teams and to best serve customers.
RingCentral offers companies more than just a business phone system; it provides a reliable, secure, and complete unified communications solution. It checks all the boxes of the communications needs checklist that businesses of all sizes have.
Small business phone service FAQs
“Business phone” is a term which may be used to describe a physical piece of hardware or a broader telephony system. “Business phone service”, meanwhile, will typically only ever refer to the latter.
A business phone, therefore, may be a desk phone, a smartphone in your pocket, or the software-based system you use either one alongside. The business phone service, though, is that software solution.
If you run a small business and are serious about making a success of it, you need a business phone of one form or another. Trying to run your operation using your personal phone and numbers is just asking for trouble.
Using personal numbers for business can appear unprofessional to your customers. What’s more, it concedes your own privacy. Once you give out your personal number, you’re committed to being available whenever a customer may want to reach you.
No matter the size of your business, a business phone service based on VoIP technology is the best choice. The PSTN network on which landline-based setups are based is being phased out in many nations.
What’s more, internet telephony also has a wide range of other benefits over traditional on-premises systems. VoIP solutions are typically more flexible, mobile, and scalable, and also often prove more cost-effective.
RingCentral is a cloud-based phone service provider that enables you to stay connected anytime, anywhere.
A low-maintenance, high-performance unified communications solution, it’s ideal for smaller companies with limited resources.
Businesses that see the greatest return on investment from this would be organizations that:
- Require a reliable and secure business phone system
- Plan to add staff
- Have employees who spend significant time in the field
- Have a limited IT budget
It’s much easier to get started with a virtual business phone service than a traditional, landline-based alternative. There’s no lengthy and disruptive hardware installation—and also none of the associated costs.
Instead, all you need to do is sign up for your chosen plan, download the necessary software and apps, and start customizing your system. Providers like RingCentral design their solutions to be intuitive and easy to get started with, and there’s also support on hand as and when you need it.
Yes, the business phone service providers can help you to keep the number that your customers already know and trust. When you sign up to RingCentral, you can complete a port-in request for your existing number(s) and we’ll work with your existing provider to get things switched over.
The cost of any business phone service will depend on your chosen provider and the plan you sign up for. RingCentral offers a range of affordable pricing tiers to suit small businesses and enterprises alike. Once you’re signed up, you can always upgrade to a higher tier as your business scales.
You can sign up to one of three different RingCentral RingEX phone plans. The Core, Advanced, and Ultra plans all include the following key calling features:
- A dedicated business phone number per user, usable for outgoing and incoming calls
- Unlimited domestic calling in the USA and Canada (including to Puerto Rico)
- A multi-level auto-attendant (AKA, virtual receptionist) and IVR
- HD voice quality
- Caller ID for inbound calls
- On-demand call recording
- Call Park—a handy call waiting alternative
- Affordable international calling
- Visual voicemail, voicemail transcription and voicemail-to-email
- Mobile phone and desktop apps
- And more
Further more advanced features and functionality are provided at the Advanced and Ultra tiers to suit your business needs. All three plans, meanwhile, also boast communications channels beyond the phone, including SMS, team messaging, and video conferencing.
Yes, with RingCentral RingEX it’s easy to add additional business phone lines and numbers. Each of your users gets a dedicated number as part of your plan, but you can supplement these with further local, toll-free, and other numbers.
When it comes to local numbers, RingCentral has over 200 different area codes for you to choose from. That makes it easy to establish a local presence in whichever markets you desire.
If you’re a RingCentral RingEX user, it’s straightforward and swift to add an additional toll-free number for your business. All you need to do is to log in to your RingCentral online account and then head to Home page > Phone Numbers > Add Number.
From there, you can pick Toll-Free Number under Number Type. Once you’ve chosen your desired toll-free prefix, you can select a number from those listed in RingCentral or Number Inventory (you may select multiple numbers), click Add Numbers, then click Next.
After that, it’s as simple as following the on-screen instructions to confirm your order. If you do come across any issues, you can always reach out to customer support.
One of the great things about a business phone line as part of a business VoIP-based system like RingEX is that it’s not limited to a specific device. Therefore, you can access and use your business phone lines from any device where you log in to RingCentral—cell phones included.
Thanks to the Call Flip feature, too, you can even transfer an ongoing call from one device to another (say, a computer to your cell phone) with just a single click.
Yes, if you currently use a third-party phone answering service (perhaps for after hours calls), you can still use it with RingCentral.
All you need to do is to set up call forwarding rules in your RingCentral account to direct calls to the external number associated with the answering service. It’s not only answering services that you can forward calls to, either. It’s quick and easy to direct them to both RingCentral and external numbers, including cell phones, landlines, and more.
There are numerous benefits of VoIP phone services for small businesses. Perhaps most notably, they’re typically much more cost-efficient than traditional landline-based systems.
That’s because you don’t need to pay for costly hardware installation or be responsible for maintaining it. What’s more, call charges—especially for international and long-distance calls—are often more inexpensive. That’s just two ways that VoIP services can provide the cheapest business phone line for your organization.
Aside from cost-savings, too, VoIP phone services also offer small businesses greater flexibility and scalability. For example, they can make remote working a possibility and are often more capable of growing with a business as it expands.
Now. No, seriously, if you’re still reliant on a landline-based business phone service you’re in danger of being left behind. Businesses have been upgrading to VoIP for years and enjoying its many advantages.
What makes it an even more urgent proposition is that many nations across the globe are phasing out their PSTN (landline) networks. In the UK, there’s a plan for the PSTN to be obsolete by the end of 2025. In the USA, the FC have already ruled that carriers aren’t necessarily required to maintain the network.