Business Landlines Vs Hybrid Phone Systems: What’s The Difference?

Business landlines vs hybrid phone systems: What’s the difference?

30 January 2020

With all the hype around hybrid phone systems, you may be contemplating if it’s time to retire your legacy business landline and move to a cloud based solution.

While there’s no right or wrong answer, it’s worth arming yourself with the right information to see if your business will be better off right now, whether a hybrid solution is the key, or if it’s best to keep sticking with your trusty traditional business landline.

What is a hybrid phone system anyway?

As the name suggests, hybrid telephone systems combine a traditional on premise solution with a cloud platform, generally housed by the provider but with some redundancy and hardware still physically located at the business premises. It’s a common move businesses are making as part of a future transition to Voice-over-IP (VoIP).

If you’ve been told before you need a hosted system as part of your change over to NBN – it’s not true. A hybrid phone system can work with your existing infrastructure and be adapted as required.

Traditional business landline systems

Before we delve further into hybrid systems, lets review what it means to have a traditional phone line. 

Landlines, also described as public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), are analog systems that route calls via the phone company’s traditional copper wiring. For a business to run it, you need on premise PBX (private branch exchange) hardware. This enables you to create multiple extensions and utilise phone system features such as call transferring.

Why keep your business landline?

Many phone system providers are starting to phase out landlines making it harder to manage, but one thing is certain, they are reliable. If you’re a large company with IT support to maintain a traditional phone system – and it’s posing no problems, then ask yourself why would you change if it still works? Forking out new hardware for a cloud-based system can be costly, so it’s a decision that needs careful consideration.

Benefits of going hybrid

Hybrid telephone systems reduce business risks when transitioning from traditional analog phone systems to VoIP telephony.

Operating expenses are more affordable than a pure cloud system, and the upfront cost is less than a premise solution. If your cloud provider encounters a server error or connection issue, you still have the backing of your on site redundancy, which ensures you can continue to make and receive calls, with minimal business downtime. 

Using a hybrid model will reduce your call costs because calls are routed over the internet not the PSTN.

Business landline or hybrid – which should you choose?

No doubt the future is in hosted phone systems, but you need to weigh up whether it’s the best fit for your business right now.

Competition from VoIP based systems is ripe, but traditional business landlines still offer outstanding features. Caller ID, call forward, call blocking, call waiting and three-way calls are standard features for both systems, but business landlines do provide better sound quality and clarity.

Business landlines are still the best option for businesses without high-speed internet access, because cloud systems rely on a fast internet connection to work effectively.

Need help deciding? Get in touch with our business phone system specialists today to help determine the right solution for your business needs.