--- title: "IP phone system: on-site, IP PBX or cloud? How to decide" description: "PBX, PABX, IP PBX or cloud: five criteria for choosing your company's IP phone system, and the real cost over 3 to 5 years. No-obligation proposal." language: en url: https://www.dataroad-it.com/en/business-ip-phone-system-pbx-cloud/ source: https://www.dataroad-it.com/en/business-ip-phone-system-pbx-cloud/ publisher: DataRoad IT (DataRoad - IT Services and Consulting), Portugal --- > PBX, PABX, IP PBX or cloud: five criteria for choosing your company's IP phone system, and the real cost over 3 to 5 years. No-obligation proposal. # IP phone system: on-site, IP PBX or cloud? How to decide At a glance For decision-makers short on time. - 01 PBX and PABX are the same thing; the real decision is on-premises or hosted by a provider. - 02 Five criteria: sites, remote working, internet quality, simultaneous calls and integrations. - 03 Compare costs over 3–5 years; over one year the decision comes out wrong. - 04 Poor voice quality almost always lies in the internal network, not the PBX. ### In this article A customer call that rings into the void is a sale that does not happen. Choosing an **IP phone system** is therefore a business decision: where the PBX sits, on your premises or with a provider, and whether the internal network carries voice with quality. Three ideas save money straight away: PBX and PABX are the same thing; the right comparison is over three to five years; and the most expensive mistake is usually in the network, not the PBX. This is the analysis DataRoad - IT Services and Consulting carries out before proposing any voice solution. ## Which terms do you need to know to decide? - **PBX** A private exchange that connects extensions to each other and to the outside world. - **PABX** Exactly the same; the "A" for automatic dates from the days of switchboard operators. Paying more for a PABX is paying for a letter. - **IP PBX** A phone system that routes calls over the data network. - **VoIP** The voice over IP technology; not a product. - **SIP trunk** The connection to the carrier that replaces physical lines. - **Cloud PBX** An IP PBX hosted by a provider and paid for by subscription. ## On-premises PBX, IP PBX or cloud: which suits your company? | Architecture | When it pays off | Trade-off | | --- | --- | --- | | Physical PBX in the building | Many analogue phones, unstable internet or a requirement that voice never leaves the premises | Higher upfront investment and obsolescence | | IP PBX on your own server | You want control and flexibility: a new extension is configuration, not hardware | Someone has to keep it updated | | Cloud PBX | Several sites or a lot of remote working; payment per user | Total dependence on the internet and a permanent monthly cost | ## Which five questions settle the decision? - **How many sites do you have?** With just one, every option works. With two or more, the cloud moves ahead. - **How many people work outside the office?** If it is a lot, the choice is practically made. - **What internet do you have?** Voice uses little bandwidth, but does not tolerate latency variation or packet loss. - **How many calls at the same time?** Almost everyone overestimates. Thirty people rarely occupy more than eight to ten channels. - **Which integrations do you want?** Identifying the customer in the CRM, recording calls or having call queues narrows the options. Discuss this before discussing price. Moving to the cloud? Measure the connection at peak time first and have a second backup connection. With the PBX outside the building, internet down means a company without a phone. ## What does each option cost over five years? **On-premises PBX:** licences per extension, server or appliance, IP phones, installation and numbering plan, annual maintenance, SIP trunk and call traffic. **Cloud PBX:** a monthly fee per user, which is the biggest slice, phones, initial set-up with number porting and call traffic. The on-premises solution weighs heavily at the start and is cheap afterwards. The cloud starts light and always charges the same. Fast-growing companies rarely regret the cloud. Those with a single office and a stable team tend to spend less with their own PBX after four or five years. Beware of the per-user price: going from 30 to 60 people doubles the bill without anyone deciding anything. ## How do you migrate without losing calls? - **Start with number porting** It has legal deadlines and depends on the current carrier. It sets the timetable. - **Run both systems in parallel** Divert a test number, validate quality, train the team and only switch the main numbers at the end. - **Avoid Fridays** A fault discovered on Friday afternoon lasts until Monday. - **Redesign call routing** Who answers first, what happens out of hours, where an unanswered call goes. This is worth more than any catalogue feature. ## Where do companies go wrong most often? - **Buying from the catalogue** Every PBX has dozens of features; most companies use five. - **Forgetting the network** "the voice is bad" is often fixed in the [structured cabling and internal network](https://www.dataroad-it.com/en/structured-cabling-installation/). - **No UPS** A power cut leaves the company without phones. - **Not testing out of hours** Some only discover months later that night-time calls were reaching nobody. - **A PBX open to the internet** It attracts toll fraud, and the damage shows up on the next bill. Protect it with [managed firewalls](https://www.dataroad-it.com/en/managed-firewall-services-portugal/). ## Want voice integrated into your IT infrastructure? DataRoad installs and manages [IP PBX phone systems](https://www.dataroad-it.com/en/managed-ip-pbx-portugal/), on-premises or in the cloud, with porting of your numbers and integration into the existing network, within an IT Unlimited contract. Request a no-commitment proposal. **More than 10 workstations · support contract · remote, on-site and telephone support.** +351 211 459 950 * · sales@dataroad.pt **Call to a Portuguese landline.* Chosen by respected and international companies ★★★★★ 5,0 · 52 Google reviews ★★★★★ 5,0 · 52 Google reviews DataRoad ## Related articles [IT UnlimitedHow to measure the quality of your IT provider’s supportAlmost every IT provider says it responds quickly. Few show how they measure it. 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Microsoft 365 and cloud managed as critical infrastructure: protected accounts, reviewed licences and data backed up off-site. - **M365** backed up off-site - **0** DataRoad security incidents in 11 years - **MFA** on every managed account We do **IT** right. DataRoad IT Unlimited ## Operational continuity is not luck. It is method and contract. IT Unlimited reduces risk and shows in writing what changed. [Request a proposal, no commitment →](https://www.dataroad-it.com/en/#contact)+351 211 459 950 **Call to a Portuguese landline · More than 10 workstations · support contract · remote, on-site and phone support[Not sure what you need? Talk to the assistant →](https://www.dataroad-it.com/en/#assistente) --- Versão HTML desta página: https://www.dataroad-it.com/en/business-ip-phone-system-pbx-cloud/