The are a number of disadvantages of hosted pbx virtual telephone systems including:

• Call Quality Issues
• Being Locked In To A Single Supplier
• Scalability Issues

Each of the above is covered in more depth in the following sections.

Call Quality Issues

As with all VOIP telephone connections call quality is going to be an issue that must be addressed, running your virtual telephone system over a DSL internet connection can have some drawbacks when it comes to maintaining call quality over a number of simultaneous calls.

Firstly you need to ensure that enough bandwidth is assigned to your VOIP calls, this can be done with most modern firewalls as they have QoS (Quality of Service) settings that allow you to prioritise bandwidth usage. However the more extensions that you try to run the more of an issue bandwidth will become. For most businesses that aren't doing significant amounts of data transfer a standard broadband connnection will maintain about 8 simultaneous calls, however if you do large amounts of data transfer on the same connection this will be reduced.

This bandwidth requirement means that hosted PBX is ideal for small businesses with up to 8 extensions, but once you get above that there are likely to be call quality isses with standard broadband connections. If your organisation is a high data transfer user it would be advisable to get a second broadband connection for the telephone system.

Being Locked In To A Single Supplier

Most service providers will require you to sign up for a minimum term contract, which effectively locks you into their service, once you have your system set up the set up time and effort will make moving to an alternative supplier difficult.

This isn't actually that much of a disadvantage as for the most part the purchase of a phone system is likely to lock you into that system for longer in order to recoup the cost of purchase and most telecoms suppliers will lock you into a contract for lines and calls anyway.

Scalability Issues

The scalability of hosted PBX phone systems is inextricably linked with the call quality issues discussed above. Effectively to extend your phone system you will need to increase the bandwidth of the internet connection to your office and at some point it will become cheaper to have a PBX at the office rather than try to ramp up the net connection further.

Click the link to see our appraisal of the Advantages of Hosted PBX Telephone Systems