Businesses that are considering an upgrade to their existing office phone system should first count the cost of purchasing an in-house voicemail system in comparison to ordering voicemail service. There is a significant difference between the two.

Purchasing an in-house voicemail system entails buying the equipment and software, and learning how to operate the system yourself. Costs usually run anywhere between $500 to $4,000 for the smaller systems, with the software license — at least a few hundred dollars — on top of that. A medium to large-sized company would spend exponentially more in order to buy a system with more ports, which allow for additional extensions.

For example, a Nortel CallPilot 150 voicemail system priced for $2,199 on a retail site, and an Amanda Work Group Windows 4-port voicemail system priced for $3,495. A Duvoice 8-port system with unified messaging retailed for $4,928 and, on the cheaper end, a used Nortel Startalk 4-port system priced at $795. These units usually allow between 9 and 60 hours of storage of saved voicemail messages.

Voicemail service, on the other hand, relates to hosted voicemail, meaning that the service provider uses their equipment to host the company’s voicemail, so that the business doesn’t have to purchase any. Thus, costs are significantly lower. Voicemail service providers, which include unified messaging service, normally offer their plans around $10 a month. Users usually receive up to 10 extensions when utilizing a voicemail service and up to 999 messages can be stored. There is no software to install, and the only learning involved is navigating the simple web-controlled dashboard.

Business executives can decide which route they would rather take: purchasing their own equipment, or utilizing the services of a host company. However, especially for small business owners and entrepreneurs, purchasing voicemail service would seem to be the most economical way to go by far.

For more information, visit https://www.voicemailoffice.com