When does a business outgrow using a regular cell phone for calls?
Summary
A cell phone is enough while one person answers every call and giving customers a personal number causes no trouble. A business system starts to earn its place when several people need to answer the same number, when staff want to call from their own phones without exposing personal numbers, or when a number has to stay with the company after someone leaves. Business phone services run as apps on the same smartphones, so the real difference is who controls the numbers and the routing.
The day a salesperson quits
Say a rep spent three years handing customers a personal cell number. When the rep leaves, the number leaves too. Customers who call it reach a former employee, and the call history sits on that person's phone.
On a business system the number belongs to the company account. An admin moves it to the replacement, and customers keep dialing the same digits.
If you already run the business on a personal cell number, you are not necessarily stuck with it. The FCC says porting can be done between wireline, IP and wireless providers.
One number, several people
| Personal cell phone | Business phone system | |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | Whoever holds that phone | A group, all at once or in turn |
| Caller ID on outbound calls | The personal number | The business number, even from a personal phone |
| When someone leaves | Number and history go with them | Admin reassigns the number |
| Phone menu | None | Available on many plans |
The phone menu and shared answering are not on every plan. Google Voice lists "call routing with auto attendants and ring groups" under Standard, while its Voice-only Starter is "for one user" and "available in the US." A team that needs shared answering has to price the tier that includes it.
What the money pays for
A cell phone bill pays for the wireless line and data. A cloud phone subscription pays for the calling service on top of that. If your team already carries smartphones, you are pricing a business number on phones they have, not a second device. For one person working alone, the site's one-person business pages run the numbers for the US and the UK.
Sources
- workspace.google.com/products/voice
- fcc.gov/consumers/guides/porting-keeping-your-phone-number-when-you-change-providers
Related on this site
- What does a business phone system actually do for a small company?
- Is a VoIP number or a virtual number any different from a regular phone number?
- Do you still need desk phones if your business phone system has an app?
- Does a one-person business need a phone system? The US arithmetic
- Does a one-person business need a phone system? The UK arithmetic
- How does a business phone system decide who answers a call?
Written by Kaz (pen name). Figures are copied from providers' published pricing pages on the dates shown. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.