How to setup VOIP for small business?

First, here is a thread on voip from last month. Maybe you can glean some info from that.


I'm kind of in the same boat as you, just starting to learn about voip. What I know so far:

UniFi Talk is probably the easiest to set up and probably one of the cheapest as well. You won't be able to use their grandstream phones, but Ubiquiti's phones aren't too expensive and they'll only be paying $10/mo per phone number so $20/mo total. It won't be the most feature-rich system, but I don't think a hair salon would need many features beyond basic voice.

If you go another route, it's kind of your choice whether you want an all-inclusive provider or if you want to pick and choose more of the DIY route. What it boils down to is you'll need the phones of course, and you'll need a SIP trunk provider and a PBX. The PBX can be on-premises or in the cloud, and the cloud option can either be run yourself on your own VM or managed by the provider.

The provider managed cloud PBX is probably the best option for a setup this small. I believe you can even get a free cloud PBX from 3CX, then they'll only be paying for the SIP trunk which can be very cheap.

There are many all-inclusive options, too many to list, but they will probably be easier to set up than 3CX at the cost of higher monthly bills. Most seem to cost in the $20-30/mo range per extension (per phone/user basically), so maybe twice the cost of UniFi Talk.

If you will be managing this system, might be best to go with UniFi Talk and call it a day. If you want to get your hands dirty get a free 3CX pbx, choose one of their recommended SIP providers, and get to work.

I posted about Nextiva in the linked thread. Still remain a fan and it’s very low cost. It continues to scale with us. Support is excellent as is uptime. It’s plug and play. Can take my phone home
if I wanted to. Also have softphone app on my phone so I can take business calls anywhere.

LINK

Thanks capn

thanks hung pu