How Cheap Small Business Phone Plans Transform Into Costly Ones With All The Hidden Charges

In an economy where the cost of almost everything keeps increasing, chief executive officers look for ways to save money. Many consider cheap small business phone plans that promise to slash communication bills by half or even more. However, what company owners don't realize is that most of these tantalizing options only cover the bare-bones basics and throw in a lot of hidden fees. Also, vendors that provide services for $10 or less a month usually can't offer high quality reception or great customer service.

Compare Business Phone Systems To Discover The Most Valuable Choices

A base plan provider may only charge $9.99 a month. While that sounds very appealing, this fee often only includes one number, 100 local and long-distance minutes and voice mail. Any company could use 100 minutes within one day and then be stuck paying the extra 4.9 cents per additional minute for the rest of the month. That manager would be screaming when he received that surprise bill and might even have to lay off an employee just to cover the expense.

Although this "base" plan doesn't come with any additional features, other small business phone plans include voice to text, unlimited local and long-distance minutes, conferencing, auto attendants (push this button for this person), and find me follow me (transfers the number to where you are: office, cell, home, personal assistant, etc). Voice to text greatly cuts down on the time employees spend checking messages since it transcribes voice mail messages into written text sent to the person's email. Companies that deal with out-of-state clients and vendors appreciate the benefits of conferencing because they save lots of money on travel expenses by having several people connected at once through small business phone plans. Traveling staff take advantage of "find me follow me" features by being able to automatically transfer their calls to their cell or home. As bosses compare business phone systems, they often find that a service like this that offers all these features only costs $20 a month, whereas the $9.99 a month base plan would cost $49 to add all of the extras onto the basic plan.

Hidden Expenses To Avoid

In addition to monthly features, certain small business phone plans require an organization to purchase pricey equipment just to use their services. Some modems can cost up to $80. On top of paying for the equipment, particular plans don't actually give a company full ownership of the item, but instead they lease it for a monthly fee and then take it back when the service is cancelled. If the product breaks down during this lease period, many suppliers charge an extremely high repair fee. On the other hand, some dealers don't make customers pay for the hardware, but they do demand an activation fee, ranging from $30 to $100. Another expense to ask about ahead of time is the shipping cost of the hardware. For company owners who want to avoid being surprised by any of these hidden payments, they should compare business phone systems until they find one that doesn't incorporate any of the above charges.

Technical Expertise Not Required

Once the features and setup expenses are determined, a potential customer should also investigate how easy small business phone plans are to operate. No administrator wants to sign up for a service and then have to spend days figuring out how it works. Extremely technical choices waste valuable time and money. Because a technical guru might take days to arrive while a company has no service at all, numerous customers could give up and take their business elsewhere. However, other small business phone plans function very simply. After ordering online, a user simply follows a few steps and is activated within minutes. On top of fast setup, these vendors also give customers a user-friendly Web 2.0 interface where they can add, change or remove users just as easily as they operate their email account. With these services, a company that needs five additional users added for only a season can quickly add them online and the billing is adjusted automatically. No hours of waiting on hold to talk to a representative or sitting around for the technician required.

By doing a little research to compare business phone systems, chief executive officers will realize that cheap isn't always as inexpensive as it appears. Taking a little time will save hassle, disappointment and various unexpected costs.