When you're starting your own business, you want to be sure you are getting the company phone that suits you best, with the most affordable price. You should understand that a cheap phone package offered is not necessarily the best, just like a complete system with all the bells and whistles can be a lot for your personal needs.

Remember that a good business telephone is not simply something to help you contact clients. Once you learn how to go about it, your business telephone can be an effective instrument for developing and expanding your business. It is up to you if you wish to take advantage of its potential beyond simply a way to engage with your clients.

Before signing up to any phone service, make sure you do the following:

1. When you have existing devices or equipment which can be utilized to enhance your system, add them in the list of resources you have. You may also want to include your office area, location, employees, IT infrastructure and funds designated for the set up and servicing of your company phone. Pay attention to your sources which can be utilized to enhance your phone system.

2. Review your needs, and forecast future ones. Based on the kind of business you have or need to set up, your needs may range from long-distance calling, faxing, voicemail, a PBX or private branch exchange or other phone features that do not include in a standard phone system.

3. Don't buy anything unless you've seen everything. Asking, assessing and contrasting service providers and the myriad of phone service packages they have is tiresome, but at the end of day, you can rest assured that you made the best choice possible and there wasn't a package out there that you did not look into or didn't know about. Think of the disappointment you will feel if you find out that if only you took a little longer to have a look or speak to more phone companies, you will be paying way less for a better phone system.

To help you decide, listed below is a short review of the two company phone systems you may choose from:

1. Landline - you can acquire a landline phone from a local phone company. Telephone company employees arrive at your place to set up your proprietary system using phone wires which are linked to the phone lines your service provider has presented in your location. You may be billed for the phone service, the exclusive use of phone lines, extra telephone options like automatic answer or a PBX and long distance charges. Expect to have a big installation fee and an once a month maintenance.

2. VoIP-based - an alternative to the landline system is an internet-based company phone. You'll need a set of strict system needs before you could perform telephony functions on your IT infrastructure. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol , which is technology that allows you to create completely functional company phone systems with your pcs and internet connection.