If you are opening an office for the first time or you are upgrading from a traditional Multi-Line Phone system choosing the best Voice Over IP Phones can be considered one of the more important things you do!
Best Voice-Over IP Phones vs the System
First, know that in this article we will discuss what we think is one of the best Voice Over IP Phones but those phones are only as good as the VoIP Business Phone Systems you connect it to! Not all VoIP Phone Systems are the same. I recently had an IT Guy who was speaking to me about a Product by Unify brand. He had these cool phones that were able to do so much however the Unify software behind the Phone System was so weak it could not do much of what the phones were able to do.
The Voice Over IP Phone System
The other thing to keep in mind is if your Voice Over IP Phone System software is poorly designed you may have the best voice over IP Phone and yet still not be happy with the results because either your PBX software does not support all the features or it is “glitchy”.
So when we compare the Best VoIP Phones for Business
| Ease of Use | Reliability | Cost | |
| Yealink T46U | Good | High | Moderate |
| VoiceOne VX5IP | Good | High | Competitive |
| Snom D785 | Good | High | High |
Overall we our Editors like the Yealink T46U for its performance and reliability as well as price point.
The Best Voice over IP Phone
The VoiceOne VX5IP phones and the Yealink T46U have a robust interface that the end user can accomplish the communications tasks that are critical to them. While making these phones flexible and dependable for the office. Keep in mind that the average lifespan of an IP Phone is about 7 years due to firmware support. This is one downside to the flexibility of a phone system. If your office does not need an IP Phone system a Traditional Multi-Line Phone System has a lifespan generally from 12 to 2o years using digital phones. Any IP Phone is going to be affected by the E.O.L.
What is important in an IP Phone?
IP Phones are a tool of the software they are connecting to so the button mapping and how the user engages features is what matters most in selecting the Best IP Phone. So current touch screens are interesting maybe even appealing but they are not designed like Smartphones therefore the interfaces tend to be glitchy. Whereas the Yealink T46U has both buttons and screen prompts and buttons to activate functions.
The VoiceOne VX5IP Phone
This phone as a great BLF layout that is a big focus of why it ended up high on our list. This phone puts all your associates on a designated area of your phone similar to that of a traditional line phone system you might be used to. Therefore this makes the phone more interesting than most other brands on the market which have switched to a central top screen interactive “busy area”. The Yealink T46U is one of the least busy and that is why it is number one, but the VoiceOne VX5IP is neck and neck with as the Best Voice Over IP Phone.
Things organizations do not consider is:
Does this phone allow for a shared hold – as IP Phone holds are not sharable
Can more than one phone ring on an incoming call like a traditional Phone System
Learning the options
There are a lot of DIY options on the market but even many IT Guys are overwhelmed by all of them and finding a Voice Over IP Provider who can assist you with matching your organization to the best options matters. Not One single phone system works like another and although some may be close what if your feature is not supported but you’re in a long-term contract? I have seen businesses have to pay $300 to $500 to just break an agreement on a cloud phone system. That money could have helped them spend a little more for the best Voice Over IP Phone system for their organization.
Voice Over IP Providers
Also, be aware that many Voice Over IP Providers will install custom firmware to a phone to activate functions and features that their Cloud Phone System can use. So in truth, this makes that phone its own “brand” of Voice Over IP Phone. So the first step is to choose your Voice Over IP Phone Provider and consider using a Pro Cloud Dealer who is paid by the carriers to consult with you. Use the contact form on this site to get connected to a Pro Cloud Dealer.
This article was about Voice Over IP Phone Systems and the Best Voice Over IP Phone. Explore our other articles to help you plan your phone system migration to modern technology.