PBX vs. VoIP
PBX
The acronym PBX stands for Private Branch eXchange. In legacy telephone systems, the term PBX was used to distinguish private business systems from common carrier or public telephone systems. Early PBX systems used operators to manually connect incoming and outgoing calls. Today, any private telephone system with multiple lines can be called a PBX system.
Traditional PBX systems were only compatible with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). In the current business telephone market, many PBX systems are compatible with both PSTN and Voice over IP (VoIP) technology. These are sometimes referred to as hybrid systems, and they have the advantage of managing calls for either PSTN or VoIP telephones.
PBX systems can offer many useful features, including auto attendant, auto dial, call hold and forwarding, call waiting, and direct inward dialing (DID). Managing these features on PBX systems can be technically challenging and involve proprietary hardware and software changes, while most VoIP systems have streamlined interfaces that make this task easier.
VoIP
There are features that VoIP systems offer that are not available in other technologies. Voicemail and fax integration with email are examples of VoIP only features that are becoming standard business features. The ability to receive voicemails and faxes through email can greatly improve productivity and responsiveness for any business. VoIP systems can also include mobile and text messaging capabilities that are not part of the standard PBX feature set.
VoIP systems are more flexible also. Adding lines and users involves making a few changes in a web-based interface, while in a PBX system these may require hardware and software updates. VoIP systems are designed to be scalable and do not require hardware upgrades to add lines or users.
VoIP also has the advantage of decreased calling costs. Because VoIP does not use the PSTN to route calls, the costs of using the traditional telephone network is bypassed. In some cases, such as toll-free services and dedicated long distance, this cost savings is dramatic.
Some businesses have been reluctant to adopt VoIP systems because of concerns over call quality and consistency. With the recent improvements in broadband technology and digital communications, these concerns have effectively been eliminated. Today it is very difficult to distinguish between the quality of a VoIP call and a call made over the traditional telephone network.
When choosing between traditional PBX and VoIP, it is important to determine which features and capabilities are required, along with operating costs over the long term. After a thorough review of these requirements, each business can arrive at the best choice for their situation.
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