How Much Does A Business Phone Line Cost?

Business phone lines are an essential part of business. We’ve written a few times on our blog about them – for example why phone lines are still important, and advantages of landlines over mobile phones.

When it comes to the price of a phone line, the costs can vary.

You can often find a very affordable independent company, sometimes even just one person. They can offer sometimes amazing prices, because they don’t have the overheads of an established company. But it can be a false economy! You pay less for the service, and then when something goes wrong, you might not have the support in place. After all, there is only one person in the team!

At the other end, a more expensive option is to go with a big corporate, who have a large team in place. But sometimes a big and bureaucratic company can be slow to respond to queries. Articles like this and this are not uncommon.

So then you have the middle ground, where service levels and prices vary.

Some factors other than company size that influence price are:

One is the length of contract. Some suppliers will tie you in to a long contract, in order to keep prices low. That might be great from a cost point of view – but doesn’t offer you much flexibility if you change your mind, or downsize in the future.

Another reason line costs  vary is that one-off call costs could be more. Hidden costs like connection charges.
You should also consider what numbers you’ll be calling – some companies charge significantly more for calls to mobiles.

Does the company charge for calls per second, per minute, or as part of an overall package?
To confuse things more, there are also the charges you pay for equipment, if you need it. If you are going to be adding more than one phone line, then you’ll likely need to buy in specialist equipment and support.

You need to be sure that rather than just comparing raw prices, you also review the kit you’re getting. A lot of companies refurbish second-hand phones and fit them, which then means you aren’t getting the newest (or freshest) technology. It’s worth investing in newer tech because you’ll be future proofing your investment, and at the same time you’ll be benefiting from newer technology.

Our approach to pricing and service

At DataKom we try to balance price – which is clearly an important factor – with the service you expect. We know there’s no point having you on a contract, which you then leave when the service isn’t up to scratch. We’d rather lose some customers on price, and then they come back to us when they realise other suppliers couldn’t deliver the level of service they wanted.

On the other hand, a lot of customers are surprised at the prices we are able to charge.

We’ve worked hard to streamline our internal teams and our processes – meaning 9 out of 10 customers who get a comparison quote find we are better priced than their current deal.

So how do I navigate this minefield?

Overall, you should focus on the total cost of everything you want to do. Looking at line rental in isolation isn’t enough – you should consider what you want to achieve, how you’ll use the phone, what phone system you need and then price everything up together. Don’t get caught by companies who offer low line rental, and then hide the costs elsewhere.

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