There are three main phone system options for your School, College or University; Hosted, IP or Hybrid.
Should you choose a Hosted Phone system for your School, College or University, you are effectively renting the phone system rather than purchasing your own dedicated system. It is cloud-based which means you connect to it using an internet connection (IP technology.) There are no significant upfront capital costs except the cost for any handsets.
Should you choose an IP Phone System, you purchase the phone system for your own use and you choose where to host it; on-premise or off-site. An IP Phone System uses Internet Protocol (IP) technology and the handsets are connected via an Ethernet connection either on a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN.)
This means that you have a phone system that uses an internet connection to operate but through your own dedicated internet connection. Using your own dedicated connection ensures the voice quality calls without impacting your general data usage (subject to having the right amount of bandwidth, of course.)
Schools, Colleges, and Universities opt for a Hybrid Phone System when they have ISDN, Analogue or Digital infrastructure but want the advantages of IP, too. It is worth noting that a Hybrid Phone System is an on-site phone system and isn’t available as a fully cloud-hosted system.
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Best Phone System for Schools, Colleges and Universities
For smaller schools and colleges (generally less than 40 users), we recommend a hosted phone system. For medium or large schools, colleges and universities, we recommend an IP Phone system.
We only recommend the Hybrid Phone System when a school, college or university has existing infrastructure and want to protect the investment they have made whilst gaining the benefit of IP technology.
Pros and Cons of a Hosted Phone System
- Flexibility when you have staff that don’t have a fixed classroom, desk or office, a hosted phone system enables you to simply plug it in where there is an internet connection and it will load all of your settings.
- Scalability as adding and removing users is simple.
- Variety of Features such as video conferencing, call routing, voicemail recording sent to email etc.
- Automatic upgrades are distributed to all users.
- Phone system Management is in your hands as you have access to change any settings such as opening times.
- Business continuity is covered with hosted telephony, as your calls can be instantly rerouted in the event of an outage.
- Minimal set-up costs as there is no hardware except if you want a phone handset.
- Low monthly cost per user.
- No physical hardware to host on-site or remotely.
- Speedy installation as it’s unlikely that you’ll need physical cabling because most places have internet connectivity.
- Maintenance is included within your monthly subscription.
- Your voice quality is determined by your internet connection so you need to have a strong, reliable internet connection.
Pros and Cons of an IP Phone System
- You own the system.
- You can choose where to host it, whether that be on your own server/ on-premise/ hosted in your own private cloud via a data centre.
- No long-term contracts (unless you purchase using finance.)
- Flexibility when you have staff that don’t have a desk or office
- Scalability as adding and removing users is simple.
- Variety of Features such as video conferencing, call routing, voicemail recording sent to email etc.
- Phone system Management is in your hands as you have access to change any settings such as opening times.
- Business continuity is covered as your calls can be instantly rerouted in the event of an outage.
- Up-front costs to purchase however, it can be financed or leased.
- You will need to choose somewhere to host it, whether it be on-premise or hosted externally which may incur additional costs.
- Maintenance will be your responsibility unless you outsource or include it in the lease.
- Your voice quality is determined by your internet connection so you need to have a strong, reliable internet connection.
- Any upgrades are at your expense.