6 Best Small Business Phone Service Providers (2022)

Do you want the best business phone service for your WordPress-powered website? Adding a phone service can help you manage customer calls more efficiently. We have hand-picked some of the best business phone services that you can use in conjunction with your WordPress site in this article.

When and why do you require a business phone service?

In most cases, you can simply add your landline or mobile phone number to your WordPress site and use that to receive customer calls. Your phone number, on the other hand, will not appear professional, and you will be unable to communicate effectively.

By incorporating a proper business phone service, you will be able to do the following:

Call duration, hold times, wait times, and overall usage can all be easily tracked.

Call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, inbound call routing, call recording, and other features are standard with most business phone services.

Share a single business phone number with multiple users at the same time (auto attendant feature allows you to route calls to the first available representative)

To receive and make calls, you can use a desk phone system, cordless phones, a mobile cell phone, or a computer.

You can easily add new employees without involving an IT technician.

Business phone systems transmit voice over the internet (VoIP systems), allowing you to use your local or toll-free number from anywhere. All you'll need is a fast internet connection.

If you have an online store or a small business website, adding a professional business phone service can help you grow your company. You can use it to improve customer relations through professional sales and phone support.

That being said, let's take a look at the best business phone services for your WordPress site.

Nextiva

In terms of features and ease of use, Nextiva is the best business phone service. They provide a comprehensive set of features, as well as quick setup and reasonable pricing. It includes a simple web-based admin panel that allows small business owners to manage the unified communications platform like a pro.

Nextiva's VOIP phone service for small businesses features advanced call routing, unlimited free domestic calling, voicemail to email and text, online faxing, text messages, and other features.

You also receive a free local or toll-free number, free number porting, and all of the standard call management features such as caller ID, call forwarding, routing, custom greetings, advanced IVR (interactive voice response) system, and more. As a platform, Nextiva also provides powerful features such as CRM, Live Chat, online surveys, call analytics, and other solutions that integrate seamlessly with business phone systems.

Their call quality is excellent, their VoIP solution has a 99.999 percent uptime guarantee, and their customer service representatives are always helpful.

The Essentials plan for Nextiva's business phone service starts at $18.95 per user per month. As you add more users, their pricing decreases. To save even more money, open a pre-paid account.

On WPBeginner, we use Nextiva as our business phone service. Nextiva, in our opinion, is the best small business phone system on the market in terms of both features and pricing.

Our favorite feature as a small business is that Nextiva allows us to add a business line for cell phones, so our team can receive incoming calls from our office or even when working remotely without having to share their cell phone numbers. The Nextiva app is compatible with both iPhone (iOS) and Android (Android) smartphones.

They also provide text messaging and video conferencing, which allows our team to connect with our customers via their preferred business communication channel.

That being said, if your company requires an office phone system that works with existing handsets, Nextiva provides that as well. Call centers and enterprise businesses frequently use Nextiva to convert their Avaya PBX system into a powerful cloud phone system with SIP trunking.

Nextiva is the official phone provider for top universities such as Stanford, UCLA, and the University of Southern California, as well as well-known brands such as Taco Bell, Conan O'Brien, and others.

Expert Opinion: With affordable enterprise-level plans, we believe Nextiva is the best overall business phone service for small businesses.

RingCentral

RingCentral is another well-known business phone service for businesses of all sizes. They provide one of the most feature-rich small business phone systems available.

Their business phone platform includes all of the standard business call functionality you'd expect, such as unlimited calling, call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting and transfer, sharing a single line across multiple mobile devices and users, SMS texting, and more.

Other features include video meetings with screen sharing, team messaging, 1000 toll-free minutes, and integrations with Gsuite, Dropbox, Microsoft, and other services. It comes with an easy-to-use cloud-based administration system that makes it simple to set up and manage your calls.

Their Essentials plan starts at $19.99 per month for each user (billed annually), with a maximum of ten users allowed. Other plans have varying pricing and features.

You can also pay an additional fee to get a vanity number for your business, which allows you to have a catchy and memorable business phone number.

RingCentral is an excellent phone solution for both physical offices looking to replace landline phones and those transitioning to a virtual office.

When compatible, it can work with your existing phone system, or you can use their virtual phone system via the RingCentral desktop app and mobile app, which works on all smartphones (iOS and Android).

RingCentral has a large app integration directory because it is one of the most popular business VOIP platforms.

This enables you to connect to other services for automatic transcription, real-time analytics, voice-over call recording service, sales call insights from Chorus.ai, integrations with call center software, connection with support help desk software, and many other add-ons, allowing you to have an integrated customer contact center.

Expert Opinion: We believe RingCentral is an excellent business VOIP solution for small and medium-sized businesses.

Ooma

Ooma is a popular business VOIP phone provider that offers low-cost business phone numbers and 1-800 toll-free phone numbers. A toll-free number can be added to any Ooma office plan. They will pre-select a toll-free phone number for you by default, but you can change it if you prefer.

The Ooma office platform includes all of the powerful features you'd expect, such as a virtual receptionist, extension dialing, music-on-hold, smart mobile phone apps, call logs and more. Best of all, the setup is very simple and can be completed in a matter of minutes.

You can use their control panel to manage calls, add new team members, and do other things.

Their pricing plan begins at $19.95 per month per user with no contracts and includes a free toll-free number as well as 35+ business phone features.

They also offer an Ooma Office Pro plan for $24.95 per month, which includes video conferencing, voicemail transcription, enhanced call blocking, call recording, a desktop app, and other features.

Expert Opinion: Ooma is the best business phone service for traditional office settings with desk phones, in our opinion. It's also ideal for remote teams looking to improve collaboration with their new features.

Grasshopper

GrassHopper provides virtual phone numbers via voice-over internet protocol (VOIP), which is ideal for sole proprietors and small businesses. A virtual phone number allows calls to be forwarded to any phone number or mobile device. However, a regular phone line is still required for outgoing calls.

They provide simple web and mobile apps for managing your account and phone service. You can have multiple extensions for your phone number, as well as local, toll-free, and vanity phone numbers. It provides local and toll-free numbers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

GrassHopper includes all of the standard features, such as call forwarding, routing, waiting, call hold music, voicemail-to-email transcripts, and more. It is ideal for remote teams because it allows you to add extensions that can be accessed from anywhere via mobile or desktop apps.

Their plans start at $29.99 per month and include one local number and up to three extensions. On their higher plans, you can add more users and multiple local phone numbers.

Expert Opinion: GrassHopper is the best business phone service for freelancers and solopreneurs, in our opinion.

Phone.com

Phone.com is an additional viable option for small business phone services. They provide a straightforward web and app-based administration panel with standard phone service features such as call forwarding, call routing, caller ID, conference calling, video conference calls, and others.

They include several European countries and Canada in their local call minutes, making it much cheaper to call those countries. You can also connect your business phone service to third-party CRM software such as Salesforce or Zoho.

They offer two pricing options: pay per minute and unlimited. Pay-per-minute plans begin at $12.99 per month, and unlimited plans begin at $22.99 per month.

Expert Opinion: We believe Phone.com is the best low-cost business phone service for small businesses.

GoToConnect(formerly Jive)

Another excellent option for small business phone service is GoToConnect, formerly known as Jive. They provide an advanced cloud business phone system at a low cost.

Their VOIP phone service includes all of the standard features, such as unlimited calls, extensions, call forwarding, number sharing, voicemail to audio email, automatic call attendance, mobile apps, chat, SMS, and more.

They also have hundreds of CRM and marketing integrations with popular services such as Salesforce, Zoho, Microsoft Outlook, Google Workspace, Zendesk, Slack, and others.

GoToConnect provides a truly unified business communication platform that extends beyond traditional business phone services. They have HD video conferencing, which allows you to easily collaborate with your customers and team members.

They have over 100 cloud VoIP features, including notable ones such as unlimited call queues, advanced dial pad editor, cloud branch exchange, advanced ring groups, and wait time announcement for call centers, paging system, eFax, and more.

Because GoToConnect is a part of the larger GoTo software family, it integrates seamlessly with their other webinar and meeting software such as GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, GoToTraining, and others.

Their basic business phone service is priced at $24 per month. Their premium plan includes advanced features designed for larger call centers.

Expert Opinion: GoToConnect is the best business phone service for small businesses in the education and healthcare industries, in our opinion.

Which Business Phone Service Is Right for You?

We believe that Nextiva is the best business phone service provider in the market after thoroughly researching all of the top business phone service providers.

Their plans are affordable for businesses of all sizes, and they provide a plethora of powerful features as well as excellent customer service.

The best part is that, while the Nextiva business phone line works on your cell phone, tablet, and computer, they also frequently run free promotions for advanced business phone systems such as the Poly VVX150 or Nextiva X-885, which are used by many professionals for multi-line handling and more.

Telephone Systems for Businesses

For all of the aforementioned reasons, we decided to use Nextiva for our own company and rate it as the best business phone system on the market.

RingCentral came in second place in our research. Their VoIP phone system has many of the same features as Nextiva, and in the end, price and customer service were the deciding factors for us.

You can't go wrong with either of these top two VoIP service providers.

We also investigated many other business phone service providers not mentioned in this article, such as Vonage, 8888, AT&T, Verizon, Skype, and others. We decided that listing them all in this article would be counterproductive because we don't want to cause decision paralysis.

Instead, our goal is to make it simple for you to select the best provider for your needs.

We hope this article has assisted you in locating the best business phone service for your WordPress site. You might also be interested in our articles on how to create a free business email address and the best email marketing services for small businesses.

FAQs About Business Phone Systems

We've answered a lot of questions after assisting thousands of business owners in finding the best business phone system for their needs. Some of the most frequently asked questions about VoIP business phone systems and service providers are answered below.

What exactly is VoIP, and how does it work?

VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is a phone technology that enables you to make and receive phone calls over the internet rather than traditional phone lines. We wrote a comprehensive guide on what VoIP is and how it works.

Is business VoIP phone service less expensive than a traditional landline phone?

Yes, VoIP business phone systems are less expensive than on-premise landline phone systems because they use your existing internet connection rather than requiring a separate system or hardware. By simplifying the overall workflow, VoIP business phone service reduces internal IT and support burdens.

Call queuing, call transfer / automatic call forwarding, music on hold, extension dialing, conference bridge, and other advanced call features are typically charged extra by traditional landline phone providers.

All advanced features of business VoIP are included in a flat monthly fee, and you can even save up to 90% on internal calling costs with top providers like Nextiva.

Is it possible to switch from a landline phone to a business VoIP service?

Yes, your landline business phone system can be easily converted to an online business VoIP solution. When switching from landline to VoIP, all of the top business phone system providers, such as Nextiva and RingCentral, make it simple to keep the same business phone number.

Is it possible to use my cordless phone with business VoIP?

Yes, most business VoIP providers allow you to use your existing cordless phones, softphones, and desk phones. All of the top providers on our list include a mobile phone app that you can install on your cell phone as well.

If you're currently using analog phones or a PBX, you can keep the same business phone system by using a VoIP adapter.

What are some of the drawbacks of VoIP business phone systems?

VoIP business phone services use the internet to make phone calls. The most significant disadvantage is that if you do not have a reliable internet connection, your customer call quality will suffer.

In addition, if your business loses power, likely, your internet router will as well. Calls may be dropped as a result of this. To avoid call quality issues, we always recommend using a battery backup with your internet router.

These drawbacks are easily mitigated, and the benefits of VoIP business phone systems far outweigh any drawbacks.

All of the advanced call features, such as call routing, music on hold, conference calls, auto-attendant, interactive voice response (IVR), call queuing, extension dialing, voicemail forwarding, and a lot of flexibility are available without the high costs of landline phones.

Which business phone system, in your opinion, is the best?

Our top three picks for the best business phone services are as follows:

Nextiva

RingCentral

Ooma