Nobody sells a business phone system by the price. They sell it by the feature list, and the price arrives later, in a quote with more lines on it than you expected. This is what those lines mean and which ones tend to move.
The short answer
Most Canadian businesses pay somewhere between $20 and $45 per person per month for a hosted, or cloud phone system. A virtual business number — one number that rings the phones you already own, with no handsets — usually lands between $15 and $30 a month in total, not per person.
Much below those ranges and you are usually looking at a consumer plan with a business label on it. Much above and the quote normally includes hardware, more than one location, or a contract nobody has reviewed in a few years.
What you are actually paying for
Almost every quote is made of the same four things. Providers bundle them differently, which is what makes quotes hard to compare side by side.
- The monthly licence. Charged per person, per month. This is the part that gets advertised (what's sometimes labelled a PBX system on a quote).
- The handsets. Either bought outright, rented monthly, or included if you sign for long enough. Included is not free — it is financed inside the monthly rate.
- Setup and number porting. Sometimes waived, sometimes a few hundred dollars, and occasionally charged per number.
- Your internet connection. A hosted system runs over it. You are probably already paying for this, but if your upload speed is not up to it, the upgrade belongs in the total.
What is usually included
These are common enough across Canadian providers that their absence is worth asking about, rather than their presence being worth paying extra for.
- An auto-attendant — the menu that answers and routes the call
- Voicemail delivered to your email as an audio file
- Call transfer, hold, forwarding and hold music
- A mobile and desktop app, so the business number works away from the desk
- A Canadian number, and the ability to keep the one you have
- Basic call reporting — who called, when, how long, missed or answered
What tends to show up later
Regulatory and 911 fees
Canadian providers pass through per-line charges tied to 911 service and CRTC contribution requirements. They are small individually and they are legitimate, but they are almost never in the advertised per-user price, and they scale with your line count.
Long distance and overage
"Unlimited" usually means unlimited within Canada and the continental United States, with a fair-use ceiling. If you call overseas, or if you run an outbound team, ask for the per-minute rate and the point at which fair use stops being fair.
The renewal
Most people don't think to ask about this until it's too late. A promotional rate for the first term is normal. What matters is the rate the contract rolls onto afterwards, and whether it renews automatically. Ask for both numbers before you sign, not at renewal.
Early termination
If you leave before the term is up, you are typically liable for the remaining months, and sometimes for the undepreciated cost of hardware that was described as included. Ask what leaving in year two would cost.
A worked example
A ten-person office moving from traditional lines to a hosted system, with handsets included on a three-year term. Figures are indicative rather than quoted.
| Line item | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Per-user licence | $200 – $450 | 10 users at $20 – $45 each |
| Handsets | $0 – $120 | Included on a longer term, or roughly $12 per phone per month if rented |
| Regulatory and 911 | $10 – $30 | Per-line pass-through, scales with your line count |
| One-time setup and porting | $0 – $500 | One-off, not monthly — often waived on a term contract |
| Realistic monthly total | $210 – $600 | Before taxes, and before any long distance beyond fair use |
Buying handsets, renting them, or using neither
A desk phone is a few hundred dollars to buy outright. Providers offer three ways to get one, and the right answer depends less on money than on how long you expect to stay.
- Buy them. Highest cost on day one, lowest over five years, and they are yours if you change provider — most business handsets can be reconfigured for a new one.
- Rent them. A monthly line item, and they go back when you leave. Reasonable if you expect to grow or change quickly.
- Included with the term. The cost is financed inside the monthly rate. Ask what happens to the phones if you leave early, because that is where the sting usually is.
- Use none. The desktop and mobile apps are included either way, and plenty of small teams never buy a handset at all.
What a good quote looks like
It is itemized rather than a single figure. It states the term, the rate during it and the rate afterwards. It separates one-time costs from monthly ones so you are not comparing a setup fee against a subscription. And it names what is not included.
What moves the price
- How many people need their own line or extension — the single biggest factor
- How many locations, and whether they need to reach each other by extension
- Contract length. A longer term buys a lower rate and costs you flexibility
- Whether you buy handsets, rent them, or use the apps and buy none
- How complicated your porting is — a dozen numbers across two carriers takes more work than one
How to get to the real number
- Ask for the all-in monthly figure including fees and taxes, for your actual head count.
- Ask what that figure becomes at renewal, and whether renewal is automatic.
- Ask what is not included. The useful version of this question is "what would surprise me on my third bill?"
- Ask what it costs to leave in year two.
- Get the answers in the written quote, not just in the conversation.
A provider who answers all five plainly is telling you something useful about what they will be like to deal with in a year.
This guide is general information for Canadian businesses, not advice about your specific setup. Prices and practices change — confirm details with the provider before you sign.
