Phone contracts are long and the sales conversation is short. These are the questions that make the difference between the two, and the answers that should slow down anyone weighing business phone options.
Before the call, know your own numbers
You will get a better quote and a faster one if you have these to hand. None of them takes long to find.
- How many people need their own line or extension
- Which numbers you must keep, and which you would not miss
- What you pay now, all in, including the fees at the bottom of the bill
- When your current contract ends
- Your internet upload speed, and who provides it
The questions worth asking
What is the all-in monthly cost for our head count?
Not the per-user rate. The number that will appear on the bill, with fees and taxes, for the number of people you actually have.
What does that become at renewal, and does it renew automatically?
The most expensive year of a phone contract is usually the first one after the promotional term ends.
Do we own the handsets at the end of the term?
"Included" and "owned" are different things. If the phones go back when you leave, that is a rental, and it belongs in the comparison as one.
Who ports our numbers, and what happens if it goes wrong?
You want a named process, not reassurance. Ask specifically what happens to inbound calls on the day of the switch.
Where is support, and what are the hours?
Ask where the people answering are located and what happens at seven in the evening. If your business takes calls outside business hours, so should your provider.
What happens if we grow or shrink?
Adding people mid-term is easy everywhere. Removing them is where contracts differ, and it is worth knowing before the year you need it.
What would it cost us to leave in year two?
This is the single most useful question on the list. The answer tells you the real length of the commitment.
What happens when the internet goes down?
There is a good answer to this — calls fail over automatically to a mobile or to voicemail — and it should already be configured rather than merely possible. Ask them to show you where that is set.
Who does the setup, and what do you need from us?
Ask how many hours of your time this will take and who does the configuring. The gap between "we build it and walk you through it" and "here is a portal" is the gap between a two-hour project and a two-week one.
Comparing two quotes fairly
Quotes are rarely built the same way among Canadian VoIP service providers, which is what makes the cheaper-looking one hard to trust. Put both on the same footing before you compare them.
| Line up | Because |
|---|---|
| All-in monthly, including fees | Advertised per-user rates exclude the pass-through charges, which differ between providers |
| The rate after the promotional term | One quote may be cheaper for a year and dearer for the next two |
| Total cost over the full term | The only number that compares a three-year deal to a one-year one |
| Handsets: owned or returned | A rental and a purchase are not the same line item |
| Cost to leave in year two | It tells you what the commitment really is |
Once both quotes are expressed as those five numbers, the better one is usually obvious, and it is not always the one with the lower headline rate.
What is actually negotiable
More than most people assume, and rarely the per-user rate itself. Setup fees, porting fees, the number of handsets included, the length of the term and the notice period are all commonly moved. Asking is free, and the answer tells you how much they want the business.
Answers that should give you pause
- "Don't worry about the fine print" — the fine print is the contract
- A price that is only available today. Nothing about phone systems is genuinely time-limited
- Vagueness about porting timelines, which are largely governed by process rather than effort
- Any suggestion that you cancel your existing service before the port completes. This is how businesses lose numbers
- An unwillingness to put the quoted figure in writing
Get it in writing
Ask for the all-in monthly, the renewal rate, the term length, the early-exit cost and the handset ownership position in one written quote. A provider who is comfortable doing that is usually comfortable being held to it.
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.
