When looking to purchase a business phone system, one of your main considerations will likely be regarding how long the system will last. Knowing how long it will last before having to upgrade your phone system again is always an important step when considering new kit. With VoIP the service itself will last indefinitely – there is no box on the wall to replace and upgrades to the system are carried out seamlessly in the back-end. The only thing that will need changing over time is the handset – if indeed you use one. More and more VoIP users are moving to softphone solutions on their mobile or PC.
VoIP handsets are computers disguised as a telephone. As a result they should be treated as any other computer and maintained and updated regularly to ensure secure and reliable functionality. As with most business IT hardware, the expected lifespan is 5 years as long as they remain supported by the manufacturer with updates and security fixes.
For some businesses a phone system is crucial for almost every task, meaning if a call is missed it will have a negative impact in some way. If this is the case, it is essential you have a phone system that is kept up to date and not wait until it has completely failed to look for another replacement. Keeping the system well maintained will reduce the frequency it will need to be replaced, but a poorly maintained system will fail long before the even the average lifespan period.
