Connectivity
January 2025 · 8 min read · All Articles
Comparing UK cloud phone system providers for business. What to look for, what to avoid and why local providers often outperform the big names for small and medium businesses.
A quick Google search for "cloud phone system UK" returns dozens of providers — Vonage, 8x8, RingCentral, Zoom Phone, Microsoft Teams, bOnline, yay.com, Dialpad and many more. The feature lists look similar. The pricing tables are designed to confuse. And the small print often hides significant limitations.
This guide cuts through the noise and tells you what actually matters when choosing a cloud phone system provider for your UK business.
A cloud phone system (also called hosted VoIP or UCaaS — Unified Communications as a Service) runs your entire business phone infrastructure in the cloud rather than on hardware in your office. Features like voicemail, call recording, auto-attendant and call queues are all managed via a web portal, not by a box on your wall.
1. Where is your infrastructure based? UK-based providers with data centres in the UK offer lower latency and GDPR compliance without complexity. Overseas providers may route your calls through data centres in the US or EU, adding latency and data sovereignty questions.
2. What happens if my internet goes down? Any reputable provider should offer mobile app failover — if your office broadband drops, calls automatically divert to staff mobiles. Some providers offer 4G failover SIMs as an add-on.
3. What does the contract commit me to? Many enterprise UCaaS providers require 3-year contracts with significant exit fees. Look for 12-month contracts or monthly rolling options, particularly if you're a growing business.
4. Who provides support and how quickly? This is where large international providers consistently underperform. Remote call centres with long wait times and scripted responses are the norm. Smaller UK providers like Telexico offer direct access to engineers who configured your system.
5. What is the total cost of ownership? Many providers advertise low per-seat costs but charge extra for call recording, auto-attendant, API access, porting numbers and support. Always get a full quote including all features you need.
If your business already uses Microsoft 365, you have an additional option: Teams Direct Routing, which connects Microsoft Teams to the public phone network so you can make and receive calls through the Teams app you already use.
Teams Direct Routing makes sense if your business is already heavily invested in Microsoft 365 and your staff already live in Teams. The Telexico Teams Direct Routing product starts from £6.99/user/month — cheaper than Microsoft's own Calling Plans.
For businesses with 2–50 users, a local or regional provider like Telexico often delivers a better overall experience than a large international platform:
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Entry-level cloud phone systems in the UK start from around £5–10 per user per month. Telexico's hosted VoIP plans start from £9.99/user/month including unlimited UK calls, call recording, auto-attendant and a mobile app. Beware of very cheap plans that charge separately for essential features.
It depends on the handsets. Most modern SIP-compatible IP phones (Yealink, Snom, Grandstream) work with hosted VoIP systems. Older digital handsets typically don't. Telexico will advise which of your existing hardware is compatible and what needs replacing.
BT is permanently retiring the analogue PSTN and ISDN network by January 2027. Any business still on a traditional landline or ISDN system must migrate to VoIP before that date. Cloud phone systems are the direct replacement — the transition is easier than most businesses expect.
Yes — call queuing (ACD) is a standard feature of most hosted VoIP systems including Telexico's platform. You can set queue music, position announcements, maximum wait times and overflow routing. Call queues are included in standard plans without extra charge.