The complete guide to hosted VoIP.
How hosted VoIP works, what it costs and why UK businesses are switching — a plain-English guide.
What is hosted VoIP?
Hosted VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) means your business phone calls are carried over the internet, with the phone system itself hosted in the cloud rather than on a box in your office. “Hosted” is the key word: there’s nothing on-site to maintain, and your provider runs, updates and supports the platform for you.
In practice, hosted VoIP and “cloud PBX” describe two sides of the same service — the VoIP part is the calling, the PBX part is the call-management brain. Together they give you a complete, modern phone system.
How does it actually work?
Each user gets an extension that can ring a desk handset, a computer app or a mobile app — or all three at once. When a call comes in, the cloud system routes it according to your rules: straight to a person, into a queue, through a menu, or out to mobiles. Calls travel as data over your internet connection to the public phone network.
Because the intelligence lives in the cloud, you can change anything — add users, redirect calls, open a new site — from a web portal in minutes.
Features and benefits
Hosted VoIP includes call routing, hunt groups, IVR menus, voicemail-to-email, call recording, mobile and desktop apps and reporting as standard. The big-picture benefits are lower cost, total flexibility (work from anywhere), easy scaling, and being ready for the PSTN switch-off.
It also future-proofs you: new capabilities, including AI call handling, plug into a cloud system in a way they never could with old hardware.
Is hosted VoIP reliable?
On a decent internet connection, hosted VoIP is highly reliable — the platform runs in resilient data centres with no single on-site point of failure. The main dependency is your connection, which is why we recommend the right business broadband or leased line and, where uptime is critical, automatic 4G/5G or Starlink failover.
If your internet does go down, calls can automatically divert to mobiles, so you stay reachable.
Hosted VoIP vs Teams vs traditional lines
vs Microsoft Teams: Teams adds calling into Teams — great if your team lives there. Hosted VoIP is a full phone system with handsets, queues and menus. We deliver either, or both.
vs traditional lines: analogue and ISDN are being retired by 2027, cost more and offer less. Hosted VoIP is cheaper, more flexible and switch-off ready.
How much does hosted VoIP cost?
Hosted VoIP is priced per user per month, often from around £5, with no large upfront cost. You only pay for the users you need, and there’s no separate line rental or maintenance contract.
Most businesses find it noticeably cheaper than their old system once line rental, maintenance and call charges are taken into account.
Frequently asked questions
Is hosted VoIP the same as cloud PBX?
Effectively yes — hosted VoIP is the calling, cloud PBX the call-management brain. We deliver both as one system.
Do I need special equipment?
No — you can use VoIP handsets, a computer app or just your mobile.
Will it work if my internet goes down?
Calls can automatically divert to mobiles, and we can add failover so you stay online.
Can I keep my number?
Yes — we port your existing numbers across.
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