Local Business Phone Service

The availability of companies providing local business phone service will depend upon the area you live in. One of the few companies providing phone service for all of the Continental US is Qwest. Qwest (Qwest.com) provides national phone coverage - excluding Alaska - for small and large businesses. Qwest's services are divided into five categories: long-distance, dedicated Internet access, audio conferencing, data solutions, and managed solutions.

Many of the other leading companies offering local telephone service are turning to VoIP instead of traditional land lines. AT&T is focusing more on enterprise and government IP solutions and only offer VoIP to consumers and small businesses. Other companies, like Sprint, are following AT&T's lead and are switching to wireless services.

When you are looking for a local business telephone service keep these things in mind:

• Which companies provide service in my area?
• Does my business need mostly local service or will we be calling internationally on a frequent basis?
• Can my business save money by using VoIP services?
• Can I keep my business phone number if I switch companies?
• Does my business need a 1-800 phone number?
• Do I need telephone calling cards for my employees?
• What type of broadband phone line will work best for my company?

In order to find good phone service in your area you need to start with which companies are in your area. That will dictate a large part of what type of plan you use. Once you have that information you can start comparing plans. Here are two resources for finding and comparing telephone plans: Abtolls.com and Smartprice.com. Be prepared that both ABtolls.com and SmartPrice.com make you fill in your information before you can get a quote. SmartPrice does offer a great FAQ though that can answer many of your questions concerning telephones and businesses.

Better telephone rates (Bettertelephonerates.com) offers comparisons as well on different business telephone rates. The nice part about this company is they don't make you fill in your information to get a rate quote. They have a listing right on the page of different companies and all the information about their business telephone plans.

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