A phone system is a network problem

A business phone system is a network service that happens to ring. When it is designed on its own, the first week of complaints is usually about the line, not the handset.

Hosted voice means the phone system sits on a provider's platform. The office keeps the numbers, the handsets or the app, and the connection those calls travel on. SIP is the way that platform speaks to the telephone network. You do not need to love the acronym. You do need the path to be stable, and the router to treat a call as more important than a large download.

Wi-Fi is a poor default for a desk that takes customer calls. It can be fine for a laptop in a meeting. It is a strange choice for the main number. If the building has dead spots, the phones will find them before the laptops do.

Moving your existing numbers is called porting. It has a lead time, and it fails when the old provider's records do not match the name on the bill. Check that before anyone books the morning of the change. Have a plan for that morning that is not "we will see".

Write down who should ring when a customer calls the main number. That list is a hunt group, and it is usually shorter than the one in the old system. People who left three years ago are often still on it.

A company of fifteen does not need a call-centre platform. It needs a greeting that sounds like the firm, a main number that reaches a person, and someone who can add a starter without raising a project. If a quote is mostly words you would not say out loud, ask what happens on a Tuesday when a handset dies.