What a business phone system costs, and what changes the price

The monthly fees

The core charge is usually per user or per extension. Basic seats with an app and voicemail sit at the lower end, while seats that include call recording, queues and reporting cost more. As a rough guide, cloud phone seats in New Zealand commonly range from around $15 to $45 per user per month ex GST, but providers bundle differently and prices change, so treat this as a starting point only.

Some plans include national and mobile calls; others charge per minute. If your team spends hours a day on outbound calls, an inclusive plan matters. If calls are mostly inbound, a cheaper seat with pay-per-minute outbound may be fine. Look at your last three months of call records to see which pattern fits.

Numbers and add-ons

Each extra phone number, whether a local number for another city or a direct line for a staff member, usually carries a small monthly charge. 0800 numbers have their own rental plus per-minute inbound charges, which differ between calls from landlines and mobiles. Porting existing numbers may carry a one-off fee depending on the provider.

Add-ons are where quotes diverge. Call recording with long retention, wallboards, CRM integrations, SMS from your business number, fax-to-email and advanced reporting can each add a monthly charge. List the features you genuinely need before getting quotes, so you are not paying for extras nobody uses or surprised by ones that were left out.

Handsets, headsets and hardware

Hardware is usually a one-off cost. A basic VoIP desk phone might cost from around $100 to $200 ex GST, a model with a colour screen and extra line keys more, and a reception console with expansion modules more again. Cordless DECT handsets for warehouses or workshops sit in a similar range. Quality headsets for people on calls all day are worth budgeting for separately.

You may also need a network switch that powers phones through the data cable, or power adaptors for each phone. If your office cabling is old or there are not enough data points, cabling work adds to the cost. Going app-only on laptops and mobiles avoids most hardware spend but needs good headsets.

Setup and ongoing support

Setup covers building the call flow, creating extensions, recording greetings, configuring handsets, porting numbers and training staff. For a small office this is often a modest one-off charge or included by the provider; for a larger site with queues, multiple numbers and integrations, it is a proper project that should be quoted in writing first. After go-live, someone has to change greetings, add new staff, update after-hours routing for holidays and troubleshoot call quality. Some providers include this, others charge per change. If your IT support provider also handles the phones, check whether that work is inside your plan or billed separately.

Worked example for a ten-person office

Picture a ten-person office with a main number, one 0800 number, a receptionist, a simple menu and recording for compliance. Monthly costs would include ten user seats, the number rentals, 0800 inbound usage and a recording add-on. One-off costs would include a reception phone, eight or nine desk phones or headsets, and setup. The total depends heavily on handset choice and whether calls are bundled.

Compare that against your current bills: the line rental on each copper or digital line, call charges, the maintenance contract on any onsite system and the cost of repairs. Many offices find the cloud system costs about the same or less while adding features, but your own numbers are the only reliable test.

How to compare quotes fairly

Put every quote into the same table: monthly cost per user, numbers, call charges, add-ons, contract term, early termination fees and hardware. Ask whether prices are fixed for the term, what happens to your numbers if you leave and whether handsets are owned or leased. Watch for long contracts that bundle hardware into the monthly price, because leaving early can be expensive. A shorter term with owned handsets gives more flexibility, even if the monthly figure looks slightly higher.

Finally, check how the price changes as you grow or shrink. Can you add a user mid-month and pay pro rata? Can you drop seats when a contractor finishes, or are you locked into a minimum number for the term? Seasonal businesses in particular, such as accountants at tax time or retailers before Christmas, benefit from plans that flex. A quote that is cheapest for your headcount today can become the most expensive if it charges for seats you no longer need.