An IVA is an Intelligent Virtual Agent, often used in larger businesses to provide a premium and automated customer experience. An IVR is short for Interactive Voice Response, which is a technology used in customer support scenarios to route calls efficiently.

While these might seem like very similar solutions, there are a few nuances between the two.

Both can play a large role in implementing customer service automation and efficiency but, depending on your business needs, one (or both) might be overkill. 

Here, we will explain the specific use cases that work best for both an IVR and IVA, as well as explore other options that are a little easier to implement for smaller businesses with limited budgets.

What Is Interactive Voice Response?

An IVR system is an automated phone functionality that allows callers to interact with your phone system by recognizing their keypad presses or their voice. 

A typical IVR sounds like:

💬 “Press 1 for sales or 2 for support.”

But customers can also say, “Help with my support ticket” or “Upgrade my handset.”

The IVR then works out which department or individual your customer needs to speak to based on pre-configured skills and algorithms. The voice recognition capability is what makes an IVR stand out from a standard auto attendant, which is simply presenting options to callers.

They manage inbound calls by requesting customer information and routing callers to the best destination at any given time. As part of most contact center solutions, you get the option to configure an IVR.

Depending on how deep you go, you can transform how your business handles inbound calls — leading to greater efficiency.

Key features of IVR

The core functionality of an IVR is to understand what your customer needs at that moment.

Using dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) — the touch-tone sound your keypad makes — or by understanding voice commands, an IVR sends calls to pre-configured teams or people.

Each number press corresponds to a different department. 

For example: 

1. Sales
2. Support
3. Billing
4. Speak to reception

This is called a static menu. You can have as many or as few options as you desire. 

Alternatively, you can let customers bypass the numbers entirely. 

You have two options for this:

• Remove the number menu and prompt your customer to say their reason for calling in their own words.
• Allow customers to say the reason they’re calling when they hear the right department.

Inside the menu, you can also pre-record voice responses to answer common queries. This makes the IVR system do the heavy lifting, reducing the burden on live agents.

If you can automate simple tasks like confirming opening times, call center agents can spend more time adding value to human interactions.

Businesses often choose to present these options first so there’s less chance of callers missing the information they could get without waiting for an agent.

Related Article

Call Routing: Handling Incoming Calls With Ease

The advantages of IVR

When you use IVR technology, it proves cost-effective in contact centers with high call volumes because customers get through to the right resource, whether that’s a menu or agent, faster. 

No more, “Yes, we’re open on Sundays,” and more, “Let me fix that rather technical issue for you.” Think about the number of calls that have the same answer and free up that agent.

That means:

• Less time waiting on hold
• Offering callbacks instead of queuing
• Potential for 24/7 availability

When there’s a query that can’t be handled with a pre-programmed response, it’s then time to deflect to your on-call team. By streamlining the call routing process, agents spend less time making transfers and more time delighting customers. 

If you’re a business that only handles support and technical queries in the day, an IVR system is a better off-hours resource than the typical “Leave us a voicemail” or “We’re not available right now.” Neither of these options is particularly helpful to your callers.

You can expect call center metrics like average handle time and call abandonment rate to come down significantly too. When callers don’t need to speak to a human, there are no more long wait times.

There are, however, some limitations we must flag too.

The limitations of IVR

The pushback on IVRs surrounds three main areas:

• Limited to predefined options: What happens if your caller’s need isn’t a menu option?
• Can be frustrating for users if not designed well: Nailing the priority and frequency of questions is crucial to picking the right menu options.
• Lacks understanding of user intent: For example, billing queries could fall between teams depending on the specific question.

This is where the benefits of IVA become clear as a great alternative to IVR.

What Is an Intelligent Virtual Agent?

An IVA is AI-powered (artificial intelligence) software that can have genuine conversations with your customers. You might hear IVA solutions referred to as either Intelligent Virtual Agent or Intelligent Virtual Assistant. In a contact center setting, these are interchangeable.

Acting as a digital assistant, IVA uses speech recognition technology and voice biometrics to understand human speech and answer in a human-like manner.

Businesses use IVA systems to handle simple and recurring requests like opening hours, qualifying sales leads, and basic troubleshooting.

Sounds like a chatbot? It is like a chatbot but smarter. 

In fact, IVAs use natural language processing (NLP) to understand what customers really mean and to provide an answer that isn’t just pre-populated and selected from a list.

We call this natural language understanding (NLU) when IVAs move on from the recognition phase to the understanding phase. While chatbots can answer questions that have limited possible outcomes, IVAs have genuine conversations.

IVA enables conversational AI — the term used for one-to-one conversations between a human and a robot. The key element is that it’s conversational, unlike some chatbot experiences where you’re spamming the talk to an agent button.

Key features of IVA

Basic NLP capabilities are at the root of everything an IVA can do for your business.

NLP works by breaking conversations up into three steps:

• Recognizing a conversation
• Understanding the meaning as well as the words
• Providing a helpful response based on intent, sentiment analysis, and available information

Basic responses are the bread and butter of NLP and IVAs. But it’s dynamic responses based on context where they have the upper hand compared to chatbots and IVRs.

Instead of being limited to closed questions with yes or no answers, IVAs can search resources and respond with much-needed context.

But it could also be a more complex question, like an update on order progress. Using real-time customer data, like an order number or email address, your IVA can look up progress and provide an update without a live agent.

Another useful feature is integrating IVAs across multiple channels (chat, voice, email, etc.). 

If you run an omnichannel contact center, using IVAs for transactions that don’t need human intervention frees up agent resources and gives customers near-immediate information.

The advantages of IVA

When you present your customers with an IVA, you offer a more personalized customer experience than basic call routing.

When you remove the dependency for a human, there’s also:

• No need to hold for an agent, as virtual agents don’t take breaks or vacations 
• No limit to the number of interactions an IVA can handle
• Better experience for consumers who need help with simple requests

Compared to a traditional IVR, an IVA can handle far more complex questions. If you’re thinking about using either as the frontline of your customer service, think about how much an IVA can do on top of that of an IVR.

There’s also the (often forgotten) benefit of retaining customer requests for continuous learning. During web chats, message history can be retained and used for training purposes.

Your IVA is an evergreen source of training and customer materials and is constantly updating itself through machine learning technology.

The limitations of IVA

While IVAs sound great, they do need more sophisticated setup and maintenance. 

It’s worth it if you have the time and knowledge (or find a contact center provider that has this expertise).

It pays to get it right. If you’re entrusting your first line of support to a virtual agent, you need 100% trust that it’s doing as good (or better) a job as a human agent.

Failure to maintain an IVA can lead to misunderstanding of customer inquiries and, ultimately, customer dissatisfaction. If you don’t schedule regular reviews or track for red flags (keywords, expletives, sentiment, etc.), you run the risk of providing bad information to customers.

Differences between IVR and IVA

On the face of it, an IVA is a superior technology. But, in some cases, it may be overkill. It might be the case that you need one more than the other. Or neither. 

Every business has a different type of customer. This next section runs through the key factors to consider when comparing IVR and IVA technology.

User experience

When customers arrive at either your IVR or IVA, they expect a slick experience. Their primary need is for their query to be resolved as quickly as possible. Here are the clear user experience differences between an IVR and an IVA.

Flexibility

Customers want to know exactly what will happen when they press a button or make a request. In some cases, it’s better to be flexible. In others, it’s more efficient to get them to the right place.

Generally, for most small businesses, an IVR will be easier to update and maintain since it’s more straightforward and not as flexible in interpreting callers.

Implementation and maintenance

IVR is easier and cheaper to set up. But there’s a clear reason. 

The configuration of the inbound call flow is black and white. Option 1 goes here and option 2 goes there. There’s no context, emotion, or urgency to plan for.

IVA requires more investment but offers better long-term value to the businesses because it’s learning as it goes. As such, it takes more time to get right up front. But it’s worth it if your goals are self-service and personalization.

How Do Businesses Use IVR and IVA?

Large enterprises

IVR is often used in customer support centers, banking, and utility businesses for efficient call routing. Aside from that, large enterprises rely on IVR systems for simple, self-service inquiries.

Common functions include:

• Check account balance: IVR shares the current balance of a customer’s accounts.
• Check order status: Customers provide details of an order for its current status.
• Product lookup: Callers request information about products.
• Bill payment: IVR pulls account information and accepts credit card data.
• Set or change PINs: Customers request to set up or change an account or card PIN.
• Answer surveys: IVR prompts customers to give feedback at the end of a call.

IVAs, on the other hand, provide large enterprises with more personalized experiences and help with more complex queries. It’s here where they’re being used as a genuine virtual agent rather than a voice response with stock responses.

Often used in customer support, sales, and IT help desks, IVA in large enterprises plays a huge role in business productivity and improving the bottom line.

Medium-sized businesses

In medium-sized businesses, IVR is preferred to manage moderate call volumes. 

If the bulk of your customer requests come from inbound calls, and you have the data and awareness that a good portion is repeat queries, your IVR can look after those, freeing up agents.

IVA is beneficial for medium-sized businesses aiming to provide a premium customer experience. 

When your goal isn’t just to send people to the right place efficiently, but it’s to resolve their concerns (or get them to the right place), IVA offers an extra set of hands for frontline support. 

You can troubleshoot basics like:

• Have you rebooted your machine?
• Is your internet working?
• Is the power light on?

Then, take the question to the next level without needing human intervention. By leveraging integrations into CRMs, knowledge bases, and ticketing systems, virtual agents can continue resolving the problem.

However, it might prove difficult for small businesses that pride themselves on quality, human customer service.

Small businesses

Unless you’re a small team handling a significant call volume, IVR might be a little bit too much.

Most small businesses operate an “informal call center” using cloud phone system features like auto attendant and call flows. Setup is easy and often a direct copy of an existing on-premises phone system.

While there may be a case for using an IVA to handle queries when you’re short of support staff, it can be expensive to implement and maintain.

By the time you’re happy and 100% trusting of your virtual agent, the time to ROI has been handled just as efficiently and expertly by your staff.

Then begins the cycle and expertise of ongoing monitoring and adaptation.

Setting Up a Call Flow or Auto Attendant for SMBs

The alternative to choosing an IVR or IVA for small and medium businesses is to use call flows or an auto attendant.

Call flows

Call flows are configurable menus that send callers to the department or individual with the associated skills. Inside a call flow, you can use a main number or local numbers to branch off from.

You can then add opening times and holidays before creating where calls route to. Like in the case of an IVR, you can choose 1 for sales or 2 for support, etc.

If nobody picks up or staff is engaged with something else, you can choose to overflow that number to a different department or user.

Unlike an IVR, you don’t need to configure the more intelligent options. Call flows are one-way interactions. Callers dial your number and get routed based on their number choices.

Auto attendant

An auto attendant is like a virtual receptionist for your business. 

Like call flows and IVRs, you configure pre-recorded options for customers to choose from. This means that when you’re busy working, customers’ calls still get answered straight away. 

By the time a staff member picks up, they know the caller has a specific query for their department. In small businesses, this can help give the appearance of a larger or more robust company and increase both customer satisfaction and first-call resolution.

It’s a much more cost-effective way to provide customers with qualifying options to get them to the right person every time. It’s also much easier to set up and make changes to, compared to a complex IVR or IVA scenario.

When to consider a call flow or auto attendant

If you desire to improve customer experience without significant investment, consider call flows or auto attendants instead of breaking the bank for something you might not need.

💡 Tip: Some cloud phone systems like Nextiva include call flows and auto attendants as part of your service.

Choosing the Solution Right for Your Business

The choice between IVR, IVA, call flows, and auto attendant depends on your business size, budget, and customer service goals.

• If you’re a small business, consider call flows.
• If you have a limited budget, consider an auto attendant.
• If you have a large number of calls, consider an IVR.
• If personalization and automation are key, consider an IVA.

The most important aspect to consider is your customer’s experience. 

What’s the best option for them? What will make their life easier when they need to reach you?

Likewise, your agent’s experience must be top of mind, too.

One of your goals must be to empower agents to be productive and provide value where they need to fill in the gaps of whichever system you choose.

Need help deciding which is the right choice for you? Speak to a Nextiva expert to help get ahead of your inbound calls.

Need to make calls using your business line? Want the flexibility of working from anywhere?

Then you want a softphone. What was once a luxury is now the standard for business communications. 

What Is a Softphone? 

A softphone is an application that lets you make and receive phone calls over the Internet. It provides voice calls along with instant messaging and call-forwarding functionality.

Softphones allow employees to call anyone from their business phone number rather than their personal mobile phone for added privacy. 

Got three minutes? Jessica breaks it all down for you in the video below. 

A VoIP phone service provider such as Nextiva typically offers softphone apps to download. Alternatively, there are standalone softphone apps that require further configuration. 

Related Article

What Is VoIP? The Newbie’s Guide to Voice over IP

In just a few minutes, you’ll get a closer look at softphones and see why they’re so popular, their key features, and our top picks for the best softphone apps for you and your team. 

How softphones work

Softphones use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to manage telephone calls. A softphone lets you make phone calls over the Internet using a computer, tablet, or mobile device. 

Once signed into a VoIP phone service, softphones register themselves to answer or place calls. From there, the provider maintains the connection and other phone system functions. 

Unlike traditional phones, a softphone isn’t a physical device. Instead, it’s software that provides a familiar phone interface on your device. It allows small businesses to make and receive calls using a virtual phone number, send messages, and conduct video conferences from anywhere.

Why Businesses Choose Softphones

When you want to get your team talking, softphones are a great choice.

1. Cost-effective desk phone alternative
2. Instant setup and deployment
3. Access to more features
4. Easy to use and support 

1) Cost-effective desk phone alternative 

A VoIP softphone is a cost-effective alternative to the expensive traditional phone lines and hardware systems.

Unlike a VoIP phone, you typically get softphone functionality included (or at a low cost) with your existing business phone service. This way, you’re not left paying for equipment you don’t fully use. 

2) Instant setup and deployment 

Downloading a softphone application on your computer or mobile device takes only minutes. Setup usually only requires logging in with your VoIP provider’s credentials.

Softphones work across many devices and operating systems. The best choice is to download a software application, but your web browser can also work well.

Since there’s no physical hardware involved, you can have your softphone ready to use within minutes.

3) Easy to use and support 

Today’s softphone apps offer an intuitive interface, such as a telephone dial pad, tabbed sections, and real-time notifications. There’s usually some consistency between the desktop and mobile app, so it’s familiar for users.

And since they’re software-based, updates can be rolled out to introduce new features without the need for physical system modifications. 

4) Access to more features 

Softphones often come with many more features than conventional phones.

These features can help improve call handling, enhance collaboration, and simplify communications. Examples include call forwarding, CRM integration, video conferencing, and instant messaging. 

Starting a call center soon? The same softphone app offers this functionality built-in for your team. 

So, what are some additional features that softphones provide? We’ve got you.

Must-Have Softphone Features

Despite the name, softphone software does much more than place and receive phone calls. 

• HD voice calls: Talk to users in richer, high-definition quality. It makes your voice sound clear, crisp, and confident to callers. 
• Contact lists: Store, access, and manage contacts, improving efficiency and organization. Never frantically search for the best number to reach someone. 
• Text messaging: Send and receive SMS and MMS messages through your softphone app. This lets you text from your VoIP line.
• Video calls: Meet face-to-face in a video conference from your softphone app. There are no separate apps or clunky downloads.
• Visual voicemail: Easily playback or even read voicemail messages, with no confusing pins or keypresses to memorize. You can also get these voicemail transcriptions in your email.
• Computer telephony integration (CTI): CTI functionality lets you answer, reject, or hold calls with your headsets. Effortlessly manage calls like a pro through a softphone.
• Presence management: Indicate if you’re unavailable for calls, on a call, or are available to receive incoming calls. 
• Call transfer: Seamlessly transfer calls to another user or team within your business. This way, callers don’t have to call back again. 
• Encryption: Ensure your conversations are secure and stay private. Softphones encrypt the telephony data no matter what Internet connection you have. 
• Conference calling: Conduct a group audio call instantly without a complicated dial-in process. Your team is collaborating in just a click. 
• Call recording: Record phone calls automatically or on-demand so you can recall past conversations and improve quality assurance.
• Caller ID: Manage the provided caller ID info, such as your name, company, area code, and phone number. 
• Call forwarding: Toggle if you need your calls forwarded, such as to another team member or your company’s auto attendant. 
• Call pulling: Swap devices without any interruption. For instance, if you’re going from a desk phone to a softphone or vice versa. 

Top Softphone Apps for Business Use

So, which softphone should you use? You have many options, but here’s a quick round-up of different voice over IP apps. 

1. NextivaONE

Nextiva is more than a softphone system — it’s an enterprise-ready business phone system. The company includes a free softphone on any desktop (Windows, Mac) or mobile device (iOS, Android). 

With NextivaONE, you can manage calls, send texts, and conduct video conferences from your computer or mobile device. 

2. Zoiper

Zoiper is a flexible softphone app. It supports many types of codes for VoIP calls, making it a versatile choice for businesses of all sizes. It requires IT pros to set up and deploy across your company. 

3. Bria Solo

Bria Solo by CounterPath is another great softphone solution. Bria Solo is built for those who need a platform to manage voice calls, video conferences, messaging, and team collaboration.

But more practically, it’s a handy dialer for testing out a SIP trunk or lighter-duty voice communications. 

4. 3CX

This self-hosted PBX also includes its own softphone apps. It’s highly customizable but also requires a lot of configuration in the real world for businesses. Its softphone app is available for desktops, smartphones, and other devices. You’ll want to have a tech pro help you navigate here. 

Softphones vs. Hardphones

How does a softphone technology fare against a VoIP desk phone? Here’s how they compare. 

What are the advantages of a hard-wired VoIP desk phone?

Hard-wired phones offer a familiar tactile interface to quickly call people along with dedicated network connectivity (Ethernet). Want to page your team, see if your exec is on a call, or dial an extension quickly? Hardphones handle all of that flawlessly.

Desk phones are designed to be used without additional steps, such as unlocking your mobile phone or finding the icon on your computer. They also aren’t subject to your smartphone’s battery life (we’re looking at you, 20%-ers!).

Browse our pre-configured VoIP phones to see how the features and functionality differ. Not sure which devices to choose? Talk to a communications expert who can build a custom package for you. 

Bottom line: Softphones work hand-in-hand with VoIP desk phones. They give your teams the choice to work and collaborate on one platform. 

The Best Communication Platform for Teams

Whether you opt for a softphone or a desk phone, you need the right communications platform. 

Nextiva provides a unified communications solution to fuel your team’s collaboration and stay in touch with customers. Setting it up is a breeze, and if you ever need some guidance, you get 24/7 customer support included. 

⚙️ Integrate with your existing business tools, making it easier for you to manage your business communications.

💪 Experience ultra-high reliability and uptime, ensuring your team stays connected and serving customers. 

💸 Save up to 60% on communications costs with flexible pricing and more functionality. 

Are you experiencing call quality issues when using VoIP? You’re not alone. People who use hosted phone services could experience voice quality issues no matter their internet connection speed.

Troubleshooting sound quality problems with VoIP calls can be challenging. Delays and unexpected silence threaten your credibility and cost you valuable business opportunities.

Quality of Service (QoS) network optimization can solve headaches that come with Voice over IP technology. Prioritizing voice traffic boosts the reliability and clarity of your phone calls.

We’ll walk you through understanding VoIP QoS, how to set it up, and tips to maintain superior call quality.

What Is VoIP Quality of Service?

Quality of Service (QoS) is a method to prioritize network traffic going through a router to provide acceptable service to most users. Administrators put QoS in place to address audio quality issues.

VoIP is susceptible to network congestion, resulting in echoes, lag, and dropped calls. VoIP relies on data packets arriving at their destination and in the correct order. High latency and jitter can cause glaring problems with Voice over IP phone calls.

Routers handle data packets by default following a First In First Out (FIFO) order. This can create queuing issues across your network when bandwidth use is high. QoS solves this by dedicating network resources based on the type of traffic and device.

Setting up QoS for IP telephony for the first time can be unfamiliar. Once done, you’ll enjoy better voice quality without adjusting the available bandwidth.

Here’s a quick video on how to solve common VoIP problems.

Why Does Quality of Service Matter?

A phone call with bad audio quality feels terrible. No matter the conversation, if it’s hard to hear, you’d do anything for the call to drop. Businesses have all kinds of conversations, such as:

• Sales demos and webinars
• Customer support
• Employee interviews
• Team meetings with business leaders

All these conversations are essential. But when customers perceive your calls as choppy or if they’re dropped, your online reputation suffers.

While we’ve all been annoyed by these issues, knowing how to fix them starts with learning how VoIP works. And that begins with reducing network congestion. Setting up QoS improves the call quality for everyone on your Local Area Network (LAN).

With the surge of remote work, people are using their home networks where business calls compete with the likes of YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ … and regular data traffic demands in a household. This has made prioritizing VoIP traffic more important than ever.

And lastly, not all VoIP service providers are equal. It’s relatively cheap for companies to set up a VoIP system, but that doesn’t mean it’s reliable. This has resulted in different VoIP providers offering vastly different levels of reliability and call quality.

What minimum QoS does voice traffic need?

Cisco recommends these standards for better call quality than Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN).

No matter what VoIP phone service you use, you should implement QoS. Streaming media alongside operating system updates can affect call quality when you least expect it.

QoS isn’t a guarantee, but it’s the best way to tune your network for better voice over IP performance. Configuring QoS for VoIP only takes a few minutes on most routers.

Recommended VoIP QoS settings

It helps to familiarize yourself with a few common network benchmarks. Knowing these helps to troubleshoot VoIP and pinpoint the ideal solution.

• Latency measures the time it takes a packet of data to arrive at the destination IP address. All VoIP systems and all networks have some latency. Voice data packets are sensitive to delays exceeding 150 milliseconds each way.
• Network jitter measures the variation in packet delays, such as latency. When it comes to real-time voice, packets arrive out of order with an unstable network connection. As a result, VoIP calls become unintelligible. Network jitter above 30 ms will impact voice calls substantially.
• Packet loss measures the number of packets lost after transmission. Voice data packets are susceptible to any packet loss. Anything above 3% packet loss means the audio quality will become significantly reduced.
• LAN and WAN network topologies determine whether you can influence its endpoints. Local Area Network (LAN) refers to the network managed by your router. Wide Area Network (WAN) is the broader network on the internet. VoIP packets travel from your phones through your LAN and on the WAN to reach their destination.

All these factors contribute to the audio quality of VoIP calls. You don’t have to be an expert to set up VoIP QoS to improve call quality.

Adjusting VoIP Quality of Service settings

Every router and network configuration is unique. It doesn’t hurt to read up on the documentation provided by your network equipment vendor. Often, they have specific guides on implementing prioritization for voice traffic.

When setting up QoS for VoIP, you should consider the following approaches:

1) Prioritize network traffic by type, not device.

If you can prioritize network traffic by type, this is ideal. It ensures that devices can’t hog the available bandwidth. Instead, the nature of the traffic determines its queuing. A good fallback would be the bandwidth management for each networked device.

2) Assign traffic with a DSCP 46 with high priority.

Many VoIP devices advertise the classification of network traffic with a DSCP header. The Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) header tells network switches to honor high-priority packets. Configure both inbound and outbound RTP packets with DSCP 46 if you can.

3) If supported, set up Trust Mode with Strict Priority.

More sophisticated network switches and routers offer advanced queuing techniques. Trust mode allows switches to recognize the DSCP packets. Strict Priority ensures they aren’t weighted with other devices. Most routers have at least some form of VoIP QoS, so it’s okay if it’s not as advanced as this.

After you apply these VoIP QoS best practices and power-cycle your equipment, you should experience lower latency and more dedicated, consistent bandwidth during VoIP calls.

If you still experience issues, contact your business phone service to conduct further tests to isolate the cause. Continue reading for more solutions to resolving network QoS issues.

What VoIP QoS Can and Can’t Do

Diagnosing Voice over IP (VoIP) Quality of Service (QoS) Issues

While most users can diagnose VoIP QoS problems, fixing them can be challenging. Here’s a quick overview:

• VoIP voice packets pass through many network devices. Each device can affect call quality. If you have a complex setup with multiple routers and switches, depending on your network layout.
• Internet Service Providers (ISPs) control network throughput, impacting call quality during peak use. But QoS tweaks won’t improve ISP performance.
• Codecs compress audio to save bandwidth but can reduce sound quality and increase latency. Stable Internet is essential for quality VoIP calls.
• Prioritizing SIP traffic, disabling SIP ALG on routers, and fine-tuning QoS settings to favor voice packets. You might also want to prioritize network paths to known trusted VoIP carriers like Nextiva.

The network path for VoIP calls is complex. Work with your IT team to identify and solve quality issues. Focus on codecs, bandwidth, jitter, latency, and minimizing packet loss as the first places to improve call quality.

Best Practices for Better Call Quality

For most businesses, the first step is to select a reliable business VoIP provider. Trustworthy VoIP providers will be able to shed light on their VoIP network and tips to achieve optimal call quality.

• Use wired Ethernet connections. Wi-Fi is subject to interference, impairing phone calls at the worst possible time. Any Category 6 certified Ethernet cable offers low latency with gigabit duplexing. Plus, you eliminate the risk of a bad termination.
• Test your LAN and WAN connections regularly. Track metrics like ping, jitter, and bandwidth to detect network congestion. Voice over Internet Protocol uses 100 Kbps upload/download per line.
• Budget for 85% of your connection speed. Many businesses will reach the bandwidth limit offered by a DSL connection. Cable and fiber connections offer a lot more headroom. TCP and UDP connections have overhead that can fully utilize your bandwidth.

Popular QoS Monitoring Tools

Several popular Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring tools are available to network administrators. These tools help manage and improve network performance by ensuring mission-critical applications receive the necessary network priority.

Here are some well-known QoS monitoring tools:

1. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer: SolarWinds offers a comprehensive tool that provides real-time visibility into network traffic flows. It analyzes NetFlow, IPFIX, and other flow technologies to monitor and troubleshoot network performance issues.
2. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor: PRTG Network Monitor by Paessler is a powerful all-in-one monitoring solution that includes QoS monitoring capabilities. It enables administrators to monitor and manage network devices, bandwidth usage, and traffic flow to ensure optimal performance.
3. Nagios Network Analyzer: Nagios Network Analyzer is a commercial-grade network monitoring solution that provides in-depth insights into network traffic and bandwidth utilization. It features advanced QoS monitoring capabilities to help administrators prioritize critical services and applications.
4. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer: NetFlow Analyzer from ManageEngine is a comprehensive traffic analysis and monitoring tool. It leverages flow technologies to provide detailed visibility into network traffic and analyze QoS metrics to optimize network performance.
5. OpenNMS: OpenNMS is an open-source network management platform that includes QoS monitoring capabilities. It offers features such as flow analysis, resource monitoring, and event notifications to ensure efficient network operation and troubleshooting.
6. Ntopng: Ntopng is an open-source network traffic monitoring tool. It provides real-time traffic analysis and supports various flow protocols, allowing administrators to monitor and analyze QoS metrics for better network performance.
7. BandwidthD: BandwidthD is an open-source bandwidth monitoring tool that can also be used for QoS monitoring. It tracks bandwidth usage by protocol and analyzes traffic trends to identify potential bottlenecks and prioritize critical applications.

These popular QoS monitoring tools offer a range of capabilities and features to help administrators effectively manage network performance and ensure optimal QoS for their critical applications and services.

Functions of QoS Network Tools

QoS network monitoring tools perform several functions to optimize network performance. Their top functions include:

• Classification: QoS tools can identify different types of traffic and assign them specific markings or labels.
• Queueing: QoS tools can reserve a portion of the available bandwidth to hold packets in a buffer for later processing.
• Policing: QoS tools enforce specific bandwidth limits and rules. If packets do not adhere to these rules, they are dropped. Policing is an essential part of congestion avoidance.
• Shaping: Similar to policing, QoS tools can queue excess traffic in a buffer instead of dropping them entirely.
• Fragmentation and Compression: QoS tools can employ techniques such as fragmentation and compression to reduce the required bandwidth on a network. By minimizing delay and jitter, these methods optimize network performance.

QoS tools may encompass any combination of these functions, allowing for a tailored approach to meet specific network requirements and efficiently utilize available resources.

Fixing QoS With Your VoIP Service Provider

Although you can improve your VoIP QoS, this doesn’t mean VoIP service providers offer the same service. Different providers offer different levels of availability.

Almost all our users never have any issues. Why? Our reliable business VoIP network withstands severe weather and heavy use. But when trouble strikes, we’re here to help you get the most from your VoIP service.

Most telephone companies won’t take the time to help you figure out the problem. They want to get you off the phone quickly. At Nextiva, it’s different. Everyone receives personalized support and can chat with knowledgeable technicians.

We pride ourselves on becoming the top virtual phone service ready to help you with your communication needs.

FAQs

If you’re looking for a Vonage alternative or exploring a new VoIP provider, that’s good news.

It means you’re ready to make your business phone system more flexible and affordable.

And although Vonage offers a solid solution for businesses who crave exactly that, you might struggle with its pricing and scalability if you’re a small or mid-sized business.

Do you want to consider other cloud phone system options beyond Vonage? Then you’re in the right place.

What Is Vonage?

Vonage is a cloud communications provider. It offers voice, video, and messaging services.

Vonage offers its unified communications solution, also known as Vonage Business Communications, to small and mid-market companies with these three pricing plans:

• Mobile, $19.99/month/line: this basic plan includes unlimited domestic calling, SMS and MMs, and apps on desktop and mobile devices.
• Premium, $29.99/month/line: get everything from Mobile, plus unlimited video meetings (up to 200 participants), virtual receptionist, integrations, analytics, and support for VoIP phones.
• Advanced, $39.99/month/line: the highest plan includes everything from Premium, plus single sign-on (SSO), call recording, voicemail transcription, and call groups.

To get these prices, Vonage requires new customers to sign a minimum 12-month contract, subject to early termination fees if canceled within a year.

Adding more lines reduces the cost per line. If you need more than 90 lines, you’ll need to contact Vonage’s sales team for pricing.

Vonage also offers packages for contact centers, conversational commerce, and communications APIs, but they haven’t made their pricing public.

Related: Vonage Pricing: Is It Worth It for Small Businesses?

Why Businesses Look for Vonage Alternatives

1. They want transparent pricing

Successful businesses stay on their toes and adapt to the changes and demands of the industry.

To do that, they need to know which tools and features fit into their workflows and budgets — and for that, they need to know what a solution will cost them without jumping through a dozen hoops.

Vonage doesn’t publish pricing for more than 90 lines, which can be a limiting factor for many businesses.

2. They need a solution that’s friendly for small and medium businesses

Vonage seems to be on a pivot to becoming a CPaaS provider. This makes it a perfect solution for developers and tech teams.

But for smaller, mid-size, or large businesses? Not so much. They need a phone system that’s both flexible and easy to use. Sound like you? Then you’ll need a complete VoIP phone system you can set up quickly — and one that grows and scales just like you do.

3. They need a seamless, glitch-free calling experience

Even though customers seem to be happy with Vonage’s service, some users report issues with call quality, like choppiness and glitching.

For many companies, the quality of customer calls directly correlates with customer happiness and revenue. If that’s you, finding an alternative might be worth the effort.

The last thing you want is to have a customer service or sales call drop, making people think you hung up on them. A quick look at Vonage’s status page suggests there are at least some concerns to be aware of. 

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Vonage Alternative

Here’s what to pay attention to and the questions to ask as you research Vonage alternatives:

• Features: what are your communication needs? Which features are essential vs. nice-to-have, including call management, admin, productivity, and integration?
• Pricing: which pricing plans offer the features your team needs? Is there an option to save by upgrading to an annual plan?
• Ease of use: how complicated is onboarding or setup? How about everyday management functions? Will you need extra IT staff to configure your phone system?
• Customer support: is live support available 24/7? Will you have to wait long for issue resolution?
• Call quality: can you be sure that voice calls will always be crisp and high-quality? Have you performed a rigorous network check?
• Reliability: what’s the risk of downtime? What procedures and redundancies are in place to prevent network issues?
• Scalability: how easily can you add or change numbers or features as your business needs evolve? Will those tweaks make financial and administrative sense?

With that, you’re ready to dive into the top 10 alternatives to Vonage.

Top 10 Vonage Business Alternatives

1. Nextiva

Nextiva is a complete cloud phone solution for modern companies. Its plans and features meet the needs of small businesses, growing companies, and large enterprises alike.

Nextiva combines customer support and team collaboration into a single tool. That includes voice, text messaging, video, integration, and powerful call management capabilities. Instead of jumping between a dozen apps, you can make the most impact with just one — Nextiva’s business phone app.

What are Nextiva’s top features?

Nextiva fosters customer happiness and team collaboration with VoIP features including:

• Call Pop, a feature that shows important call details on your screen, including details about the last interaction and survey responses from that caller.
• Advanced call routing to instantly send phone calls to the right department, delight customers, manage wait times, and scale your contact center.
• Team chat, so you can collaborate through instant messaging, screen sharing, message history, and video calls and resolve customer challenges quickly.

Nextiva’s pricing

All three of Nextiva’s plans offer powerful VoIP features while matching small business budgets. Check out the tiers:

• Essential, $25.95/user/month: get unlimited voice and video calling, voicemail, toll-free numbers, integrations with Outlook and Google Contacts, and unlimited internet fax.
• Professional, $30.95/user/month: on top of Essential, get unlimited conference calls (40 participants) and video conferencing, screen sharing, multi-level auto attendant, SMS, and MMS on mobile and desktop. You can also integrate with Salesforce and HubSpot.
• Enterprise, $40.95/user/month: add unlimited participants to voice and video conferencing, call recording, video recording, and voicemail transcription. Also, get SSO and more powerful integrations.

These prices apply to packages of 20–99 users. You can lower your monthly user price by opting for annual pricing. Additional volume discounts might also be available — request your no-obligation quote to see for yourself. 

What makes it stand out from Vonage?

Nextiva provides out-of-the-box solutions to small and mid-size companies, offices, and mobile workplaces. It prides itself on 99.999% uptime and a customer service team that’s both empathetic and hyper-efficient.

Plus, there are the 8,400 Nextiva reviews that average 4.46 out of 5. Customers rate Nextiva highly due to ease of setup, admin features, return on investment, and the power of having everything they need in a single product.

2. GoTo Connect

GoTo Connect is a cloud phone system for small and mid-sized businesses. It includes phone, meeting, and messaging software in a single solution.

It’s part of GoTo’s product suite for businesses that want to connect with their customers alongside webinars, training, customer engagement, and contact center solutions.

GoTo Connect’s top features

Here are some of GoTo Connect’s key features:

• Customizable call routing that connects an incoming call to the correct endpoint for maximum convenience and productivity.
• Call filtering lets you provide the right experience to the right caller, like VIP customers or hot leads.
• Hot desking for flexible working options and easy switching between devices, desks, and locations.

Pricing

GoTo Connect offers two pricing tiers. One is for businesses looking for basic features, and the other is a fully featured phone, chat, and video conferencing system:

• Basic, $27/user/month: use simplified features like calling from phone, web, and apps. Get access to local and toll-free numbers, call routing, extensions, call forwarding, instant responses, limited recorded greetings, dial plans, ring groups, and call queues. Manage your meetings with team messaging, audio conferencing, and up to 150 participants.
• Standard, $32/user/month: get everything from Basic along with unlimited recorded greetings, dial plans, ring groups, and call queues, as well as hot desking, online faxing, free international minutes, and better call management and recording. Run meetings with up to 250 participants and with additional meeting management features.

Who’s it best for?

GoTo Connect is a solid choice for companies that are already comfortable with GoTo’s product suite and need simple and straightforward virtual phone features.

3. Ooma Office

Ooma Office is a business phone system focused on small businesses and teams that want to meet with each other, their partners, or customers with ease.

Ooma promises a quick, less-than-15-minute setup, as well as no need for any technical knowledge to do so. It offers a flexible, scalable voice and collaboration solution.

Ooma’s top features

Ooma Office gives all customers access to more than 50 standard features. Here are some highlight functionalities:

• Virtual receptionist for directing incoming calls and sharing essential information about the business.
• Extension dialing that makes it easy for a business to branch out when it grows.
• A mobile app that enables working from anywhere, handling calls and voicemails, sending documents, and call recording.

Pricing

Ooma Office offers three feature-rich pricing tiers, all of which include real-time customer support. Here’s what they are and what they include beyond the 50+ features:

• Essentials, $19.95/user/month: this plan includes unlimited calling in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, a virtual receptionist, and a mobile app.
• Pro, $24.95/user/month: get everything from Essentials, plus a desktop app, text messaging, video conferencing for up to 25 participants, and call recording.
• Pro Plus, $29.95/user/month: get features from Pro, plus CRM integration, video conferencing for up to 100 participants, hot desking, and call queuing.

Ooma’s website offers a short quiz to help visitors determine the best plan for them.

Ooma provides risk-free signup with a 30-day money-back guarantee in lieu of a free trial.

Who’s it best for?

Ooma Office is tailored to small businesses that implement a hybrid work approach, look for simple call center capabilities, and want to integrate their business communication with their CRM.

4. 3CX

3CX is a popular option among MSPs and IT pros. Why? Because it offers plenty of customization and a lower cost than a fully supported phone system. It’s a software-based PBX that can be hosted in the public cloud using Amazon EC2, Google Cloud, or DigitalOcean. 

3CX provides a range of unified communication features (voice, video, and chat) across its mobile, desktop, and web clients. If you like adjusting and configuring your phone system, you’ll be quite satisfied replacing Vonage with 3CX. 

As a heads-up, you will need to provide SIP trunks for 3CX to make and receive calls across the PSTN. This additional setup can be tricky, especially if you’re newer to it. Also, in early 2023, 3CX had a widely publicized security incident that would make any Fortune 500 CTO think twice. 

3CX’s top features

Some of its highly praised features include:

• Highly flexible platform that supports many different devices and endpoints out of the box.
• Public cloud compatible for hosting the phone system in the cloud environment of one’s choice.
• User-friendly for end-users and IT admins, although it may appear to offer too many options. 

Pricing

3CX offers a few different pricing tiers:

• 3CX Free: free service for up to 10 users, and you’ll need to supply the SIP trunking service and hosting.
• 3CX Small Business: $175 annually for 10 users, sold through a 3CX partner. 
• 3CX Professional: $145 annually for 10 users and up to four simultaneous calls, self-hosted and sold through a 3CX partner. 
• 3CX Enterprise: $180 annually for 10 users and up to four simultaneous calls, self-hosted and sold through a 3CX partner. 

Aside from hosting and user licenses, simultaneous phone calls are a factor in the pricing. If your team members communicate with each other or customers frequently, you’ll need to pay more. 

Who’s it best for?

When thinking about a Vonage alternative, 3CX could be a good option if you are confident in setting up and hardening a cloud environment, acquiring a SIP trunking service, and adjusting communication features. 

5. Dialpad

Dialpad is a Vonage alternative that provides an intelligent business phone system to companies of all sizes.

For small businesses, it focuses on getting started with a phone system quickly — without extra hardware or dozens of apps. For enterprises, Dialpad is about bringing remote teams together. It makes hybrid work seamless through calls, messages, meetings, and a contact center built into a single workspace.

Dialpad leans into the capabilities of AI, such as transcribing calls in real-time, as well as meeting and voicemail transcription.

Dialpad’s top features

Here are some notable features of Dialpad:

• Unlimited meetings with high-definition video and audio.
• Unlimited calling within the customer’s country, the US, and Canada.
• Real-time analytics and reporting on call volume, usage, and adoption.

Pricing

Dialpad offers three pricing tiers:

• Standard, $23/user/month: get unlimited calling, messaging, AI features like call transcription and visual voicemail, integrations with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, analytics, and support over the web and chat.
• Pro, $35/user/month: use the features from Standard, plus 24/7 live support, integration with Microsoft Teams and CRMs like Salesforce and Zendesk, local numbers in 70+ countries, 25 ring groups, 10 office locations, multiple phone numbers per account, global SMS, and open APIs.
• Enterprise, price on request: get everything from Pro, plus 100% uptime, unlimited office locations, and ring groups, dial-by-extension, integration with SSO providers, data retention policies, and priority live agent support.

You can lower your per-user monthly pricing by opting for annual pricing.

Dialpad also offers add-ons like room license fees ($34/room/month), additional toll-free or international numbers (from $15/number/month), and additional local numbers (from $5/number/month).

You can try Dialpad for free with a 14-day free trial.

Who’s it best for?

Dialpad might suit companies of various sizes that want to leverage AI in their business communications. But at the end of the day, do you really need AI transcription? 

6. Phone.com

Phone.com is another Vonage competitor that offers a cloud-based business phone system.

It’s a solution for small businesses that want to be able to communicate wherever they are. Phone.com lets customers use their business phone number on any device, along with call management and collaboration features for efficient collaboration.

This VoIP provider offers voice, text, video, faxing, and conferencing capabilities.

Phone.com’s top features

Phone.com offers key business communication features, including:

• Call queues to route incoming calls to a specific group of numbers.
• Voice tagging lets callers pick from a menu option, and the person answering the call can customize their opening based on the chosen option.
• Account that works on any device, including making calls, sending messages, or launching a video meeting.

Pricing

Phone.com offers three pricing plans, which include:

• Basic, $14.99/user/month: get 500 pooled minutes, one phone number per account, up to 10 video conference participants, apps, and standard voice features.
• Plus, $21.99/user/month: all Basic features plus unlimited minutes, one phone number per user, text messaging, up to 25 video conferencing participants with the option of recording, and voicemail transcription.
• Pro, $31.99/user/month: everything from Plus along with call recording, analytics, CRM integration, and up to 100 video conferencing participants with whiteboard and transcription.

You can lower your per-user monthly pricing by opting for annual pricing, as well as asking for volume pricing.

All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Who’s it best for?

Phone.com suits small businesses looking for a simple solution that will help them work and collaborate remotely. This includes industries like healthcare, retail, legal, education, and finance.

7. Zoom

You already know of Zoom as an online meeting solution, but Zoom also offers a business phone service.

Zoom Phone is a flexible business VoIP service with a single interface for video, voice, messaging, and meetings. It offers apps on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

Zoom’s top features

Zoom Phone offers more than 40 features that make it a solid cloud phone service. The standout features include:

• Interactive voice response (IVR) that reduces admin workload by engaging callers and routing calls.
• On-demand call recording for easy call review in the future.
• Dialing personas to best represent the type of call a team member wants to make.

Pricing

With Zoom Phone, you get most features for call management, admin, and integrations. Three pricing tiers indicate different usage capacities:

• US & Canada Metered, $10/user/month: you get unlimited internal calling, metered outbound calls, a management portal, domestic SMS and MMS, a US and Canada number, and multi-device use.
• US & Canada Unlimited, $15/user/month: alongside the Metered features, this plan also includes unlimited outbound calling and an optional add-on for international calls.
• Global Select, $20/user/month: this option gives you unlimited regional calling in one of 48 countries and territories and a direct dial number.

There are also add-ons, such as toll-free numbers ($5/month), enhanced analytics and insights ($25/month), and additional phone numbers (from $5/month), you can select on top of each plan.

Who’s it best for?

Zoom Phone is a good choice for businesses looking for a user-friendly phone system. It certainly helps if you’re already familiar with Zoom’s platform.

The cost of additional numbers and reporting features can add up fast, meaning Zoom Phone is a better option for stable companies looking for a straightforward solution.

8. Grasshopper

Grasshopper is a simple virtual phone service, making it a worthy Vonage alternative for small businesses in the US and Canada. It works by adding a business number and essential call management features to an existing phone.

Grasshopper makes it easy to port over your existing number or select a vanity, toll-free, or local number. Getting started is as easy as creating an account and downloading the mobile app.

Grasshopper’s top features

Grasshopper keeps its features straightforward. Some of the most popular features include:

• Instant response that texts new callers when you can’t answer.
• Incoming call control that lets you screen callers, block calls, and set a custom schedule based on your working hours.
• Vanity numbers that are easy to remember and dial, like 1-800-NAME.

Pricing

Grasshopper offers three pricing plans, which allow access to all of Grasshopper’s features. What differentiates them is the number of users, phone numbers, and extensions:

• True Solo, $16/month: the right choice for a single user that needs one phone number and extension.
• Solo Plus, $31/month: gives you unlimited users, one phone number, and up to three extensions.
• Partner, $51/month: have unlimited users, three phone numbers, and six extensions.
• Small business, $89/month: get unlimited users, five phone numbers, and unlimited extensions.

You can lower the cost of your subscription by opting for annual pricing.

Grasshopper offers a free seven-day trial on all plans. 

Who’s it best for?

Grasshopper is a solid option for small businesses, especially solopreneurs like photographers or consultants. Since it’s not HIPAA compliant, it may not be a good choice for healthcare organizations that handle sensitive data.

9. CallHippo

CallHippo is a flexible virtual phone system for small businesses. This Vonage challenger focuses on increasing agent productivity, automating workflows, tracking team performance, and lowering the cost of business communication.

CallHippo promises a rapid setup time — less than three minutes from buying a number to making your first call.

CallHippo’s top features

CallHippo offers a rich set of more than 30 features. Their top telephony and productivity features include:

• Power dialing that automates the dialing process and saves valuable time.
• Global connect, which maximizes call pickup and conversion rates for international customers based on their time zones.
• Gamification elements like leaderboards, rewards, and challenges to foster healthy competition.

Pricing

You can choose CallHippo’s office phone system or its call center solution. Both come with their own pricing structure. Unlike many VoIP providers, they charge extra for phone numbers, call forwarding, SMS service, and incoming call charges.

The office phone system’s plans include one free and three paid:

• Basic, $0/user/month: use click-to-dial, global connect, teams, voicemail, messaging, smart switch, and last called by. You’ll need to pay for numbers.
• Starter, $20/user/month: get everything from Basic, up to 1,000 calling minutes in the US and Canada, one free number, IVR, 2FA, business hours, and ring all devices.
• Professional, $35/user/month: use features from Starter, plus unlimited calling minutes in the US and Canada and advanced call management features like recording, analytics, tagging, and ratings.
• Ultimate, $50/user/month: on top of Professional features, you get access to advanced and custom integrations, custom greetings, a dedicated account manager, and 24/7 support.

CallHippo’s call center solution is available through these plans:

• Basic, $0/user/month: have unlimited users and features like click-to-dial, global connect, SMS, voicemail smart switch, and forwarding to a device. You’ll need to pay for numbers.
• Bronze, $20/user/month: get everything from Basic, plus a free number, call routing, webhooks, and paid call recording.
• Silver, $30/user/month: get everything from Bronze, plus powerful phone features like IVR, call queuing, working hours, call cascading, holiday routing, gamification, and call tagging.
• Platinum, $50/user/month: on top of the Bronze features, get the full feature package, including auto dialer, call barging, SSO, advanced analytics, and integrations.

You can enrich your plan with add-ons like WhatsApp Business ($15/number/month), website call button ($10/month), and more.

You can lower the cost of your subscription by opting for annual pricing.

CallHippo offers a free 10-day trial with all plans.

Who’s it best for?

CallHippo works well for lighter-duty sales, call center, and support teams. That applies to small businesses and startups, as well as growing teams.

10. 8×8

8×8 is a cloud phone service for businesses that want voice, video, chat, and call center software in one package. That’s not only to keep customers happy but also to keep employees connected and engaged.

It works as a contact center and a unified communications platform, as well as a scalable platform thanks to APIs and integrations.

8×8’s top features

8×8’s features are quite powerful, and they depend on the plan you choose. A few to keep in mind in your research include:

• Call handling, including caller ID, call forwarding, transfer, park, and ring groups.
• Barge, monitor, and whisper for supervisors to assist their agents in real time.
• Integrations with essential CRM, productivity, support, and service apps.

Pricing

8×8 offers five plans. The first two are unified communications plans, while the other three are contact center plans.

These plans include:

• X2: get all-in-one voice, video, and chat features, including unlimited users and voice calling to 14 countries. You can also run audio and video conferencing for up to 500 active participants, use SMS and team chat, and integrate with Microsoft Teams.
• X3: use advanced features for call handling and analytics, along with unlimited calling to 48 countries.
• X6: the first contact center plan includes skill-based routing, IVR, call recording, reporting, and customer journey mapping.
• X7: get everything from X6, plus multi-channel support and co-browsing.
• X8: this is an advanced contact center management plan that features everything from X7 plus quality management and speech and text analysis.

To find out the cost of these plans, you must speak with an 8×8 salesperson. 

Who’s it best for?

8×8 is best for businesses that operate on a global scale — those that need a customizable solution to communicate with their customers and within the business.

Finding the Right Vonage Alternative Is Worth It

Let’s be real: each of these Vonage alternatives is a potential upgrade to your current phone system.

You have so many options to choose from — maybe the best one right in front of you? 

Nextiva gives you the perfect mix of advanced features, unlimited nationwide calling, friendly customer service, easy-to-use apps, pre-configured VoIP desk phones, integration, and so much more. It also has attractive pricing, starting from $17.95 per user monthly for 100 users. 

… And it won’t take a tech wizard to set it up, either!

If you’re a small or medium-sized business that wants to move quickly and work efficiently, Nextiva is the best Vonage alternative you can find.

You’ll make your team fully productive and improve your customer experience. Nextiva’s phone system will make you unstoppable.

International phone calls can get expensive. It pays (literally) to get it right.

If you need to call someone in the United Kingdom (UK) from a phone in the US, you’ve got a few options.

It’s cost-effective to call them using popular online calling apps like WhatsApp or Skype. These are free options as long as you subscribe to the relevant service. 

You can also use online meeting tools like Nextiva, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams.

When you need to physically dial a UK number, like when you don’t have an internet connection, making a call to the UK from American phones becomes a little tricker.

In this post, we include instructions for how to call the UK from a US-based phone number, dissect the intricacies of area codes and mobile phones (cell phones), and run through what you can expect to pay.

Calling in the United Kingdom

Like the US, counties and cities have different area codes in the UK. The majority of UK numbers have 11 digits. A minority of phone numbers have 10 digits. There aren’t any special circumstances for these numbers. It’s a matter of legacy number systems.

A standard UK telephone number looks like this in the UK: 01632960345.

This is commonly broken down into 0 1632 960345.

• 0 is the country (UK).
• 1632 is the area code.
• 960345 is the unique landline number.

UK dial codes by area

In the table below, you can see that not all UK area codes are the same length.

For example, Aberdeen has the code 1224, but Belfast has 28.

This doesn’t change the length of the overall phone number. It’s simply down to historical numbering systems.

It’s worth noting that the area codes in UK phone numbers exist only to separate the geographical location. You can just dial the full phone number when you call a number.

There’s no need to remember any associated area codes and areas. It’s standard practice in the UK to list the complete phone number in any directory, advertisement, or online listing.

How to Call the United Kingdom From the United States

Calling UK landlines from the US

Before you place a call to the UK, you must enter the 011 exit code.

Next, dial the country code for the UK (44). This replaces the 0 on our example number (01632960345).

Then dial the rest of the phone number as listed. There’s no need to pause when entering the UK area code.

So, you’ve dialed 011 44 1632960345.

Calling the UK from the US

Step 1: Dial the US exit code: 011

Step 2: Dial the UK country code: 44

Step 3: Dial the rest of the UK phone number: 1632960345

You’ve dialed the following:

Calling UK mobile phones from the US

The process for calling UK mobile phones from the US is the same as calling a landline. The only difference is the digits dialed in the mobile phone number.

There are no area codes associated with mobile phones in the UK. There are many mobile codes relating to different carriers like Vodafone, O2, and EE.

Before you place a call to the UK, you must enter the 011 exit code.

Next, dial the country code for the UK (44). 

Then dial the rest of the UK cell phone number as listed.

So, you’ve dialed 011 44 7700900077.

Calling UK toll-free and non-geographic numbers from the US

Toll-free numbers in the UK are 0800 and 0808. These become +44800 and +44808 in the US. There is still a charge to call UK toll-free numbers in the US.

Other 08xx and 03xx prefixes in the UK represent non-geographic phone numbers with varying calling costs.

Using the same process, you can call any UK toll-free or non-geographic phone service.

Before you place a call to the UK, you must enter the 011 exit code.

Next, dial the country code for the UK (44). 

Then dial the rest of the phone number as listed.

So, you’ve dialed 011 44 3069990000.

When to Call the UK

Time zone differences and national holidays are two major factors to consider when dialing a phone number in the UK.

Time zone differences

The whole of the UK runs in the same time zone. So, if you’re calling someone in London, you can be sure they’re in the same time zone as someone in Glasgow or Cardiff.

The UK follows Daylight Saving Time, which has two time zones during the year.

Between the last Sunday in October and the last Sunday in March, the UK follows Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). 

The differences between the US time zones and GMT are outlined below:

In the UK, clocks go forward one hour at 1 am on the last Sunday in March and back one hour at 2 am on the last Sunday in October.

The period when the clocks are one hour ahead is called British Summer Time (BST). In 2023, BST is between 26th March and 29th October.

Note this is a different timescale to when the US has daylight savings time. There is a slight overlap period, which makes for slightly amended time differences.

In the US, Daylight Saving Time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. It can get confusing during the crossover dates, even when you’ve worked with US and UK folks for 15 years.

It’s always best to be aware of when there’s a crossover in Daylight Saving Time. Use World Time Buddy if you’re unsure of the exact time during this period.

National public holidays

Expect most businesses, except those with dedicated 24/7 support functions, to be closed or operate shortened opening times during national holidays.

The United Kingdom has eight standard national holidays.

Note that New Year’s Day is awarded as a national holiday on a Monday when 1st January falls on a Saturday or Sunday.

In special circumstances, the UK can add more national holidays. For example, in 2023, Monday, 8th May, was a national holiday due to the coronation of the new king, King Charles III.

There are also some regional holidays to consider.

Scotland

Scotland has an extra national holiday on 2nd January. If New Year’s Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, Scotland rolls the public holiday back and celebrates the 2nd January national holiday on the 3rd January.

Scotland also observes St Andrew’s Day on 30th November. Again, the national holiday is pushed to the following Monday if the 30th November falls on a Saturday or Sunday.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has an extra national holiday on 12th July, which marks the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. If the 12th of July falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the national holiday is pushed to the following Monday.

How Much Does It Cost to Call the UK From the US?

Calling the UK varies depending on whether you call a landline, cell phone, toll-free, or non-geographic number.

The rates indicated below are taken from Nextiva’s international rate card. These are applicable when you use Nextiva’s VoIP phone system.

Always check with your telephone provider if you’re unsure of the bundled minutes in your calling plan.

☎️ More Info: Compare International Calling Rates from Nextiva ↗

How to Make Business Phone Calls to the UK Using Nextiva

For security, international dialing is disabled by default on Nextiva accounts. Authorized account holders can enable international calls by contacting support. 

Once that’s enabled, dialing UK phone numbers from the US is easy.

Dialing the United Kingdom from Nextiva

When calling the UK from the US using Nextiva, it would look like this: 

• Step 1: Dial the exit code 011. This tells your phone service that you are trying to dial out of the United States.
• Step 2: Dial 44. This is the international country code for the United Kingdom.
• Step 3: Dial the area code. Area codes in the UK span from two to five digits. If you encounter any area code that starts with 0, you can omit the 0 while entering the phone number.
• Step 4: Dial the phone number. The phone number should have 10 digits, which includes the area code. If it is a mobile number, it will have nine digits.

Tip: When dialing, you don’t need to enter dashes or plus signs.