As the business VoIP system expands from it's relative infancy into a full-fledged universally accepted form of communication, there is a growing need for a direct comparison of it to the traditional PBX system.There are quite a few factors to take into account when comparing the two services. Traditional PBX system has been around for quite some time. PBX is short for Private Branch Exchange.

The 'old school' PBX system is designed as a sort of center point where many external phone lines can connect and then branch off to their respective destinations within a company.

For one, the most important element of communication is clarity- the traditional PBX system provides for excellent voice quality. If one is using the business voice system, there is not as much guarantee on the voice quality which can oscillate between good and great.  Don't worry though. It's not too difficult to find a business VoIP provider that provides a quality of service guarantee.

One thing that is incredibly important when assessing the quality of a communication tool is the number of dropped calls. The traditional PBX system rarely has instances of dropped calls. However, with a hosted PBX system, there are still isolated instances of dropped calls. Additionally, there are more chances of loss of data when there is excessive usage of the service across the network.

Thankfully both systems provide for worldwide coverage, making both effective tools for business.

One aspect which really differentiates the two communication tools is the disparity in bandwidth usage- the traditional PBX system is highly inefficient in comparison to the business VoIP system.

In addition to more efficient use of bandwidth, the business VoIP system has an edge over the traditional PBX system in terms of long distance rates. As opposed to the 'old school' system which can lead to substantially large long distance bill, the new business VoIP system can even mean free long distance calls if within network.

Maintenance costs of traditional PBX system can sometimes run very high. Due to the cost of copper, the heavy equipment needed, and aging infrastructure it's not easy keeping the traditional PBX system in prime condition. In contrast, the hosted PBX is relatively easy to maintain since there is very little equipment needed to run the system.

The last most important element to any business is the ability to scale a service . Most businesses plan to expand after a certain period of time. Even if a company plans to expand to certain size, there is no way of determining how fast or slow that may happen. If a company uses a traditional PBX system a substantial investment must be made to accommodate for potential growth. This is not the case with a business VoIP provider which allow for easy scalability and expansion of use.

So now looking at the above analysis, one can determine that using a business voip is probably the best choice for any small business, start up, or even corporation that is looking to frugally expand it's business.