Three Numbers Decide It
Moving your business phone system to save money is a sum, not a feeling. Almost every conversation about it gets stuck on the monthly price, which is only one of three numbers you need:
1
What you really spend now, including costs that never reach the phone bill.
2
What you would spend after, from a written like for like quote.
3
What it costs to get out: fees, payouts, notice, hardware and overlap.
The saving is number one minus number two. Payback is number three divided by that saving. Everything below is about getting each number right, because each one is easy to get wrong in a way that flatters the move or hides it.
If you only want a quick check of last month's invoices for unused seats and expired promotions, our 30 minute bill audit does that. This guide is for the bigger question of whether to move at all, and when.
Number One: What You Really Spend Now
Gather last month's phone bill, the internet bill, any lease agreement, any invoice from whoever maintains your PBX, and your card statement. Then sort every phone related cost into four buckets. The point of the buckets is that two of them rarely appear on the phone bill at all.
| Bucket | What goes in it | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier charges | Line rental or SIP trunk channels, per minute calls to mobiles and national numbers, 13, 1300 and 1800 rental and the per minute charge on inbound calls. | The phone bill, plus any separate bill for the 1300 number. |
| Hardware and the box | Handset leases, a lease on the system itself, and for an on premises or self hosted PBX: server or hosting fees, licence renewals, the maintenance contract and IT callouts. | The finance company, your IT provider's invoices, the hosting account. Rarely the phone bill. |
| Seats for nobody | Users, extensions or licences still billed for staff who have left, or for desks nobody sits at. | Compare the bill and the PBX licence count with today's staff list. |
| Side subscriptions | A separate SMS or reminder tool, a video meeting subscription, a call recording app, and the internet bill if it comes from another provider. | Your card or bank statement. |
For the hardware bucket, use twelve months of costs divided by twelve. A self hosted PBX can look free in a quiet month and cost a callout fee in a bad one. If the system is getting old, our phone system age checklist helps you price the replacement you would otherwise face.
For the side subscriptions bucket, only count what the new system would genuinely replace. If the team uses a meeting tool for things a phone platform does not do, it stays on both sides of the ledger.
Number Two: What You Would Spend After
Ask each provider you are considering for one written monthly figure, for the people you have today, covering the same things your current setup does. That means the numbers you need, the call pattern you actually have, the handsets people actually want, and any features you would be dropping a separate subscription for.
Two things make this number honest. First, ask what is included and what is extra, because "unlimited" usually has a boundary, and SMS, call recording and external calls are often priced on top. Our article on why the quote and the bill differ lists the usual gaps. Second, compare against current market prices so you know whether a quote is reasonable, using our business phone system cost guide.
The quick way to get number two
Send us last month's bill through our bill comparison page and a specialist will compare it line by line and come back with a like for like quote. No obligation, and you can use the figure to test anyone else's.
Number Three: What It Costs to Get Out
This is the number owners leave out, and the one that turns a good looking move into a bad one. Start with the contract. The ACMA says that under the industry's consumer protections code every telco must publish a critical information summary for each plan, covering minimum monthly charges, how long the contract lasts and whether there are early termination fees (ACMA, 1 November 2023). Ask your provider for the one that applies to you.
A common formula for leaving a fixed term early is the minimum monthly charge multiplied by the months left, plus any hardware rental still owing. Our own critical information summary works that way, so we are not pretending exit fees are someone else's invention. Then list everything else:
- Exit fee on the phone contract, if you leave before the minimum term ends.
- Lease payout on handsets or the system, often owed to a finance company rather than the phone provider.
- Notice periods on the PBX maintenance or IT contract. Three months' notice is three more months of cost.
- New hardware, for anyone who will not be working from the desktop or mobile app.
- One month of overlap, because the old service has to stay live until your numbers have ported.
- Setup and porting fees, if the new provider charges them.
The Payback Sum, Worked Through
Here are the three numbers for a seven person physiotherapy clinic: four physios, two at reception and a practice manager. The clinic and every figure below are illustrative, chosen to show the method. They are not real customer data or market averages.
The clinic runs a self hosted PBX on a cloud server, looked after by an IT contractor on a retainer with three months' notice. It leases ten desk handsets with fourteen months left, three of them on empty desks. It has a 1300 number on a separate bill, a reminder SMS tool and two video meeting licences for telehealth.
| Monthly cost (illustrative) | Number one: now | Number two: after |
|---|---|---|
| VOCPhone plan, 7 users ($84.90 for 3, plus 4 x $30) | n/a | $204.90 |
| SIP trunk and call charges | $140.00 | $50.00 (external calls allowance) |
| 1300 number, rental and inbound minutes | $60.00 | $35.00 (allowance, ported across) |
| PBX hosting and IT retainer | $155.00 | $0.00 |
| Lease on ten handsets | $100.00 | $0.00 |
| Reminder SMS tool | $49.00 | $25.00 (allowance for messages) |
| Video meeting licences, two | $36.00 | $0.00 (HD video meetings in the plan) |
| Total per month | $540.00 | $314.90 |
The saving is $225.10 a month. The allowances are placeholders the clinic would replace with its own call and message history, and with the rates in its written quote. The clinic would also check that the video meetings feature suits its telehealth workflow before dropping the separate licences.
| Number three: one off cost (illustrative) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Handset lease payout, 14 months at $100 | $1,400.00 |
| IT retainer, three months' notice at $110 | $330.00 |
| One cordless handset and base for reception | $279.00 |
| One month of overlap on the new plan | $314.90 |
| Phone contract exit fee (out of contract) | $0.00 |
| Setup and number porting | $0.00 |
| Total | $2,323.90 |
Payback = $2,323.90 / $225.10 = about 10.3 months. Over a 36 month term the saving is $8,103.60, or $5,779.70 after the one off costs.
Notice how much of number three is the lease. Without it, payback would be under five months. That is why the timing question matters.
Move Now, Move at Renewal, or Renegotiate
Once you have the three numbers, there are really only three outcomes. The test that separates the first two is simple: multiply the monthly saving by the months left on the contract or lease, and compare it with the exit cost.
| Outcome | When it is the right call | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Move now | Saving x months left is bigger than the exit cost, and payback is comfortably inside the new term. | Give notice, book the port, and keep the old service live until it completes. |
| Move at renewal | The exit cost is bigger than the saving you would give up by waiting, usually early in a long term. | Put the end date and notice period in the calendar, and give notice in time so it does not roll over. |
| Renegotiate and stay | The saving is small, or most of your spend is on things that cost much the same anywhere. | Take your written quote to your current provider, remove seats for people who left and cancel duplicate tools. |
For the clinic: $225.10 x 14 months left on the lease is $3,151.40, against a $1,400 payout. Waiting would cost $1,751.40 more than paying out the lease, so the clinic moves now. Change one fact, say a lease with forty months left at a higher rate, and the same sum could point to waiting. Run it on your own numbers rather than trusting the example.
Four Ways the Maths Goes Wrong
- Counting the new plan's price, not the new bill. Calls, SMS, recording and extra numbers can sit outside the headline. Use a written total.
- Forgetting the box in the cupboard. A self hosted or on premises PBX has costs on other people's invoices. Leave them out and the move looks worse than it is.
- Leaving out notice periods. The IT contract, the lease company and the old phone provider each have their own, and none of them will tell the others.
- Treating every subscription as a duplicate. Only remove what the new system genuinely replaces. An inflated saving produces a payback date you will not hit.
If you are weighing up whether to take phones and internet from the same provider as part of the move, our guide to saving money with one provider covers when that helps, and when it does not.
Then Switch Without Dropping a Call
A saving is only a saving if customers can still reach you. Do not cancel the old service yourself, because the port is what ends it. List every number, including the 1300 number and any second line. Set up and test the new system before the port date. And give notice to the lease company and your IT contractor separately.
The rest of the move, including the things that most often go wrong on the day, is in our guide to switching business phone provider. We have kept it there rather than repeating it here.
Where VOCPhone Fits in Your Sums
For number two, our prices are published. The business plan is $84.90 a month including 3 users on a 36 month term, then $30 a month for each additional user. If you would rather not sign a term, the same plan is $104.90 a month month to month. Setup is $0 and number porting is $0. Every user gets the desktop and mobile apps, unlimited internal calls, business SMS, HD video meetings and more than 40 features, with call recording and AI agents as optional extras. If you find a comparable cloud voice plan for less, we will match it. Build your exact figure on our pricing page.
For number one, two of the buckets often shrink further. VOCPhone is a cloud system running on a network we own and operate, rather than one we resell, so there is no box in your cupboard to maintain, and our NBN plans can put the internet on the same bill. VOCPhone is Australian owned, has run in the Australian market for more than 15 years, and runs at 99.99% network uptime. Our local team takes your call, and our AI agent picks up after hours.
Prefer to see it working first? Try the desktop app and mobile app in your browser, or book a 30 minute demo.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will switching business phone systems save money?
Only if the monthly saving pays back the cost of getting out within a sensible time. Work out three numbers: what you really spend now, including leases, PBX maintenance, seats for staff who have left and side subscriptions such as SMS or video meetings; what you would spend after, from a written like for like quote; and the one off cost of moving, including exit fees, lease payouts, notice periods, hardware and a month of overlap. Divide the third number by the difference between the first two. If the answer is well inside the new contract term, moving saves money.
How are early termination fees on a business phone contract usually calculated?
A common formula for leaving a fixed term early is the minimum monthly charge multiplied by the number of months left, plus any hardware rental still owing. The details vary, so check the contract and the critical information summary for your plan. The ACMA says telcos must publish a critical information summary for each plan, covering minimum monthly charges, contract length and whether there are early termination fees. Handset leases are often held by a separate finance company with their own payout figure.
Is it cheaper to wait until my phone contract ends before switching?
Sometimes. Multiply the monthly saving you would get by moving by the number of months left on your contract or lease. If that figure is bigger than the exit cost, moving now saves more. If it is smaller, waiting is cheaper, as long as you give notice in time so the contract does not roll over. In the meantime, a written quote from another provider is useful leverage for renegotiating, and you can usually remove seats for staff who left and cancel duplicate tools straight away.
What does a self hosted or on premises PBX really cost?
More than the phone bill shows. Add the server or hosting fees, licence renewals, the maintenance contract or IT retainer, and the callouts for changes and faults over the last twelve months, then divide by twelve for a monthly figure. Include any lease on the system or handsets, and remember that a maintenance contract usually has a notice period you will still pay through after you move. Compared with a cloud phone system, these are the costs that disappear rather than shrink.
Will I lose my phone number or calls if I switch to save money?
No, provided the move is done in the right order. Do not cancel your old service yourself, because your numbers stay live on it until the port completes. Number porting moves them to the new provider, and VOCPhone does not charge for porting. List every number before you start, including 1300 numbers and second lines, and test the new system before the port date. Our switching guide covers the full sequence.
