Choosing a VoIP Solution for Your Business: The Complete Guide

Choosing a new business phone system looks straightforward. In practice, you're facing a market with dozens of providers, three ways to connect Teams, a hundred features you'll never use and prices that can easily differ by a factor of five. This article is about VoIP solutions for businesses: which flavours exist, what the key decisions are, what it should reasonably cost and how to choose a provider that won't disappoint you two years down the line.

Why this decision is on the table now

Since September 2019, ISDN has been completely switched off in the Netherlands. PSTN, the classic copper phone line, has largely been phased out. No new copper connections are being added, and providers are actively replacing the last remaining ones. For SMEs, that means one thing: new business telephony runs over IP, and the question is no longer whether, but with which provider and in what way.

At the same time, the options have exploded. What used to be a desk phone connected to a PBX in the comms cupboard is now a cloud platform with chat, video, call queues, IVR and integrations. If you've already made the switch from traditional telephony to VoIP, sooner or later you'll ask yourself: did I choose the best platform, or did I simply settle on the first reasonable provider?

Hosted VoIP, Teams Phone or a specialist platform

Broadly speaking, there are three types of VoIP solution for businesses:

1. Hosted VoIP from a Dutch specialist. Providers such as VoIP.nl, Voys, Callvoip, VOIPZeker and RoutIT deliver a cloud PBX with a dashboard, call routing menu, queues and a softphone or app. You connect desk phones or headsets and pay per user per month. For many SMEs, this is the simplest and fastest option.
2. Microsoft Teams Phone. If you already run on Microsoft 365, Teams Phone brings chat, video and telephony together in an environment everyone already knows. You need an extra licence (Teams Phone Standard costs around $10 per user per month) and a way to connect Teams to the public telephone network.
3. Specialist contact centre solutions. RingCentral, 3CX, Genesys and Zendesk Voice are a good fit if the phone is your primary customer contact channel and you need extensive contact centre functionality (IVR flows, skill-based routing, live monitoring, CRM integrations). They cost more and take more setting up.

The rule of thumb: the more important telephony is to your customer contact, the sooner you move towards the third category. For a typical SME, categories 1 and 2 are the most common choices in practice.

Teams Phone: three ways to connect

If you choose Teams Phone, there's a second decision to make: how do you connect Teams to the public telephone network? There are three routes, and they differ in price, control and complexity.

• Calling Plans. You buy call minutes directly from Microsoft. Fastest to set up, highest rates. Works well for small teams that don't make many calls.
• Operator Connect. A certified Dutch telecoms provider (KPN, Odido, Vodafone, Gamma and dozens of others) connects its network directly to your Teams tenant. You keep your existing numbers and rates, but manage everything through the Teams Admin Center. Often the sweet spot for SMEs.
• Direct Routing. You connect a Session Border Controller to a SIP trunk yourself. The most flexible option, and the one with the most responsibility. Worth considering if you need very specific integrations or want to reuse legacy equipment.

If you're considering Teams Phone, it makes sense to also look at the rest of your Microsoft 365 licences and the wider modern workplace. That integration is precisely the advantage of Teams Phone; the pitfall is that it takes a few months before you really know whether all the features suit you.

What does VoIP telephony cost in practice?

Prices vary widely. In the Netherlands, business VoIP subscriptions range from roughly €2.50 to €30 per employee per month, depending on functionality and provider. For SMEs, the typical picture is:

• Basic package with call minutes, call forwarding, IVR and an app: €15 to €25 per user per month for businesses with up to 50 employees.
• Premium package with queues, softphone, mobile integration, analytics, call recording software and CRM integrations: €25 to €50 per user per month.
• Installation costs per connection: around €50 for a simple setup, up to €200 per workstation for a complete cloud telephony installation.
• Volume discounts: from around 100 users, many customers get a 20 to 30 per cent discount.

Some benchmarks: VoIP.nl offers a basic subscription from €8 per user per month, and VOIPZeker has an unlimited business package from €14.50 per user per month. Microsoft Teams Phone costs about $10 per user per month payable to Microsoft, plus whatever your Operator Connect partner charges for calls and number hosting. As a contact centre solution, RingCentral comes in at $20 to $35 per user per month.

What it will actually cost depends on how you use it: how much you call, how many users, how many desk phones versus softphone only, which integrations and which SLA. To compare real quotes, approach at least three providers with the same use case and the same number of users.

Network requirements: this makes or breaks call quality

A cheap VoIP solution on a mediocre internet connection sounds worse than an expensive one on an excellent connection. The key benchmarks:

• Bandwidth. Allow at least 100 kbps per concurrent call; 150 to 200 kbps is recommended.
• Latency. Below 150 milliseconds for a natural-sounding conversation.
• Jitter. Below 30 milliseconds to avoid echo and robotic-sounding audio.
• Symmetrical internet. VoIP uses as much upload as download. Consumer connections with lots of download and little upload are therefore more likely to cause problems.
• Quality of Service (QoS). On your router, prioritise VoIP traffic over other traffic so a large download doesn't disrupt a call.

For an SME with 20 to 50 people, this almost always means business fibre with an SLA of 99.5 to 99.9 per cent uptime. If you're weighing up the costs and benefits of business fibre internet, it's wise to bring telephony into that conversation.

Hardware: do you need handsets?

The trend is clear: fewer desk phones, more headsets and apps. In many SMEs, only certain roles (reception, queue agents, the sales team) still need a desk phone. Everyone else works with a softphone on their laptop and a good headset.

Practical rules of thumb:

• Desk phones: the Yealink T-series is popular, at around €100 to €300 per handset depending on features.
• Headsets: wireless Yealink WH or Jabra Engage series for the office; USB headsets from €60 for occasional calling.
• Softphone: the provider's own app, or the existing Teams app with Teams Phone.
• A PoE port on the switch saves you a separate power supply per handset.

For most SMEs, a software-first approach (softphone plus headset) delivers the lowest TCO.

What people often forget to factor in

When choosing a VoIP solution, businesses often look only at the headline price per user per month. That regularly leads to disappointment. Here's what you should also weigh up:

1. Number porting. Can you take your existing numbers with you, how long does it take and what does it cost? In the Netherlands, you can port with virtually any provider, but lead times vary from 3 to 30 working days.
2. Contract term and notice period. A two-year contract with automatic renewal is no longer necessary in 2026. If flexibility matters to you, choose monthly cancellation.
3. Integrations. Accounting, ticketing system, CRM. If you develop your own software or handle a lot of customer contact, you'll want at least click-to-call, call notes in your CRM and a call history per customer.
4. GDPR compliance. Where are call recordings stored, who can listen to them and how long do you keep them? For some sectors (healthcare, finance), this is a hard requirement. See also our GDPR guide.
5. Support and SLA. Who calls you back when it doesn't work, and how quickly? A cheap subscription with support only via a knowledge base can turn out far more expensive during a day-long outage than a slightly pricier subscription with a 4-hour response.
6. Fraud protection. Cybercriminals love making international calls through hacked VoIP accounts. Without built-in protection, a compromised account can rack up thousands of euros in call charges over a single weekend. A good provider automatically blocks suspicious destinations.

Which solution fits when?

A few practical scenarios you may recognise:

• 10 to 30 employees, office plus flexible working, standard use. Hosted VoIP from a Dutch specialist or Teams Phone via Operator Connect. Usually €15 to €25 per user per month.
• Already heavily invested in Microsoft 365, and your teams use Teams for everything. Teams Phone via Operator Connect. Integration is the biggest advantage.
• Customer contact is your primary channel, with multiple queues and multiple teams. A specialist contact centre platform (RingCentral, Genesys, Zendesk Voice) or Teams Phone with a Contact Center integration.
• Freelancer or a team of 2 to 5. A simple VoIP subscription with just a softphone. Around €8 to €15 per user per month.
• Multiple locations or international offices. Deliberately choose a provider with strong international number coverage and multilingual IVR.

If you're reviewing your IT strategy anyway, it's worth including telephony in a broader IT roadmap. Telephony is very often bought separately, only for the business to discover later that it's paying twice for conferencing or chat.

Frequently asked questions about VoIP solutions for businesses

What's the difference between VoIP and traditional telephony?

Traditional telephony uses a physical copper line or an ISDN connection. VoIP uses your internet connection to send calls as data. Since September 2019, ISDN has been fully phased out in the Netherlands and copper connections are on their way out, so all new business telephony runs over VoIP.

Can I take my existing phone number to a VoIP provider?

Yes. Number porting is available with virtually all Dutch providers, including KPN, Vodafone, Odido and Ziggo. Lead times vary from 3 to 30 working days, depending on the providers involved and the size of the request. Arrange it well before the end date of your current contract.

Does VoIP work well on an ordinary internet connection?

For one or two concurrent calls, a consumer connection can be enough. For an SME with 10 or more workstations, a business connection with symmetrical speeds and QoS configured is practically a must. Without QoS, calls will break up at busy times.

Is Microsoft Teams Phone suitable for SMEs?

In many cases, yes, provided you already work with Microsoft 365 and your customer contact doesn't require a heavyweight contact centre setup. For most SMEs, Operator Connect through a Dutch telecoms provider is the simplest route to connecting Teams to the public telephone network.

What's a reasonable price per user per month?

For a basic package with VoIP, call forwarding features and an app, SMEs typically pay between €15 and €25 per user per month. A premium package with queues, CRM integration and analytics comes to €25 to €50. Prices below €10 often mean a limited package without Dutch-based support.

What happens during an internet outage?

With a well-configured VoIP setup, incoming calls are automatically forwarded to a mobile number or the mobile app. This is called failover, and it needs to be set up in advance. Without failover, your phones are unreachable during an internet outage, which is one of the main reasons to get a proper SLA and fallback in place.

Conclusion

For SMEs, VoIP telephony is no longer a choice but a given. The real decisions lie in the type of platform, how you connect to the public network, the quality of your internet connection and the provider behind it all. For an SME that already works with Microsoft 365, Teams Phone via Operator Connect is often the logical choice. A business with lots of customer contact is sometimes better off with a specialist provider. The headline price per user per month is rarely the deciding factor; after a year, it's support, number porting, contract terms and integrations that determine how much value you really get from the solution.

Want a clear, no-nonsense picture of which VoIP solution suits your business best, and then have it set up for you? TRON Group has worked with SMEs on their business telephony for years, from hosted VoIP to Teams Phone via Operator Connect. Call +31 85 303 5869 or visit our managed IT services page. We'll map your current call traffic, advise which provider and connection method suit your team and handle a migration in which you keep your existing numbers and calls sound clear from day one.