Plain answers to the questions Melbourne small businesses actually ask us.
A business phone system manages how calls come into your business and where they go. Which number rings, who picks up, what happens when nobody answers, and what you can see about it afterwards. Modern systems run over the internet rather than a physical line, so they’re managed through an app or a browser rather than a box on the wall.
VoIP means Voice over Internet Protocol, which is the technology that carries calls over your internet connection instead of a traditional phone line. It’s the plumbing rather than the product. Pretty much all modern business phone systems use VoIP, but not all VoIP systems are the same, so if someone offers you “VoIP” or “cloud phone system” they may be describing different things. For example, the phone that comes bundled with business internet is using VoIP, but it may not be a business phone system.
Yes, and most businesses that switch do exactly that. In almost all cases you can keep your existing number, so customers who’ve had it for years won’t notice anything except that calls start getting answered more reliably.
Probably not, and in most cases you’ll gain a few. The things people worry about losing, call transfers, hold music, a main number that rings the right people, are all standard. What tends to be new is the reporting, being able to answer from a mobile, and being able to change how calls are handled yourself without booking a technician. If there’s something specific your current system does that you can’t do without, tell us early and we’ll check it before you commit rather than after.
You need a reliable internet connection, and for most Melbourne businesses that’s the NBN. Calls use very little bandwidth compared with video or file transfers, so a connection that already handles day-to-day work is usually sufficient. We would run a check on your internet service first to make sure it will work, but if your internet service is stable then in most cases this is just a formality.
The business phone system itself is generally very quick to set up. It can be online in some cases on the same day, with setup generally taking a few hours. If you are porting your existing number into the new system, that can take longer, more like days to weeks. The good news is that you can usually forward calls to your existing number into the new system right away while you wait for the number to be ported.
This is a question worth asking, and it has a good answer. Because the system isn’t tied to a physical line at your premises, calls can be diverted automatically to mobiles when the connection drops, so the business keeps answering.
Usually not. Most small businesses run entirely on the mobile and desktop apps, which means there’s no hardware to buy and nothing to install. Handsets are an option if a particular role or business type needs one, but they are not a requirement.
Yes, and that’s one of the main reasons to have a system at all. Calls come through the app on their phone, so they show up as business calls, they can be answered anywhere, and the customer sees your business number rather than a personal one. When someone leaves, the number and the call history stay with the business.
Yes. You get a record of incoming and missed calls, when they came in, and whether anyone followed up. For a lot of businesses that report is the first time they’ve been able to see the problem at all, which is usually more useful than any other single feature.
Yes. Recording can be turned on for everyone, for particular people, or started and stopped call by call, and recordings are kept so you can go back to them. Most small businesses use it for training, and for settling the occasional question about what was actually agreed on a call. There are rules about letting callers know they’re being recorded, so it’s worth setting up properly rather than just switching on, and we’d go through that with you.
No. Changing who answers what, adjusting opening hours or adding a person is done through a browser and takes minutes. If you’d rather not do it yourself, we can absolutely do it for you.
Setup is done with you rather than handed to you, so the system is configured the way you actually work before anyone relies on it. The actual setup process is quite straightforward and many businesses will want to do this themselves; however, we can be as involved as you need during that process. After setup is complete, GoTo provides the platform support directly.
Business phone systems are priced per user, per month, as an ongoing operating cost rather than an up-front purchase. What you pay depends on how many people need to answer calls and what you need the system to do, so it’s a short conversation rather than a number on a page. GoTo issues the formal quote and bills you directly, so there’s no separate Toniq invoice.
It’s negotiable. Typical contract lengths are 24 or 36 months, and shorter terms are possible, though in practice nobody wants to be switching their business phone system that often. For many businesses 24 months is the sensible middle, but it’s something we’ll work through with you before you sign anything.
GoTo. They issue the quote and bill you directly for the service, so the number you’re quoted is the number you pay. Toniq’s role is the advice to make sure the system is right for you, and the help to set it up if you need it.
We’re based in Melbourne and most of our work is with local businesses, which makes it easy to sit down together in person when that’s needed. But the beauty of modern business phone systems is that it doesn’t matter where you are, so we can and do work with businesses elsewhere in Australia too.
Nothing. If the conversation ends with “your current setup is fine”, that’s a perfectly good outcome and it’s cost you only fifteen minutes.