| PBX | vs. | UnityBN |
| High capital investment (Basic Phone System for 10 people = $7,000 - 10,000) Integration with Computer can raise the price by 20 - 30% | vs. | Almost no capital investment (analog phones for 10 people = $500 - $1,200) |
| Maintenance fees (15%-20% of total equipment cost per year) | vs. | No maintenance fees (Included in per station per month fee) |
| Difficult for small businesses in high growth to estimate and predict overall costs (hardware expansion for line cards, station cards, cabinets/racks and voicemail – costs jump tremendously at capacity breaks) |
vs. | One bill that includes all fees—flat fee per number of people—no hidden costs. |
| Difficult for mobile work forces to stay in touch and be reachable. Although you could dial in to check voicemail messages, it was cumbersome and then you ended up playing phone tag. |
vs. | Your phone can easily be forwarded to any other phone whether it is in your network or not. You can even have your phone forwarded to a cell phone or a pager. You can also log onto your phone from any workstation and work as if you were at your office. |
| Upgrades involve new software, hardware and installation for both PBX and voicemail (2-3 weeks). |
vs. | Upgrades are software only and could be downloaded within one day. |
| Local Service | vs. | UnityBN |
| Difficult for businesses in high growth to estimate and predict overall costs. New Phone Lines can take 30 - 45 days to install, and coordination with the phone equipment company is mandatory. | vs. | Flat fee per number of people includes local service, Internet, and LD-no hidden costs or large jumps in price. |
| Industry experience has bad reputation for responding to new clients and getting them up and running. Ordering service is cumbersome and time consuming | vs. | Quick and painless. Self-diagnostic equipment leads to proactive support. |
| Level of customer service and response time is poor | vs. | Great support 24 x 7. Monitor network traffic. |
| Finger pointing to other vendors, not taking responsibility |
vs. | One Vendor – handles everything. Peace of Mind. |
| Another bill to pay, track, etc. | vs. | One complete electronic bill that’s fully integrated. |
| Another bill to pay, track, etc. | vs. | One complete electronic bill that’s fully integrated. |
| Personnel | vs. | UnityBN |
| Management of multiple vendors (PBX vendor, multiple local phone service companies, long distance phone service) |
vs. | One stop shop for telecom services |
| On-site support required (in-house $50k-$70k/yr, vendor support $125 per hour + trip charges) |
vs. | No on-site support required (Included in per station per month fee) |
| Moves, adds, changes take time and cost money (in-house telecom specialist $50k-$70k/yr, vendor support $125 per hour + trip charges) |
vs. | Easy to make changes and free – no telecom specialist needed |
| Management of PBX must happen on-site. Therefore in a multi-site environment, you must have one person travel to the different sites or have many telecom administrators. |
vs. | Web-based management by customer and/or outsourced telecom administrators by UnityBN. |
| Job sharing, therefore limited telecom knowledge and more outside support needed |
vs. | Outsourced expertise in telecom and the cost is included in flat monthly fee |