If your business is considering using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), it’s a great move to make. Calls are cheaper – especially long-distance and international ones – and it’s more flexible than analogue phone systems. With the impending 2027 landline switch-off, it’s also become the next best alternative.
With all that said, there are some costs involved that might not always be immediately clear so it’s best to know what to expect instead of going in blind. The £6.95 per user per month plan that you saw on the homepage will very rarely actually cost you £6.95 per user per month.
Once you’ve added a few desk phones, the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) integration, broadband headroom and that sneaky exit fee, the cost goes up by quite a bit more.
It’s not really much of a scandal, it’s just how UK telecoms pricing has always worked. But if you’re one of the half a million UK businesses still on legacy systems and now shopping around for VoIP under pressure, you have a right to know where the money actually goes.
Why The Timing Makes The Situation Worse
On 31 January 2027, Openreach will officially retire the Public Switched Telephone Network. Along with it goes all analogue phones. And yet, the copper prices have still risen – 20% in April, 40% in July and another 40% expected in October. So by the time the network is turned off, businesses relying on it are paying roughly double what they were a year earlier for a service that has just a few months left to live.
The price ramp is there for a reason and it’s doing what it was intended to do – forcing UK businesses to move quickly. It’s also, unfortunately, the kind of environment where hidden costs tend to go unnoticed because everyone is keeping an eye on the deadline instead of the contract.
The Exit Fee Is Bigger Than The Entry One
Here’s what absolutely nobody on the sales team will tell you while they’re trying to pitch their product. Ofcom, the UK’s regulator for communications services, won’t let your current provider charge you for porting a number out.
What it will let them do is charge you for the remainder of your contract if you’re still inside your minimum term.
Some providers offer a buy-out, others charge 100% of what’s left. But if you’ve got a multi-line business with eighteen months left on your contract, that could end up being almost five figures.
Then there’s the little issue of auto-renewal. Some UK telecoms contracts will continue at the end of the initial term that you signed up for, so you end up being locked into another year even though you didn’t sign for it. It seems like such an insignificant thing to remember, but diarising your renewal date can save you a lot of money down the line.
“Unlimited” Is Doing A Lot Of The Work
Most of the time, “unlimited UK calls” means unlimited landline and standard mobile calls. If you dig around a little in your terms, you’ll also find a fair-use clause. International calls, on the other hand, fall outside of that bundle. As do personal numbers, non-geographic numbers and premium-rate lines. If you’re dialling those often, you’re not paying what you saw on the homepage.
Add-ons can also become costly, if they’re not included in the plan that you’re choosing. Things like call recording, advanced AI analytics and CRM integrations are often one tier up from the price that you were initially quoted.
Some independent audits suggest that up to 85% of UK telecoms invoices contain errors and businesses can overspend by 12-20% per month as a result. If you’re not actually reading line by line on your monthly bill, there’s a good chance that you’re paying for something you either don’t have or double-paying for something that you do.
The Clauses With So Many Surprises
The clause that’s definitely worth reading twice is the annual price increase. Most UK VoIP providers reserve the right to bump prices that are in line with CPI or RPI, which is applied every April. The headline rate that you saw is where you start but it’s not where you stay. Which is fine, as long as you’re aware of it and know what you’re in for year on year.
Then there’s support tiering. UK-based support is often listed in standard plans – and it is. But, 24/7 or priority-response is not and these are usually listed in higher-tier enterprise plans that you will pay more for.
How Should You Price A VoIP Quote?
Once you’ve got a list of VoIP providers that you’re interested in, ask them for an itemised quote. It should include everything from per-user price, minute coverages, add-on costs, hardware, setup, porting, contract length, notice period, annual price-rises and exit fees.
If a provider doesn’t want to put that in writing, that’s a clear sign for you to move on to the next one.
But even with a few hidden costs here and there, VoIP is undoubtedly beneficial to UK businesses, often between 40% and 60% cheaper than copper phone systems. Once you factor in these hidden costs, it proves itself to be an invaluable tool and a testament to where the business communication landscape is heading in the future.
