What Is Hosted PBX? A Plain-Language Guide for Businesses
Your phone system should be something you never think about — like electricity. Here’s how hosted PBX makes that possible.
You Probably Already Use VoIP. You Just Don’t Know It.
Here’s a secret the telecom industry doesn’t love to admit: VoIP won. Years ago. Your cell phone? VoIP under the hood. That desk phone plugged into your office network? Almost certainly VoIP. Unless you’re still running copper lines from the phone company, your voice is already traveling as data.
So the real question isn’t “should we switch to VoIP?” — it’s do you have the communication tools your business actually needs, and can you stop thinking about your phones?
That’s what hosted PBX is about.
Hosted PBX in 30 Seconds
PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange. It’s the system that makes your business phones work — routing calls, managing extensions, handling voicemail, forwarding calls after hours, playing hold music, all of it.
“Hosted” means there’s no big server humming away in your office closet. No blinking lights. No software licenses to renew. No IT guy who’s the only person who knows how to change the voicemail greeting.
Instead, all of that runs on a platform in the cloud. You plug in your phones (or open an app on your laptop), and everything just works. Add a new employee? Takes minutes, not a service call. Need to change how calls route at 5 PM? You do it yourself from a web portal.
That’s it. That’s hosted PBX.
What Can It Actually Do for You?
Here’s where it gets interesting — because “hosted PBX” isn’t one thing. It’s whatever your business needs it to be. A few examples of problems we solve every day:
“We need call forwarding to kick in automatically at 5:30 PM.” Done. Set it once, forget it exists.
“We need 50 phone numbers, but only 10 actual phones.” No problem. You don’t pay for what you don’t use.
“We’re a school — we have 200 phones in classrooms, but we barely make outbound calls.” Makes sense. Why would you pay per-minute pricing designed for a call center?
“Our team is half remote now and we can’t figure out how to make that work with our phones.” Everyone gets the same system — desk phone, laptop, mobile app — wherever they are.
This is what we mean when we say we don’t do one-size-fits-all. Every business uses phones differently. Your phone system should reflect that, not force you into a package designed for some average company that doesn’t exist.
How It Works (Without the Jargon)
- Your phones connect over your internet. Desk phones, softphones on your computer, apps on your mobile — pick what works for each person.
- Calls route through our platform. We own and operate it. When someone dials your main number, the system knows exactly what to do — ring the front desk, offer a menu, forward to a cell phone, go to voicemail. Whatever you’ve configured.
- You manage it yourself. A web portal lets you change settings, add users, pull call logs, and update your call flow. No ticket. No waiting.
- We handle the infrastructure. Updates, redundancy, security, uptime — that’s on us. You never touch a server because there isn’t one in your building.
Hosted PBX vs. the Box in the Closet
If you’ve had a traditional phone system, you know the drill. Somewhere in your office there’s a box — maybe it’s a server, maybe it’s an old Avaya or Nortel chassis — and it runs your phones. When it breaks, you call a guy. When you need a change, you call a guy. When it needs a software update, you call a guy and write a check.
Here’s how hosted PBX compares:
| Traditional PBX | Hosted PBX | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Server on-site, you own and maintain it | Nothing on-site but phones |
| Upfront cost | Significant (hardware + installation) | Minimal (phones, if you want desk phones) |
| Changes & updates | Call your vendor, wait, pay | Do it yourself in a web portal |
| Scaling | Buy more hardware, licenses | Add users in minutes |
| Remote workers | Complicated and expensive | Built in from day one |
| Redundancy | You’re responsible | Provider handles it |
| When something breaks | It’s your problem | It’s our problem |
The bottom line: a traditional PBX is a piece of equipment you have to care about. Hosted PBX is a utility. You use it. It works. You think about other things.
Who Is Hosted PBX Best For?
Almost any business, frankly. But it’s especially well-suited if:
- You have 5 to 500 employees and don’t want to manage telecom infrastructure
- You have remote or hybrid workers who need to be on the same phone system as the office
- You have multiple locations and want one unified system
- You have unusual needs — lots of numbers, few phones, seasonal call volume, complex routing — that don’t fit into a big provider’s standard package
- You’re paying too much for a system that does too little
- You just want your phones to work and never think about them again
Why Moose Networks?
We own our platform. That’s not a small thing. Most hosted PBX providers are reselling someone else’s system, which means they can’t customize much and their pricing is locked into someone else’s margins.
Because we built it, we can structure things around how your business actually uses phones. Not enough minutes to justify an unlimited plan? We’ll figure something out. Need a weird call flow that off-the-shelf systems can’t handle? We can probably do that.
We’re also a small enough company that you’ll talk to a real person who knows your account — not a tier-one support rep reading a script. We think that matters, especially for something as critical as your phones.
Your business phone system should be like a good pair of antlers — strong, reliable, and something you don’t have to think about growing. We’ll handle the rest. That’s a-moose-ing service you can count on.
Ready to make your phone system disappear into the background where it belongs? Get in touch — we’ll talk through what you actually need and whether we’re the right fit. No pressure, no 47-slide deck.