PBX Phone Systems were traditionally sold and serviced by "Telephone Companies". Today, some larger more expensive in-house solutions still exist where you do pay for expensive hardware at a higher cost. Be careful - some more expensive solutions are now "HOSTED PBX SOLUTIONS" where you are locked into expensive contracts with (hosted phones), and you still purchase phones that are locked into pay per user / multi-level services that can dramatically increase your life-time use costs beyond what we outlined on this comparison page.
When you see the term "On-premise (or in-house) PBX Telephone Systems" are more expensive...
Those terms and explanations are based on OLDER PBX SYSTEMS sold by large telecommunications companies - prior to 2010. Old phone systems are based on larger specialized equipment, which does require analog wiring, parts cards (expensive "cards" were inserted or added to the larger hardware appliance to enable features and services). Those types of systems are disappearing in the market.
Fast forward to 2015 and later (now 2026 at the time this content was created)...
In-House / On-Premise IP-PBX Phone Systems are LOW COST.
On-site and On-premise phone systems are up to date with the "Electronic Age". They are smaller (about the size of a home router or a rack-mount server - small form factor sizes),. They use less parts for the main phone system box and INCLUDE features built into the platform.
WE at PBXSystem.ca specifically choose the solutions we sell because the are less expensive and INCLUDE what is used in businesses around the world. The same basic features are "STANDARD" for business telecommunications use. Added features are NO COST TO YOU because they are included by the Manufacturer up front.
IP-PBX Phone systems are also completely different vs. older telephone systems. They are Network based. Most businesses have Cat5, Cat6 or other network wiring in place - making deployment of new telephone systems - USER FRIENDLY. IE: Plug-n-play. But, proper set-up for security and initial features may still require knowledge to deploy properly and securely. (That's what we specialize in!)
Now - deployment may not even require network wiring. WiFi Technology has advanced quickly and efficiently enough that almost every phone can be WIRELESS. Except maybe power cords. The great thing is you can move phones around the office, and deploy them with-in minutes - simply by connecting to WiFi. The phones find and configure themselves FROM the PBX Phone System. Very little effort and expense!
