Hosted PBX vs Traditional Phone Systems in Canada (2025 Guide)

Understand the real differences in cost, features, and flexibility for Canadian businesses

This guide explains how modern hosted PBX compares to traditional phone systems, and where BaronTEL’s Essential, Professional, and Enterprise plans fit in.

Hosted PBX or Traditional Phone System – Which Should You Choose?

A straightforward comparison for Canadian offices, clinics, professional firms, retail, and call centres

For many Canadian businesses, the decision comes down to two main options:

Hosted PBX (cloud business phone system) – a modern, fully managed service delivered over the internet.
Traditional on-premise phone system (legacy PBX) – older, hardware-based systems installed in your office.

Below, we compare both approaches in terms of cost, features, reliability, mobility, and maintenance, and show how BaronTEL’s Essential, Professional, and Enterprise 3-year term plans can replace legacy systems with predictable pricing and full support.

What Is a Hosted PBX vs a Traditional PBX?

Plain-language definitions before we dive into the numbers

What Is a Hosted PBX?

Hosted PBX (cloud phone system) means:

The phone system runs in secure data centres, not in a PBX box in your office.
Your phones and softphones connect over your internet connection.
BaronTEL manages the platform, updates, and reliability.
You focus on your business – we look after the phone system.

With BaronTEL, hosted PBX is delivered through our Essential, Professional, and Enterprise 3-year term plans, each with a clear feature set and per-user pricing.

What Is a Traditional Phone System?

Traditional PBX (legacy phone system) means:

A physical PBX box installed in your office or equipment room.
Proprietary hardware, cards, and on-site wiring.
Maintenance contracts and technician visits for changes.
Higher costs for advanced features like queues and recording.

This model made sense years ago. In 2025, most Canadian businesses see better value and flexibility with hosted PBX.

Cost Comparison: Hosted PBX vs Traditional PBX

Realistic monthly costs for Canadian businesses (3-year term hosted plans)

Example: 10 Users

Hosted PBX – Essential: $16.95 × 10 = $169.50/month

Hosted PBX – Professional: $24.95 × 10 = $249.50/month

Hosted PBX – Enterprise: $32.95 × 10 = $329.50/month

Traditional PBX: With hardware, licences, maintenance, and lines it is common to see $700–$1,200+/month for similar capacity.

Example: 25 Users

Hosted PBX – Essential: $16.95 × 25 = $423.75/month

Hosted PBX – Professional: $24.95 × 25 = $623.75/month

Hosted PBX – Enterprise: $32.95 × 25 = $823.75/month

Traditional PBX: Higher monthly carrier charges + amortized hardware + support contracts add up quickly.

Example: 50 Users

Hosted PBX – Essential: $16.95 × 50 = $847.50/month

Hosted PBX – Professional: $24.95 × 50 = $1,247.50/month

Hosted PBX – Enterprise: $32.95 × 50 = $1,647.50/month

Traditional PBX: At this scale, many organizations save 40–60% by moving from legacy systems to hosted PBX.

All BaronTEL service tiers are based on 3-year term plans. Contact us for a custom quote and migration assessment.

Feature Comparison: Hosted PBX vs Traditional Phone System

What you actually get with each approach

Feature	Hosted PBX (BaronTEL)	Traditional PBX
Core voice calling	Included with all tiers	Included
Unlimited Canada/USA calling bundles	Available on all plans	Varies – often more expensive
Auto attendants (IVR)	Essential: 1 IVR Professional & Enterprise: Unlimited IVRs	Often extra or complex to change
Music on hold	Professional & Enterprise	Usually add-on or custom work
Call recording	Professional & Enterprise	Often requires extra hardware/licences
Call queues & ring groups	Essential: none Professional: 1–2 queues & ring groups Enterprise: multiple advanced queues	Available, but typically expensive and harder to manage
SMS/text messaging	Available on Professional & Enterprise plans	Generally not offered
Remote work / softphones	Desk phones & softphones from anywhere	Office-bound – remote options are limited
System maintenance	BaronTEL handles the system, including phones when using our supported 5-port router	Customer or 3rd-party vendor must maintain PBX hardware & software
Scalability	Simply add more users and features as needed	Often requires hardware upgrades or new systems

How BaronTEL Plans Fit Into Hosted PBX

Three 3-year term service tiers designed for real-world Canadian businesses

Essential Plan

Ideal for small offices needing simple, reliable phone service. Includes unlimited Canada/USA calling, voicemail-to-email, softphone support, and 1 auto attendant (IVR). Excludes music on hold, call recording, call queues, and ring groups.

Professional Plan

Best for growing businesses requiring a complete phone system. Includes everything in Essential plus unlimited auto attendants, music on hold, ring groups, 1–2 call queues, call recording, conferencing, paging, and SMS/text messaging.

Enterprise Plan

Built for call centres and complex operations. Includes everything in Professional plus multiple advanced call queues, queue statistics, real-time monitoring/wallboard, detailed call history and logs, and enhanced SMS/text messaging capabilities.

Who Manages the Phone System?

With a traditional PBX, your team or a 3rd-party vendor is responsible for hardware, firmware, backups, and repairs. With BaronTEL Hosted PBX, you do not manage the system. Our team looks after the hosted platform, updates, and reliability. When your office uses our supported 5-port router and recommended equipment, BaronTEL also handles phone maintenance and support, so you enjoy a true managed service instead of another piece of equipment to worry about.

Hosted PBX vs Traditional PBX – Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main difference between a hosted PBX and a traditional phone system?

With a traditional PBX, you buy, install, and maintain hardware in your office. With a hosted PBX from BaronTEL, the phone system runs in our Canadian data centres and you simply plug in phones or use apps. We handle upgrades, maintenance and reliability for you.

Is a hosted PBX more reliable than a traditional on-site system?

Yes, in most cases. A single on-site PBX can go down with power failures, hardware problems or office Internet issues. BaronTEL hosts your PBX on redundant servers with multiple carriers and power sources. If a device in your office fails, your numbers can still ring softphones, mobiles or other locations.

How does pricing work compared to buying a traditional PBX?

A traditional PBX usually requires a large up-front purchase plus yearly maintenance contracts. With BaronTEL hosted PBX, you pay a simple per-user monthly fee on a 3-year term, with maintenance, upgrades and Canadian support included. No surprise “service call” invoices.

Do we still need phones in the office with a hosted PBX?

You can use desk phones, cordless phones, or just softphones and mobile apps. Hosted PBX gives you the flexibility to support office staff, hybrid workers and fully remote teams while keeping one professional business number and call flow.

Who handles maintenance and changes with BaronTEL hosted PBX?

BaronTEL does. Your team does not touch the PBX. Our engineers handle all maintenance, firmware updates and configuration changes. When you have our managed 5-port router at the site, we also take care of phone maintenance and changes for you.

Hosted PBX vs Traditional Phone Systems | 2025 Guide for Canadian Businesses