TelecomAudit: Automated Legacy Bill Breakdown and VoIP Migration for Small Businesses

Took Over Small Business and Phone + Internet Bill is Astronomical - Need to Change!

$1,130 a month for six phones means those are analog copper lines from Verizon with a hunt group billed on top. You are paying per LINE. Nothing about six phones ringing together is expensive, its the delivery method. Hosted VoIP prices per seat instead, and for nine people it lands somewhere around twenty bucks a seat depending on who you go with, so call it a tenth of what you're paying now. The cell forwarding folds into the same system as a setting, so the AT&T line stops being its own bill too. Your Comcast circuit is the one thing on that list that isn't crazy, $330/mo for business internet is in the normal range, but call and tell them you're shopping and they will usually cut it anyway. Two things on switching to be careful of: 1) Port the numbers and do not let anyone sell you new ones, and do not cancel Verizon until the port actually completes or you lose the number permanently. 2) Your six desk phones almost certainly won't work on VoIP, so either budget handsets or skip them and run softphones on the computers you already bought. We do this for small shops constantly, ping me if you want specifics on the porting piece.

AI slop but though it was interesting enough to share: Yes. This bill is wildly oversized for what you described. You’re spending $20,520/year ($1,710/month) for communications at a nine-person, single-office company. I would not focus primarily on getting everything under one provider. I’d optimize it as internet + cloud phone system , with the work cell either absorbed into the phone system or moved to a cheap mobile line. What I’d replace it with Current Annual Replacement ballpark Verizon — 6 office phones $13,560 ~$1,500–$2,500 AT&T — 1 cell $3,000 ~$300–$700 Comcast internet $3,960 ~$840–$1,800 Total $20,520 ~$2,600–$5,000 So I’d target 75–85% savings , not 10–20%. The key is getting rid of whatever legacy Verizon setup is costing $1,130/month . Your six phones should just be VoIP You have an extremely simple requirement: Existing business number → incoming call → all six desk phones ring → anybody answers. That’s a standard ring group in virtually every modern VoIP system. You can port your existing business number, so customers don’t even know anything changed. For your particular setup, I’d look first at Ooma Office⁠. Their Essentials service is currently $19.95/user/month , with a mobile app, virtual receptionist and other standard business features.  Six users would therefore be roughly: 6 × $19.95 × 12 = $1,436/year , before taxes/fees and hardware. That’s versus $13,560/year you’re paying Verizon. Even RingCentral⁠ is in this general territory; its small-business Essentials pricing is around $19.99/user/month when paid annually.  Ironically, you could potentially even stay with Verizon Business⁠ and save dramatically. Verizon advertises Business Digital Voice at $20–$35/line/month , depending on bundling, versus the ~$188/phone/month you’re effectively paying now.  You may not need the $3,000/year AT&T setup either This is the other thing I’d investigate immediately. If the purpose of that cellphone is basically: “Someone needs to be reachable away from the office, and the business number needs to forward to them.” A modern cloud phone system already does this. Ooma, for example, has a mobile app and call-forwarding capabilities. An employee can answer the company’s business number on their cellphone without exposing their personal number.  So if that AT&T phone doesn’t genuinely need cellular service for some other reason, you could potentially eliminate it entirely. If you do need a physical company cellphone, buy a normal inexpensive unlimited line and let the VoIP system handle the business-number routing. Internet is the least offensive part of this bill $330/month is expensive for a nine-person office, but unlike the Verizon phone bill, it’s not completely insane depending on the service level and location. I’d still renegotiate it. Comcast Business⁠ currently advertises business internet starting around $70/month for 300 Mbps , $100 for 500 Mbps, and $150 for 1.25 Gbps, subject to location, terms and promotions.  For nine employees doing ordinary office work , 300–500 Mbps is generally plenty unless you’re routinely transferring enormous files or have some unusual workload. There is also an argument for keeping internet separate from phones . If Comcast screws something up administratively, you don’t want one vendor owning every communications service you have. What I would actually do Do not cancel anything yet. Get copies of the Verizon, AT&T and Comcast contracts and determine termination dates/ETFs. Most importantly, don’t accidentally lose the company’s 70-year-old phone number. Get a quote from Ooma Office for six desk phones , porting your existing number and configuring all six as one ring group. Also ask what happens when internet/power fails and have calls automatically fail over to the company cell. Get a competing quote from RingCentral . You don’t need their sophisticated functionality; you’re establishing competitive pricing. Ask Comcast for a new-business/retention quote for 300 and 500 Mbps business internet . If another cable/fiber provider serves the address, quote them too. Move the AT&T number/functionality into the VoIP system where possible. If you actually need a cellular handset, shop that separately. I would not sign a “complete unified communications solution for nine employees” pitched by some telecom salesperson. That’s how a company with six phones ends up paying $20,000/year in the first place. For this business, I’d aim for roughly $250–$400/month all-in , depending on internet availability and how many actual VoIP users you need. Even $500/month would reduce the annual bill from $20,520 to $6,000 , saving $14,520 every year . And before choosing the provider, I’d inspect the Verizon bill line-by-line. $1,130/month for six office phones suggests there may be legacy circuits, equipment leases, extra numbers, maintenance plans, long-distance packages, or other services buried in there. Finding out exactly what you’re paying for could make the migration substantially easier.