Unlike some business phone services, there’s practically no technical setup you have to do to configure Nextiva. Out of the box, it works — and if you have a mobile device or computer (bet you do!), just sign in with your username and password to begin calling.

Business owners choose Nextiva because it’s so easy to use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service:

1. Test your network and internet connection
2. Choose optional VoIP desk phones
3. Pick a business phone number
4. Create usernames and passwords
5. Test your new business phone lines
6. When ready, adjust your incoming call flows, call waiting, voicemail, and international calling rules.

We've tested everything and hand-picked a catalog of high-quality desk phones and hardware.

Our basic small business VoIP plan starts at $18.95 per month. It has all the features a growing business needs — business text messaging, local and toll-free numbers, voicemail transcription, 99.999% uptime, and more.

Yes, it's easy to transfer phone numbers to Nextiva through a process known as porting. Porting lets you assign your number to a VoIP service provider like Nextiva.

You can transfer any number you use, including:

• Landline numbers
• Wireless/cell phone numbers
• Virtual numbers (Google Voice, TextNow, etc.)
• VoIP phone numbers
• Toll-free numbers

Nextiva handles everything related to moving your phone numbers over. Our porting team will inform you of the port-in date. From there, you can begin placing and receiving unlimited calls through Nextiva's cloud phone system.

Transferring business phone numbers will take approximately 2–4 weeks, depending on the previous carrier. In the meantime, you can use temporary phone numbers.

Watch this short video to see how to transfer your phone numbers to Nextiva:

The short answer is business phone services are very reliable, so long as you don’t have a power outage.

You might also want to consider other factors like:

• Uptime — the percentage of time that a provider is online and is functioning. Nextiva provides customers with 99.999% uptime. This means service may not be available for about six minutes a year.
• Security — Call encryption is a newer enhancement to VoIP. Through TLS and SRTP, data exchanged between SIP phones and the cloud PBX are encrypted upon request.
• HD call quality — With twice the audio bandwidth, everyone can hear a wider range of sound in every business call.
• Enterprise-grade redundancy — Ensure that your calls stay online even through network interruptions using call forwarding, call queues, and automatic fail-over.

Many businesses prefer to use a toll-free phone number instead of a local number to handle inbound phone calls.

Most business phone service providers (Nextiva included) offer different types of phone numbers:

• Local phone numbers — These numbers are based in certain geographic areas, also known as rate centers or area codes.
• Toll-free numbers — Phone numbers that begin with 800, 888, 866, 877, 855, 844, and 833 allow anyone to call it without toll charges or add-on fees from a landline.
• Vanity numbers — These numbers are memorable numbers like 1-800-FLOWERS. In most cases, it's best to purchase first and port them into your business phone system provider.

The upside of using a toll-free number is that team members can dial out with a shared caller ID on behalf of the company. Incoming calls go through an auto attendant to ensure they reach live agents.

Yes, we do both! Nextiva lets you buy or rent many top-rated VoIP phones and headsets that work perfectly with your phone system.

We offer many VoIP devices to purchase or lease, including desk phones, cordless phones, conference phones, and analog adapters.

The best part is that we pre-configure the devices so that you can use them instantly.

Yes, you can direct calls to your after-hours answering service with Nextiva. Incoming calls are routed by a third-party answering service that enables people to work from home with its audio conferencing and VoIP solutions.

Nextiva supports employees working remotely and in the office as one of the top unified communications solutions. Here are some essential features included with its business phone system:

• Virtual Phone System — Manage your company’s phone system over the internet while keeping your staff connected. No on-premises hardware needed.
• Conference Calling — Connect multiple people over a phone line to participate in a conference call, so you can hold essential meetings even when people are working remotely.
• Call Queues — Handle more calls and answer them efficiently with call queuing. Let callers hear on-hold music or announcements until the next available agent can answer their call. This way, calls aren’t dropped and employees can work efficiently.
• Video Calling — You don’t need a cell phone or desk phone when you can manage calls directly from the app on your computer.
• Advanced Features — As your business grows, so do your business communication needs. Take advantage of robust call analytics, business text messaging, hold music, multi-level auto attendants, call recording, call forwarding, custom caller ID, and more. For more scalability, set up an inbound call center for your customer support or sales team.