Fonality Blog | VoIP, Unified Communications, and Business Tips

PBX vs. VoIP: Battle of the unified communications acronyms

Posted by Australia Fonality


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Both VoIP and PBX can benefit your company's communication.

UC, IoT, UCCaaS - it seems like there's no end to the technology acronyms these days, especially in reference to unified communications. If you've been considering different UC options for your Australian business, there's a good chance you've come across these two: VoIP and PBX. 

VoIP services come with video chatting, instant messaging, file sharing, conference calling and voicemail transcribing.

Though they both relate to communication and business connectivity in the workplace, these two systems are quite different from one another. What are the differences between PBX and VoIP, and which is better for your company?


VoIP, standing for Voice over Internet Protocol, is a relatively new system that passes telecommunications data over the internet rather than over a phone line. The benefits of this? Significantly better call quality than a standard phone call, the ability to pack in more conversations to the same amount of bandwidth and a whole host of extra options.

VoIP services come with unified communications options, like video chatting, instant messaging, file sharing, conference calling and voicemail transcribing. VoIP technology is the future of business communications, but that doesn't mean that PBX systems will disappear anytime soon.

Communicating at work is efficient with a VoIP or PBX system in place.Communicating at work is efficient with a VoIP or PBX system in place.


PBX (standing for Public Branch Exchange) is a business phone system that routes calls through an internal switchboard to their final destination. This has been the primary communication tool in large businesses for the last few decades, but the old-fashioned form of it is falling out of favour due to the rise of the internet and systems like VoIP. However, companies like Fonality have improved upon the traditional PBX tools, combining an intelligent business phone system with cloud-based technology. 

We offer two options: Hosted PBX service (meaning the service is entirely hosted on our servers, giving businesses room to grow) or Hybrid PBX service (meaning the hardware resides on your site, yet the user and administrative control panels are in the cloud). Both of these options cater to different kinds of companies, depending on what they're looking for.

How can my business benefit from one of these systems?

The two different unified communications solutions combine the best aspects of phone systems and the internet to offer organisations efficient, streamlined communications. Both PBX and VoIP systems have numerous benefits to offer companies - why should you have to choose between phone and internet?

Choose both, with Fonality's innovative business phone services. To learn more, reach out to a representative today.