A quoted seat price is not a bill. Business phone systems advertise $14 to $35 per user a month, and then a universal service surcharge lands on top of the interstate portion of it. The FCC's proposed contribution factor for the third quarter of 2026 is 38.8 percent of interstate revenue, it is reset every single quarter, and it reaches you as a line item that nobody thinks to quote.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Business phone system, cloud VoIPNational range | $14 to $75 per user, per month, billed annually |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
The figures here are national. Where a source publishes figures state by state, the state pages carry that local figure instead of this one. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
Providers of interstate telecommunications pay a percentage of their interstate and international end-user revenue into the Universal Service Fund, and that percentage is reset every quarter by the FCC. The proposed factor for the third quarter of 2026 is 38.8 percent, released in June 2026.
It applies to the interstate portion of the service rather than the whole bill, and it is generally passed through to the customer as a separate line. Which is why a twenty dollar seat is not a twenty dollar seat, and why comparing two providers on advertised price alone compares the smaller half of the number.
One note on sourcing. The FCC document giving the current factor concerns telecommunications contributions generally and does not itself name interconnected VoIP providers, and this page did not locate the specific rule imposing the obligation on VoIP. So the accurate framing is that this is the current factor and that surcharges of this kind appear on business phone bills, rather than a claim about exactly which providers the FCC obliges. Ask your provider what their surcharge is and what it is calculated on.
This is the single most useful thing on the page. Your old company cannot refuse to port your number, even if you owe an outstanding balance or a termination fee. FCC rules require simple ports to be processed within one business day, and porting works across wireline, VoIP and wireless providers.
There is one way to lose the number, and it is a self-inflicted one. Do not cancel service with the old provider before the new service is up and the port has been initiated. A disconnected number can be released, and then it is gone. Porting fees may be charged and are often waived on request.
Interconnected VoIP providers must obtain your physical location before activating service and give you an easy way to update it, must obtain your affirmative acknowledgment that you understand the limits of the service, and must distribute warning labels for you to place on or near the equipment.
The registered address is the part that catches people. A seat moved to a home office without updating the address routes an emergency call to the wrong dispatch center. And VoIP may not work during a power cut or when the internet connection fails, which is a structural limit rather than a fault.
The FCC adopted rules in November 2023 requiring wireless providers to authenticate a customer securely before redirecting a number to a new device or a new provider, and to notify the customer immediately whenever a SIM change or port-out request is made on the account.
For anyone buying prepaid mobile service, the practical question is what that authentication actually consists of, and whether the notification goes somewhere you will see it if your phone has just stopped working.
Ask for a sample bill rather than a quote. It is the only way to see the surcharges.
Ask which features are in the tier you are being quoted, specifically auto-attendant, call recording, analytics and any CRM integration.
Ask what porting costs, whether it is waived, and how long it takes. Then do not cancel the old service until it is done.
Check the registered 911 address for every seat, and check it again whenever anyone moves desk or starts working from home.
On prepaid mobile, ask how they authenticate a SIM change and where the notification goes.
Published rates run about $14 to $75 per user a month on annual billing, with entry tiers clustering between $15 and $30. Two of the larger providers publish no rate at all and quote only on request.
Because of the universal service surcharge on the interstate portion of the service. The FCC's proposed contribution factor for the third quarter of 2026 is 38.8 percent of interstate revenue, and it is reset every quarter.
No. Your old company cannot refuse to port your number even if you owe an outstanding balance or a termination fee. FCC rules require simple ports to be processed in one business day.
Do not cancel service with the old provider before initiating service with the new one. A disconnected number can be released and then it is gone.
Your provider must obtain your physical location before activating service, give you a way to update it, obtain your acknowledgment of the service's limits, and supply warning labels. A seat moved without updating the registered address routes 911 to the wrong dispatch center.
Not necessarily. It may not work during a power outage or when the internet connection fails or is overloaded. That is structural rather than a fault with a particular provider.
FCC rules adopted in November 2023 require wireless providers to authenticate a customer securely before redirecting a number to a new device or provider, and to notify the customer immediately when a SIM change or port-out is requested.