Comparing live pricing and terms from 400+ carriers and platforms
Sunk-cost PBX hardware and licenses vs Microsoft Teams Phone. When keeping the PBX is rational, when Teams Phone wins, what to inventory, and how an independent advisor runs Talk / Compete / Stay.
Most voice stacks we see already have Teams for chat and meetings. The PBX still owns the DIDs, the queues, and the handsets people pick up when a customer calls. Then someone asks whether the company should “just move to Teams Phone” because Microsoft is already paid for. Another someone points at the PBX that was financed three years ago and says moving now wastes that money.
Both frames miss the point. Cash already spent does not come back if you Keep or Move. The honest fork is forward-looking: remaining manufacturer support, spare parts, admin knowledge, feature gap for hybrid work, recording and compliance fit, and the real cutover risk across sites. A chassis that is paid off but unsupported is not an asset. A platform move that solves collaboration while breaking queues is not a win.
Buckeye’s job as an independent advisor since 2003 is to put that fork on one sheet before anyone ports numbers or signs a rush Teams Phone deal. Advisory fee is $0. The carrier or platform pays. You hold the contract in your name. We shop 400+ carriers and platforms. We do not promise savings to force a move. Stay is allowed.
Stay is deliberate only when you can name why the appliance still earns its keep.
Manufacturer and partner support covers your release. Spares and firmware still exist. You are not one failed module away from a dead lobby phone bank.
Queues, auto-attendants, recording, and after-hours routing match how the business answers the phone. Nobody is building shadow softphones to dodge the PBX.
Teams handles meetings and chat. The PBX handles PSTN. Users know which tool does what. The split is policy, not accidental double dial tone.
Multi-site ports, contact-center edge cases, or compliance recording make a forced move this quarter the wrong fight. Plan Stay with a dated revisit, not infinite delay.
For a broader hosted-vs-appliance frame that is not Teams-specific, see what a cloud PBX is and when to switch. For friction signs on the phone system you have today, see five signs your phone system is costing customers.
Move on fit and risk. Not on a savings number nobody can defend in a board packet.
Identity, chat, and meetings live in Teams. A second phone client is training debt. One dial plan inside the app people already open is the operational win.
Office handsets and home soft clients should share queues and presence. Nursing a PBX VPN plus a consumer cell callback is not a telephony strategy.
End of sale, end of support, or one admin who still knows the GUI. Paying off the chassis does not replace a support contract that expired.
Acquisitions and plants on different appliances create orphan DIDs and inconsistent greetings. Teams Phone plus a clear PSTN path is often cleaner than another island PBX.
Once Talk says move, the next decision is how Teams reaches the public phone network. That is a different article: Calling Plan vs Operator Connect vs Direct Routing. Do not skip the Stay-vs-move fork by jumping straight to a PSTN SKU.
If a row cannot answer “what device, who owns the ticket, what breaks if this dies,” it is not inventory yet.
Desk phones, soft clients, conference rooms, common-area devices. Note which need a hard phone after Teams and which can go soft-only.
Main, department, fax-for-compliance, toll-free, and vanity numbers. Porting plan and address of record before the first LOA.
Door phones, lobby phones, paging, fax, and anything still on a FXS port. Fold what you can; keep certified paths for life-safety separate from desk seats.
Call queues, auto-attendants, skills, after-hours, call recording, and compliance holds. These break more cutovers than codec settings.
PRI, SIP trunks, session borders, and who owns the carrier ticket when outbound fails. Map before you cancel.
Who opens a ticket today. When the PBX maintenance and carrier voice contracts renew. Align with the 90-day decision window.
Voice rows belong on the same multi-site sheet as DIA and SD-WAN, not a sticky note next to the PBX. One inventory, one owner: multi-site telecom management. Orphans on the bill are findings; a bill audit often surfaces ghost seats and unused DIDs fast.
Columbus HQ plus remote plants, clinics, and warehouses rarely share one PBX story. Standardize the inventory, not the fantasy of one SKU everywhere.
Support end date, admin coverage, feature gaps you accept, and the next revisit date. If you cannot write Stay, you are already leaning Move without admitting it.
List fit wins: hybrid dial tone, one client, end of support risk. Put dollars only where invoices prove them.
Fire, elevator, and alarm paths are not Teams Phone seats. Inventory them on their own rows. See the fire panel / copper post if those paths are still fuzzy.
PBX maintenance, SIP/PRI, and Microsoft licensing collide with port windows. Own the calendar before anyone submits a letter of authorization.
Independent advisor, Columbus, Ohio, since 2003. Midwest sweet spot, worldwide quoting. We shop 400+ carriers and platforms. We carry no products and no delivery team. Advisory fee is $0. The carrier or platform pays a residual when you sign. You hold the contract in your name.
Every site, every handset class, DID block, queue, recording rule, analog leftover, and support end date. Ghosts get flagged. Savings go on the sheet only when invoices show them.
Only after Talk settles the fork. Quote Teams Phone paths and alternatives across carriers and platforms. Stay stays on the table. We are paid the same across carriers.
If you move, keep the old path live until queues and ports prove out. If you Stay, date the revisit. Where you move, we stay through install and the first real week of calls.
No deck, no discovery engagement, no obligation. You deal with the principal from the first call. Advisory fee is $0.