What is PBX?
Private branch exchange (PBX) is a multiple-line
business telephone system that resides on the company’s premises and
either supplants or supplements the Local exchange carrier (LEC) local
services.
Centrex a group of services provided by the Teleco as
a specially priced service, giving the customer the view that they have
their own PBX, in other words a PBX service offered by the LEC. The LEC
maintains the equipment and charges the customer for the service. I
would consider getting Centrex based on the following findings.
The advantage of having Centrex is, the Teleco is
responsible for all service, maintains the equipment and manage
expansion and growth.
The disadvantage will be that the cost of Centrex may
be higher and features may be limited if there is no competition. If
there is competition, the cost may be competitive and may provide higher
functionality.
The trade-off is Centrex is more powerful than PBX.
Also, you can configure a single system over multiple locations in a
metropolitan area, and it will look and feel like a single PBX over
multiple locations.
