Best Phone System for Schools and Colleges in 2023

Schools and colleges have unique communication needs that are best served by a phone system specifically designed for educational institutions.

From handling administrative tasks to communicating with students and parents, schools and colleges constantly need the support of school phone systems to complete their day-to-day operations.

There are many kinds of school telephone systems capable of providing powerful services at any given time.

It can get confusing way too quickly 😕. It’s not an easy task to make comparisons between different phone systems and choose one.

Don’t worry 😃. We got you covered. In this article, you will learn about,

• Best phone system for schools and colleges (Private and Public)
• Key features of cloud-based phone system
• Benefits of cloud-based phone system
• Things to consider while choosing a phone system for schools and colleges

What is a Phone system for schools and colleges?

A school phone system is a set of multiple phone lines interconnected with each other to handle inbound and outbound phone calls.

Every user has their own separate phone connection. It consists of various kinds of features including call forwarding, call routing, call recording, voicemail, etc. 

Which phone system is the best for schools and colleges?

Generally, there are three different types of phone systems that people and businesses use. They are:

1. Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)
2. Private Branch Exchange (PBX)
3. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

Out of the three, VoIP has the upper hand in terms of technology, pricing, and flexibility. VoIP phone systems use an internet connection rather than a copper wire connection. This already makes it superior to POTS and PBX.

Saying VoIP phone systems are affordable is underrated. The prices of monthly subscription and each phone calling charge, especially international phone calls, is way cheaper than traditional phone systems. Not to forget, they have a huge set of advanced features and services.

According to statistics, VoIP phone systems save 90% on international calls, 75% on operational costs, 40% on local call bills, and 30% on overall phone bills.

What are the best VoIP phone systems for schools and colleges?

As you can see the market for cloud-based phone systems is growing bigger and better. Most sectors, including the educational sector(schools and colleges),  are shifting to the cloud from their traditional phone system because cloud phones offer more things with less effort.

There are hundreds of cloud-based phone service providers and call center software for university and colleges in the market. Choosing one can be a tough call for you.

To make things easier for you, we have compiled a list of the best VoIP phone systems for schools and colleges. 

While compiling the list, we consider many factors that play a huge role in knowing which one is the best for you including:

• Features and services
• Security
• Subscription packages  
• Public reviews
• Customer Support
• User Interface
• Uptime

Without further delay, let’s dive into the list.

8 Best Phone System for Private Schools and Colleges

1. KrispCall

KrispCall is one of the powerful virtual private school cloud phone systems. Its simple and ecstatic unified callbox is an all-in-one dashboard for managing multiple communication channels in one place.

It offers cheap subscription packages, advanced features, and strong security for business communication. You can also count KrispCall as an automatic calling system for schools with its advanced auto-attendant features.

🔥Explore the phone system with your own eyes. Book a free demo today.

Features:

• Intelligent Call routing
• Call recording
• Call monitoring
• Click-to-call widget
• Number porting
• Virtual phone numbers
• Contact tags
• Voicemail

Pricing:

Starting at USD 15 per month per user

2. Nextiva

Nextiva is a cloud-based phone system that assists schools and colleges build a stronger connection with students.

It brings multiple communication channels together to gather information from everywhere to give the best business results. Nextiva is very easy to set up and use for day-to-day operations.

Features:

• Call recording
• Call forwarding
• Online faxing
• Web conferencing
• Auto-attendant

Pricing:

Starting at USD 30.95 per user per month (Number of users: 1-4)

3. RingCentral

RingCentral is the most popular cloud communication service provider for schools and colleges. It offers a powerful Message Video Phone (MVP) platform.

It replaces the on-premise PBX as well as video conferencing tools with its flexible and affordable services. It provides strong features like third-party app integration for accessing everything from one place.

Features:

• Call screening
• Call forwarding
• IVR
• Video conferencing
• Call monitoring
• Third-party app integration

Pricing:

Starting at USD 29.99 per month per user (number of users: 1-20)

4. Ooma

Ooma is an easy-to-use business VoIP solution for schools and colleges. It offers powerful voice and collaboration services for flexibility, scalability, and reliability. It’s easy to set up without any contracts or commitments. It offers features strong enough to provide a stable calling experience. 

Features:

• Video conferencing
• Virtual receptionists
• Call blocking
• Call recording
• Ring groups

Pricing:

Starting at USD 19.95 per month per user

5. 8×8

8×8 is a leading SaaS provider of cloud communications. It provides cloud-based phone systems for schools and colleges. It handles workforces to enable faster collaboration and higher productivity for users and teams.

Its real-time analytics give insights into channels and interactions so that you can use the insight to improve business communication.

Features:

• Call recording
• Voicemail
• Call blocking
• Call forwarding
• Ring group
• Call monitoring

Pricing:

Starting at USD 15 per month per user

6. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a powerful cloud-based phone service provider for businesses of any size including schools and colleges. It provides ticket resolution by converting all the requests gathered from phones, chats, etc. into tickets.

It’s great for colleges that get high inbound calls and queries. It is great at automating workflows, managing self-service, and measuring metrics for providing omnichannel support.

Features:

• Omnichannel
• Scheduling Dashboard
• Chatbot
• Custom reports
• Team Huddle

Pricing:

Starting at USD 29 per month per user

7. GoToConnect

GotoConnect is a flexible all-in-one cloud communication platform for schools and colleges. It removes the difficulty and expenses of handling many collaboration solutions by giving everything under one platform.

Its unified administration portal enables you to manage phone calls, messaging, and meetings from any location and any device.

Features:

• Call forwarding
• Call routing
• Auto-attendant
• Virtual voicemail
• Call filtering

Pricing:

Starting at USD 24 per month per user

8. Vonage

Vonage is a smart unified communication platform for schools and colleges. It offers you everything you need in a business phone system.

On top of that, you can easily scale users as per their needs. Vonage provides excellent online support services via multiple communication channels. It gives a 99.99% uptime to maximize productivity.

Features:

• Call recording
• Call blocking
• Call conferencing
• Click-to-dial
• Call tagging

Pricing:

Starting at USD 19.99 per month per user

👉  You may also like : 12 Best VoIP Phone Systems for Hotels & Hospitality Industry

Key features of phone systems for schools and colleges

One of the main attractions of a cloud-based phone system is its advanced features. There are many features that are flexible and reliable for schools and colleges. They enhance the experience of calling. Here are some of the features.

1. Call routing

Call routing enables the phone system to queue and distribute inbound phone calls automatically. It uses a set of predefined rules and criteria to route the calls to the most appropriate agent.

2. Call forwarding

Call forwarding allows the phone system to forward inbound phone calls to another phone number. You can forward calls to any phone number you choose.

3. Call recording

Call recording allows the phone system to record a phone conversation. You can record active phone calls or conference calls. It is stored digitally for you to access anytime. Call recordings can be transcripted.

4. Voicemail

Voicemail enables the phone system to store and listen to voice messages left by the caller. It triggers when the call rings but no one receives the phone call. You need to first activate the service to start storing voicemails. 

5. Click-to-call widget

Click-to-call widget or also known as a click-to-dial widget is placed on your website as a button and visitors can call you directly by pressing the button. It can also ask the visitor to enter their name and phone number for getting instant callbacks.

6. Contact tags

Contact tags are used for labeling the contact with custom tags. It provides simple but reliable information about the contact. It enables phone systems to categorize contacts.

7. Third-party app integration

Third-party app integration enables phone systems to integrate CRM apps, collaboration apps, etc. into the system. It helps users to use all the apps from a single platform without the need to switch between apps.

8. Number porting

Number porting allows users to port their existing phone number from their current phone service provider to a new phone service provider. Porting a number also takes all your previous data of the phone number to the new platform.

Why do schools and colleges need Cloud-based phone systems?

Schools and colleges, especially the big ones, have a pretty steady flow of phone calls. The traditional phone system does the job but is far lacking in its capabilities.

That’s why switching to cloud-based phone systems is the right way of getting the full experience of a phone system. It offers many benefits to schools and colleges that are lacking in traditional systems. Here are some of the benefits:

Benefits of cloud-based phone systems for schools and colleges

1. Cost-effective

Cloud phones offer affordable pricing plans and call rates (especially international calling rates). They are more than 50% cheaper than your typical traditional phone systems. That means you will pay very less and handle more phone calls. Also, you will eliminate the cost of additional hardware requirements by shifting to the cloud.

2. Advanced features

Cloud-based phone systems have powerful features that improve the overall experience of using a phone system. Automatic Call Distribution(ACD), Interactive Voice Response(IVR), CRM integration, Number porting, etc. are some of the advanced features.

3. Flexibility

The most popular benefit of cloud phones is that they are flexible and can be used from any place and at any time. Since a virtual phone system requires the internet to operate, users can use it from any location as long as there is internet connectivity.  It makes remote learning or work-from-home possible.

4. Easily scalable

There are times when you will need to add or remove users from the phone system. You can do that by simply clicking a few buttons in your cloud phone dashboard. You can add a user, and provide credentials and the user will be able to access the dashboard using their existing device.

5. Highly secure

Cloud-based phone systems have multiple security encryptions to secure themselves from security threats and issues. This prevents hackers to gain sensitive information or listen to your conversations. Many systems add 2-way factor authentication to prevent logging in from unrecognized devices.

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Things to consider while choosing a phone system for schools and colleges

Although we have made things easier by providing you with a list of the best phone systems, you may want to research by yourself too to get your ideal system. There are a few things that you need to consider while choosing phone systems for schools and colleges. They are:

1. Features and services: Make sure the phone system has all the necessary features and services you need for daily operation.

2. Security: Check the encryption and security measures added to the phone system to prevent unauthorized access.

3. Subscription packages: Compare the prices of the subscription plans and see which one is affordable for you. Request for quote for more information.

4. Public reviews: Look at the ratings and read all the reviews to confirm if the phone system is good or not.

5. Customer Support: The phone system must provide 24*7 customer support. Ask for support at different times and see the support level.

6. User Interface: Sign up for the trial period to experience the phone system’s user interface. Make sure the UI is easy-to-use and pleasant to the eye.

7. Uptime: Find out the uptime percentage of the phone system so that you can be sure the system is reliable.

To sum up

Schools and colleges are no exception when it comes to using a phone system to handle day-to-day administrative operations. They need to regularly communicate with students and parents to keep the flow of information going properly.

A cloud-based phone system offers multiple benefits to the organization from pricing to services. That’s why getting a suitable business phone system improves your experience of handling phone calls.

We have listed a set of best phone systems for schools and colleges for you to choose from. Or you can choose one by yourself by considering important things that make up an ideal phone system.

To get you started, Sign up for Schedule Free KrispCall demo now and get a free virtual phone number for first-time users. 

For more information, subscribe to the KrispCall newsletter.

Arun Chaudhary

Arun is SEO Analyst at KrispCall. He has written in extensively in the field of cloud telephony and call center solutions.