What happens to your business phones when the internet or power goes down?

Why a traditional PBX fails during an outage

An on-site PBX (private branch exchange) is physical hardware sitting in your office, connected to a specific phone line. If the power goes out, the hardware stops working. If your internet connection drops (for VoIP-based on-site systems) or the physical line is cut, calls generally can't reach it — callers hear ringing with no answer, or are sent straight to voicemail, until the outage is fixed on-site.

Why a cloud phone system behaves differently

With a cloud (hosted VoIP) phone system, your phone number and call-routing logic live in the carrier's network and data centres — not a box in your office. That means an outage at your premises doesn't have to stop calls from being answered: the system can be configured to reroute calls elsewhere before they ever try to reach your (currently offline) office.

How WiseCloud's disaster-recovery divert works

• You nominate one or more mobile numbers, or a backup group, in advance.
• If your office internet or power goes down, incoming calls automatically divert to those numbers.
• No manual switch-over is needed — it's built into the service.
• Once your connection is restored, calls flow normally through your office system again.

Making the most of it

1. Keep your nominated divert numbers current — review them whenever staff or roles change.
2. Use at least one divert number on a different network to your office internet (e.g. a mobile), so a local outage doesn't take out your backup too.
3. If uptime is mission-critical, consider a Tailored Link with built-in internet redundancy alongside your phone system's divert.