VoIP Providers & Business Phone Companies in Hawaii (HI)

How to choose a VoIP provider in Hawaii

Where to find VoIP providers in Hawaii, island by island

Check the support hours first. Hawaii stays on Hawaii Standard Time all year, so a mainland help desk that closes at 5 p.m. Pacific is gone by 2 p.m. in Honolulu for most of the year and by 3 p.m. in winter. If your phones go down at 3:30 on a Friday afternoon, you want someone who is still working.

That is one reason many Hawaii businesses buy through a local reseller or integrator, even when the platform itself runs on a national carrier's network. Oahu has the deepest bench. The Urban Honolulu metro area holds close to a million people, and that is where you will find the widest choice of integrators, cabling contractors and firms that specialize in call centers, hotels or medical offices.

The neighbor islands are smaller markets. The Hawaii Island metro area around Hilo and Kailua-Kona has roughly 210,000 residents, Maui's Kahului and Wailuku area about 160,000, and the Kapaa area on Kauai around 73,000. On Hawaii Island, providers work out of Hilo and Kamuela up in Waimea. On Maui, look to Kahului, and on Kauai, Kapaa. Outside these towns, expect a firm based on your island but some distance away, an Oahu company that flies technicians over when needed, or remote service only. Ask which one you are getting.

911 rules a Hawaii business phone system has to meet

Two federal laws apply to any multi-line system, cloud or on premises. Kari's Law requires that anyone can dial 911 directly, with no "9" or other prefix, and that the system sends a notice to a central point, such as a front desk or security office, when someone calls 911. RAY BAUM'S Act rules require the system to send a "dispatchable location" with each 911 call: the street address plus details like floor or room number.

In Hawaii the location piece takes extra care. A softphone on a laptop that travels from a Honolulu office to a Maui job site has to report where the caller actually is, or the call can go to the wrong island's dispatch center. Ask each provider:

• How do you update the 911 address for remote workers and softphones?
• Can each phone carry its own floor, suite or building, not just the main address?
• Who gets the 911 notification, and can it go to more than one person?
• Who is responsible for keeping addresses current after a move: us or you?

On the state side, Hawaii law (HRS chapter 138) requires VoIP providers and resellers to collect a monthly enhanced 911 surcharge on each service connection and pass it to the state's Enhanced 911 Fund, which the Enhanced 911 Board administers. Government agencies are excluded. Because the charge is per connection, a 30-line office generally pays it 30 times. Check that the quote counts lines the way the bill will.

Taxes and recording rules that affect a Hawaii VoIP contract

Telecom service in Hawaii can be subject to the state general excise tax or, for some providers, the public service company tax, both handled by the Department of Taxation. For calls that start or end in Hawaii and are billed to a Hawaii number or account, the state can tax the provider's gross income. Providers usually pass these through as line items. Ask for a sample invoice with every tax and surcharge shown, not just the per-seat price. Rates change, so confirm current figures with the Department of Taxation and the Enhanced 911 Board before you budget.

The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission regulates telecommunications companies in the state, but not every VoIP seller is set up as a regulated carrier here. Ask whether the provider holds Hawaii PUC authority. If it doesn't, your contract and its terms of service are what you rely on in a dispute.

Call recording is simpler than in many states, with one catch. Under HRS 803-42, a person who is part of a phone call may record it without telling the others. A separate law, HRS 711-1111, requires everyone's consent for recordings made inside a private place. Many of your callers will be on the mainland, and some states require all parties to agree. A greeting telling callers they may be recorded is the usual safeguard. Ask whether the provider includes one and how long recordings are stored.

Comparing local and national VoIP providers in Hawaii

National platforms are usually cheaper per seat. Local providers win when something physical goes wrong: a failed switch, a closet to rewire, phones to set up at a new site in Kona. Remote support handles most problems. Hardware and cabling are another matter, and an inter-island trip billed to you adds up quickly.

Ask for two or three references from businesses on your island, ideally in your industry. Ask how fast outages were fixed and whether bills matched quotes. Check what happens to calls when the internet drops, especially if your office has only one internet line. Failover to cell phones should be standard.

On the contract, watch for auto-renewal clauses, early termination fees, equipment you lease rather than own, and price increases tied to renewal. Get number porting terms in writing so you can keep your 808 numbers if you leave. A one-year term with a local partner you can reach before 5 p.m. Hawaii time is often worth more than a lower three-year rate.