VoIP Providers & Business Phone Companies in New Jersey (NJ)

How to choose VoIP providers in New Jersey

Where to find VoIP providers in North, Central and South Jersey

Every voice line billed to a New Jersey service address carries a 90-cent monthly 911 fee, and the state counts VoIP as telephone service when it collects that fee. That small line item tells you a lot about buying business phone service here. The state taxes internet calling like a phone line. Then it leaves pricing and contract terms almost entirely to you and the vendor.

Most providers sit in the parts of the state that look toward either New York or Philadelphia. North Jersey is part of the New York metro, and it has most of the population and most of the providers. Newark is the largest city, followed by Jersey City, Paterson and Elizabeth, with big townships like Lakewood, Edison and Woodbridge close behind. Firms in Jersey City, Hackensack, Clifton, Montclair, Caldwell and Allendale work with a dense mix of law firms, medical practices, freight forwarders and retailers with several locations. That is where you are most likely to find specialists, such as installers who know how calls move through a medical practice or who can build a contact center for dozens of agents.

South Jersey looks toward Philadelphia. Buyers in Camden, Gloucester and Burlington counties can start with providers in Cherry Hill, Blackwood, Gloucester City and Lumberton, and many of them also have clients across the river. The Route 1 and Turnpike corridor has firms in Iselin, Metuchen, Cranbury, Monmouth Junction, Monroe Township and Bridgewater that serve warehouses, labs and office parks. Morris County buyers can look to Denville, Montville, Budd Lake and Hopatcong. At the Shore there are providers in Brick, Howell, Eatontown and Englishtown. Around Atlantic City there are fewer choices. Egg Harbor Township has some, but many businesses in the southern counties end up with a regional firm or a national cloud provider that supports them remotely.

New Jersey 911 fees, sales tax and E911 rules on a VoIP bill

Two state charges show up on a New Jersey VoIP invoice. The first is the 9-1-1 System and Emergency Response Fee. It's currently $0.90 per voice line per month, and the provider collects it and pays it to the Division of Taxation. The second is sales tax. The state applies its 6.625% sales tax to intrastate, interstate and international phone service, VoIP included, with no county or city tax added. Check current figures with the Division of Taxation before you budget.

Ask each provider how it counts lines for the 911 fee, because a quote priced per user may be billed per phone number or per trunk. Ask for an all-in monthly figure that includes state tax, the 911 fee and any federal regulatory charges the provider passes on.

The state fee pays for the 911 system. Federal rules govern how your phones reach it. Under Kari's Law, office phone systems with multiple lines that were installed or substantially upgraded after February 16, 2020 must dial 911 directly, without a "9" first. They must also alert someone on site, such as a front desk or security office. RAY BAUM'S Act also requires the system to send a location that responders can go to: the street address plus the floor, suite or room. Have the provider show you where each phone's location is stored, who gets the on-site alert, and how a remote worker in Hoboken or Haddonfield updates a home address.

Does the NJ Board of Public Utilities regulate VoIP?

Mostly not. State law bars the Board of Public Utilities and other state and local bodies from regulating VoIP rates, terms and conditions. Bills to require automatic outage credits have been introduced in Trenton, but none has become law. Your contract is your protection. Outage credits, price increases, auto-renewal and early termination fees are whatever the contract says.

Call recording is simpler. Under the state's Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act, only one party to a call has to consent to a recording. So a business can record calls it takes part in. Many of your calls will cross state lines, though, and some states require every party to agree. Most firms just play a short recording notice on every call.

Questions to ask a New Jersey VoIP provider before you sign

• Can you move our 201, 973, 732, 856 or 609 numbers over, and how long will it take?
• What happens to our phones when the power or internet goes down? Can calls fail over to cell phones or a backup line?
• Who answers a support call, and will you send a technician on site?
• What are the contract length, the notice period for canceling before renewal and the cap on price increases?

The outage question matters more at the Shore and in low-lying parts of Hudson and Monmouth counties, where storms have cut power for days. A local firm can usually get a technician to your door the same day. A national platform often has better apps and uptime numbers, but its support usually comes by chat. Plenty of New Jersey businesses get some of both by buying a national cloud service through a local reseller who handles wiring, handsets and the switchover.

Ask for two references in your industry and county, and call them. A dental office in Bergen County will tell you more about a provider than a sales presentation will. Push for a 12-month first contract rather than 36 months. If a vendor insists on a long contract, get outage credits and the right to leave over poor service in writing.