Capacity-based pricing means you pay for the number of calls your business carries at the same moment, not a fee for every person or extension. It is how Telnamix prices every phone system we run, hosted, 3CX and SIP trunking alike: by call capacity, with unlimited extensions and no long-term contract.
The difference shows up when you grow. Under per-seat pricing, every hire adds a line to the phone bill. Priced by capacity, a new hire adds a phone on a desk, and the bill changes only when your busiest hour needs more simultaneous calls than you have.
Capacity-based pricing vs per-seat pricing
Per-seat (or per-extension) pricing charges for each user or phone line on the system, whether it is in use or not. The capacity model charges for how many calls can be in progress at once. Here is how the two compare on the things that move a phone bill:
| Situation | Per-seat pricing | Priced by call capacity |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Every user or extension | The calls you carry at the same moment |
| You hire someone | Another seat on the bill | A phone on a desk; no new licensing fee |
| Lobby, break room and conference room phones | Each one is a seat | Extensions are unlimited |
| Staff who rarely use the phone | Full price per person | Only matter when they are on a call |
| Your busiest hour outgrows the plan | Already paying per head | You add capacity, and the price goes up with it |
That last row is the honest part. This is not free growth: when your business genuinely carries more calls at once, you buy more capacity. What you stop paying for is idle seats.
How much call capacity does your business need?
As many calls as your business carries at the same moment at its busiest, not one per employee. A thirty-person office rarely has thirty people on the phone at once. Think about the worst hour of a normal week: the Monday morning rush, the lunch hour at a restaurant, the last day of the month in accounts receivable. That peak is what you size for.
We size it from your real calling pattern, price it by that capacity, and adjust it up or down as your needs change. A seasonal business can carry more capacity for its busy months without signing up for it all year.
Compare that with the old way of buying phone lines. A PRI circuit is sold in fixed blocks of call capacity, so an office that needs twelve lines pays for twenty-three, and adding a thirteenth caller at the busiest hour means ordering another circuit. If that is your situation today, SIP trunking replaces the circuit and keeps the phone system you own.
Why does Telnamix price by capacity?
Because it matches how the systems we run are built. 3CX, for example, is licensed by simultaneous calls rather than per user. When we manage a 3CX system you never buy or renew a 3CX license yourself: sizing and maintaining it is part of running the system, which is what your subscription covers. Adding employees adds phones on desks, not licensing line items.
It also matches how we work. Telnamix is both the platform operator and the carrier, so we are not reselling someone else's per-seat plan with our logo on it. We set the pricing model ourselves, and we chose call capacity.
What can you do with unlimited extensions?
Unlimited extensions change what is worth putting on the phone system. When a lobby phone or a warehouse handset does not add a seat fee, you stop rationing them. On our systems that has meant:
- Paging for large campuses and outdoor areas, using paging horns and IP speakers.
- Intercoms and door entry, including VoIP intercoms, indoor and outdoor keypads, and call buttons that dial a set number.
- Fax gateways for businesses that still send and receive faxes.
- Phones in every shared space: lobbies, break rooms, conference rooms and loading docks.
- Equipment you already own. Existing IP phones and SIP devices can often be reused, so a move to a new system does not mean throwing working hardware away. We check what you have before recommending anything new.
If loud spaces are your problem, our post on business intercom systems covers paging in more depth.
Is price the main reason businesses switch phone systems?
Price usually starts the conversation. Per-extension pricing that seemed fine at eight employees is punishing at twenty-five. The on-premise PBX in the back room needs a part nobody stocks anymore. On our hosted page we put subscription pricing at 30% to 70% below owning and maintaining traditional PBX hardware.
But price is rarely why a business stays. In our experience, what matters after the first bill is this:
- Phones that follow people. A hosted system works at an office desk, a home office or a mobile app, and an office move means unplugging phones in one place and plugging them in at another.
- Support that is not metered. Support and consulting are included for subscribers, not counted against a block of hours. You reach US-based engineers who run these systems every day.
- No long-term contract. We are one of the rare VoIP companies offering month-to-month agreements.
- Features that are already included. Voicemail transcription, for example, is on by default for Telnamix customers and included in the plan.
- Numbers that move with you. We run the porting paperwork and the cutover timing, so your published numbers keep working through the switch.
So the quote you get is the cost you carry, without per-seat surprises when you hire.
What about the phones themselves?
Existing phones can often stay. When you do need new ones, we supply Yealink desk phones, cordless handsets, conference phones and headsets, configured before they arrive so installation is mostly plugging them in. Every Yealink product we sell carries a 3-year warranty, against Yealink's standard 12 months on its desk phones. Our guide on where to buy Yealink phones covers choosing models and what to avoid.
Who is Telnamix?
Telnamix was founded in January 2017, building on a business phone practice that dates back to 2013, and hundreds of companies run their phones with us today. We are a Platinum 3CX Partner based at 4174 West 130th Street in Cleveland, Ohio. You can read more about Telnamix and how we work.
Get your phone system sized and priced
Start with our business phone systems overview, or go straight to hosted PBX from Telnamix. If you are still weighing where the system should live, our comparison of on-premise PBX vs cloud-hosted PBX lays out the trade-offs. Then tell us how many people you have and how busy your phones get at their busiest, and we will size and price it.