Small Businesses Save Money with Hosted Voice from Speakeasy

Business Wire, May 28, 2008

Research Reveals Vast Majority of Small Businesses are Motivated by Cost when Switching to VoIP

SEATTLE -- Small businesses are switching to Hosted Voice from Speakeasy to save money in a slumping economy, in some cases saving more than 25 percent annually in communication costs. Hosted Voice (VoIP) is managed and maintained offsite by Speakeasy (www.speakeasy.net), a Best Buy company (NYSE:BBY), offering small businesses a maintenance free phone system with considerable cost savings over traditional systems. A recent VoIP adoption study from Savatar Research underscores this trend, revealing 63% of small businesses that switched to VoIP were motivated by cost savings, while 64% who have yet to make the switch cite economics as the most important factor in choosing a new system.

Since there is no PBX or IP-PBX equipment to buy or lease with Speakeasy's Hosted Voice, upfront costs are a fraction of those associated with traditional phone systems. Rate plans mirror mobile phone plans, starting at $19.95 per month, per employee. Companies have the option to purchase shared long distance minutes with the ability to carry forward unused minutes, or to use metered long distance at less than 3 cents per minute.

Seattle-based Pace International saves an extra $65,000 a year on long distance, conference calling, and phone system connectivity costs after switching to Hosted Voice. Pace develops and markets products used to protect/preserve fruit and vegetable quality post-harvest, as crops are distributed to markets internationally. The company needed a more cost-effective and efficient way to maintain contact with its 100 employees across two plants in Washington and California, 11 warehouses across the US, and eight international offices. In addition to communication cost savings, Pace also saves 10 to 20 percent of IT time each month by offloading phone system maintenance to Speakeasy.

"We save thousands of dollars a year in long distance, and since the service is hosted, we eliminate the headaches associated with maintaining in-house hardware," said Jon Wells, Director of IT, Pace International. "Our Speakeasy Hosted Voice system also offers much more versatility and more features than our old system. When you combine these benefits, switching to Hosted Voice becomes a no-brainer."

For more about Speakeasy and Hosted Voice please visit: www.speakeasy.net or call 1-800-556-5829.

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is one of the nation's leading broadband voice (VoIP), data and IT service providers. Speakeasy helps small businesses succeed by offering simplified voice and data solutions that improve the customer experience, increase employee productivity and help cut costs. Based in Seattle, Speakeasy has provided award-winning customer service since 1994 and joined the Best Buy family of companies in April 2007, working with Best Buy For Business to champion technology for small businesses throughout the U.S. Visit Speakeasy at www.speakeasy.net or call 800.556.5829.