The December privacy deadline that reaches your AI phone agent
From 10 December 2026, Privacy Act entities must explain automated decisions in their privacy policy. If software answers your phones, check what it decides.
News & analysis
Business phone news, written for buyers
No press releases. What changed in pricing, in the network and in the rules, and what the vendors would rather you didn’t ask about.
Renewing Teams Phone this year? Read the licence terms before the price
Microsoft raised several Microsoft 365 list prices in July and still charges a premium for the right to leave. For a phone, the terms matter as much as the rate.
What it really costs to leave your business phone provider
The monthly price is the number everyone compares. The exit cost is the one that decides whether you can act on a better offer. Here’s where it hides.
Two years after 3G: the devices on your premises that nobody checked
The phones moved years ago. The lift phone, the alarm dialler and the gate intercom often did not. Two years after the big 3G switch-off, here’s what to look for.
Before the Christmas shutdown: six phone settings to check while the office is still open
The fortnight the office is closed is when callers hear the wrong message, when an outage goes unnoticed and when fraudsters look for an unwatched phone system.
The copper is finally going. What that means if your phone still plugs into a wall socket
The last ISDN and PSTN services are being switched off. If nobody has called you about it yet, that’s not a good sign.
The AI receptionist stopped being a demo this year
Twelve months ago an AI answering your phone was a party trick. In 2026 it books the job, writes the note and hands over cleanly.
Price check: what Australian businesses are actually paying per seat in 2026
We priced the same five-person business across ten platforms, month to month rather than at the contract rate they advertise. Doing that changes the order of the table.
Your telco’s cloud phone system probably isn’t theirs
Both big carriers sell a cloud phone product. Neither of them wrote it. Here’s why that shows up in your change requests.
Porting a business number in Australia: how long it really takes
Simple ports clear in days. Complex ports take weeks. The difference is almost always paperwork, not technology.
What happens to your phones when the nbn drops out
Every provider quotes four nines. Only some of them have an answer for the afternoon the fibre gets dug up.
Still deciding?
The comparison table scores all ten providers on the same 42 criteria, and the finder narrows it to a shortlist in about a minute.