We’ve all heard it—or said it ourselves: “Ugh, what a day. The phones were down at work.” It’s a familiar headache for any business, whether you’re in a fast-paced law office, a busy clinic, or a services-driven company. In today’s connected world, losing phone service doesn’t just cause confusion—it can cost money, clients, and your professional reputation.
And it’s a question more people are asking as their telephone systems migrate to the cloud and rely on broadband: If our internet goes down, do we lose our phones?
The short answer: maybe, but not necessarily. Let’s break it down.
Phones Are Still Critical, Even in a Multi-Channel World
While businesses today are communicating across more channels than ever—email, live chat, SMS, collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams —the telephone call still holds a special place. In fact, many new client relationships start with a phone call.
And when that first call is missed? It could mean more than just an inconvenience. According to some industry estimates, a single missed call can cost a services business over $1,200 in potential lost revenue. That’s just one call. For customer-facing teams who rely on voice communication, disruptions can quickly become expensive.
Why Do Business Phones Go Down?
The truth is, phone service can be interrupted for several reasons, and not all of them are internet related. Let’s take a closer look at common causes:
- Loss of carrier service – Your service provider could experience an outage.
- Equipment failure – A failed power supply, interface, or power outage can halt communication.
- Network failure – A local network issue can disrupt your phones even if the broader internet is fine.
- Failed system updates – A maintenance update could cause feature conflicts or result in a system crash.
- Database corruption – Voicemail, automated workflows, and call routing tools may stop working.
- Compromised system – Security breaches can shut down or reroute your calls.
And not on the list, but also capable of disrupting your operation is a loss of internet service, a contributing factor for causing telephone outages.
How is the Internet tied to your Office Phone?
In the past, business phone systems operated over copper lines (POTS or PRI circuits). Today, most modern business phone systems use VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)—meaning your calls are delivered “over the top” of your internet connection.
Here’s how it typically works:
- Your carrier delivers dial tone over the internet to your office or cloud-hosted system.
- Your handsets connect over the internet to your hosted service provider or softswitch.
- Your remote employees connect to the system via the internet, allowing full access from anywhere.
That’s a lot of reliance on a single path to support this important infrastructure. And if your singular internet connection goes down? Yes, in many cases, your phones go with it.
Industries Hit Hardest by Phone Downtime
All businesses feel the sting of a communication disruption, but for some industries, the consequences are particularly costly. Those who rely heavily on real-time voice communication—either for direct revenue or critical operations—feel the pain immediately.
Industries most impacted include:
- Healthcare – Missed patient calls, lost referrals, or inability to respond to emergencies.
- Construction – Jobsite coordination, vendor communication, and contract closings depend on phones.
- Technology – Help desk, support, and project calls are all mission-critical.
- Real Estate – Inbound calls from prospects are time-sensitive and high-value.
- Legal – Missed calls from clients or court personnel can have major repercussions.
- Financial Services & Insurance – Clients rely on their advisor or rep to be available at the right time.
- Manufacturing – Vendor coordination and supply chain timing can be affected.
- Automotive – Service appointments and sales inquiries are largely driven by inbound calls.
Can You Prevent Phone Loss During an Internet Outage?
Absolutely. While you can’t always prevent an internet outage, there are effective strategies to mitigate or even eliminate phone downtime when it happens. Here are some smart ways to keep your business reachable even during disruptions.
1. Invest in Multiple Internet Connections
This is a simple but effective failover strategy. Most businesses rely on the internet for more than just phones—cloud apps, email, payroll, marketing tools—all go dark if the internet is down. By adding a secondary broadband connection (possibly from a different provider or wireless technology like 5G, LEO), you gain a backup path that keeps you online.
2. Talk to Your Voice Carrier About Disaster Services
Most carriers deliver their service from a centralized softswitch located in a data center. That means your dial tone isn’t gone when your office internet goes down—it just can’t get to you. Many carriers allow call redirection or automatic failover routing, where calls can be rerouted to:
- Alternate sites
- Remote workers
- Mobile phones or apps
- Virtual receptionists
You can work with your provider to set up predefined routing rules in the event your system becomes unreachable.
3. Leverage Hosted Features Like Mobile Apps & Virtual Agents
If you’re using a hosted or cloud-based phone system, each handset or endpoint connects individually over the internet. If the office connection fails, other endpoints—like remote workers’ laptops or smartphones—can still function.
Most hosted platforms offer:
- Mobile apps that turn your smartphone into a business extension
- Desktop softphones that can be used from home WiFi
- Virtual agents or auto-attendants that handle calls, even when no one’s available
- Cloud voicemail, ensuring messages are still recorded and delivered
By planning, you can keep essential staff answering calls even during a localized outage.
4. Consider a Hybrid Architecture
If you’re running a premise-based phone system, you don’t have to choose between old-school and cloud. A hybrid solution allows you to:
- Host the system apps & carrier connectivity in a data center
- Maintain local handsets, gateways and features on site
- Benefit from the resiliency of cloud-based carrier services
In this setup, your dial tone lives in the cloud, not your building—so even if the internet at your location fails, calls can still be answered elsewhere, or by remote users.
Planning for the unexpected: Be Proactive, Not Reactive
The question “Do we lose our phones when the internet goes down?” isn’t just theoretical—it’s a real concern that businesses face every day. But it doesn’t have to mean panic, silence, or lost revenue.
With the right planning, you can:
- Identify your risks
- Understand your system’s architecture
- Work with your provider to build in failover & rerouting options
- Enable staff with apps or alternate endpoints
- Upgrade your infrastructure to include redundancy
Final Thoughts—and a Call to Action
Losing phone service isn’t just frustrating—it’s expensive. A missed opportunity, a frustrated client, or an unanswered emergency call can do lasting damage. But the good news is, you can take steps right now to avoid it.
At Morefield, we specialize in building voice solutions that are resilient, flexible, and tailored to your business needs. Whether you’re using a hosted platform, a premise system, or a hybrid model, we’ll help you develop a plan that keeps your business talking—even when the internet isn’t.
Don’t let the next outage catch you off guard. Contact us today to schedule a Voice Resiliency Review.