You do not need another brochure. You need to know whether the cheaper monthly is cheaper once the term, the handsets and the support are in the open. Most offices are holding a 24–36 month reseller quote and a month-to-month cloud PBX quote, and cannot tell which one costs more. This page is how you read them side by side.
Month-to-month · 90-day guarantee · support in Australia
If you searched "small business phone systems" this week, you have probably already heard from a national reseller. They are good at being first. Their offer is usually:
That is a real product and the platform works. The question is the contract around it, whether you can try the live system before you port, and whether the platform has been fitted to a busy reception desk or only sold to one.
Pear's quote is a different shape: Hosted-X (our cloud PBX) from $9.95 per user per month plus calls, or $39.95 with calls included — about $160 a month for a 4-person office — or a user licence at $8.95 plus shared lines ($9.95 per PAYG line plus calls, or $49.95 per unlimited line), which is often cheaper for a busier office. New Yealink handsets start from $285 to buy, or can be rented. Or reuse what you have. Month-to-month, a 30-day test drive with handsets in, and a 90-day way out. Same number porting. Different amount of rope.
Read your quote down the left column. Neither column is a villain; they are built for different buyers. The question is which one is built for you.
| Check this row | Pear Hosted-X | Typical 36-month reseller quote |
|---|---|---|
| What you are buying | Pear's own cloud PBX, configured to your call flow | A vendor platform + their handsets + their term |
| Contract | Month-to-month. Tell us before the 27th of any month | 36 months is the public offer. Many reseller books run well past the initial term |
| Leaving early | Walk. 90-day Love Us or Leave Us on service fees | Remaining months, sometimes plus handset finance |
| Try before you port | 30-day live test drive. Old phones stay up | A demonstration, then you sign |
| Headline price | Published: from $9.95 / user / month + calls, $39.95 with calls included, or $8.95 / user + shared lines. No term required to get the price | A "from" seat rate that only applies on a 24–36 month term |
| 36-month commitment | 36 months of bills only if you stay 36 months | Locked. Minimum term is a four-figure commitment on day one |
| Handsets | Yealink, reuse what you have, or app-only | Vendor devices heavily attached to the sale |
| After-hours / overflow | Aria on Australian servers, built to sit beside reception | Platform features + optional AI add-on |
| Industry fit | Built for busy Australian reception desks — see medical and legal | Listed as one of several industries |
| Where support sits | Australia, no offshore, a person who knows the site | 24/7 at scale, ticketed |
| Review picture | Fewer reviews, named long-stay clients — we are closing that gap | High volume of short online reviews |
| Who owns the roadmap | Pear | The platform vendor / the parent telco |
Use this as a worksheet, not a price list. Pear's column is our published rate card. The other column is the shape of a 36-month quote — fill in the seat rate and term from the PDF in your inbox, because only your quote has the real number. Figures shown for Pear are illustrative of eight users on the calls-included plan.
| Pear Hosted-X, month-to-month | Typical 36-month reseller quote | |
|---|---|---|
| Per user, per month | $39.95 with calls included (or from $9.95 + calls) | Their "from" seat rate — available only on the term |
| 8 users, monthly | About $320 a month, calls included | 8 × their seat rate |
| 8 users, 12 months | About $3,840 — and you can stop any month | 8 × seat rate × 12, with 24 months still owing |
| 8 users, 36 months | About $11,500 — paid month by month, only if you stay | 8 × seat rate × 36, committed on day one |
| 8 users + 4 shared unlimited lines | About $271 a month, calls included — one line is one call at a time, and Hosted-X shares them across the office | Usually per-seat only |
| Same, with 2 PAYG lines instead | About $191 a month plus the calls on those two lines — outbound goes over the unlimited lines, inbound lands on PAYG, each fails over to the other | Usually per-seat only |
| If you leave in month 14 | Tell us before the 27th. Stop paying | The remaining months, plus any handset finance |
| Handsets | New Yealink handsets start from $285 to buy, or can be rented. Or reuse what you have. | Often bundled or financed so the monthly looks smaller |
| Trial before you port | 30 days live, in parallel, handsets included | A demonstration, then you sign |
| Porting | Included | Usually included |
A reseller quote is not always more expensive in month one. It is more expensive to unwind. The asymmetry is the product: two providers can quote the same monthly number, but only one of them carries the risk if the service is not good. Ask each provider — who bears the cost if this does not work out, you or me?
Circle the term first — it is often in the schedule, not the cover letter. A seat rate on 36 months is a four-figure commitment before you add handsets. Ask in writing what it costs to leave in month 12. Pear is month-to-month — tell us before the 27th of any month — with a 90-day Love Us or Leave Us guarantee.
Bundled phones feel free. Check whether they are rented, financed (sometimes through a third party), or yours at the end. A phone bill that also has a finance company on it is two contracts — and the finance doesn't end just because the phone contract does.
Mobile, 13/1300 inbound, or after-hours AI are the usual extras. Get them on the same page as the seat price. "Unlimited" has footnotes everywhere — including ours: our inclusions are in writing in the Standard Form of Agreement, and every legal notice is public.
A showroom demonstration is not a test drive. Ask whether the system will sit live next to your current phones, on your call flow, for a few weeks, with the right to walk away. Pear's answer is a 30-day test drive with handsets included. How the test drive works →
Sales is always named and fast. Ask who answers when the Monday queue breaks in year two, whether that person is in Australia, and whether changes go through a portal or a paid work order. Then ring the support number as a stranger and time it.
Ask which country the platform, the voicemail and the call recordings sit in, and who can access them. Pear hosts voice, voicemail and recordings in Australia and is CyberCert SMB1001 Gold certified. A provider who cannot answer this in one sentence is guessing.
Run any quote through those six checks — ours included. A provider confident in their service will answer all six in writing without flinching. That is the test.
Pear is not the right answer for every buyer. Take the 36-month platform quote if:
A national platform with a huge install base can be the right call for a multi-state IT standard. Pear is the right call when the office wants Australian support, no lock-in, and a test drive before the port.
Product detail: small business phone systems and cloud PBX. Medical: medical phone systems. Trial: 30-day test drive.
Already have a quote? Email us the quote you already have — hello@peartelco.com.au — and we will line it up against Hosted-X for the same handset count.
Same handset count. Same sites. A person in Australia replies the same business day — 1300 007 327.
