For a more flexible cloud phone deployment, look no further than Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC)

Out of all the tools that IT teams manage, phone systems can often come with highly complex challenges. If you’re part of a global team, you might be juggling multiple providers, each with their own billing, admin portal, and contract. That makes things difficult to manage on your end and can lead to a poor experience for employees.

Or maybe you’ve been looking to migrate to a cloud solution but feel locked into your existing telecom contracts. You’d rather gain the benefits of cloud-based calling than stick with your clunky on-premises infrastructure, but you’re facing costly termination fees if you cancel.

You’re not alone. Many companies are retiring their traditional phone systems in favor of more modern cloud phone solutions, but the migration process isn’t always as straightforward as they’d like. Organizations need flexibility, especially global enterprises that operate in markets where cloud coverage can be limited or regulated. With a Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) approach, you can get just that. 

Bring Your Own Carrier allows you to keep your existing phone service provider (the ‘PSTN’ public switched telephone network telephony carrier) while moving to a cloud-based phone system. Instead of replacing everything, you can connect your current carrier to the cloud platform using a secure network connection, often through a device called a session border controller (SBC). A BYOC strategy gives you flexibility with your corporate telephony solution and offers additional connectivity options to fit your organizational needs, while still taking advantage of modern cloud features. BYOC provides a clear and manageable migration path from your legacy on-premises PBX to a cloud solution. 

As more organizations migrate their phone service to a cloud solution, too many cloud providers require you to go all in with them, which often means abruptly migrating away from your current carrier. With BYOC, you get the benefits of cloud-based communications and the flexibility your current carrier provides. Here are just a few of the benefits of BYOC:

• Global coverage: Power a cloud phone solution like Zoom Phone with phone numbers and local PSTN access in countries around the world.
• Improved manageability: Consolidate distributed branch offices and users into a single cloud PBX account that’s easier for your team to manage.
• Avoid early termination fees: Maintain existing PSTN service provider contracts to avoid early-termination fees.
• Maintain negotiated toll charge rates: Keep previously negotiated per-minute calling rates.
• Easier migration: Keep phone numbers (DIDs) with your current carrier for less risk of service interruption, faster deployment, and less friction when trying to port over large volumes of phone numbers.

You can bring your own carrier when migrating to Zoom Phone, our cloud-based phone solution that’s part of Zoom Workplace. With our optional BYOC feature, your current PSTN service The provider can enable Zoom Phone’s cloud PBX service by connecting your existing voice infrastructure — like trunks or circuits — to the Zoom cloud platform.

This unique capability allows customers to enjoy all of the benefits and features of Zoom Phone while keeping their existing service provider contracts, phone numbers, and calling rates with their preferred carrier of record. 

Here’s how you can benefit:

• Stay with your carrier or migrate over time: A common point of contention when migrating to a cloud VoIP phone service is breaking a service contract or disrupting a long-standing carrier relationship. Enterprises using Zoom Phone can stay on their carrier or migrate to Zoom Phone calling plans over time, providing maximum flexibility.
• Support your global teams: Zoom Phone’s BYOC option enables global phone support. If you’re part of a multinational company with locations and employees in countries where Zoom doesn’t have native service, you can still use Zoom Phone powered by a local service provider. This is valuable in markets with strict telecom requirements.
• Migrate with peace of mind: BYOC gives you control over your carrier relationships, so you can move to Zoom Phone at your own pace, without disrupting how you manage numbers or call routing.
• Pricing that works for you: BYOC helps businesses avoid carrier early-termination fees and maintain pre-negotiated carrier call rates, so you can leverage the best pricing for your telephony needs.
• Plan options that meet your needs: With unlimited and metered calling plans for Zoom Phone Native, and the option to bring your own carrier to the Zoom cloud with Zoom Phone BYOC, customers have an unprecedented range of connectivity options to the PSTN. It’s up to how you want to manage and deploy your phone service.

A modern cloud phone solution should adapt to your business — not the other way around. With BYOC, you keep the freedom to stay with your existing carrier or explore new options, all while leveraging the power of the cloud.

With Zoom Phone BYOC, you can continue using your current telephony carrier.. It’s a flexible way to power one of your most critical business communication channels.

Want to learn more about how Zoom Phone’s BYOC strategy can help mitigate migration risk, enhance business flexibility, and enable global enterprises to modernize communications while retaining carrier relationships? Sign up for a personalized demo today. 

Editor’s note: This blog was originally published in July 2019 and was last updated in June 2025 to reflect the latest product information.