Small businesses looking for an IP-based phone system that will give them the appearance of a big company—with voice mail, auto attendant, unified communications, hunt groups, etc.—have two basic choices: a hosted PBX service or purchasing, configuring, and maintaining a full-blown IP PBX.

The hosted option has much to recommend it: easy set-up and management and low-to-no capital investment. But you pay forever and have to trust the service provider to ensure reliability.

Toronto, Ont.-based Jazinga claims to offer some of the benefits of a hosted PBX –simple set-up and management—in an on-premise IP PBX. Capital outlays are modest, about $1,000, exclusive of phones, and you don’t pay forever.

The product is a combination phone switch and wireless network hub/router running simplified SIP/Asterisk-based PBX software written by Jazinga. It won the company a "Best Newcomer" award at the Internet Telephony Conference in Miami last year.

Jazinga’s contention is that small business owners or employees without a lot of technical expertise can set up and maintain the system themselves using the built-in Wizards and browser interface. We decided to test this proposition.

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