[asterisk-biz] How Realistic is Hosted VoIP for SMBs?

[GlobalOfficePhone]

Recently there has been an upsurge in articles about the benefits of hosted
VoIP for SMBs accompanied by a similar upsurge in providers who offer such
services.

While I understand most of the benefits highlighted, especially if the SMB
is geographically dispersed; I can't seem to resolve one nagging dilemma in
my head:

Calls between local extensions situated within a physical location (a
cubicle across the hall) must traverse over WAN. Isn't this very
inefficient? And, doesn't it require a much higher WAN bandwidth, which is
usually limited and expensive - very expensive in some countries?

So, for a 20-user SMB with all its users located in a single office, all
extension-to-extension (local) calls must go out on a WAN and come back to
the office. This will require a much higher scarce WAN bandwidth and not use
the abundant LAN bandwidth!

Would hosted VoIP be a better choice such an SMB?

I would appreciate your thoughts on this issue to help sleep well :)

Thanks.
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