Editorial

Vodia Partner Spotlight: Skyetel

Published on:

December 15, 2021

Founded in 2014, Vodia partner Skyetel is “the telecom company that scares the big guys,” an independent telco with customers in all 50 states and all Canadian provinces. Skyetel maintains a robust network spanning North America that provides true multi-tenancy to resellers. The company’s platform was built for resellers to manage multiple customers from one convenient portal.

Founded in 2014, Vodia partner Skyetel is “the telecom company that scares the big guys,” an independent telco with customers in all 50 states and all Canadian provinces. Skyetel maintains a robust network spanning North America that provides true multi-tenancy to resellers. The company’s platform was built for resellers to manage multiple customers from one convenient portal.

Skyetel’s multi-tenant, SIP trunking platform is configured for resellers to easily connect with Vodia to provision and manage their DID inventory – resellers can take advantage of relationship pricing without any contracts, commitments or upfront fees. The company’s “bring your own PBX” policy enables its resellers but doesn’t compete with them: they Skyetel platform makes it so resellers can easily handle multiple customers from a single, easy-to-use portal.

Prior to Skyetel, Chris Bardos – President of Skyetel and former California State Debate champion – founded SkyeBlue, a successful phone service provider to small- and medium-sized businesses. As a reseller, however, Chris found there weren’t any good carrier-grade, SIP trunk platforms catering to the unique needs of multiple tenant-customers. Chris sold SkyeBlue to focus on serving resellers as a carrier with a completely different approach and, in 2014, he founded Skyetel, a SIP trunk provider with a specific focus on resellers.

In 2016 Skyetel deployed its current next-gen nationwide carrier platform, which has had zero customer-affecting outages since it was deployed; as of 2020, Skyetel was the fastest growing North American carrier deploying its own OCN (622J) coast-to-coast and had developed a reputation for awesome customer service, by reducing average support response time to mere minutes. The company has had 100 percent uptime for seven consecutive years.

Skyetel is as committed to its community as it is to its resellers. The company has won The SW Washington Business Journal Best In Business award four times. In 2018 Skyetel committed to going from “carbon neutral” to “carbon negative,” to offset more carbon than it produces. Skyetel has also partnered with One Tree Planted, a non-profit organization committed to global reforestation – Skyetel has contributed to planting thousands of trees and is a member of Conservation International’s Emerald Circle, a group of donors who have made significant investments in the Conservation International mission.

Like Vodia, Skyetel is a relationship-first company, and its team is what’s propelled the company to its current level of success. Chris Bardos is an entrepreneur and fierce competitor who loves technology – he embodies Mark Twain’s quote, “find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” He absolutely loves what he does. When he’s not running one of America’s most awesome SIP trunk providers, he and his wife relax at their cabin on the coast of northwestern Washington and travel abroad whenever they can in search of fine wines and joie d’vivre.

Like Chris, Brian Smiley, VP, Sales & Marketing, loves what he does, delineating and executing the company’s revenue strategy. A 20+ year resident of Denver, CO, a continuously growing telecom hub, Brian previously worked for Qwest, Level3, Inteliquent and Peerless Network. He built his career as a sales leader on a technical background in quality and sales engineering. Brian most enjoys consultatively sharing what he has learned over two decades in telecom, especially about the reseller market, whether it is with his clients or employees.  An avid boater, lacrosse coach and pilot, he has three children.

Want to find out more about these indefatigable telecom pioneers determined to provide the best service to resellers throughout North America? Contact Brian Smiley, bsmiley@skyetel.com.

Vodia will host a joint webinar with Skyetel on Thursday, 13 January at 1:00 PM EST – this webinar will take resellers through the entire configuration process. Register here: https://my.demio.com/ref/3mqwR2LGEZu5vT06.

Latest Articles

View All

Cisco IP Phone Series 6800, 7800 and 8800 with the Vodia PBX

Cisco IP Phone Series 6800, 7800, and 8800 devices running Multiplatform (MPP / 3PCC) firmware can be used with the Vodia PBX in SIP-based environments. Supported models span entry-level, mid-range, and advanced devices commonly deployed in enterprise and service provider scenarios. Cisco-provided MPP firmware is used, with firmware versions and upgrades managed through the PBX after initial onboarding, supporting both on-premises and cloud deployments.

February 19, 2026

Sonic: Music on Hold and the Vodia PBX

Music on Hold plays an important role in how callers experience wait times and perceive service quality. With Vodia PBX Version 70, we’ve enhanced Music on Hold to deliver neutral, calming, high-quality audio that reassures callers while they wait. These improvements, combined with flexible streaming options, emergency messaging, and full support for cloud and on-premises multi-tenant environments, help businesses reduce dropped calls and create a more positive caller experience before an agent ever answers.

February 17, 2026

Open Source PBX vs Commercial PBX: What You’re Really Managing

Organizations often start with an open source PBX for flexibility, but as systems move from initial setup to daily operations, the real cost becomes management, maintenance, and long-term reliability. This article explores the difference between building a PBX stack from frameworks and running a commercial, integrated PBX platform, focusing on operational complexity, security responsibility, upgrades, and ongoing maintenance. It explains how a purpose-built PBX shifts the burden from continuous engineering to stable operation, helping teams prioritize clarity, control, and scalability as requirements grow.

February 12, 2026