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

MS Teams Integration and the Benefits of Microsoft Certification for Communications

Microsoft Teams has become a cornerstone of modern business communication, empowering over 250 million users worldwide with tools for collaboration, automation, and productivity. Yet while Teams excels at internal communication, it lacks native support for traditional phone systems and analog devices. That’s where certified integrations like the Vodia PBX come in. As a Microsoft-certified solution, Vodia bridges Teams with SIP phones, VoIP devices, and analog endpoints, enabling businesses to make and receive external calls directly within Teams.

November 4, 2025

Vodia PBX Now Integrates with Smokeball to Streamline Law Firm Communications

Law firms can now handle client communications more efficiently with the new integration between Vodia and Smokeball, the AI-powered legal practice management software. The integration connects the phone system directly with Smokeball, giving staff instant caller identification, access to related matters, and real-time client insights. By unifying calls and case management in one platform, it helps firms save time, reduce errors, and deliver faster, more informed client service.

October 31, 2025

SMBs: Never Miss a Call with the Vodia Phone System

Missing a call is never just a minor slip for SMBs. It can mean losing a customer for good. In today’s competitive landscape, businesses cannot afford missed opportunities. While legacy phone systems often lead to frustration and inefficiency, modern cloud solutions like Vodia PBX make it easy to stay connected anytime and anywhere. With AI powered features such as intelligent call routing, real time transcription and 24/7 availability, your customers will always reach the right person. Vodia gives SMBs enterprise grade communication without the enterprise price tag so you can protect revenue, strengthen customer trust and grow confidently.

October 27, 2025