Broadband, Telephone Line & Voip - Recommendation

Hiya,
Where abouts is the shop going to be located? Distance from your exchange may help you decide what to go for (and what is available). Are you able to put the postcode up for the shop, so we can see what is in your area.

1) You don't need a business tariff, especially if it is going to be just for surfing the net. However if you would lose business if your net went down (email orders?) then it may be an idea to, as with home packages, there will be no SLA in place for repairs.
I, personally am with BeThere and can't rave enough about their service (especially support staff). As with all ISPs, there will probably be some horror stories - but I'm more than happy with their service. Also, as I've mentioned in the past. If you sign up to quidco and open a bethere account via that.. you get £40 cashback. (Quidco rocks!)

For 2&3 I would strongly suggest talking to CJD on here. I've not used his service but I believe there are many happy customers on UKBF using his VOIP services.

4) Is FTV available on freeview? if so, you could pick up a USB freeview receiver and plug it in to a PC to display on an LCD monitor/pc speakers. I'm not sure how TV licensing would work, as I'm not sure if it all comes under free-to-air? I would think that you do still need a tv license, and for the cost of it, it can't hurt to have.

Sorry I've not been a great help.. I'm sure others will be along soon to offer their advice.

Dave H said:

....... However if you would lose business if your net went down (email orders?) then it may be an idea to, as with home packages, there will be no SLA in place for repairs.

Click to expand...

There often isn't an SLA with so-called 'business' packages. You do need to read the fine print to find out. Two that I do know that have some sort of SLA are Zen Internet, it's an option for extra money, and O2, who promise a next day fix for business packages.

I'm on Gradwell for voip, and the features are absolutely fantastic!

You don't have to pay for each additional line, and I'm on a plan where all landline calls are freeeee

Although, one downside is that the extensions aren't as nice as one would like. Instead of extension "301, 302, 303 etc.", you end up with longer: 2184510, 2184511, 2184512, etc.

That's the *only* drawback.


Also, have a look at www.Voipfone.co.uk, the quality of their service is absolutely fantastic as well, and Colin (CJD) is a member on these forums.

Understandable about not wishing to disclose the location yet. You can put the postcode in to Samknows and it will tell you which LLU/cable providers are available in that area.

If you just need one telephone line and broadband, you might as well stick to BT for the phone line at least. As it's a shop you will be forced to get business line rental I'm afraid.

Be broadband is generally well regarded at the moment, works well and is a very good price; my only issue with it is that it seems far too cheap to be sustainable.

You could use VoIP but there's not really a lot to be gained in such a simple situation.

If you find you need a second line or intend working at home a lot or open another shop, then VoIP is your best choice but that decision can be taken when you've sorted out the basics.

Alternatively you could get Virgin media which would sort out your broadband and display (but you'll need a public licence I believe) and use it with VoIP (from an independent like us) for your telephony. In theory that would be a good solution; in practice though Virgin makes a mess of VoIP at the moment and I couldn't really recommend it.