Landline or Mobile for Ltd Company

[3fold media]

To cut a very long story short(ish), I'm looking for people opinions whether my business should have a landline or if a mobile number will be enough.

A little bit of details,

We're a small Ltd company making interactive educational resources we sell directly to schools. I am the only person that works office hours in the business.

In a view to saving costs we're looking at ditching our landline and just having a mobile number for customers to contact us on. At best we have a handful of calls a week (this week the phone hasn't rung) - as we conduct most of our business through either email or our website.

Does not having a landline number make us seem like we're not that established (even though we've been running for 11 years) , or does it not really matter in this day and age?

All opinions will be great appreciated

 

[Caledonian TV]

Personally - and my own situation isn't all that different from yours - I never ring mobiles if I can avoid it, certainly not as a first point of contact.

You'll need internet access anyway; a VOIP line piggybacked on it is very inexpensive, can be a geographical number, and can even 'drive' a standard phone system - or standalone phone! You'll get voicemail, forwarding etc.

(Edit)

An additional thought... Geographical landline numbers are almost-always either included or the cheapest option on most caller's call plans; mobiles can be relatively expensive! Which can put people off!

 

[Mark T Jones]

There is still a rooted perception that businesses running off mobiles are dodgy or lack substance

There are also those who refuse to use mobiles. (These things are gradually changing)

You don’t actually need a landline as such, you can use managed services such as answer.co.uk

 

[The Byre]

There is still a rooted perception that businesses running off mobiles are dodgy or lack substance

That's because they're dodgy or lack substance.

Some people are willing to blow £300+ a month on some car leasing scheme and all kinds of stupid money on being hopelessly over-insured and then there are all the stupid TV subscriptions for services you don't want and didn't ask for and they spend crazy money on fancy iPhones - and none of these things helps you sell one widget more!
If you want to save money, get rid of the fancy iPhone, the TV subscription and buy a used car for cash.

 

[GraemeL]

Landline essential. However, if you use VOIP you need not actually have a landline though it will look like it and you can have all calls diverted to your mobile.
@cjd and his company voipfone are excellent https://www.voipfone.co.uk/

 

[3fold media]

Thanks for the feedback so far guys.

I'll have a look at VOIP services. We only need to be able to forward incoming calls (outgoing calls I make through my home phone package)

 

[Caledonian TV]

Well the good news is that many a VOIP package (most I think!) includes 'free' outgoing calls... which can be useful in keeping your home line a private thing for family use; it can be a VERY useful thing to be able to 'switch work off' of an evening!

 

[3fold media]

I work from home so there is never any 'switch off'. On the odd occasion I have to call someone and am using my home phone I withhold my number.

 

[3fold media]

If we end up going with a landline then what we really need is some sort of virtual landline service.

Need to get a local number and be able to get the calls forwarded to a mobile.

 

[Caledonian TV]

<sigh> - Many people work from home; and learn very quickly that if you don't draw a line then liberties will be taken. And if you phone me into any of my line - business or private - your call will be rejected. ...But ...Whatever.

A VOIP 'nine' should cost you less than £10/month, do all you want it to do, and provide free calls; up to you exactly how you utilise it.

 

[tony84]

Tamar telecommunications - landline to mobile phone number costs £10 a month. There is no reason not to at that sort of price.

 

[3fold media]

A VOIP 'nine' should cost you less than £10/month

Excuse my ignorance, but VOIP 'nine'?

 

[The next Steve Jobs]

For credibility and convenience a land line and mobile is the way to go

More so if your customers work in 'vetted industries' schools, healthcare etc

Especially so if they are responsible for caring for vulnerable groups, ie children

 

[Phil Elvin]

I agree that a landline always makes me feel more comfortable. I'm sure over time this may change.

Depending on your mobile supplier they may provide this service. EE's pocket landline service connects a landline directly to your mobile and is charged at £10+VAT per month. The only downside is when you call out from your mobile the CLI will always show your mobile number.

 

[cjd]

You really must have a landline number - mobiles are really only appropriate for individuals who are expected to be away most of the time - plumbers etc. Using a mobile number on a web site just sreams 'danger, one man band'.

Virtual landline numbers are very low cost - ours are £2 per month - and can be diverted to your mobile if you need them to be so there's really no reason to not use one.

 

[The Byre]

Excuse my ignorance, but VOIP 'nine'?

That's like VOIP eight, except that it goes to eleven, which is one more.

 

[D_Boardman1]

I'd echo those who have said a landline number is more susceptible to customer contact. As handy as mobiles have evolved to become in recent years, not many businesses I can think opt to have a mobile number as their main point of contact, whether it's their personal number or a work mobile number. I think there's still an element of customers trusting landline numbers when choosing whether or not to get in contact with a business, as it remains a prestige and 'non-dodgy' look.

Some VoIP providers, can provide the ability to obtain landline, 08 & 03 numbers without you needing the physical hardware and installations your regular landline providers like BT or TalkTalk come forth with (which builds you a tower of numerous installation fees). Instead, you can obtain contact numbers, all at the discretional use of your existing mobile. It's food for thought, I'd definitely recommend fairly extensive research into providers. A lot of providers whether big or small can actually be almost tailor-made for your company, and you don't want to get tied into something you will eventually regret, as, telecom company's (particularly legacy providers) are known to be ambiguous with the charges and terms etc.

 

[Paul Carmen]

I avoid companies that use mobiles as their main contact number like the plague.

If you haven't got an address (registered details too if a ltd company), contact & landline number on your website, you're not a proper business in many customers eyes.

There are companies offering VOIP services with a geographical landline number for £5-£10 a month, with free calls towards the higher end, which means you can reduce your mobile calls package right down & save even more money.

You can run your business from a mobile or laptop using these services, this means there's absolutely no good reason not to have a landline number.

 

[3fold media]

Hi everyone, thanks for all your feedback.

We've decided that we're going to go down the VoIP route. For varies reasons we've be stuck on BT business phone contracts twice now that both have been for 5 years. So the want/need to get away from that was what had made us think about this in the first place.

There has been a couple of suggestions of companies earlier in the thread that we'll look into. Hopefully we can get something sorted for £5-10 a month. At the end of the day we only need a local number and to accept incoming calls from a handful of customers a month (no need for outgoing at all).

Thanks again

 

[cjd]

There has been a couple of suggestions of companies earlier in the thread that we'll look into. Hopefully we can get something sorted for £5-10 a month. At the end of the day we only need a local number and to accept incoming calls from a handful of customers a month (no need for outgoing at all).

That would be the enormous sum of £2 per month from us. No contract.

 

[D_Boardman1]

CircleLoop provide a huge range of landline numbers to choose from free of charge. As well as a pay as you go plan to make outbound and receive free unlimited inbounds. Be well worth a look for your business.

 

[Caledonian TV]

Excuse my ignorance, but VOIP 'nine'?

- Typo, should be line.

 

[3fold media]

That would be the enormous sum of £2 per month from us. No contract.

Is that the call forwarding and divert service?

 

[cjd]

Is that the call forwarding and divert service?

It's part of it; if you put the number on a VoIP telephone or free softphone it can make or receive calls in the usual way. There's no charge of course for receiving a call on VoIP phones.

You can then also divert the calls going to the number anywhere else you need to - often to a mobile. You do this either all the time or whenever you need to by using the online control panel or automatically depending on your location using our free GeoDivert app.

In these cases you'd pay for the diverted calls depending on where they get diverted to, 1p per minute to a landline 10ppm to a mobile.