Business Phone and Broadband Advice

[ScottyTaylor]

Hi all, looking for some help re the above. Been with BT for 10 years and want to save some dosh on my monthly cost. Only have one line, fibre broadband, calls, divert and caller id. Don't make loads of outbound calls as there's only two of us in office. Called Plusnet, XLN and BT. XLN Cheapest then Plusnet and BT Most pricey. Can anyone give me some help and who you use? Thank you.

 

[Jwan]

I was just about to start a new thread on this exact topic. Can you not get Virgin Media at your place?

For our restaurant, I got in touch with Virgin Media.

They quoted me £55 a month for Fibre Optic broadband (up to 350Mbps) and a phone line. And the guy took off the installation fee (£60).

They said installation takes around 20 days. But here is the killer, if I want to divert calls to my mobile, I have to pay £175 per month!!!!!!!!!!! Anyone else has any thoughts?

Also being a restaurant, I asked about a Wifi hotspot for the customers so that we can capture guest details (name and email for marketing) but they said they didn't have that.

 

[Bainzee]

I've used all the above and I have not been impressed at all, and I'm being very kind with my wording. I'm would strongly recommend to check out their reviews. I personally use a company called BOnline, great service with great prices

 

[Bainzee]

I pay £0 for call divert to my mobile and that's with Bonline

 

[ScottyTaylor]

i saw bo online but never heard of them. XLN reviews im not sure about as so many seem a little strange.So hard this!

 

[LiveNetworks Ltd]

Andrews and Arnold have always had a good reputation for customer service, but you get what you pay for, and they're not cheap.

You may also want to consider having the broadband and phone separate so run a VOIP service such as voipfone.co.uk as call forwarding etc will all be under your control.

 

[Jwan]

By separate, do you mean from separate providers? Cause with Virgin Media, the broadband and phone line are separate, one comes through the fibre optic cable, and the other is just a normal phone line.

Can you please elaborate on this VOIP thing? What does one need for VOIP and as far as customers are concerned, will they notice anything different when they call our number?

 

[LiveNetworks Ltd]

'Normal' broadband is delivered over a phone line, so as a starting point, you need line rental and a broadband service. Calls, can be run on the phone line and delivered from your broadband provider but with VOIP you have an Internet based virtual phone system.

Call packages and costs are often cheaper with voip and you're not tied in. Getting a bad broadband service, not a problem, shift line rental and broadband, your phone numbers and call setup all remain as they are.

If you're not sure, worth having a look at voipfone.co.uk to start with and see what is available. if it looks like it suits you, shop around.

The only change you'll need is that you may need to change desk phones to be voip compatible.

 

[ScottyTaylor]

im just happy for one line and fibre broadband with a decent provider that doesnt rip you off like my current provider. Just want someone to suggest a good one. Who is andrews and arnold?

 

[LiveNetworks Ltd]

https://www.aaisp.net.uk/ Small ISP with a very good reputation for quality service.

 

[cjd]

im just happy for one line and fibre broadband with a decent provider that doesnt rip you off like my current provider. Just want someone to suggest a good one. Who is andrews and arnold?

I suggest you have a look around for VoIP services, that way your calls are controllable by you and are always cheaper. It's best to find a provider that does both broadband and VoIP as there can then be no excuses for poor quality of calls. (We can voice prioritise the line).

 

[ScottyTaylor]

ok thanks i will have a look. So many of the big names have bad reviews. Just dont know where to go. Id prefer to go with a relatively well known one. Can anyone else let me know who they use. Voip lines im not sure about. Its routed through the braodband isnt it? I want to keep my number and get line rentle, free calls, caller id, divert and fibre broadband. Not easy to decide who to go for.

 

[KM-Tiger]

VOIP does indeed use your broadband connection to route calls. But you should be able to port your existing number to a VOIP service provider. Do choose a provider that is a member of ITSPA. That gives you some important protections of both code of conduct and what would happen if your chosen service provider ceases for some reason.

Voipfone are good, have used them for many years now, and I suggest you give them a call as they will be able to answer your questions without giving you a hard sell. They are simply nice people offering a good service.

As regards broadband, Andrews & Arnold have been mentioned, and IMHO they are the Rolls Royce of broadband. The reason why I, and many similar people use them is that in the event of a problem I can talk to a fellow IT professional, not a script monkey somewhere in the world.

 

[ScottyTaylor]

Thanks for all your help. I called bo online (b online) the same package im on with BT is half the price with BO! Saving £40 a month. Who else has used BO and are they any good?

 

[ScottyTaylor]

I think im going to go with XLN. Spoke to a business owner yesterday and he said they were great.

 

[ScottyTaylor]

its b online

 

[ScottyTaylor]

Its a complete minefield this as reviews really good for xln on trust pilot but some forums say avoid! i am confused now.

 

[cjd]

Its a complete minefield this as reviews really good for xln on trust pilot but some forums say avoid! i am confused now.

If you're going to use a VoIP service I would highly recommend choosing one that is a memeber of ITSPA and also has a quality mark ( there's only half a dozen of them - it's quite hard to get.)

The quality mark tells you that the service complies woth all regulation and that your numbers are safe. They are also independantly tested for uptime on a daily basis.

You can find the members list here

https://www.itspa.org.uk/members/

I would also make sure I bought from a UK company.

Just in case you don't know, there is no longer any need to sign up for a long term contract, many of us have monthly rolling contracts and because you can switch you VoIP provider in the blink of an eye, it's very low risk. You're not tied into a bad contract.

We can, of course, help....

 

[Rotor]

I've used all the above and I have not been impressed at all, and I'm being very kind with my wording. I'm would strongly recommend to check out their reviews. I personally use a company called BOnline, great service with great prices

I went with Bonline , cheap broad band but very expensive to make calls.

 

[ScottyTaylor]

Just had a new quote from BT which seems ok. Working out £58 plus vat for what i am currently getting with them. Fibre broadband, line rental, caller display, call divert, free calls mobile and landline. I currently pay £71.80 plus vat. XLN cheaper but reviews not great BT reviews not the best either but better the devil you know! The offered me the coud package which works through mobiles but dont know much about the cloud and that is £48 a month plus vat for what i currently have.

 

[cjd]

If that does what you want, there's no point trying to get it for a couple of quid less. Buy and forget.

 

[TexasLarry]

Hi all, looking for some help re the above. Been with BT for 10 years and want to save some dosh on my monthly cost. Only have one line, fibre broadband, calls, divert and caller id. Don't make loads of outbound calls as there's only two of us in office. Called Plusnet, XLN and BT. XLN Cheapest then Plusnet and BT Most pricey. Can anyone give me some help and who you use? Thank you.

Look into VoIP.

I use voip.ms for my business phones. I have several long distance and toll-free numbers and pay maybe $100/year for service. (Seriously.)

I can call anywhere in the world for 2 cents per minute or less, and I don't find latency to be an issue.

Superior solution for nearly free.

I switched to VoIP about 8 years ago and will never look back!!