How important is it to have a landline number for a small business these days?

[K0608]

Hi, I work from home (when 'in the office'), so we have a landline for our broadband, which is used for both work and personal use.

I've put the BT landline number on our website, and used to have it set up so that the call would divert to my mobile if not answered in 15 seconds. Eventually, I decided that it would be easier if all calls were diverted to my mobile instantly, which is where I'm currently at.

I'm now wondering how important it is to have a landline number, as it costs to have calls diverted (both the call diversion feature and the cost of the call to my mobile). I suppose the one pain is that the landline number is featured all over the place (all on-line), so would take a bit of effort to completely remove.

 

[dotcomdude]

I would say that the absence of a landline number leads you to think you're not dealing with a 'proper' business.

If you were selling new iPads for £50 I guess people would overlook that minor detail...

 

[Mr D]

Perhaps put an ansaphone on the landline and put on website landline number (ansaphone) and put your mobile number under it.

Those ringing from a mobile may well ring your mobile direct.

 

[GraemeL]

Mobile numbers are almost impossible to remember.

 

[Mr D]

Mobile numbers are almost impossible to remember.

As impossible as any other phone number.
These days I use the mobile phone and tablet to store important phone numbers in case I cannot remember them when needed. Previously we used a small notebook.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I'd agree that remembering phone numbers is pretty rare these days (I don't actually know my business landline)

To the OP; there is certainly some degree of judgement around businesses using only mobile numbers. The strength and impact of that judgement will depend on many factors incluing the nature of your business, and how you reach your target market.

Until recently I used a service from Answer.co.uk with gave me a geographical number and call answering. Interestingly, when I told the caller that it was a remote service nobody batted an eyelid

 

[Prime81]

My husband bought a business landlines number and had his mobile. The only calls for the landing were salrs people. Most customers used the mobile. From a consumer point of view maybe a few years ago I would think a company may be a bit dodgy without a land line but not anymore. Many people have given up land lines other than for broadband and use mobiles instead.

 

[datahound]

I used to do the BT divert thing.

I switched over to a company called Tamar Telecom.

They ported our landline number onto their system and now charge me £5.99 inc VAT per month.

I can receive calls to my landline on my mobile but I have to call out on my mobile.

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

Hard to say for sure whether it is important or not...but I certainly think a non-mobile number gives a degree of legitimacy. When its so cheap to get a VOIP number, it is totally worth it.

I've been dealing with @cjd 's system again today (upgraded to an extra extension so that I could make and receive calls on my PC, and got an app on my mobile for outgoings) and I honestly couldn't recommend them highly enough. I only pay £2.40 a month and I have a geographical landline number that I can divert to any phone and that I can also make and receive calls on my PC. I was using their customer support a bit today as well and honestly they're amazing.

 

[Mitch3473]

It depends...if you're a pikey flogging tarmac drives with lifetime guarantees then a land line is no good. If you want to tell people you're in business then a land line is good, you dont have to use it though, many dont and the mobile then takes over

 

[Ian J]

if you're a pikey flogging tarmac drives with lifetime guarantees then a land line is no good.

If I were to buy a tarmac drive I would want to know physical address and landline to ensure that I wasn't dealing with men of straw.

The same goes for anyone whose work involved coming into my home

 

[leorujoel]

Business and Landline numbers are part and parcel, you can also say that it is a bone of business as well. Such under circumstances where mobile or other communication sources not available you can go through landline for connected any one.

 

[Ian J]

Business and Landline numbers are part and parcel, you can also say that it is a bone of business as well. Such under circumstances where mobile or other communication sources not available you can go through landline for connected any one.

Is this one of those "rearrange the following into a well known phrase or saying" games?

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

it is a bone of business as well

A bone of business?

Now I've heard it all..

 

[Mark T Jones]

A bone of business?

Now I've heard it all..

Rhyming slang

 

[14Steve14]

I considered loosing the landline number for my business. It is just a phone line as I work from home and use the broadband from there. It hardly gets any outgoing use as most customers deal by email. Sales calls are about the only ones that call. I sat and actually read my mobile contract and it says that it should not be used for business use, so it may be worth checking yours first, if you care. I still use my mobile for most outgoing business calls as they are included in a package.

 

[K0608]

Thanks for the replies. Having thought about it, setting up a new virtual number via Tamar Communications shouldn't be too difficult, and it works out pretty well, at £4.99 per month, and includes 2000 minutes to mobiles, diverts to more than one mobile, and missed call notifications can be emailed to me.

 

[Andrew_NotJustTravel]

As mentioned I think it partly depends on your business and target market.

When setting up recently I went for a local geographic number via a Voip provider. Gives that credibility without the expense of having a separate line installed.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I think it is still very important it is so cheap to get a landline transferred to a mobile that I don't understand why nobody would do it

 

[Chris Ashdown]

If people are worried about the costs of a geographical number then you must question their financial plans to run a startup company as its the most simple way of giving confidence to your customers, even though it can be meaningless in real terms as it may be voip

So many startups fail, because they did not wait until they had the finances to do things properly at the start, but felt the need to rush into the new venture

 

[datahound]

Thanks for the replies. Having thought about it, setting up a new virtual number via Tamar Communications shouldn't be too difficult, and it works out pretty well, at £4.99 per month, and includes 2000 minutes to mobiles, diverts to more than one mobile, and missed call notifications can be emailed to me.

Their customer service is great. I have no regrets. Simples.

 

[Bob Morgan]

Valid Landline Number is one of the first criteria on my Due Diligence Checklist for new clients!

 

[datahound]

I was made aware by K0608 (thanks!) of a £25 joint reward for referrals to Tamar so here is a link.

https:/www.tamartelecommunications.co.uk/r/dh25

I have no connections with Tamar other than being a completely satisfied customer and saving £400 a year since moving from BT redirect to mobile service.

 

[website-designer]

Use SIPGATE, VOIP local telephone number forwarded to your mobile.

 

[Alan]

If people are worried about the costs of a geographical number then you must question their financial plans to run a startup company

As anyone can get a geographic number anywhere for £2+VAT per month its hardly a financial commitment.

Reverting to the original question, it is really down to whether your potential customers care. If they are 'old school' then they will be misled into thinking you are a 'real company' ( because they don't know a phone number cost £2 ).

If they are millenniums, who don't have land lines, or if they do they don't want them or use them, they wont care.

For my business - I don't want customers to call me so I don't publicise my numbers anyway.

 

[biobob]

I still think a landline number is important, just not a physical landline.

I use Zadarama for virtual landline number for 1 Euro per month, this can either be used as voip line using an app on your mobile, using a cheap sip handset plugged into the broadband or just diverted to the mobile phone or another landline if you want to get a memorable number to keep.

you can also get a full featured 5 line reception if you top up at least 5 euros every 3 month

I also use draytel where you can get a free local number for a £10+vat top up with the same features

 

[Diesel]

We never use our landline really and generally only receive annoying sales calls on it - but for the reasons listed here we keep it. To get rid of it saves nothing as we still need the line rental for the associated broadband connection. Non?

 

[Lucky8]

We've followed up on a couple of recommendations from here but with no luck. We went through to online chat help with Zadarma, got the usual "how can we help you?", wrote out carefully what it is we were asking.. and waited and waited. No response despite asking three times if anybody was reading our question. Then phoned Tamar and was told there wasn't one single person available to speak to us, they'd have to take our details to call us back etc. The tone of the 'receptionist' gave the impression this was a call handling service, not a real company contact.

We are looking for a solution whereby we can make and receive calls using a landline number on a mobile device. EE's Pocket solution isn't suitable (outgoing only), BT would appear to do it but you pay through the nose and it has services you don't need as part of the package. Any ideas?

 

[biobob]

I have found Zadarma to be excellent at support but it tends to be towards the 5pm time in the UK for some reason their better staff appear to arrive then, it works well on mobile phones using the app. I use soho66 which have good plans for phoning landlines and the 5 line account works well and also a service called CloudTalk that we resell that works on a pc and mobile.

 

[GeoffApples]

We've followed up on a couple of recommendations from here but with no luck. We went through to online chat help with Zadarma, got the usual "how can we help you?", wrote out carefully what it is we were asking.. and waited and waited. No response despite asking three times if anybody was reading our question. Then phoned Tamar and was told there wasn't one single person available to speak to us, they'd have to take our details to call us back etc. The tone of the 'receptionist' gave the impression this was a call handling service, not a real company contact.

We are looking for a solution whereby we can make and receive calls using a landline number on a mobile device. EE's Pocket solution isn't suitable (outgoing only), BT would appear to do it but you pay through the nose and it has services you don't need as part of the package. Any ideas?

Happy to have a chat but to be honest what you probably need is the Zoiper app on your smart phone

 

[biobob]

I have found one simple solution is to get a voip phone number from any of the many suppliers including some i have mentioned and just forward the call to your mobile number in the online portal they all have. Then just switch off outgoing caller display on your mobile when making calls out. I use the SKY unlimited calls, texts service that is normally £6 per month but can be £3 if a SKY customer and you phone them.

One of the cheapest for this is port5060.net

 

[Lucky8]

Thanks for the tips. Can I ask, do VOIP calls 'sound' different? I have read there are security/eavesdropping issues. We need maximum ease, no delays, no clicking noises, no 'doesn't quite sound like it's a normal phone" noise, and no security issues. How do these VOIP solutions compare (technically and in effect) to the BT Cloud option?

 

[biobob]

Thanks for the tips. Can I ask, do VOIP calls 'sound' different? I have read there are security/eavesdropping issues. We need maximum ease, no delays, no clicking noises, no 'doesn't quite sound like it's a normal phone" noise, and no security issues. How do these VOIP solutions compare (technically and in effect) to the BT Cloud option?

The call quality really depends on the equipment and bandwidth of your broadband, if voip phones are on the same router as data (a lot of people do this) the quality will suffer if heavy traffic occurs, if it is on a separate dedicated line with VLAN and QOS it tends to be fairly clear. I use a Snom dect voip phone, a gigaset maxwell and a couple of older BT style dect phones in a Grandstream HT802 2 Port VoIP Analogue Telephone Adaptor all hooked into a standard router that is connected to a 4G connection from a mifi and it is all crystal clear, even the sip apps on my iphone are clear. I am not sure about eavesdropping but most phone systems if not all of them can be eavesdropped by a skilled hacker if they choose to.

 

[cjd]

Thanks for the tips. Can I ask, do VOIP calls 'sound' different? I have read there are security/eavesdropping issues. We need maximum ease, no delays, no clicking noises, no 'doesn't quite sound like it's a normal phone" noise, and no security issues. How do these VOIP solutions compare (technically and in effect) to the BT Cloud option?

A VoIP to VoIP call will sound far better than a normal call - assuming you use a reputable Service Provider and a good telephone, you'd be surprised. But most calls aren't VoIP to VoIP, they either begin in the old fashioned public network or have to be delivered there so the call quality falls to the quality of a normal landline.

There are no clicking noises and no delays.

If you use a landline number and are simply diverting inbound calls to a mobile, you will get the delay you always get entering the mobile network. That's not a VoIP thing - a network divert does not touch the VoIP 'line' - it's a mobile thing. There are no delays if you answer an incoming call on a VoIP telephone.

Security is a complex area. It's very hard but not impossible for someone to hack into your calls, but you have to ask why they would bother? And why are you not concerned about it on you existing phones which are far easier to hack? Anyone can hack your landline with a pair of crocodile clips.

If you want to read more about it:
https://www.voipfone.co.uk/voip-security-guide.php

As for whether a landline number is actually necessary - it's a question asked here a lot. I think it's because people already have mobiles and don't want the extra expense and faff of setting one up. I think some businesses can get away with it. People who you'd expect to work away from an office - plumbers, builders etc. And individuals working in bigger companies. But as a general rule I think it tells you that the company is probably a one-man-band or a tiny start up.

I really don't think it's worth the risk - considering that it costs almost nothing these days. Certainly if you intend to grow you'll want a number that can grow with you. You can start with the simple divert then add other features and functions as you need them - extensions, call queues, answering services, conferencing, music on hold etc etc. That's why it's important to pick a provider that's a full blow telephone service and can grow with you. And actually provide customer service, not hide from you and pretend they do.

Anyway, this is how we do it.
https://www.voipfone.co.uk/Call_Forwarding_And_Divert.php

 

[biobob]

We also use a fully featured cloud switchboard with extensions and music on hold, digital voice mail etc, some of the extensions are on a mobile phone and can easily be transferred as though they were in the same building but could be in another country at the time.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

One of the considerations when dropping a particular supplier was that I was frequently put through to a mobile. Having a detailed conversation with someone driving at 70mph down a motorway was impossible.

 

[pbdesigns]

If you are a sole trader, then it's fine not to have a landline.

I wouldn't expect a gardener or independent plumber to have a landline. I'd be worried if they were sat by the phone waiting for it to ring!

If you are bigger than 1 person, then I'd expect a landline number. Would seem odd for a company of 5 people for example to have one mobile number between them...

With the world of VOIP now, it's easy and cheap to have a landline number that you can scale up as you grow your business.

 

[Lucky8]

Well, BT is out of the running now for us, if only because of their appalling customer service again. 40 minutes on hold last night to get through to BT Residential. Does anyone else find that every few years you find that you might just try them again, surely they can't be that bad again.. and then they mess you around again. Was told originally the residential to business line would be £31.90 and they'd confirm this in an email. Email never arrived. Phoned this morning, it's now £54.90 and that's the flat fee cost. Phoned 10 minutes later as was suspicious, BT Business has never heard of the £31.90 price and the £54.90 is actually their most expensive price for their premium superfast line and there is a cheaper option. Never again.

 

[Lucky8]

A quick update: Voipfone certainly seems to be able to offer what we want, so thank you to those of you who pointed us in this direction.

We made another call to BT Business to check something, were given a different price yet again for their cloud system (that's 4 different prices we have been quoted for exactly the same service, she said "it depends on the agent" - that's not permitted surely? OFCOM are you hearing this?).

Someone shoot me if I ever consider going with BT again for anything.

 

[STDFR33]

I think it is still very important it is so cheap to get a landline transferred to a mobile that I don't understand why nobody would do it

You might not want to give your clients the impression that you work all hours and they can call you whenever they like. Who wants a phone call at 11pm on a Saturday night because someone has talked to their mates down the pub and have a brilliant idea you can help them with?