Small Business Telephone System

[Roger Smith]

Hi

Were a small business looking to improve our telephone system.

At the moment were using an “0800” number being diverted to one line....

What were looking for:

* As we work from home, 2 offices being connected.
* Once an in-bound call comes it both the telephones at both offices ring.
* Capacity to handle at least 2 calls (maybe a bit tricky? What if someone is on the line on location 1, would the phone call go to location 2 automatically?)
* In the evening we would the calls to be diverted to all a call center or mobile phone? Plus all calls to be diverated after 7 rings?
* Caller hold, caller divert, Music would be great!

Sorry I know i've very particular there.

Any recommendations would be great, systems? costs? Voip? PBX? Organisation?

Many Thanks in advanced

Roger

 

[SneakSMS]

voipfone.co.uk

 

[cjd]

* As we work from home, 2 offices being connected.
* Once an in-bound call comes it both the telephones at both offices ring.
* Capacity to handle at least 2 calls (maybe a bit tricky? What if someone is on the line on location 1, would the phone call go to location 2 automatically?)
* In the evening we would the calls to be diverted to all a call center or mobile phone? Plus all calls to be diverated after 7 rings?
* Caller hold, caller divert, Music would be great!

That's no problem, bread and butter stuff

You need broadband at both locations and two extensions from our PBX (£0.99p pm each). If the common number ((£1.99 pm) is rung both phones can ring simultaneously. Either or both can answer. If one or both is engaged you can put your call on hold (caller gets music on hold) and answer the new call or send it to voicemail.

You can set business hours to send calls to voicemail when closed and/or send calls to divert to mobiles after x seconds.

Give us a call if you need to talk it through 020 7043 5555 or fight your way through our website.

http://www.voipfone.co.uk/switchboard_and_hosted_PBX_services.php

 

[KM-Tiger]

A hosted virtual PBX is a no-brainer for the situation you describe.

Capital cost is minimal (you will need to buy some SIP phones), the monthly charges reasonable, and include maintenance, updates etc.

The service is dependent on the quality of your broadband connection, but if that's OK the audio quality of calls is superior to PSTN, and certainly better than mobile.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

If you want to connect your BT line in (you will probably have one of these to supply your broadband), you can get a PBX for under £230 ex VAT - look here. This is useful if your broadband goes down, as services like Voipfone can divert to another number if there are any issues.

For all solutions indicated so far, you will either need phones designed for voip or adaptors (calles ATA's).

We have run our own PBX connected to a Voipfone number (actually, we have several numbers, for different businesses, with peolple dotted over the UK, France and HK!).

 

[Roger Smith]

Hi,

Thanks for the info!

Roger.

 

[tomsk]

We use a company called www.millway.co.uk they are fast and well priced.

 

[mikeruelles]

Hi

Were a small business looking to improve our telephone system.

At the moment were using an "0800" number being diverted to one line....

What were looking for:

* As we work from home, 2 offices being connected.
* Once an in-bound call comes it both the telephones at both offices ring.
* Capacity to handle at least 2 calls (maybe a bit tricky? What if someone is on the line on location 1, would the phone call go to location 2 automatically?)
* In the evening we would the calls to be diverted to all a call center or mobile phone? Plus all calls to be diverated after 7 rings?
* Caller hold, caller divert, Music would be great!

Sorry I know i've very particular there.

Any recommendations would be great, systems? costs? Voip? PBX? Organisation?

Many Thanks in advanced

Roger

How about checking with RingCentral or other providers that offers at least a 30 day free trial or a money back guaranteed. That is a good start when purchasing a phone system.

 

[roydmoorian]

That's no problem, bread and butter stuff

You need broadband at both locations and two extensions from our PBX (£0.99p pm each). If the common number ((£1.99 pm) is rung both phones can ring simultaneously. Either or both can answer. If one or both is engaged you can put your call on hold (caller gets music on hold) and answer the new call or send it to voicemail.

You can set business hours to send calls to voicemail when closed and/or send calls to divert to mobiles after x seconds.

Give us a call if you need to talk it through 020 7043 5555 or fight your way through our website.

Hi Roger

How critical is communication by phone to the business ?

What is the repair timescale commitment from your fixed line supplier in case of major disruption to service and does your broadband supplier give the same commitment ?

 

[Cartwright Computers Ltd]

If you are computer minded using your own Elastix Voip Server and Voipfone or Sipgate.

We use these in our business, we have a outbound trunk that offer FREE calls around the world!

 

[My Owl 1]

Hi Roger

How critical is communication by phone to the business ?

What is the repair timescale commitment from your fixed line supplier in case of major disruption to service and does your broadband supplier give the same commitment ?

We do great broadband just got the best buy from Which Magazine for the second year running.

Best wishes

Avril
www.savemoneywithus.co.uk

 

[NeilT]

Hi Roger,

We can offer a simple VoIP solution.
Using our PBX on a pay as you go voIP PBX £7 + VAT or our unlimited international VoIP PBX £15 + VAT. You can create as many extensions as you like including a hunt group.
Don't forget you will need VoIP phones and we can provide SNOM.
Give us a call 01204 898055

 

[PhilipDixon]

Could i suggest looking into asterisk. Open source voip phone system. give me a pm if you wish to have a quote for us to set up a very cheep voip phone system.

 

[leemason]

Could i suggest looking into asterisk. Open source voip phone system. give me a pm if you wish to have a quote for us to set up a very cheep voip phone system.

Asterisk is excellent. Especially when combined with a high quality VoIP service like voipfone. Trixbox CE is even better - Asterisk with lots of addons.

 

[cjd]

^^^ This is very true - but you need to be techie, interested and prepared to maintain it.

 

[leemason]

^^^ This is very true - but you need to be techie, interested and prepared to maintain it.

I knew that you'd say that and it's probably true. But with Trixbox and some basic setup instructions it's not too difficult. Especially when compared with a lot of proprietory phone systems.

 

[PhilipDixon]

I agree Trixbox is brilliant.. even for a total non technical person to set up its not that difficult after doing a little reading.

As a technical person we prefer asterisk as we have a custom panel infront of it but i would recommend trixbox to anyone..

 

[sean.browne]

^^^ This is very true - but you need to be techie, interested and prepared to maintain it.

I would have to disagree that you need to be a techie and interested in maintaining it.

The OP gave a list of requirements, which did not include "need to be able to install and configure it myself". If he were to pay someone to set up an Asterisk system to meet his needs he could then forget about it. Asterisk servers need very little maintenance, and no special knowledge or interest from the end users.

I install Asterisk based phone systems for all kinds of businesses but I much prefer customers looking for a powerful, feature rich, well priced phone system.. than semi-techy type customers looking for a new toy!

Sean Browne
AsteriskExpert.co.uk

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Have a look at Ochid telecom system, about £100 as a full small office exchange, does all you want and up to three lines in or more if required and eight office connections for when you grow

Simple to setup and we have been total happy since we brought ours

 

[sean.browne]

Hi Roger,

Now to reply to your original post.

* As we work from home, 2 offices being connected.
2 offices at home or one home and one at business address?

* Once an in-bound call comes it both the telephones at both offices ring.
In either cases above, this would be possible using Asterisk.

* Capacity to handle at least 2 calls (maybe a bit tricky? What if someone is on the line on location 1, would the phone call go to location 2 automatically?
Yes, if someone, or both people where on the phone, your 'line 2' would flash and you can either take it (which automatically places first caller on hold) or leave it go to voicemail or divert to a call centre etc.
Point is, 2 calls would be possible, the line would not be 'engaged'.

* In the evening we would the calls to be diverted to all a call center or mobile phone?
No problem at all, you can automate this by telling the system what time to switch off, or you can set it manually through your phones keypad.

Plus all calls to be diverted after 7 rings?
Asterisk diverts after a number of seconds rather than rings, but sure you can divert after 10s or something.

* Caller hold, caller divert, Music would be great!
You get all of the above with Asterisk.

Sorry I know i've very particular there.
You will have to be a lot more particular to be a problem!

Any recommendations would be great, systems? costs? Voip? PBX? Organisation?

I will give all of the above:
System: Asterisk Open Source
Cost: < £1000
VoIP: Yes
PBX: Yes
Organisation: AsteriskExpert.co.uk (there are others of course).

If you have any further questions, please fire away.


Sean Browne
AsteriskExpert.co.uk

 

[cjd]

Asterisk servers need very little maintenance, and no special knowledge or interest from the end users.

hmm, wonder why they need the help of an 'Asterisk expert' then?

 

[jazzydan58]

Does anyone know of a similar alternative to voipfone?, we are using there (voipfones) system but we are having a problem with one of there main features that we cant seem to fix and would be interested in an alternative company.

 

[sean.browne]

hmm, wonder why they need the help of an 'Asterisk expert' then?

I said they need 'very little' maintenance, which actually means 'some maintenance'.

Even if they needed 'no maintenance' (which is not the case) the OP may still require someone to 'install and setup' the system, which is different from 'maintenance'.

I hope this helps.

Sean Browne
AsteriskExpert.co.uk

 

[Leo-InstallingIT]

Does anyone know of a similar alternative to voipfone?, we are using there (voipfones) system but we are having a problem with one of there main features that we cant seem to fix and would be interested in an alternative company.

Hi

We concentrate mainly on providing bespoke VoIP implementations, so maybe able to help or at least point you in the right direction. Which feature is it you are having issues with?

Many Thanks

Leo

 

[cjd]

I said they need 'very little' maintenance, which actually means 'some maintenance'.

Even if they needed 'no maintenance' (which is not the case) the OP may still require someone to 'install and setup' the system, which is different from 'maintenance'.

So they need help installing, setting up and with some maintenance. I believe that is pretty much what I said so I pretty much agree with you ;-)

 

[sean.browne]

nope, you said:

"you need to be techie, interested and prepared to maintain it."


I said I disagree. You pay someone to install it, and forget about it.

 

[cjd]

Well now I'm just a tad confused, either you need help or your a bit techie and you don't - pick one.

[bored, now don't bother answering]

 

[sean.browne]

Since you're confused I will explain what happened.

I made a post, which disagreed with yours, I gave my reason. You then retorted with a slightly sarcastic post:

hmm, wonder why they need the help of an 'Asterisk expert' then?

After I explained why, you claimed that is what you were saying all along to try and make me look bad. finishing with, I'm bored / don't bother replying.

You should have accepted that someone might have a valid difference of opinion and left it at that, but instead you tried to make me look bad and it backfired.

I have seen your posts on this forum for a long time and I actually thought you were ok but you have shown another side of yourself in this thread.


Sean Browne
AsteriskExpert.co.uk

 

[cjd]

Si
I have seen your posts on this forum for a long time and I actually thought you were ok but you have shown another side of yourself in this thread.

I'm a little irritated by that - I have far more than just 2 sides

Some people need their own * switch, some don't. Of the ones that do, some are capable of installing and maintaining it and most don't or can't be arsed.

Personally, I don't care either way - we provide a hosted service for those that need it and SIP trunks and PSTN gateways for those that don't. It's all the same to us and we don't want people using the wrong solution for - it offends our professionalism.

However, I stand by what I said - * installation and maintenance isn't trivial and is outside the skill set of most ordinary business people.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Interesting, but with my Orchid system, I read the easy to follow manual (yes unusual for me) and had it set up and online in about 30 mins including running long distant wire extensions from the desks to the exchange, so simple, no distorted calls like Skype and full control for £100 or so

 

[minutesofmeeting]

This could be something really useful!
Thanks,
Nitin