Telecommunications for a start up recruitment company

[Recruitment Nick]

As many of you may have noticed in previous posts I am currently going through teh process of starting a recruitment company (and blogging about it - http://recruitmentnick.net ), and I am after advice for a number of things.

I am currently seeking a company to set up and run a telephone line for my soon to be started recruitment company (UK based) that I will (initially) be running from home. Ideally what i am after is reccomendations from people that have used companies, but otherwise any leads will be of interest.

Currently I am at the pricing up stage but will probably be looking to get it organised and set in stone within the next few weeks.

Thanks in advance

Nick

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Third similar question in under 24 hours!

If you want a VoIP only solution, look at Colins (CJD's) firm, Voipfone.co.uk, or my stuff, at www.smeserver.eu. Voipfone offer a virtual PBX and we offer physical equipment that us designed to work with voip lines.

If you want to mix VoIP and traditional phones (ISDN or traditional lines), our systems can do that, also.

HOWEVER, we would recommend adding voip to a modern system (the possible savings are huge), which leads us back to voipfone!

 

[Recruitment Nick]

Third similar question in under 24 hours!

If you want a VoIP only solution, look at Colins (CJD's) firm, Voipfone.co.uk, or my stuff, at www.smeserver.eu. Voipfone offer a virtual PBX and we offer physical equipment that us designed to work with voip lines.

If you want to mix VoIP and traditional phones (ISDN or traditional lines), our systems can do that, also.

HOWEVER, we would recommend adding voip to a modern system (the possible savings are huge), which leads us back to voipfone!

Really? i did skim through yesterdays titles but didnt see anything relevant but I'll have another hunt through now.

I'll check out those sites this afternoon as well, thanks. Anyone else have any leads?

 

[cjd]

We have a couple of recruitment companies using us. They have a mixture of small office and home workers. One has employees in a couple of UK cities and also Europe - with VoIP they can all be on the same PBX and calls between them then become free. See:

https://www.voipfone.co.uk/Voipfone_User_Manual.htm#_Toc198781337

 

[DavidT]

CJD - Do you still exclude Poland from your service? I remember looking once some time back and seeing it had been exclude/restricted with your services.

David Toohey
The Accountants Circle
Accountancy & Bookkeeping Forums | Accountant & Bookkeeper Blogs | Company Formations from £21!

 

[cjd]

CJD - Do you still exclude Poland from your service? I remember looking once some time back and seeing it had been exclude/restricted with your services.

No. We occasionally get a large batch of fraud attempts from a particular country and we prevent new automated sign-ups for a while - but I don't remember Poland having a problem. Any bar would not affect existing users or calls to Poland.

 

[officeangel]

I'm effectively a start up recruitment firm and I have to put my hand up and say I'm with good ol' BT. The costs are fine, but I love the flexibility that I have, I can transfer my calls to any number I choose from anywhere in the world. I can divert all calls to voicemail or my mobile voicemail.

For my mobile I use Vodafone, and for when I'm abroad I use Sim4travel as recommended by someone on here.

To keep overseas calls down I use a company that I cannot remember the name of but the access number is 08449729700 and that means that calls are 2p per min from my BT landline and a lot of my work at the minute is in the US, so that's an absolute boon.

I have tried voip in the past and the quality was dire, although it was nothing to do with CJD's firm I hasten to add. And it's really put me right off from trying again.

 

[nass]

We've got about 30 recruitment companies on our books at Telefonix - we're a telecoms company specialising in small and medium businesses. The problem with VOIP is that it relies on the 'internet cloud' which can be somewhat unpredictable, we tend to recommend digital or IP systems with a fat pipe. I've literally just done an adwords landing page for soho/small office PBX systems which will give you an idea of your choices.

Alternatively if you're a techie and up to putting your own system together you could have a look at asterix - allegedly it's very good but does take a certain amount of technical nouse.

 

[cjd]

I have tried voip in the past and the quality was dire, although it was nothing to do with CJD's firm I hasten to add. And it's really put me right off from trying again.

Glad to hear it

You need to use a UK based, business VoIP network if you want consistently good call quality - and you need the proper equipment.

Don't use a peer to peer consumer service or a US based service like, well, best mention no names. Don't use softphones and wifi etc.

Once you're set up correctly, VoIP has far better call quality than PSTN/mobile (64bps; CD quality) - and it can do a lot more.

 

[nass]

What's tragic is that may people dismiss VOIP and IP phone quality because of bad experiences with skype. Skype at home isn't the same as a business-quality IP based system and rarely has the breadth and type of pipe that's required to make such systems a reliable business proposal

 

[skh]

you could have a look at asterix - allegedly it's very good but does take a certain amount of technical nouse.

Just so people don't get confused, 'asterix' is not 'asterix' but in fact 'asterisk'