Telecoms question?

[lee.stanley3]

I am moving into an office after 3 years of working from home. I am looking at the best possible solutions for telecoms (phone, broadband) at the best possible price.

I am currently with Plusnet, who are not the cheapest, but I have been happy with their service and support when needed.

I am happy to use a different provider and open to suggestions.

I run a recruitment business so I am on the phone a lot. I also have a mobile which has unlimited minutes and I have a call divert established from the Plusnet account.

My initial thoughts are to simply set up a broadband package in the new office and divert my current line to the mobile (which I can set up a local number for)

Cost of local number on mobile (£10/month).

Suggestions or other ways to structure welcome.

Thanks in advance

Lee.

 

[leemason]

So you are moving into a new office? It might be worth looking at using a VoIP provider like voiptalk. You could port your plusnet number over to them (I believe that plusnet are now owned by BT). This way you could maintain your mobile divert but you could also have a VoIP phone in your new office to take calls when you are there and only use the mobile divert when you are out of the office.

 

[cjd]

Is this just for you or do you have staff or intend to grow to have staff?

Do you spend most of your time in your office or are you out and about a lot?

Given your business, you definitely need a standard 01 or 02 number, a mobile and a broadband connection it's really all about how you will be working that decides the best way.

If it's only ever going to be just you and you're out a lot, the landline number on your mobile is probably the easiest and Plusnet for broadband is as good as most - particularly if you're happy with them, they'll probably do you a deal to stay with them.

If it's just you but you're in the office a lot and/or intend to add a few staff, I'd normally say get a VoIP 01 and 02 number and a VoIP desk phone, that way you have a credible looking business and incoming calls cost nothing. You then set a divert to your mobile when you leave. (If you use us and have an iPhone, you can use our free geodivert app and your calls will automatically divert when you leave your office and then divert back to your desk phone when you're back.)

The service grows with you, you can add extensions and so on simply and cheaply.

We could do the lot for you if that's of interest - phone line, broadband, VoIP - if you want to talk it through with someone give us a call on 020 7043 5555.

Call divert explanation here - the cartoon is quite useful:

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

 

[lee.stanley3]

At present I am moving to a new office. I am looking at taking on another staff member in April time. How reliable is VoIP now. I initially looked into it in 2009 but was worried that the broadband would not be reliable and may cut out during a call (and I spend a lot of time on the phone).

Additional information I have 18 months left on a contract with Plusnet, I know they used to offer VoIP but I dont think they do now.

 

[StevensOnln1]

I've used VoIP for all my business calls for over 4 years now and it's been very reliable. Call quality is also much clearer than using a landline. I've been a customer of Voipfone for around 2.5 years now and can't fault them. I switched my home phone and broadband to Plusnet (or recommendation from a friend) earlier this year and have also been very happy with them as a provider.