VOIP / Softphone

[Gareth83]

Just moved into our new business unit with no physical phone line.

We have a 4g modem on the Vodafone network.

So we are now looking for a VOIP/Softphone system. Small background on the office:

1 X Receptionist, 2 X Building Surveyors

The receptionist is part time so they would essentially screen the calls and pass through as necessary. If they are out of the office it would come through to the 2 surveyors.

If the surveyors are out then the calls would need to come to our mobiles.

The two surveyors would be happy to use their phone so an app would save the need for an extra handsets etc. The receptionist could either login via their phone or I could buy a physical phone for them. I guess geofencing would be ideal to ensure this works and some kind of hunt group.

That's about all I know what I need. Did anyone have a suggestion or provider and a rough idea on pricing etc?

 

[Alcom IT]

In our experience we have found running VoIP over a 4G internet service to be patchy. Sometimes it can work for weeks with no problem at all. Other times it can drop out and phones lose connection.

Is it possible to get a broadband connection at your new business unit?

 

[Gareth83]

We went with 4G as fixed internet only has a maximum upload speed of 1mb

 

[Alcom IT]

That's a shame. Perhaps VoIP is not the best solution for you until you can get better internet at your premises. Leased lines are an option but likely very expensive.

Of course you could 'try' VoIP on your 4G connection but be aware that it may not be very reliable.

If you do want to try using your 4G for making voice calls have you looked into Microsoft 365 Business Voice calls at all? If you have or are thinking about getting Office 365 you can bolt on a VoIP telephone system onto Teams to make and receive calls.

 

[cjd]

Just moved into our new business unit with no physical phone line.

We have a 4g modem on the Vodafone network.

I asked our support team for their views on VoIP and 4G. In summary it's unreliable and we don't recommend it for business use, particularly for more than two phone. It can be ok, but it's pot luck.

You say you can get broadband at 1mbs? If that's an up speed, you can easily run several phone on that so long as you don't use it for anything else.

If you want the ins and outs of it, give us a call.

 

[John Paul Rogers]

Just moved into our new business unit with no physical phone line.

We have a 4g modem on the Vodafone network.

So we are now looking for a VOIP/Softphone system. Small background on the office:

1 X Receptionist, 2 X Building Surveyors

The receptionist is part time so they would essentially screen the calls and pass through as necessary. If they are out of the office it would come through to the 2 surveyors.

If the surveyors are out then the calls would need to come to our mobiles.

The two surveyors would be happy to use their phone so an app would save the need for an extra handsets etc. The receptionist could either login via their phone or I could buy a physical phone for them. I guess geofencing would be ideal to ensure this works and some kind of hunt group.

That's about all I know what I need. Did anyone have a suggestion or provider and a rough idea on pricing etc?

Hi

Just moved into our new business unit with no physical phone line.

We have a 4g modem on the Vodafone network.

So we are now looking for a VOIP/Softphone system. Small background on the office:

1 X Receptionist, 2 X Building Surveyors

The receptionist is part time so they would essentially screen the calls and pass through as necessary. If they are out of the office it would come through to the 2 surveyors.

If the surveyors are out then the calls would need to come to our mobiles.

The two surveyors would be happy to use their phone so an app would save the need for an extra handsets etc. The receptionist could either login via their phone or I could buy a physical phone for them. I guess geofencing would be ideal to ensure this works and some kind of hunt group.

That's about all I know what I need. Did anyone have a suggestion or provider and a rough idea on pricing etc?

Hi Gareth,
I provide this kind of service. The cost for this is £12.99 + VAT per user per month. We have a mobile app that runs on apple or android and this is of particular benefit when dialling out as it will present the business telephone number. You can also see if your colleagues are on the phone or not.

I do have businesses running on 4g, but as others have responded it will depend on how good the service is in your location. It can actually offer a better voice service than FTTC in some areas as it often has very low latency.

If this is of interest you can get me on 0116 303 3714

John Rogers
Ones and Zeros

 

[biobob]

I have been using 4G for everything for many years as the broadband adsl is 1mbs and just doesnt work. I use soho66 and zadarma for the calls and snom for voip phones, zoiper and zadarma apps on iphone. I use switchboard free for a couple of numbers that just divert to mobile, voip line etc. It is best to get a 4G router and service just for the voip, another for your internet usage on a different provider if possible.

 

[kulture]

I use voipfone and they offer excellent service. It’s good to see CJD back and note that he actually contributed to the thread rather than just self promoted his company. So I will. I recommend them.

 

[Gareth83]

I asked our support team for their views on VoIP and 4G. In summary it's unreliable and we don't recommend it for business use, particularly for more than two phone. It can be ok, but it's pot luck.

You say you can get broadband at 1mbs? If that's an up speed, you can easily run several phone on that so long as you don't use it for anything else.

If you want the ins and outs of it, give us a call.

That's strange as we have a free trial with Voipfone which we set up almost 2 weeks ago explaining our requirements and they never once said 4G is unreliable, quite the contrary.

Service from Voipfone has been brilliant so far, my only concern is engaging in a 12 month contract at £20 per user when companies like Circleloop do it for £15 with just 30 days notice. Quite a difference over a period of time

 

[cjd]

That's strange as we have a free trial with Voipfone which we set up almost 2 weeks ago explaining our requirements and they never once said 4G is unreliable, quite the contrary.

It's going to depend exactly how you're going to use it and what your signal is like. If 4G is all you've got we'll make the best of it but we'll never recommend it over a wired broadband connection.

Service from Voipfone has been brilliant so far,

We do our best

my only concern is engaging in a 12 month contract at £20 per user when companies like Circleloop do it for £15 with just 30 days notice. Quite a difference over a period of time

That £20pm for everything deal is the only product we sell with a contract. If you don't want to make a commitment you can build your own service starting at a couple of quid. But look, if it doesn't work out for you you can leave at anytime or change to the no contract service - just contact support and say I said so.

Here's a secret; we don't actually hold anyone to it, we want people to be happy with us and if very occasionally they're not for whatever reason, we want them to be happy leavers because a lot of them come back when they find that the grass is not actually greener elsewhere.

When we brought out the unlimited use of services and calls deal we felt we were taking a really big risk. - it's an as-much-as-you-can-eat thing and we imagined a lot of abuse - you wouldn't believe the amount of abuse and fraud there is in the telephony industry - and needed a legal commitment to protect us and dissuade the p1ss-takers. As it's worked out almost everybody uses the service as it was intended.

In the next few months you see us launch a range of packages that will create more choice and they'll all be no-contract, plus we'll be putting more new stuff into the £20 deal as it's developed.

There will always be cheaper options than us now, telephony is commoditising again and service is going out of the window. You chose us for a reason; I hope we can live up to the £5 top-line difference

If not, I want to know. Put it here in the open, I'll be as candid as I can.

 

[kulture]

I use voipfone’s pay as you go service, which works out for just £8 a month for the features that I actually want. It is not a fixed term contract either.

 

[Nico Albrecht]

Yealink all the way for VOIP phones.

I'd never recommend using 4G for VoIP, not only do you have jitter but also higher pings, add 4g compression at the base station to your mix and you have it as unreliable as possible.

You may also find that 4G does not allow 3rd party voip and can throttle the connection causing drops and bad call quality.

Your 4g provider can by tomorrow drop / block the ports on their firewall for VoIP and you are out of business.

£10 / seat with unlimited calls is in the middle of pricing on 30 days rolling.

 

[JackGraves]

Based on your requirements, an app-based system could work well for your surveyors, allowing them to use their own phones. This eliminates the need for additional handsets. As for the receptionist, they can either use their own phone, or you can provide them with a physical phone.

 

[cjd]

This is a 2 year-old thread, I suspect he's sorted