VoIP solution?

[unstoppable]

Hi,

I am not up to speed with telephony solution options and have done some research on this but can't seem to find my answer. Please advise what solution would be best for me.

I have 2 different businesses and I want to have a different landline telephone number for each business (local numbers). But being a one man band I want all the calls to be transferred to my mobile as I am always out and about. But when I receive calls I want to know which number the customer called and therefore which business the call is for.

Do VoIP services offer this solution? If yes please give suggestions on a solution provider. If it's not VoIP I need please advise accordingly?

Many thanks

 

[Cubik]

Hey @unstoppable,

First time helping someone! Feels great to give back to the community.

So, VoIP; essentially everything is done over the cloud, so as long as you have internet you can receive a call. That being said there are two different ways for this

• Soft Phone - a mobile app which you download on iOS or Android and you can use anywhere in the world.
• Physical Phone - as it says on the tin, a phone just like your landline.

With VoIP you can have as many phone numbers direct to one user as you like. So two businesses would be fine, easiest way to do this is "labelling" each phone number with the business name; so when it comes up ringing you, it'll tell you which business to answer as.

With VoIP as well, you get many amazing features such as Working Hours an IVR and more. You can tell the system when to stop ringing you, so you won't get calls after 5pm and not before 9am (for example). An IVR isn't for most people, but personally I LOVE it.

I love knowing what the customer is calling about, even before I speak to them. So I have a IVR which presents itself to the customer for example - "Hi, thanks for calling XYZ, to place an order press 1, for the delivery team, press 2, and for anything else press 3."

If you have any questions, feel free to ask - I worked in the PBX/VoIP industry for almost 2 years.

Anyway, suggestions. Now I'd 100% NOT recommend going with people like EE, BT or Vodafone, don't go with the big corporte companies, if anything goes wrong you have a long wait for a customer support rep or an engineer (worst case). I have two companies which I personally love.

1. Yay.com - Yay is a do it yourself kind of company. They provide you with a phone number instantly, or you can port your existing number over. You can setup everything via their easy to use control panel; and their support team are AMAZING!
2. Vonyage - I've recently moved to these guys simply because I love the handsets they support; plus their price is pretty good. I pay £5 a month for the handset on a 12 month contract and £18 for the system (which includes calls).

Well, I think I've rambled along enough; feel free to ask any questions like I previously said!

 

[SillyBill]

I second Vonage. I moved our business over from spending hundreds a month with BT One Phone on loads of lines (more than we needed in fairness) to a fraction of the cost. We do still have physical handsets in the business but they're almost never used, certainly not by me. We all use our mobiles but get the professional image of landline numbers. In fact I can't remember the time I used a handset. I look at office desk phones with sheer bewilderment these days as to why these antiques are still on desks, I've only used my mobile for about 5 years. I guess the same goes for fax, I'd not do any business with anyone who asked me to fax something...

 

[Cubik]

I guess the same goes for fax, I'd not do any business with anyone who asked me to fax something...

VoIP actually is really handy for fax's funny enough. "Email to Fax" and "Fax to Email" is what it's called. So helpful when it comes to banks, as they never do anything fast, unless you get it to them instantly.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Vonage is really good

 

[unstoppable]

Thank you very much everyone for the responses esp Cubik for the detailed response. I have heard great things about vonage before so I'll look into that.

 

[Dominic James]

I switched to Vonage last year and to date it has been the best business decision I have made so far. The product and service has an abundance of features and with the addition of 'Vonage Meetings' a few weeks ago, one of the biggest assets so far, especially during these recent difficult times. Big Like: they continue to develop and add features without additional costs.

 

[Yay.com]

Thanks for the recommendation @Cubik

With regards to the original query, if you want to take calls from multiple different businesses on a single mobile, that's no problem at all with VoIP. As mentioned you can use our softphone app on your phone, or you can forward calls to your mobile.

The business or call route name, eg 'Unstoppable Sales' can be shown onscreen so you can see which line has been called making it easy to differentiate between businesses or departments.

Additionally you can add bespoke 'call whispers' on a line or call menu. This is a sound bite that will play only in your ear when you pick up a call. To the caller, the phone will still appear to be ringing. Again, this can help you answer the phone appropriate to the business that's been called.

All of the above can be set up easily in just a few minutes too, but if you do need a hand setting up or any remote assistance, our support team are always happy to help!