Working from home - Business Line

[MeMe]

Can you believe it I've been on hold for B.T for the past 20 minutes and it's still ringing in the background - bloody typical !

Can you guys answer this simple question ?

I want either an additional line (details known via the b.t web site) or preferably an 0845 number (details also known) that when called by my prospective clients enables me to know that it is a client calling and not "me mum". i.e. Can BT set up the phone to recognise the 0845 number calling and make it ring in a different pitch or show something on "caller display"

Or - do I simply buy an additional line and link the 0845 number to that ?

Any experiences ?

[Scary Des]

I’ve three phone lines in here and they are very expensive for the benfit i get I am thinking about VoIP or skype which has to be the future and cheaper. Des

[Richard B]

Why not just go for the additional line? That way, when your mum, or the double-glazing salesman, or your mates 'phone you during the day, you're not tying up the business line for ages and missing closing all those new deals. And if you need a day off, you can just switch the ringer off and still get your personal calls on the other line.

[MeMe]

.......thus far. I'm about to start a new venture and therefore whilst in it's fledging period I'm looking for the most cost effective option. I think I'll have to bite the bullet on the £75.00 new line plus quarterly charge but it all eats into ones margin.

[DGR]

MeMe,

Are you still on hold?

I got bored waiting for them to answer whether I can forward my landline to a (non BT) mobile - it was ringing for 30+ minutes yesterday.

D...

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by DGR

...waiting for them to answer whether I can forward my landline to a (non BT) mobile...

Easy... yes!

[Alan]

What about the Skypein service? (www.skype.com). IIRC you pay 30 odd Euro and get a number which anyone can dial from a landline. It then rings or voicemails on your PC. Mebbe only give out the skypein number for business and Bob's your mothers brother!

[Richard B]

Skype's a cool way of doing it. The only drawback for small business is the reliance on a reliable PC!

Dylan - for your BT prob look here: http://www.bt.com/SelectServices/ind...K&obsOID=54343 and select "Call Diversion" from the list.

There are also loads of companies offering managed telephony where typically an 0870 can be diverted to the number of your choice. Just type 0870 into google (.co.uk) and you'll see them.

[DGR]

Bloomin' heck Richard, that only took 11 minutes!! That means that RIBnet is 300% quicker at answering BT questions than BT is!! (although technically they never answered it - so infinately quicker than BT... ...)

Most impressive......

Ta.

D...

[Alan]

Originally Posted by DGR

Bloomin' heck Richard, that only took 11 minutes!! That means that RIBnet is 300% quicker at answering BT questions than BT is!! (although technically they never answered it - so infinately quicker than BT... ...)

Most impressive......

Ta.

D...

I used to do this all the time - particularly a few years ago when I was working in the midlands during the week and coming back to Essex at the weekend. Something like *21* mobile number and #, anyway Richard has you sorted. I found that caller ID would still work i.e. my mobile would still pick up ID of caller even though it was fwded from landline. This was with non BT mobiles (121 & Voda.)

Alan

[Richard B]

Some of the 0845 and 0870 number redirections offer a really good deal by the looks of things. I've just had a quick browse, and I would definitely consider subscribing to one of these and distribute the 0845/0870 number to customers if I was going to regularly divert a land line to mobile.

[DGR]

It's not going to be a regular thing - just so that we can temporarily be away from the phone - probably only a couple of hours a week tops. We'll see how it goes...

D...

[MikeCC]

Don't forget, with call diversion you pay for the call to your mobile at BT's usual rates ie 15p/min or so. Good value if it's a keen customer, bloody annoying when someone's trying to sell you watercoolers, franking machine labels or whatever!

[Richard B]

Exactly.

I find that hanging up immediately works well.

[Shaggy]

Hi
A Lo-Call 0845 number can be directed to your existing phone line find BT offerings here:

http://www.bt.com/store/product/cata...K&obsOID=99027

However the Lo-Call and Toll Free market has been deregulated in the UK so there are a large number of companies offering this service:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=1...UK%7CcountryGB

Let me know if you need any other info, I currently manage approx. 50 Avaya Definity PBX phone systems in EMEA and a AVVID VoIP network so should be able to offer some advice when you grow your business

Shaggy

[Scary Des]

What about fax over IP one of my lines is used for receiving faxes only and gets little use these days.
I looked at Efax but they seem expensive anyone got any other ideas Des

[Richard B]

fax, FAX?

I haven't used my fax machine for three years...

I took out an online fax thingy with Nildram, which was free (maybe that was Efax?) then it went subscription only, so I binned it.

I gave my old fax machine to someone who kept getting fax calls all day and all night. They had 141'd the number and traced it back to Lloyds TSB Bank, who promised to sort it. They didn't. The calls continued, so they plugged my fax machine in, and recieved the details of someone's premier-plus-gold-super-platinum account transactions which they took in to their local Lloyds TSB branch and presented to the manager. The calls stopped.

You can get faxes sent to your mobile, can't you? Eg: http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Sat...=1096023562518

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by Richard B

fax, FAX?

I haven't used my fax machine for three years...

Same here for everyone except with the Germans they love faxes and get very miffed when they go missing

It amazes me how quick the fax has had its day, will the same thing happen to email Des

[John Kennett]

I use PumaOne Internet fax www.pumaone.co.uk for the odd occasion when someone really wants to do stuff by fax.

I haven't used it very much, but it has worked flawlessly so far.

John