We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum. This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are - or become - political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
Help: 7 x BT Lines & 1 BroadBand Line - Any Cheaper Way?
LetsWorkTogether
Posts: 13 Forumite
in Phones & TV
I currently have an issue with a small business that is growing (slowly!) with the number of phone lines and the broadband connection and I need some advice as I have always stuck with BT.
Current Setup:
7 x BT Lines paying £41.50 per line
1 x Broadband Connection costing £40 for 8mb broadband
With call charges I pay between £400-450 per month for my phone and broadband lines which I'm sure can be done cheaper. I don't mind considering an Internet Phone solution however the emphasis must be on call quality as there are approx 75-150 calls received a day across the 7 handsets. I would love someone who is up on telecoms to give some guidance as to any alternative that may be out there for me!
Many thanks…
Current Setup:
7 x BT Lines paying £41.50 per line
1 x Broadband Connection costing £40 for 8mb broadband
With call charges I pay between £400-450 per month for my phone and broadband lines which I'm sure can be done cheaper. I don't mind considering an Internet Phone solution however the emphasis must be on call quality as there are approx 75-150 calls received a day across the 7 handsets. I would love someone who is up on telecoms to give some guidance as to any alternative that may be out there for me!
Many thanks…
0
Comments
-
you could look at something like Sipgate but you need to have a really good internet link for 7 lines. The hardware would need to have QoS (Quality of Service) and the link cost might be just as much. (it would need to be sdsl if anything) ie 8mb both ways.
It would be better to get some companies that specialise in VOIP technologies to do their sales magic on you so you get an idea of the technology.
Alternatively you could perhaps look at least cost routing to reduce call overheads?ummm...0 -
LetsWorkTogether wrote: »I currently have an issue with a small business that is growing (slowly!) with the number of phone lines and the broadband connection and I need some advice as I have always stuck with BT.
Current Setup:
7 x BT Lines paying £41.50 per line
1 x Broadband Connection costing £40 for 8mb broadband
With call charges I pay between £400-450 per month for my phone and broadband lines which I'm sure can be done cheaper. I don't mind considering an Internet Phone solution however the emphasis must be on call quality as there are approx 75-150 calls received a day across the 7 handsets. I would love someone who is up on telecoms to give some guidance as to any alternative that may be out there for me!
Many thanks…
An Internet Phone solution could save you alot of money.
If you are considering internet telephony as an option then there are a few things you need to consider:
1) faster and/or better broadband - what is important here is the upload speed (faster the better), QOS (quality of service) and contention (lower the better). SDSL is a possibility, which gives you the same speeds both ways; but can be very expensive. SDSL starts from around £120-140 + vat per month for a 512/512kbps connection; whereas you could get a good ADSL2+ service for around £40 + vat per month. See details below for an example of a good ADSL2+ service (bethere broadband), which might be suitable.
2) A telephony service provider which will provide you with the required facilities, e.g. incoming/outgoing lines, numbers and other facilties. Try looking at at gradwell.com.
3) You could bulk buy calling minutes, which could save lots of money.
4) You probably will need to buy extra equipment, e.g. IP telephones or ATAs (analogue telephone adapters, 1 for each phone).
For internet telephony services try:
http://www.gradwell.com/voip/pricing_feb07.php
and for a faster and better broadband service try:
https://www.bethere.co.uk/broadbandoffice.do
Be Pro
Up to 24 meg ultra-fast broadband
Up to 2.5 meg upload speeds
24/7 unlimited usage
24/7 prioritised member support
£24 connection fee
£40 monthly (incl. VAT)
1 Static IP free, up to 16 available
If you want more info, contact me and i'll try to help as best as i can.
regards
Dave Fear0 -
You could make quite a good saving by moving your calls to VOIP.
As others have stated, upload speed is critical to the volume of simultaneous calls you can have.
Do you have many outgoing calls or are they all incoming?
How far from the exchange are you as this will affect your upload speed on any ADSL connection?
If you want, PM me your number, and I will call you and let you call me on a voip number to test the quality.
Cheers, Des.0 -
The OP doesn't mention whether they have/need a PBX or not.
Is there a small PBX in the company, with the BT connection through ISDN?
Are there any other features present / required?
e.g. call forwarding, voicemail, call group etc.
Are most of the calls incoming or outgoing?
Are calls generally in the UK, or international?0 -
What location are you in?
Depending on the area some alternative phone providers and Internet services may be available. Easynet offers some stonking costs on proper internet access - uncontended not DSL based - dependant on location. This with a business class VoIP provider could be a good solution.0 -
phone primus - i'm sure they deal with businesses as well - give them a call tomorrow0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 347.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 251.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 451.8K Spending & Discounts
- 239.5K Work, Benefits & Business
- 615.4K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 175.1K Life & Family
- 252.8K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards