Can I get an out of area telephone number?

Board_Room

Hi

I'd like to know if its possible to get an out of area telephone number?

I run my business from home and advertise locally as well as the surrounding areas within a 15 mile radius.

Using my current number with my local area code in the ads can be off putting to people 15 miles away. Similarly just showing a mobile number or using an 0845 number can be equally off putting.

My ideal would be to have a telephone number with the local area code for the area I'm advertising in.

The only thing I can think of would be to ask friends who live in the area to get a second number which I would then pay for. But that can become awkward and difficult to reclaim as a business expense.

Is there a way to do this?

Finally as I run my business from home am I obliged to pay business telephone rates to BT?

Thanks for your time and any info.

B R

utilitybroker

Welcome.

All you need to do is get a Free, No Line Rental Geographical Number selecting an exchange of your choice from www.orbtalk.co.uk and divert it to your home number.

Your need to Deposit some credit to divert calls.

Diverted Calls are cheap. No connection fee .Minimum call charge is 1 pence (connected calls only). Billed per second, completed call total rounded to the nearest penny (2 decimal places).

While your at it consider www.18185.co.uk for your outgoing calls.

You should tell BT but thousands dont !!!

dashforth

Your best bet is VOIP. I use Tesco Internet Phone but there are plenty of others to choose from. The number is free and so is the voicemail that comes with it. You could then return the call using 18185 or 1899.

thetope

yes, with sipgate voip you can pick a phone number in any location

JohalaReewi

For VOIP though, you would need a broadband connection.

irrelevant

You can get a broadband connection and VOIP service for less than paying for a diverted number, especilaly if you expect a lot of calls!

Another possibility is to get an 03 numbers (charged as per 01/02 so free if you get free calls) but they have low customer awareness at the moment.. You can get them from £1/month with no call charges if delivered over VOIP. (from A&A)

If you use voip from, e.g., voipbuster.com, for your outgoing calls, you can set the outgoing caller-id to any number that you own, rather than the actual number of your telephone line.