Best VOIP Provider for one man band

Small scale VOIP service suggestions

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Hi Guys.

Due to various reasons, i wish to change my business phone to a VOIP service. This of course will allow me to essentially take my business number whereever i go and not be fixed to one place.

I only need 1 line, keep my existing number, minimum of two phones, and the ability to use the service via my Andorid smart phone.

Marjority of calls are made to mobiles, so either cheapest mobile rates or one with free minutes would be ideal

Lastely, my current provider is not BT so voipfone is not an option. And realisticly the service needs to be provided to include all costs, not have line rental seperate (like voipfone).

Any advice would be apreciated.

Replies (23)

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By johngroganjga
31st May 2018 08:17

Look at Vonage.

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Replying to johngroganjga:
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By SXGuy
31st May 2018 08:41

Thanx. I had taken a look at those, reviews had put me off regarding customer support. Have you had experience with Vonage?

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By Ultra
31st May 2018 09:22

We used Vonage and ditched it as soon as we could.

Customer service wasn't great, especially in relation to the app.

Coverage obviously depends on internet speed and if not stable you will experience a lot of drops in service.

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Replying to Ultra:
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By SXGuy
31st May 2018 09:33

Thanks, we currently have virgin 200mb fibre broadband so coverage should be ok.

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By Wanderer
31st May 2018 09:58

SXGuy wrote:

Lastely, my current provider is not BT so voipfone is not an option.

What makes you think another VOIP provider will be able to take over a non BT number if voipfone can't?
SXGuy wrote:

And realisticly the service needs to be provided to include all costs, not have line rental seperate (like voipfone).

Why is that an issue?
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Replying to Wanderer:
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By SXGuy
31st May 2018 11:06

Perhaps it's more my ignorance. I assumed when they say bt that the phone line has to be with bt and not contracted with someone else? It was originally bt but I migrated the number to another provider some years ago.

I wanted the whole package under one roof to be honest as I want to cut costs down. If I don't need a physical line then I don't understand why id pay line rental separately. Surely the price for voip would include any line costs as well as usage? Otherwise all I save is the cost of phone calls.

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Replying to SXGuy:
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By Wanderer
31st May 2018 11:41

OK, generally:-

1. Your line rental is with somebody, ours is with our broadband provider. There is a phone number associated with this, I wouldn't know ours without hunting and we never use it.
2. Your geographical phone number is with another provider, ours was with BT but we migrated that across to voipfone, you will need to see if you can migrate this from your current provider.
3. Once your number is with voipfone they charge £2 per month for the number then £1 per month per phone. Calls are charged separately.

Give voipfone a ring to see if they can migrate the number etc. They are real people who you can actually talk to.

To put cost savings into perspective my voipfone costs for the last year (excluding broadband) are £167. My final year (2013) with BT they were £1,254.

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By ChrisA
31st May 2018 18:19

We use Voipfone on virgin broadband and it works fines.
They also managed to take the phone number over from another provider.

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Elliott Chandler Picture
By elliottchandler
31st May 2018 21:53

I think that the topic of VoIP can be confusing at times because some providers make it difficult to understand. VoIP is very simply pushing a voice signal over a digital transmission. That means that the VoIP service merely needs a data connection to transmit the signal. If you have a data connection or Internet Connection, VoIP can work. What is missed though is that the quality of the Voice transmission can be affected by what flows across the data connection, interference is typical. If you work from a home office or small office and a strong reliable internet connection with a good VoIP provider then you should be able to share a single data connection between normal internet activities, emails, browsing and the VoIP service. In a larger office with more people it would be sensible to dedicated a data or Internet connection to VoIP and another for other Internet activities.

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By SXGuy
06th Jun 2018 10:58

One more question.

If I am able to use my existing number, what happens if my office moves outside the area code? Do I keep the number still?

I guess my main concern is there is the possibility that I may be moving office in future but undecided where yet, however id prefer to not change our number.

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Replying to SXGuy:
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By Wanderer
06th Jun 2018 12:01

SXGuy wrote:

If I am able to use my existing number, what happens if my office moves outside the area code? Do I keep the number still?

Yes with vopifone.
You can keep your existing number.
You can also get a new (geographical) number.
You can keep both your existing number and the new number. Both will ring on the same phones (depending on how you set them up).
You can even get further geographical numbers if you are located in one area but want to give the impression you are located in another.
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Elliott Chandler Picture
By elliottchandler
07th Jun 2018 11:59

Taking an existing number and porting (moving) to another provider is typically straightforward however you can have some downtime on the day of the port so bear that in mind as you don't want to lose inbound calls. Once you are using a VoIP system you can add numbers from different area codes and not actually have any presence in that locality. VoIP frees you from the confines of operating from a fixed location. All our clients have enjoyed the freedom that VoIP brings.

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Replying to elliottchandler:
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By SXGuy
07th Jun 2018 12:10

Yes this is something I plan to look in to, as I can be based in a number of areas during the week, it would make sense to have local numbers for new clients in those areas.

I can see how it could actually increase revenue if played correctly.

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By Wanderer
06th Jun 2018 12:32

Why not just sign up with Vopifone PAYG. DEFINITELY buy the phones from them:-
https://www.voipfone.co.uk/shop.php?method=category&pid=1
& you'll find out how easy it all is. It's only a few pounds monthly cost thereafter as there's no long term contract so you can cancel if it doesn't suit. They assign you a free number, something like 056xx xxxxxx.
You can then look into if your existing number can be ported and how purchasing new geographical numbers work.
You can even play with it totally for free without making any purchase :-
https://www.voipfone.co.uk/signup.php

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By SXGuy
06th Jun 2018 12:56

Thank you for all the replies. I've signed up with voipfone.

Had a little test and can see how good it is. I've installed an android soft phone app and works brilliant. Even tells me when I have a voicemail.

Next step is to submit a request to port my number over.

Thanks again for all the help.

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By pauljohnston
07th Jun 2018 11:20

Dont forget if you port a number that has broadband attached to it you may loose the broadband. So plan and check before starting the port request

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Replying to pauljohnston:
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By SXGuy
07th Jun 2018 11:30

Thanks. I did read that. My broadband is with virgin connected to a seperate line I use for faxing so luckily no issue there.

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By tracey2412
07th Jun 2018 11:40

I and several of my clients use voipfone for our advertised landline number & divert it to wherever we are (mobile, answering service, other landline) though voipfone do have the facility to have a handset / connection through pc & an integrated voicemail service too, I believe. However we all 'bought' landline numbers from voipfone & didn't try to use an existing line but I have always found them to be most helpful when you call - they are based in London - so it perhaps wouldn't hurt to call & discuss with them? Re: line rental charges, we pay £2 a month + £1 a month for the extension which allows us to forward the calls. Good luck in finding a suitable service.

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Replying to tracey2412:
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By SXGuy
07th Jun 2018 12:07

Thank you, yes, I had thought about using a VOIP phone for when in the office, however I believe I can buy a ATA adaptor and use my existing phones, that way I can have multiple analog handsets at a much cheaper cost.

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Replying to SXGuy:
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By Wanderer
07th Jun 2018 17:59

Yes you can.
But you've said you only need two phones and in those circumstances the cost of two new phones is pretty minimal and likely to give you extra features & better call quality.
If you do want to go the adaptor route I'd recommend that you buy it from voipfone.
They send all their products out fully configured to your account so it really is plug & play.

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By steveparrott
07th Jun 2018 11:41

Try the Voip Shop. https://www.thevoipshop.co.uk/
We have used them for a number of years now and found them to be very good both price wise and service. They actually use a BT based voip system and it seems to be stable, we haven't had many outages only ones due to internet being down, but the iphone/android app continues if 4G works

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Replying to steveparrott:
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By SXGuy
07th Jun 2018 12:08

That's good to know!. I have set up fallback to my mobile, as well as install a softphone app, which obviously will work using wifi or mobile data. that should in theory cover me for outtages with broadband.

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By pauljohnston
15th Jun 2018 07:21

A couple of thisngs to add to your pile.

OurVoip provider provides an app on on my smart phone which can if I can allow, incoming calls to be be receiced by wireless or data and one can also make calls using the same app. In both cases the client thinks he is talking to me in the office. Excellent if you are outside of europe and dont want to pay mobile phone call rates.

When you receive a call it usese your phone book to identify the caller.

If like many you will use a reception service make sure the caller id follows through to the service as if they dont you may not get the callers id.

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