Additional Telephone Lines
Discussion
I am a one man band Chartered Surveyor and work from home. I currently use a BT residential line for calls, and BT Business Broadband for t'internet.
Now our daughter is at school full time, my partner has been set up to drum up business in a new side line. This means she is spending more time on the phone, and consequently it is engaged more than I would like. We do have 1571, but it is s
t, as unless she remembers to check, there is no way to see if there is a message, if indeed that new business caller left one. The Business incoming line is on a 0845 number.
I need more lines. But what is the best way to go about it? I am confused - I like the look of this, but am not sure if it is the ultimate answer. http://www.dabs.com/learn-more/electronics/bt-micr...
David
Now our daughter is at school full time, my partner has been set up to drum up business in a new side line. This means she is spending more time on the phone, and consequently it is engaged more than I would like. We do have 1571, but it is s
t, as unless she remembers to check, there is no way to see if there is a message, if indeed that new business caller left one. The Business incoming line is on a 0845 number.I need more lines. But what is the best way to go about it? I am confused - I like the look of this, but am not sure if it is the ultimate answer. http://www.dabs.com/learn-more/electronics/bt-micr...
- More complications. We rent, so no physical moving about of extensions possible. My office, where the server is based is in a shed. Phone line, to which the router is plugged is on an extension. Master socket is fairly unreachable in the loft. I do have a network cable from the lounge to the office, although to date it has never worked. So I am concerned about service with VOIP.
- I can work from the house, and do not want separate lines in both. They must ring in each, although can be portable.
David
Easiest way is to get your partner to use skype / ip just plug a phone into your router and top up with a tenner every now and again. It will keep the landline free and if you have decent broadband it will sound fine.
Cordless Ip from £50, desk a little more for a Snom, if you go skype its £80 cordless and £100 desk approx
Certainly this is a quick inexpensive and easy to implement fix
Cordless Ip from £50, desk a little more for a Snom, if you go skype its £80 cordless and £100 desk approx
Certainly this is a quick inexpensive and easy to implement fix
davidjpowell said:
I am a one man band Chartered Surveyor and work from home. I currently use a BT residential line for calls, and BT Business Broadband for t'internet.
Now our daughter is at school full time, my partner has been set up to drum up business in a new side line. This means she is spending more time on the phone, and consequently it is engaged more than I would like. We do have 1571, but it is st, as unless she remembers to check, there is no way to see if there is a message, if indeed that new business caller left one. The Business incoming line is on a 0845 number.
I need more lines. But what is the best way to go about it? I am confused - I like the look of this, but am not sure if it is the ultimate answer. http://www.dabs.com/learn-more/electronics/bt-micr...
David
Hi Now our daughter is at school full time, my partner has been set up to drum up business in a new side line. This means she is spending more time on the phone, and consequently it is engaged more than I would like. We do have 1571, but it is s
t, as unless she remembers to check, there is no way to see if there is a message, if indeed that new business caller left one. The Business incoming line is on a 0845 number.I need more lines. But what is the best way to go about it? I am confused - I like the look of this, but am not sure if it is the ultimate answer. http://www.dabs.com/learn-more/electronics/bt-micr...
- More complications. We rent, so no physical moving about of extensions possible. My office, where the server is based is in a shed. Phone line, to which the router is plugged is on an extension. Master socket is fairly unreachable in the loft. I do have a network cable from the lounge to the office, although to date it has never worked. So I am concerned about service with VOIP.
- I can work from the house, and do not want separate lines in both. They must ring in each, although can be portable.
David
You could point a local number (i.e. 0207/0208/0161) number to your landline or mobile phone, the number you have could show as the caller ID so you could answer the phone appropriately.
i.e. you get
0161 xxx xxxx - it calls your mobile and displays the 0161 number the caller has dialled - You answer.
or
0161 xxx xxxx - it calls the landline, not available it then calls you mobile handset showing the 0161 xxx xxxx number.
I can do all of the above, much cheaper than a lnadline.
0161 xxx xxxx - it calls your landline and you could have a whisper played (i.e. Business 2 callsing) then the caller would connect
or
Hi David,
Rather than pay for an additional line which sounds a little difficult with your existing set up, use a forwarding service – if line 1 is busy redirect the call to 07897 etc., so if the landline is busy the call immediately routes to your mobile without the caller being aware.
www.ereceptionist.co.uk does this as well as several other companies.
All the best,
Don
Rather than pay for an additional line which sounds a little difficult with your existing set up, use a forwarding service – if line 1 is busy redirect the call to 07897 etc., so if the landline is busy the call immediately routes to your mobile without the caller being aware.
www.ereceptionist.co.uk does this as well as several other companies.
All the best,
Don
Funny this should come up - I've just been through the same thing!
Luckily for you, you have a solution sitting right under your nose.
Your BT business broadband hub has two unused phone lines sitting right there!
The BT hub can give you two extra phone lines on the VOIP system. Basically internet phone calls. It costs £5 a month line rental, and you get 500 free minutes a month with that too. The numbers are prefixed with a VOIP code of 056 but you can have whatever area codes you like assigned if you want.
I have one main phone line, and two VOIP lines through my router. One VOIP line is used for my second business, with an area code number, so when I call people the caller ID looks like a normal area code number. The other VOIP line I use for my credit card machine.
Call quality is the same as normal. Works lovely. Also has a full 1571 capability, and the best bit is you can set up a multitude of diverts via logging in. So when I leave the office I point the transfer to my mobile.
Have to say, BT are often somewhat annoying, but this solution works really well. Give them a call!
Luckily for you, you have a solution sitting right under your nose.
Your BT business broadband hub has two unused phone lines sitting right there!
The BT hub can give you two extra phone lines on the VOIP system. Basically internet phone calls. It costs £5 a month line rental, and you get 500 free minutes a month with that too. The numbers are prefixed with a VOIP code of 056 but you can have whatever area codes you like assigned if you want.
I have one main phone line, and two VOIP lines through my router. One VOIP line is used for my second business, with an area code number, so when I call people the caller ID looks like a normal area code number. The other VOIP line I use for my credit card machine.
Call quality is the same as normal. Works lovely. Also has a full 1571 capability, and the best bit is you can set up a multitude of diverts via logging in. So when I leave the office I point the transfer to my mobile.
Have to say, BT are often somewhat annoying, but this solution works really well. Give them a call!
You've got broadband, right?
Then why not a couple of Wifi (or even wired) VOIP 'phones, and lease a couple of numbers for £2 a month. You normally get bundled voicemail, etc. with that too.
Best case, if you need to 'move' or divert the numbers to elsewhere, you can just unplug the 'phone from the network socket and plug it in elsewhere. If there was broadband on the Moon, you could make calls there too.
I can't see why anybody would go for POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) when there's such better, cheaper, and more flexible options out there now.
voiptalk.org for number leasing, and they sell IP phones too. Snom phones aren't cheap, but recommended.
Then why not a couple of Wifi (or even wired) VOIP 'phones, and lease a couple of numbers for £2 a month. You normally get bundled voicemail, etc. with that too.
Best case, if you need to 'move' or divert the numbers to elsewhere, you can just unplug the 'phone from the network socket and plug it in elsewhere. If there was broadband on the Moon, you could make calls there too.
I can't see why anybody would go for POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) when there's such better, cheaper, and more flexible options out there now.
voiptalk.org for number leasing, and they sell IP phones too. Snom phones aren't cheap, but recommended.
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