Have a virtual office anywhere in the UK with geographic phone numbers
Posted 23 October 2007 at 1:16PM by David Crowther in Email and communications
In my last post on the subject of VoIP, I explained what VoIP is and some of the benefits.
As a standard subscriber to VoIP package, each Broadband Voice line is allocated a unique Broadband Voice telephone number starting with 05.
However, in business it's sometimes better to be perceived as a local when targeting companies in other towns or cities, This can easily be achieved by selecting a geographic telephone number for your Broadband Voice line.
A geographic number is one that starts with an area code that is related to a geographic location in the UK. For example you could choose a Manchester (0161) number regardless of where your business is actually based.
You can choose as many geographic numbers as you like, from a wide selection, each for a set monthly fee.
To order your geographic number/s, you must first subscribe to BT Business Broadband Voice and activate your account. Once activated you'll need to log into Selfcare and select 'Manage your lines' from the left-hand navigation.
Then select 'go' under the "Geographic Number" section where you'll be presented with prices and options available for Geographic numbering. You'll also see a map of the UK to help find your preferred area codes. Have a virtual office anywhere in the UK with geographic phone numbers.
Tags: Broadband, BT, BT Business Total Broadband, internet telephony, Voice over Internet Protocol, VoIP
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Comments
2. At October 24, 2007 9:34 AM, Paul Upton wrote:
I understand what you are saying and I totally agree that the whole "local" thing is becoming more and more relevent especially in the public sector where organisations are encouraged to spend their budgets in the local economy - but that is where your comments fall down.
A lot of business, especially local, is based on trust, and pulling the wool over peoples eyes and making them believe that you are local when you are not, is not a basis for a good business relationship.
Plus what about the whole "Carbon Footprint" situation. We are being told all the time now to reduce our own Footprint, when all this is doing is encouraging companies to believe that they are dealing with organisations in the local area, only to find out that they are really dealing with someone hundreds of miles away and not helping the "Footprint" one bit.
Sorry but I for one will not be looking to use these numbers and I am not sure people should be encouraged to do so, not least for the good of the environment.
3. At October 24, 2007 3:52 PM, Chris Sabin wrote:
It's nice to see that you push your products with all their positives.
Remember the last blog that was posted about this subject.It received numerous bad comments about customer service/ reliability of VOIP itself.
If I find out a company is using VOIP lines to pull the wool over my eyes, I refuse to deal with them. I agree with what Paul said. It is all about trust, which is lacking these days. I'm a local business and have survived by building trust.
You know its a bad sign when Outbound Sales phone you and you hear nothing for a few seconds, you know they are on a VOIP line to save money. Yet another reason this service is NOT to be trusted in my humble opinion.
4. At October 24, 2007 4:05 PM, Bob HXC Holly wrote:
Creepy? doesnt even begin to scratch the surface, makes the company sound like a fly by night, whats next Nigerian scammers being able to call my from down my street?
im sure all the scammers are loving this, stay in your own town, set up phone numbers in other locations and fly by night, cowboy jobs here there and everywhere and no one knows where you come from originally....AMAZING SERVICE BT.
5. At October 24, 2007 5:10 PM, bruce edmonds wrote:
I think this is a good idea and have looked at bt.com before. I was looking for a second line and it was cheaper for me to have a broadband voice line which would have given me a 055 something number. But this allows me to have a second line with a local number on it so i can advertise it more easily. Plus saves me the cost if installing another landline which is around £160 odd.
6. At October 24, 2007 6:12 PM, Frank Taylor wrote:
I have VOIP and the only reason we went for it was to reduce costs. I was a bit miffed that we did not have a local STD code but life changes. Yes its good to use local but how many people actually do. We are hauliers and when it comes to pennies we look long and hard so for we are satisfied with the service.
7. At October 25, 2007 12:21 PM, P Tantram wrote:
My business is a boarding kennels that can only depend on local custom. We are situated right on the boundary of an STD area so we miss out on 50% of what is regarded as our 'local' area.
A second geographic number will redress the balance.
So to the cynical posters above, all is not negative and not everybody is out to screw you.
8. At October 25, 2007 12:58 PM, Nicola McBlane wrote:
If Outbound Sales call with a delay at the start it is more likely to be an automated dialling system than VOIP. Still grounds for not dealing with them mind you - but at least blame the right thing ;)
I don't have obections to the companies I am dealing with trying to save money - as long as the service I get from them is still of good quality. I use VOIP for personal calls only atm and haven't generally found the quality to be problem, although other people seem to a very different reaction from what I've read.
The idea of claiming to be local when your not actually though - that does just seem dishonest - but it is really any worse than using mail aliases to make it seem like you have 10 departments? When it's actually a single person business and they all go the same mailbox....
9. At October 25, 2007 8:54 PM, Rhys Adams wrote:
We use a geographical number to promote Forklift Training in London. Yes we are actually based in Nottingham, but our Instructors are based all over the UK, 5 of which live in London. It makes sense to use these numbers;
1. Because people will always look to use local first.
2. People will ring this number over 0845/0870 numbers.
We are not trying to pull the wool over anybodys eyes, just trying to make use of the instructors on our books, and keep our and their money rolling in.
10. At October 26, 2007 7:31 PM, G Connolly wrote:
When I set up voip originally it was to keep phone costs down. I so wanted to be able to select my own local number for all the good reasons given by your contributors, but had to have a rather unusual national looking number. So we now have an ex-directory type outgoing voip line which helps keep my landline clear for incoming calls to my office. This arrangement works reasonably well. Best of all I look forward to a future where multiple landlines can be provided without the multiple installtion costs. Maybe I'm not up to date with progress in this field and perhaps could be enlightened more on the excitements of the multiple phone line choices available?
11. At October 27, 2007 6:54 PM, Tanvir Ahmad wrote:
Well the whole concept of Local is vague. We run a IT consultancy and support customers around UK and have consultants who live in the area they work. Most support is provided remotely and if we need to travel we do so by local transport. Carbon Footprint is less and I am sure we are greener than anyone else. Because we always use local transport.
We use 0845 number which I think is fairer than using a local number because calls are handled from our head office in scotland and assigned to respective consultants.
Those above who are worried about loosing business I don't know what to tell you. This day and age, there is no boundaries. People will go to whoever offers them better service and value for money.
Not sure if you have ever shopped on E-bay or on other websites. If you have, then you are contradicting yourself. You buy where you find it cheaper. Do not go to a local shop if you can buy something for half price on the net. Do you?
12. At October 29, 2007 12:08 PM, Bob HXC Holly wrote:
Tanvir, your post interests me.
Do you IT consultants not afford cars? i would be most unhappy if there was someone who had to walk to meet me, or i had to wait for ages because "the bus didnt turn up" or he had not enough space to carry all his equipment...
13. At October 29, 2007 7:03 PM, Tanvir Ahmad wrote:
I must admire the sense of humour of Bob. Well I think we will need to review the wage of our consultants. Maybe we are not paying them enough. To make things clear Bob, we do not sell computers or any equipments, we develop software solutions, support networks etc. so we do not have to carry heavy equipments. And just because we do not use cars doesn't necessarily mean we miss appointments. Do you not know anyone who goes to work from Oxford to London and uses a Bus? May be you don't!!! But I do! lol
14. At October 30, 2007 10:01 AM, anjanesh wrote:
Would not support 0845 numbers ;not because of geographical local concept ;because it makes more money for the reciever.
Why should i pay extra for support ? Surely with all the technology local numbers can be forwarded to respective locations thereby costly only local call from mobile or landline.
check BT - it has gone toll free for business support ; way to go .
0845 / 0870 would have been good if it was charged the same as local number - fact : it is not.
15. At October 30, 2007 10:09 AM, Bob HXC Holly wrote:
Tanvir, again your post has grabbed my attention.
I dont know anyone who uses a bus to go from Oxford to London, possibly caused by knowing no one in those areas.
Im driven around in a car pool with my good friend Cody so i like to think i am doing my bit for the environment, but however what if a client is situated outwith public transport routes? are they just told sorry, we cant support you until you get a bus service running?
going back on topic a little however, in reality most businesses (well us here at HXC-FTJ) would prefer savings over locality. (which Tanvir originally stated)
16. At November 1, 2007 5:48 PM, alastair wrote:
0845 IS local rate. fact
.... isnt it?
17. At November 2, 2007 2:13 PM, anjanesh wrote:
sorry..by saying 0845 being local i meant = landline calls .
0845 caller pays 4p per minute from wherever they are calling in the UK; from mobile anywhere upward from 50p per minute.Now given the fact that most support calls takes time to complete , how much are we looking at here and why ?
if a company had 0207 on a voip line ; anyone calling for support would only have to pay local rates inclusive in mobile or all landline packages( and the company can be located anywhere) and customers would be happier still.
0870 numbers are even worse off ; and going further up you find 0906 support numbers (a.k.a virgin media tech supoport) which in my personal opinion should be discouraged.
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1. At October 23, 2007 6:13 PM, J G Dawson wrote: