0800 numbers - The Book-keepers Forum (UK)

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

0800 numbers

AICB · Senior Member

Hi Shaun,

I'm not sure about 0800 but I do have a client who uses a handling company whereby it appears to callers as if they're calling his regular office number but the call actually goes to the handlers first. Their system will then redirect the call to whichever number you set it to (and you can change this online in seconds - very useful). Alternatively/additionally the handler's system will also do a "Press 1 for Big Cheese; Press 2 for Little Cheese; Press 3 for the Accounts Department. You may be offered the option to record a message ... etc" function.

The system works pretty well but there are two slight drawbacks to my mind:

when a call is redirected to my mobile there is a small delay on the line between speaking and hearing, probably due to the computers redirecting the call through another mobile system.

Also, if you happen not to pick up in time, you can't dial back to get the original caller because the caller ID only shows you the call came from the handler's system.

As a solution to the problem, though, it works well enough. I'm sorry, but I don't know the cost breakdown and the mileage will vary in any case.

Wella · Expert

Oh no, I feel a burden of responsibility coming on.

All I can say Shaun is that I have used them since 2008, and have never had a problem

Edit: At least you get a 30 day money back guarantee biggrin

Bill

PS: I mentioned earlier that if you lost power you lost you phone, just read that you can set up a divert for loss of internet connection too, so that's something else they have covered.

Should have played it a bit clever, and recommended you via Vonage, I would have got two months phone rental free

-- Edited by Wella on Sunday 19th of February 2012 04:32:51 PM

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

Wella wrote:
Just seen a feature that I didn't know it had Click-2-Call (r). Select a contact number from MS outlook, and it will first ring your phone then ring your contacts number to connect you.

Yeah, Voipfone has similar but also shows phone numbers on websites as hyperlinks that when you click it calls you and connects you to it. Great for me being very lazy.

Kris

-- Edited by kjmcculloch83 on Sunday 19th of February 2012 04:49:44 PM

Wella · Expert

Morning Shaun

I am not a fan of 0800 number, and whilst I vcan see where you are coming from, I would not choose the 0800 option.

My brother uses an 0800 number for his business, and it costs him a fortune, plus he gets a lot of waste of time callers because of it. He has had the number for years, and has decided that it no longer has the benefits it once had. Many people now get inclusive time in their landline phone package.

The option I plugged for was a VoiP landline number, through my broadband, with a local geographic exchange number, (I am only targetting local business, not national)

The advantage I see is that you get a dedicated business number (no annoying client calls at 11 o'clock at night), you can seamlessly redirect, when not in the office to up to 6 numbers simultaneously including your mobile (Redirects are charged at the standard package rate, which is 12p/ minute for mobile, free to geographic UK numbers)

I also have an aversion to calling 0800 numbers on principle.

Just my thoughts

Alternatively have a word with RobH (am sure he is still about), as he is in the business communication business

Bill

AICB · Senior Member

For what it's worth, I get the same slight time-lag problem when using VoIP calls as well. It makes for a slightly fractured "speak-understand-respond" rhythm, which is somehow a little inhibiting to a normal free-flowing conversation. I have tried many options and decided (it's a personal preference, of course) that nothing beats a landline connection for sheer quality of communication. (Video conferencing using VoIP is a possible exception, but we're talking about prospective customers here).

Unlike Bill, if I can save on a call by using 0800, I have no such principles (I might be phoning from someone else's phone, for example).

Andy

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

Hi shaun,

Try voipfone.co.uk, that's who I use for my voip but I know they also do 0800 redirects. I think there is still a place for 0800 but it is diminishing. I would always display a geographical number with the 0800, voipfone supplies these too.

With the time lag of voip I did get it using a pc based softphone, but when I bought a decent quality IP phone it was as clear as any landline. I had a linksys (part of cisco) because it had the cool 24 ringtone. But snom are good, if a bit expensive. The great thing about voip is the versatility, you can set rules to divert after hours with opening hours set up, you can add sales numbers to a blacklist that gets diverted to a message saying don't call back as well as all the other things you'd expect from a good system.

Good luck.

Kris

ADAS · Guru

Voip was the first thing I thought of and I've been looking at voipfone.

Kris - is there much delay in a transfer to mobile when out of office? You seem pretty happy with the service - any downside?

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Cheers for the input guys,

I'll take a look at all advised options above (including dropping Rob a quick email).

The idea of an 0800 was simply to give a single, non mobile number (even if I end up picking up on the mobile) so I'm very flexible as to the end result (01, 0800, etc.).

Do you know who your client uses for their service Andrew and whether they are completely happy with the service that they are getting?

Bill, you say that the Voip is through your broadband but I assume that it's a different company that provides the actual Voip? Who did you go through for your service?

I've just downloaded the Voipfone factsheet (http://www.voipfone.co.uk/How_to_Get_A_Telephone_Number_For_Your_Business.php) and that companies very much an option as well (cheers Kris).

I think that Voip without the delay could well be the winner here. Looking forward to hearing Kris's response to Tony's question on that one.

Cheers again,

Shaun.

Wella · Expert

Hi Shaun

I use Vonage, with a dedicated IP phone, which is a basic Binatone twin set, so can have one in the office, and one in the living room. Cost about £45 when I bought the Vonage package.

Never had any lag/ delays with it, and wouldn't know it wasn't a land line. Only downer is if you have a power cut, you lose the phone (but then, many cordless fixed line phones suffer the same).

For me going VoiP was a no brainer, as I was looking for a dedicated phone, but on a budget.

For me the advantages were:

Choose your exchange code. Does not have to be local to you, can be any UK exchange prefix, so you can make out you are say central Londan based, if you wanted.
Fixed cost (almost). £5.99/ month. I only have the basic set up, which is UK geographic numbers only, 1 hour call duration (bit of a bugger calling HMRC, and on hold for ages - they should use 0300 numbers ) but even then it's still a low call tariff. Don't think my bill has ever exceeded £7. You can tag on international calls.
For a small monthly fee, you can add virtual numbers if you wanted to give the impression of several offices, which all go to your main number.
Transportable. If you move, you just need to get your broadband sorted.
Lots of free add ons. I particullarly like the voicemail system, which will not only store your messages, as a normal suppliuer does but it emails you a .wav file of it too, so you can keep it forever, on oyur PC.

There are probaly much more sufisticated VoiP systems but I have no Complaints about Vonage

Bill

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Cheers Bill, I'll take a closer look at it... Do you get any lag on transfer to mobile?

Wella · Expert

Sorry, don't know on that one Shaun

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

Hi tony,

The answer is there can be, if you want. You can set it to call your mobile directly in which case no delay at all, or you can set it to ring the office first and if no answer within a time set by you to divert. Voipfone were just the best I found, though not the cheapest they have first class support.

The other good thing is you can set it up in such a way when it diverts to your mobile it shows your office number on the cli rather than that of the person calling so know its business and not personal.

The other good thing is that you can set additional numbers easily so can attach a different number to different marketing materials making it easier to monitor campaigns.

Kris

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

Shaun, on actual voice lag when diverted to mobile, its no different to the person actually calling your mobile.

Kris

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Cheers Kris,

I've got both Voipfone and Vonage on tabs at the moment doing a bit of a compare and contrast.

I've not written off any other options but those two are in the front at the moment.

Many thanks,

Shaun.

Rhianrach · Expert

Semaphore, its cheap and has quite a range if you're stood on a tower.

Wella · Expert

0898 brings in revenue

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Bill,

Think those one's are only really for

"What is the capital of England : (a) London, (b) Cheese, (c) Lance Armstrong" or "Calls made after this time will not count but your call may still be charged" or "Swedish nymphs in the bannana factory" type calls.

At the minute Vonage is winning out over the competition but I've still not written off any of the contenders... Well, except maybe BT because they're pricing themselves out of the market of divert charges to mobiles and Virgin because their sites a bit amateurish and they don't publish their prices for business customers and I for one won't go to them to ask them a price. Shame as my home internets virgin and I've always found them to be really good.

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

Can't see much revenue from a bookkeeping hotline though bill.

Kris

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

kjmcculloch83 wrote:
Can't see much revenue from a bookkeeping hotline though bill.

Kris

Just removed the unneccessary words Kris. (lol).

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

You need to start using fixed fees then Shaun

Now I'm back home I'm going to look at the service suggested by Bill.

Kris

Wella · Expert

kjmcculloch83 wrote:
Can't see much revenue from a bookkeeping hotline though bill.

Kris

You've got to add value Kris wink

Actually why can't you have a premium rate Bookkeeping Hotline? We would just have hide this resource from the non intiated

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

lol Kris.

the service from Vonage seems to be looking pretty good to me at the minute.

free equipment

cheap redirects to mobiles.

still looking for the catch but as Bills been with them for a while I'm thinking maybe there isn't one.

kjmcculloch83 · Expert

I think for a small business the service looks good. The ability to use a normal phone could be a big plus, I paid £80 for a IP phone.

Bill, does it offer more advanced features, music on hold or the ability for group ringing or diverting calls from one phone to another? Not something I need right now but I am working on a plan to employ my first member of staff, although it may be a while before it happens.

Kris

Wella · Expert

To be honest Kris, I haven't used all the features but things that come free are:

Three way calling. You can dial and speak to two different numbers. You can also call transfer to another phone number. UK landlines are free (1 hour limit), mobiles, non geo and international, are at their respective rates.
Ring Back
Take the phone adapter with you and plug into any broadband connection (not sure if you need to take your IP phone too)

No hold music, and I'm only guessing but to transfer calls internally would probably be down to the phone.

Just seen a feature that I didn't know it had Click-2-Call (r). Select a contact number from MS outlook, and it will first ring your phone then ring your contacts number to connect you.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hope it's as good as you say Bill as it won out in the end and I've got myself a pretty good easy to remember local telephone number even better than the number that I had already (so a new number rather than a transfer but keep the two in parrallel for the next month or so). My old number had 4 8's in it and the new one has a triple number and a double zero at the end so real advertisers dream sort of number.

Not exactly the 0800 that I started out looking for but well happy with where the thread went. Many thanks to everyone who gave their advice. I'll keep the site informed as to how happy I am with the service in a few months.

All the best,

Shaun.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Hi Bill,

sorry that you missed out on the two months. I never thought to look on the site about referals.

There's no issue on the power side of things as the reason for the line is to give clients a single contact point.

Under the covers I'll still have the mobile and internet land line which has a phone line off it. But I'll cancel my second land line after I've given the new number a fair transition period (2-3 months)... Right, now need a new batch of cards from Vistaprint as all of the one's I have now have the wrong telephone number on them. (business cards with printed stickers on them with a new number never look professional!).

At least with my letter heads it's all on my computer so no waste of stationary there,

All the best,

Shaun.

P.S. only gratitude for the advice coming your way matey, no blame if it goes wrong as I did all of the reading of the site and various other forums related to their service myself.

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

So far so good.

Ordered Sunday.

Delivered Tuesday

Instalation took me about 20 mins including configuring the setup online.

Phonecalls transfer through to the mobile without issue and cut off exactly when they are supposed to.

11 seconds forwarded to an O2 mobile cost me 2p which fits with the advertised 12p per minute.

Only slight correction I would give in the documentation is that as many of us have modem routers which are also our multi port network adapters. It could just say plug the Vonage box into a spare port rather than going all around the houses with the explanation. I knew what it meant despite the way that it was written but I imagine that some others might be confused by what it's trying to say (seems to be written for those with seperate modems and routers).

I'll give an update should anything untowards happen but all in all very happy with Bills advice on this one.

Wella · Expert

Phew, that's a relief

Edit: As this is titled 0800 numbers, don't know if everyone is aware but HMRC are going to be using 0300 freephone numbers for all the call centres this year (some have already started)

-- Edited by Wella on Monday 11th of February 2013 06:33:06 PM

Shamus · Forum Moderator & Expert

Well, it's almost a year on and time for a site update.

The vonage service is sound and I have no intention of changing it. Good prices, per second billing, calls cut off when they are supposed to, no ghost calls on the bill, all in all I would have to say a good service that does exactly what it says on the tin (thanks Bill).

BUT... Their are a couple of minor foibles that I have encountered that I think that people should know about.

Having one number that can be picked up from many different phones very easily is brilliant.

However, the one major issue that I have hit is that if your mobile is one of the numbers in a calling list and the mobile is switched off then no other number will ring until the mobile is switched on again at which time all number work again.

Some landlines have reported that there is an echo on the line. This is not consistent even to the same line and the echo is only minor and onlty noticable on long conversations.

Those are the only minor niggles that I have encountered with the service so quite a useful service to anyone who is out and about but wants to seem as though they are always reachable at a local land line number (note that the caller pays for a local landline call, you pay the transfer to a mobile but I've had no nasty surprises on the bill from that as all of their charges are quite transparent)

kind regards,

Shaun.

p.s. this is not an ad for Vonage, it's a usage report after using the service for a year.

Melanie · Veteran Member

Wella wrote:
Phew, that's a relief

Edit: As this is titled 0800 numbers, don't know if everyone is aware but HMRC are going to be using 0300 freephone numbers for all the call centres this year (some have already started)

-- Edited by Wella on Monday 11th of February 2013 06:33:06 PM

About time too. They have been bandits on the 0845 profit share numbers for long enough. I wouldn't care but you have to listen to about 5 minutes of random 'try looking at our internet site' spiel (which 90% of callers have already done) before you even get any options - a nice little earner if you can get it!