I have a phone line at home but I haven't used it for years never had a handset because I use my mobile but needed it for the internet.
My question is can I use this home telephone number in my office at home for business purposes or for accounts/legal purposes do I have to have a proper business telephone line which is so much more expensive
Surely it doesn't matter to HMRC as long as the costs are fully documented? I think you're supposed to get faster repairs on a business line, and an entry in the business section of the phone directory. That was the main reason I had them in the past.
Surely it doesn't matter to HMRC as long as the costs are fully documented? I think you're supposed to get faster repairs on a business line, and an entry in the business section of the phone directory. That was the main reason I had them in the past.
Hi,
Yell don't care if its business or personal they will list you (including the free listing) the same.
Instalation tends to be faster although can still take quite a while.
The smallprint is worse with a business line as you are signing up to a minimum usage contract where is you don't use enough they can make it up to the amount that they expected you to use.
Also, cancellations are charged at full rate for the duration of the contract so if you sign up for two years you will pay for two years even if you move offices to a different area code after a month.
As with Sharon I had two separate lines put into the house when I moved in, one private and one private but used 100% for business so there is total segregation between the lines.
I also use Vonage as a front end between the outside world and my real relephone number (I use a pseudo local number, not a National one) which gives me the control to route one phone number to as many other phone numbers as I need to without the end user knowing any different.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Voipfone is a good alternative. You can have multiple lines with no need to add a physical new phoneline. You can make and recieve calls with a smartphone, computer app or a physical voip phone.
It also allows other good features like call groups, music on hold, transfers, black lists, call queues and IVR's. I have 3 numbers and two lines and it costs me £12 per month. Call costs are reasonable too.
Sounds quite similar Kris... To the best of my knowledge I don't have an option for music if people are on hold.
Everything can be controlled from a PC control panel where you set up reroutes which can be switched on/off very quickly.
My line rentals on £5.99 bu I've only got one global number so any comparrison on rental charge is like comparing carrots and apples. I have the option to have other lines at a minimal extra charge and like yourself the call charges are very reasonable.
As with Voipfone Vonage is a Voip.
Do you ever notice a slight echo on your system? I've been told that its a global issue not related to Vonage specifically but interested to know whether other peoples systems ever get the odd call where you can here a very, very feight reflection of your own voice?
Kind regards,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I used to Shaun, I upgraded my phone which seems to have some clever technology in it to solve the problem. However, I live in a rural area with pretty poor internet access. Sometimes if my bandwidth drops it can cause some minor issues, but i generally divert it to my mobile or home number if that happens.
I share my landline with my tenants, so the VOIP idea is interesting. Are the services proving reliable, and not likely to suddenly go out of business or drastically change? I'm wary of relying too much on facilities like this. If anything did happen, is it practical to keep control of the phone number?
I've used VOIP in the past, but just for inter office calls, and it used the hardware built into our Draytec routers.
I've had Vonage for two years now and had no problems at all with them... Well, the settup manual could have been slightly better but even I could work it out and that was a couple of years back so sure that they've improved it by now.
There have been no Vonage outages or horrific bills. I've had a serious internet problem once which knocked my phone setup out but if that happens simply unplug the vonage box. Plug your landline back into the wall and you've still got your BT phone line there plus even with the box off voice message still come through to your inbox via emails and you can still route to a mobile or another landline even through the vonage box isn't connected.
All you get is a black box. I plug my modem / router into the phone socket then the black box plugs into the router and then have a normal telehphone sender unit (three physical phones) plugged into the black box. Simples.
Have a look at both Kris's and my systems to see which one is right for you.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
The system I use can be used as shaun describes, but can also use a softphone app, a smartphone with an app or a proper sip phone. It has a fallover number incase the service has issues so it can be redirected. Like Shaun I've used i for a few years and had no issues. The support is superb with a real person in a uk call centre, actually they are virtual call centres but all based in the uk.
I've just signed up to Voipfone, and am impressed so far. I've got a local phone number, and am using the free Voiper software with a headset on my laptop. So far I've just made a call to a friend's landline using the free credit, and she said it was probably the clearest call she's ever had. I also got her to phone and leave a message, and receiving a sound file by e-mail is so much more useful than dialling 1571, or using an olde worlde answering machine, and the quality is far superior. I'm aiming to start trading on 1st April, so will test it more before then. I like the various features offered, and that you can add and remove them when you like.
I've got a plan for a business that could make good use of the PBX facilities, if I ever get it off the ground, so the simple needs of my accounts business will be a good test before it gets serious!
My home landline is now directed to a reception service for the business 24/7, and is only used for business. I disallow a small % of the broadband fee as personal and put the rest through.
