All
This is a really interesting thread
I thought I'd throw in my comments and views
Skype: absolutely fantastic and a life saver for my business
But: I wish it was reliable and not patchy in its service provision : (
It does have some great benefits:
Skype is the *only* system where you can use anywhere and it will work – this cannot be said for other VOIP providers who need you to make changes to your router
Making changes to the router of the hotel you might be staying in is I'm sure not possible
(This is assuming that your internet connection has not intentionally had Skype blocked)
For about £2 a month, you can get unlimited calls nationwide
I was going to add that excludes 0845 numbers – but I've called a few of these and have not been charged, not sure what the deal is there
For about £4 a month you get unlimited called in Europe
For about £7 a month you get unlimited called in Europe
That's a pretty good deal
*ALSO* you can transfer Skype calls to any other Skype user!!
I find this brilliant and great if you have a team of workers in different locations
AND you can take more than one call at once! i.e. put on hold while you take other calls
Ultimately though: I think we'll be getting a dedicated line (and will probably will use a different VOIP provider) when the business grows
Omar Miah
Managing Director
E Regeneration
Mobile: 07932 647 806
Tel: 020 7193 7861
Fax: 08704 787 095
Address: Unit F43, Waterfront Studios, 1 Dock Road, London, E16 1AH
On Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 3:38 PM, Chris Padfield
<[address removed]> wrote:
Another option along this line I have used is RebTel. You enter
a number in their system (or via SMS from your phone) and it provides you with
a local UK number to call specific for you and for that number. You are then
billed via the site for the international element. Rates are very competitive.
I used to use Vonage, but ditched it for this.
There is a double dial mechanism akin to the one Stony described
as well.
Anyone know of a good VOIP provider that forwards US numbers to
UK mobiles at competitive rates while retaining the caller id?
_________________
Chris
Padfield | Investment Manager | London Business Angels & London Seed
Capital
[address removed] | 020 7089 2309
GLE Growth Capital, New City Court, 20 St Thomas Street. London SE1 9RS
www.lbangels.co.uk
From:
[address removed] [mailto:[address removed]] On Behalf
Of Stony Grunow
Sent: 06 April 2009 15:22
To: [address removed]
Subject: Re: [entrepreneur-1056] Skype for Business
Sorry to jump on this thread so
late . . .
If you are growing and need access to affordable lines, Skype is an option, but
I find it too flaky and requires either certain handsets or being tied to a
computer.
I use my mobile to call everywhere for close to nothing. I use O 2 (though this
should work for any provider), and pay something like £5-7 extra a month for
unlimited free calls to landlines (anything 02… or 01…), and then I use the
1899 service.
Take note! Calling 1899 directly will incur massive charges from your mobile,
but 1899 has a landline number. So, my call to the 1899 service from my mobile
is not billed by O2, and calls further are billed at 1899 rates, with is 1
pence a minute to the US, EU, etc. Given the convenience of being able to call
anytime anywhere from my existing hardware, it's hard to beat.
One other thing – most mobiles will accept either the letter p or a comma into
the number – this tells the phone to pause 2 seconds while dialing. So, if I
was dialing a US number frequently, I would add the 1899 number directly my
phone's address book. So, calling a number in the US would be registered as
[1899 landline number] , [US Number with double 0 and country code]
where one or two commas is necessary. It looks exactly like this in my iPhone:
02081804804,0017325551234
It may not fix your incoming call issue, but for a low-cost, immediate solution
. . .
hope that helps
stony
www.citrusconsultants.com
On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 at 3:49 PM, Barry Bridges <[address removed]> wrote:
Hello,
Does anyone have any experience of using Skype for Business as their primary
phone system within their start-up?
My business is really taking off and I'm now bringing on board my first members
of staff. As part of this we're kindly being housed by a friend's company, but
no phones are being provided and I'm looking for an effective and cheap system
to use for our internal and mobile phone network that we can take with us and
scale in the future.
My plan is to provide staff with mobiles but use Skype for Business as the
primary switchboard service: i.e. SkypeIn will be the main business telephone
number, then use something like Pretty May Call Centre for Skype (http://www.prettymay.net/callcenter/index.htm)
or On State to handle and divert calls internally. If I can provide staff with
skypephones then this will cut out a further portion of call costs and allow
skype to be the main calling system throughout, avoiding higher rates.
Has anyone used Skype in this way and how have they found it? As a reasonably
frugal start-up I'd rather not have to invest in quite expensive phone systems
or contract packages (especially BT!) so thought this might be a good way to
keep costs low. Any thoughts – or am I creating more work than it's worth?
Thanks,
Barry.
–
Barry Bridges
—————————-
t: +44 (0)208 123 8701 | m: +44 (0)7903 096 502
–
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone
on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by Barry Bridges ([address removed]) from London OpenCoffee
Meetup.
To learn more about Barry Bridges, visit his/her member
profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, click here
Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 USA
–
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will
be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by Stony Grunow ([address removed]) from London OpenCoffee Meetup.
To learn more about Stony Grunow, visit his/her member profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, click here
Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 USA
This message has been scanned for viruses by BlackSpider
MailControl
Click here
to report this email as spam.
–
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by Chris Padfield ([address removed]) from London OpenCoffee Meetup.
To learn more about Chris Padfield, visit his/her member profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings,
click here
Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 USA
Be the First to Comment
Add A Comment