Business voip phone system - HiHi ?
Discussion
Having recently taken on a new member of staff who will work partly in office and partly remotely, I'm looking at the changing the business phone syatem from a standard one line BT copper line to a internet Voip type solution.
I called my broadband provider (Zen) who needed me to use their Fritzbox box router for a VOIP phone (which doesn't work for me) but then mentioned cloud comms and I'm still waiting for a call/info 2 weeks later.
Then called Ring Central who were also not particularly helpful and not able to answer what I considered fairly simple questions !! Also spoken to our IT popel who have a solution, but again the service has not been great recently.
Neither of these solutions seem to be ideal as I'm concerned that it this is what they are like when I'm trying to buy a system, what will it be like if I have a fault / issue in the future.
I've now spoken to HiHi which seems to tick a lot of boxes and the guy was able to answer all my questions etc. Maybe not the cheapest solution but I would rather than a reliable service than the cheapest. HiHi seem to have on UK based advisers (rather than ring central which was US based).
A search on here only seems to say how bad the HiHi advert is !! So does anyone have any real experience of HiHi or could recommend an alterative ?
Basic need -
Office based - 2 lines
Mobile based - app on iphone
Port number from BT
Call recording would be useful
Call divert
Caller ID
Answerphone
Many thanks in advance
I called my broadband provider (Zen) who needed me to use their Fritzbox box router for a VOIP phone (which doesn't work for me) but then mentioned cloud comms and I'm still waiting for a call/info 2 weeks later.
Then called Ring Central who were also not particularly helpful and not able to answer what I considered fairly simple questions !! Also spoken to our IT popel who have a solution, but again the service has not been great recently.
Neither of these solutions seem to be ideal as I'm concerned that it this is what they are like when I'm trying to buy a system, what will it be like if I have a fault / issue in the future.
I've now spoken to HiHi which seems to tick a lot of boxes and the guy was able to answer all my questions etc. Maybe not the cheapest solution but I would rather than a reliable service than the cheapest. HiHi seem to have on UK based advisers (rather than ring central which was US based).
A search on here only seems to say how bad the HiHi advert is !! So does anyone have any real experience of HiHi or could recommend an alterative ?
Basic need -
Office based - 2 lines
Mobile based - app on iphone
Port number from BT
Call recording would be useful
Call divert
Caller ID
Answerphone
Many thanks in advance
Do you want to move away from BT if you don't have to?
We've got a BT system. We've got Cat5 running from the BT router to a network switch. From the switch we've got Cat5 running to two BT handsets, then Cat5 running from the handsets to individual PCs. You could have a similar set up in your office and your employee's home. Alternatively you could have the set up we have in your office and your employee use a mobile at home. The system has caller ID, voicemail, call forwarding. Missed calls, voicemail are also notified to the PCs and mobiles. We can return/make calls through the BT app on mobiles (probably also divert calls to mobiles, I'd have to check).
We have two licences (one per "line"). I think these are about £17 each per month, plus the broadband cost. I think we bought the handsets for about £80 each.
We've got a BT system. We've got Cat5 running from the BT router to a network switch. From the switch we've got Cat5 running to two BT handsets, then Cat5 running from the handsets to individual PCs. You could have a similar set up in your office and your employee's home. Alternatively you could have the set up we have in your office and your employee use a mobile at home. The system has caller ID, voicemail, call forwarding. Missed calls, voicemail are also notified to the PCs and mobiles. We can return/make calls through the BT app on mobiles (probably also divert calls to mobiles, I'd have to check).
We have two licences (one per "line"). I think these are about £17 each per month, plus the broadband cost. I think we bought the handsets for about £80 each.
Stay clear of BT & HiHi. Also vodafone onenet. Find a local telecoms provider who can set you up with what you need - whatever mix of hardware, mobile apps, desktop apps suit you. Perhaps most importantly - contract term. Lots will try to tie you into ridiculously long contracts, and as B2B you have almost no protection against unfair or unreasonable contract terms. I've learnt the hard way, and I'm now with Flexinet who are Andover way but cover quite a wide area - and they run a callswitch system for me. Works great so far, priced reasonably, no stupid long contract. Easy to apply your own changes to opening hours, the autoattendant, call switching etc.
akirk said:
we used voipfone for years - worked flawlessly on a small office and then when we split geographically there were no issues...
only stopped now as customers only ever seem to ring us on mobiles anyway, so have ditched the 'landline'
Another vote for Voipfone been a customer for about 12 years from when there was just two of us to now a team of over 40. only stopped now as customers only ever seem to ring us on mobiles anyway, so have ditched the 'landline'
https://www.voipfone.co.uk/
We’ve got 15 VoIP phones from BT (stop laughing). They’re Yealink T46S, busy lamp fields, call forwarding etc and they’ll all work seamlessly anywhere there’s an internet. OH works from Portugal with the phone and a usb stick to hook up the phone to the Wi-Fi if we’re away for a long period. We haven’t used the mobile option.
Absolute car crash dealing with BT, same as ever, but it works and in 2020 probably saved the business - we bought laptops and worked from home with zero change in service as far as clients could tell, apart from no face to face obviously.
Hihi was our preference at the time (2018) but we went with BT because, well, they’re BT so the service level is a known quantity ie s
t. Just done a second five year contract. Yes we could get it cheaper, or better, or easier, but with BT/Openreach for everything else and us being non techy it means we have one (huge, hopeless and muddled) single point of contact should stuff fail to work.
The online portal is hard to navigate but altering names, extensions, call groups etc is straightforward and instant.
Absolute car crash dealing with BT, same as ever, but it works and in 2020 probably saved the business - we bought laptops and worked from home with zero change in service as far as clients could tell, apart from no face to face obviously.
Hihi was our preference at the time (2018) but we went with BT because, well, they’re BT so the service level is a known quantity ie s
t. Just done a second five year contract. Yes we could get it cheaper, or better, or easier, but with BT/Openreach for everything else and us being non techy it means we have one (huge, hopeless and muddled) single point of contact should stuff fail to work.The online portal is hard to navigate but altering names, extensions, call groups etc is straightforward and instant.
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