Indebted to dect phones

If you like gizmos, you’ll love what you can get to go about your everyday business nowadays.  Time was when you just got to use bic biros and a pencil sharpener – and one of those plastic tube things to shuffle your paper clips around. But now you have the chance to pick and choose from a bewildering range of telephones.

I guess if you work for as company, you don’t have much say in your choice of telephone systems for business. But if, like me, you work for yourself – the world is your oyster.  You may even feel that you might want to change your BT phone.  After all – there are plenty more to choose from.

I particularly like the pone system that lets you give off the pretence that you have an office – and then divert to your mobile.  Then it is only the fact that mobiles are not supposed to be used on the golf course that may give you away.

So the first thing you should do when you  have a say in what telephones you can use – and buy is find a site where you can look wistfully and even buy digital dect cordless phones. Just imagine – never again need you be tied to your desk by a phone with a cord on it.  Isn’t progress wonderful?

In fact the only thing I do not like about business telephones is that most of the calls you get are ones you do not want to get.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could simply get on with doing your job?  But no, thanks to the telephone, now you can be interrupted at any time of day by some hopeful trying to sell you something.

Some days the calls just go on and on.  It’s very difficult to stay polite.  I remind myself that the nuisance caller is simply doing their job – but I suspect being rude would be better for my sanity.

Love Hate Relationship with British Telecom

My relationship with BT hit an all-time low last week when I rang customer relations in an attempt to see why my bill was so massive.  I guess it had been a bad day in the office for customer relations… but they actually deliberately cut me off rather than help.  Needless to say I was redirected to India rather than Scotland when I rang straight back and my new helper couldn’t have been more helpful – but I still don’t know why my bill is so high when I am their top broadband rate.

Maybe there is a better way of running your business and office telephone systems – but I have yet to find it.  All I have been able to pin down are the snags of switching.  It always seems cheaper to leave BT – until you see the mall print.  You have to keep paying line rental to BT even though you are no longer using them.  I suppose they have to do the repair work… so what exactly do other internet providers do for their money.

I live in an area which gets appalling broadband service anyway.  It’s slow at the best of times – but positively snail-like at peak periods.  I am beginning to think that I might be better off with a mobile broadband service – and use it at home too.

Once again I find myself wistfully looking at the eye=wateringly expensive Sky options.  If their broadband service really does work I can see that it is an attractive option.  Not only will I get telephone calls – I will see Wayne Rooney spitting in glorious HD.

But trying to sort out your telephone service on-line is only half the problem.  As with everything else in life, you soon get diverted into gadgets and gizmos that you can’t live without.  I challenge you to look up telephone service providers without getting sidetracked on to the exciting new telephones and telephone systems now available..  Panasonic digital cordless phones look particularly appealing.  I wonder if the batteries go flat and stay flat once you have forgotten to put them back in the cradle?

Me and my telephone account

I have a big decision to make this month.  Who to put my telephone and internet business with.  Apparently my contract with BT runs out at the end of the month.  Which probably means I will forget to do anything about it.  But I know I should – so I have been trawling through the internet sites to see if I can do a bit better for myself.

The problem is it is like trying to learn another language.  I have no idea what a dect phone is.  Yet apparently, I have some really interesting deals available on digital dect cordless phones. This is interesting – if only because I am not even sure if I have a digital dect cordless phone already.

This is one of the key problems with looking to buy telephones on line.  They all look the same, they all sound the same.  Hell they probably ARE all the same.  Which to my way of thinking means you can’t go far wrong.

Let’s face it, the only reason that people get so worked up about mobile phones is that they think they are impressing their friends when they get the damn things out.  Who sees your phone at home apart from you? 

The same probably applies to our providers.  Just think what you could do with free texts for life.  Form a band apparently.  But who knows or cares what you do with your broadband?  Granted there are probably some kudos to be earned from a techy friend if you have hyper-zingy broadband firing off a zillion widgets a second.  But who really cares?  Which might explain why business broadband and ADSL lease lines are rarely riveting dinner time conversation.

 But, ladies and gentlemen, I save the best until last.  What do you know about your UK ISP?  Very little, I am guessing – but now at the touch of a button you can see who is fast and who isn’t.  You can even measure yours on-line without getting arrested.  Sounds like a service worth paying a little extra for to me!

Getting to grips with office equipment

I’ve had yet more problems with BT.  First of all they cut my download capacity even though I am paying at the premium rate.  Then they had the temerity to cut off my broadband altogether, simply because I hadn’t paid the on-line bill which I had not seen.

So all is not well at Rob Towers.  And I have once again been thinking beyond BT home phones for my home phones and broadband service.  The only trouble is deciding who to use nowadays for a telephone system… which has always proved too much of a decision.  I am not much of a telecoms expert.  My prime criteria are that everything works… and that the set-up is easy.  And that help lines, even if they are in India are useful and work.

You’d think that is not too much to ask from a telecoms service.  But it seems that it is.  For a start, without cable, you are somewhat limited in your choice.  You also have Sky to consider.  But you know that they are primarily flogging television channels – so relying on Sky for telephone system as well as your telecoms seems a risky option.

I am sure I am not the only non-techy telecoms user in the world.  I am not ashamed to admit that I don’t know my adsl internet from my sdsl internet.  But like most people – I know somebody that does.  That nice Mr Google can usually be relied upon to come up with the cheapest option.

 So at the moment I am still with BT who are taking a huge monthly fee for servicing a telephone system that is really rather simple – and providing a broadband service that is really rather poor.

The frustrating thing is that there is nothing I can do about the latter.  My poor broadband service is dictated by my poor location (in broadband terms) which is provided b y BT.  Whoever I go too will not be able to alter that salient fact.  This is rather a pity – because it is the most important item on my telecoms agenda.

Keeping in touch

When you are self-employed, it pays to be available on the telephone at any time.  You never know when someone might need you.  And sod’s law dictates that you will be needed at the most inconvenient times. 

That’s why it pays to have a flexible phone system in your home that allows you to access any messages when you are out.  Like many people I live in an area where the mobile phone network is patchy at best.

This approach has paid off many times.  Living in the country I spend a lot of time driving to my customers.  And whilst it is possible to have hands-free or a Bluetooth headset, I prefer not to answer the mobile when I am driving.  Not only is it not safe.  People can hear my appalling taste in music!

 When I think about it, a mobile phone is downright dangerous.  It seems to go off every time a police car is in view.  And I have even had it start trilling in my pocket whilst up a ladder.  And if you leave it on at night you are guaranteed to hear from a distant friend or relative ringing up in the early hours.

 But the biggest beef I have with phone lines is with my broadband service.  I pay through the nose for BT Broadband – yet I regularly receive emails saying I have exceeded my download limit.  And to think I was paying 3x more than a similar service from competitors just to have unlimited downloads.

Apparently as far as broadband from BT is concerned there is no such thing.  Which is one good reason why my phone system may not be with BT for much longer.  I can’t help thinking that Sky offers an unbeatable broadband and telephone package – because you effectively get free satellite television thrown in. 

But back to mobile phones.  Maybe I should get a Bluetooth headset.  Not only will it make me look silly and important at the same time, I will finally be able to answer my mobile phone whilst up the ladder.  The only snag of course is that I will still be too busy to have a conversation.  But hey – at least the person who called will know how busy I am!

Narrow-minded Business Broadband

What is it with this country’s attitude to broadband?  With the average UK household having play stations and x-boxes hoovering up on-line capacity, let alone the exponential increase in the streaming of television via i-player, not to mention movie and music downloads, I am not sure our ‘high-speed broadband’ can keep up with domestic use – let alone business use.

 No wonder more and more companies are seeking high-speed solutions more in tune with their business needs.  Even businesses like mine.  I work from an office at home.  But it quickly became apparent that I often cannot transfer files and images as rapidly as my clients demand.  If the kids are on the x-box I am in deep trouble.  Even accessing remote servers and electronic filing systems on-line was becoming a problem. 

 One simple and highly effective solution to my problem proved to be line rental.  Now admittedly BT must have millions of satisfied business customers – but I am not one of them.  Their broadband was simply too slow to be useful. 

A few minutes learning about the service of leased line providers proved to be time well spent as they offer tailor-made leasing options which provide a dramatically enhanced service.

 I even began to understand how much money I could save simply by going for a more efficient service.  Understand the difference between ADSL and SDSL affects your need for more business SDSL availability.  ADSL would get those big files into my computer faster than I was sending stuff – essential for background information.  However – once the work is completed I need to rapidly send information – so SDSL makes me just as efficient at sending as receiving. 

But – and this is a very BIG but… what happens when things go wrong?   This is one of the key benefits of BT.  They are a national brand and they have shareholders.  Their customer service ought to be second to none.  And to be fair, I know from long experience that it IS pretty good. 

Before going to any of the plethora of broadband companies, they need to reassure you as to the speed and competence of their customer service.  And this assumes that something is going to go wrong.  As I am no computer geek, I only know when something is working – and my first reaction to any computer problem is to reach for the telephone.

Hmmm – I think I am now offically a geek.  I am starting to find all this techy stuff interesting!