I have an extra phoneline coming into my office - it's never been used. It was set up because I thought I might need it - this was 4 years ago. Since then it's just sat there - no phone is plugged into the line.

I keep getting calls billed to that number... all premium rated!
It's not a great deal of money, last month was £7 this month was £4 and normally I tell myself that it's probably a mistake and it won't happen again, it's only a few quid so I just pay it (it's set up via direct debit). Well I just had them on the phone discussing another matter so decided to challenge them about the bills for that line - the air was BLUE!
I ended up cancelling the line, as I said, I don't use it anyway, but they could offer no explanation no support and basically blamed me... good ol' BT.

It makes me wonder what is being billed to my 'normal' phonebill, and millions of other customers. Do we seriously take the time to go through our bills and methodically cross reference every call that's made, making sure we know all the dialled numbers and who called them?

GRRRRRRRRRRR... off to get some caffeine! </rant>

James.

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I avoid BT ike the plague! I use Voipfone for my business line, and find it excellent - no line to worry about, and I know exactly how much it's costing me.
Their customer service sounds great too

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.... is it very, very, very cheap?
Voip is something that I know NOTHING about at all - even skype eludes me
Any info that you care to share in this dept is much appreciated

James.

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I'm a little bit of a technophobe myself, but the nice man at voipfone (cjd on UKBF) is very helpful! I pay 1.99 + VAT per month for my local number, and then you buy credits, so it's pay as you go.
I can either answer the calls via my computer with a nice little headset and software which is provided, or divert calls to a different number.
As I'm often with clients, I have the voicemail alert me both by text and email when I have a new message.

A lot of my tutors use Skype for tutoring purposes (we now offer online tuition), but I 'm going to have to ask them for a tutorial before I attempt it!!

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Whats the call quality like with your VOip company?
I have skype at the moment and sure it is cost friendly and easy to use (even for me a confirmed technophobe) but sometimes the call quality is not that great, it sounds somewhat tinny like old fashioned calls to abroad!
Lori

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The quality is fine. I think you can improve the quality by the handset you buy, but I'm no expert on that.

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You'll have to get cjd to come here and tell us all about it, straight from the horses mouth.... a full explanation would be most welcome

James.

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I too had loads of problems with BT when I moved house. I work from home so my landline is essential to my business and though I rented the line from BT, all my calls were part of a package through my Internet provider. I was supposed to take my number with me when I moved, and they assured me I would be connected the same day. THREE WEEKS LATER I finally got a landline- having run up a phenomenal bill on my mobile, spend HOURS hanging on the phone to BT, speaking to at least 25 different people in far off lands, with about 10 different excuses and never speaking to the same person. Eventually I got our local press involved and then a lady who deal with customer complaints was assigned to me, although I'm still waiting for any kind of recompense.

Final straw came when my ISP tried to link up broadband again and BT hadnt enabled the line- so I left!
They were absoliutely abismal!