Geographic numbering on BT’s Business Broadband VoIP

August 8, 2015

BT’s Business Broadband Voice has added geographic numbering to its package. The Business Broadband Voice is a business VoIP telephony service provided by BT for customers with BT Business Broadband and a BT Business telephone account.

A geographic number is one that starts with an area code that is related to a geographic location in the UK. This could be an advantage to businesses, as it has been established that 77% of customers prefer to call a number with an area code close to their own location.

A business may wish to choose a number that makes it appear local to its customer base, which would allow it to meet the needs of the two thirds of consumers who would rather buy goods and services locally.

Businesses can choose as many geographic numbers as they please, from a wide selection, each for a set monthly fee.

VoIP, or ‘Voice over Internet Protocol’, uses a small amount of the bandwidth on a consumer’s broadband line to carry telephone calls, leaving the existing standard phone line available for normal calls.

BT Business Broadband Voice provides up to two low-cost additional lines (which must be subscribed to), each allocated with a unique VoIP telephone number. This can be made to make and receive calls in much the same way as using a normal telephone line, and unlike some other VoIP providers, any chargeable VoIP calls made using BT Business Broadband Voice are billed after they’ve been made.