Reducing phone and internet costs for small business

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digitaldream

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#28054 17-Nov-2008 12:04

I was having a chat to my dad recently, and he told me that on he currently pays close to $400 a month for his phone and internet connection combined. This is what he currently has:

-Home line
   -tolls through local company, national calls 15cpm
   -ADSL (Orcon ZeroShock)
-Business Line w. fax
   -calls are automatically forwarded to his cellphone (he runs an accommodation business)

I was thinking of signing him up for rural naked dsl, as he doesn't really require a high cap and this makes calls and extra lines cheaper. However, I don't know how that would work with the fax line, or the automatic forward currently on his business line.

Does anyone have any ideas how these costs could be reduced?

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#178342 17-Nov-2008 12:15

What chunk of that is actually toll call and/or forwarding to the mobile? Looking at that it looks like it's potentially around $250ish in calls by itself.

Obviously switching to VoIP is an obvious way to save some money from that and depending on the number of calls being diverted to a mobile then a cellular trunking unit could possibly pay for itself very quickly.

coffeebaron

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#178346 17-Nov-2008 12:30

Hi Scott,

As sbiddle says, VoIP can certainly be a great option here. There are a range of advanced VoIP features too that can help your Dad manage his business & diverts to mobile.

Sounds like this is rural, where about is your Dad based.

I can certainly recommend the Fusion service from WorldxChange; send me a PM if you would like some help here.

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digitaldream

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#178348 17-Nov-2008 12:45

Thanks very much Steve and Fraser for the quick replies!

Forwarding to mobile tends to take up around $100 per month on it's own, probably more in summer.
I'm unfamiliar with CTU's but it sounds like this could work quite well in this case!

My dad is based in Kerikeri in Northland.
I use Xnet Fusion in my flat in Auckland which I'm quite happy with.
I have no experience with the rural service though.

Another issue is the fax, is this at all possible using for example Xnet VFX?

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#178360 17-Nov-2008 13:40

digitaldream: Thanks very much Steve and Fraser for the quick replies!

Forwarding to mobile tends to take up around $100 per month on it's own, probably more in summer.
I'm unfamiliar with CTU's but it sounds like this could work quite well in this case!

Another issue is the fax, is this at all possible using for example Xnet VFX?

There are some pro's and cons for CTU's. There is of course the initial setup cost, and linking it all into the VFX line. The other downside is the caller ID - you will get the CID from your CTU SIM, rather than the actual caller. With VFX call forwarding, you will get the original CID passed & if on Vodafone, most phones identify the incoming call as being diverted.

WxC also have some calling minute bundles. If your Dad makes a reasonable number of national & international landline tolls, you can add super cap A (1000 minutes) for $20 per month. You can then add 200 NZ mobile minutes for another $30.

So with a bit of smart management, you can certainly still pull those costs down without a CTU.

As for faxing, this depends on how good the broadband connection is. I guess the other question is, does your Dad have ADSL or is he on an alternative broadband connection? The only difference between rural & urban Xnet Fusion is the $20 difference in price. Faxing works quite well on a good ADSL connection, but if marginal, he may have problems. There are a few solutions for this though. WxC will be bringing out a fax to email service soon, which should solve most faxing issues (in my experience is generally on receiving, not sending).

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digitaldream

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#178368 17-Nov-2008 14:12

Though those calling plans aren't for VFX are they?
This means there'd still be the line rental charge, right?

The ADSL connection is decent, even though it's in a small town speeds are faster than my connection in Auckland (though that is Xnet vs Orcon). I'm quite sure it's not very far from the local exchange.

After talking to him it sounds like the caller ID is quite important to him, it allows him to call customers back without having to ask them for their number while on the phone.

Another thing I don't quite understand is how to have 2 separate phone lines through VFX.
Does the VoIP router take care of it and just allow you to plug in 2 different phones?
Or does it require additional hardware?

Can both phone numbers be kept the same?

Thanks so much for the help so far!

coffeebaron

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#178375 17-Nov-2008 14:32

digitaldream: Though those calling plans aren't for VFX are they?
This means there'd still be the line rental charge, right?

The ADSL connection is decent, even though it's in a small town speeds are faster than my connection in Auckland (though that is Xnet vs Orcon). I'm quite sure it's not very far from the local exchange.

After talking to him it sounds like the caller ID is quite important to him, it allows him to call customers back without having to ask them for their number while on the phone.

Another thing I don't quite understand is how to have 2 separate phone lines through VFX.
Does the VoIP router take care of it and just allow you to plug in 2 different phones?
Or does it require additional hardware?

Can both phone numbers be kept the same?

Thanks so much for the help so far!

Yes, you can add those minute bundles to VFX. This is an optional extra on top of the Xnet Fusion or VFX base cost.

Several of the VFX devices have two VoIP lines ports, e.g. SPA2102 or WRP400. These would be configured independently, i.e. each with their own phone number. You can't have both line ports with the same number though, use some king of double adaptor etc if you mean plugging in a couple of phones to same line.

You can port both existing phone numbers, and these would end up as two independent lines (as above) on the VFX hardware.

Faxing should be fine if his connection seems pretty good - but there are some options if it doesn't work out. Is it mostly NZ faxing?

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digitaldream

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#178387 17-Nov-2008 15:15

Great!
Fax is all national as far as I know, what are the limitations?

So this would bring the monthly cost down to:

-$90 Xnet Fusion
-$10 10GB data
-$10 extra line
-$20 supercap A
-$30 supercap mobile
=$160

Half the original amount!

Only one issue though:
Ideally supercap A should be on the home line, whereas the supercap mobile plan is needed on the business line. Do you think this would be possible?

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#178401 17-Nov-2008 16:39

digitaldream: Great!
Fax is all national as far as I know, what are the limitations?

So this would bring the monthly cost down to:

-$90 Xnet Fusion
-$10 10GB data
-$10 extra line
-$20 supercap A
-$30 supercap mobile
=$160

Half the original amount!

Only one issue though:
Ideally supercap A should be on the home line, whereas the supercap mobile plan is needed on the business line. Do you think this would be possible?

Yep, ya cost (approx) are about right. I'd advise setting him up with the advance feature set too $6 per month. This will give him some handy features like: simultaneous ring / sequential ring / time schedules / in/out/busy profiles etc. Will work very well in conjunction with the call forwarding.

The supercap gets applied across the whole account, so if he kept both lines on the same account, then it won't matter what line is used for the various calling.

Is there 3 numbers here? Home / business / fax? Is it faxibilty?

There's not really any limitations with fax as such, it is more a case of fax is designed for analogue lines. There is a T.38 protocol that turns this into digital at source, but with many differing fax standards it is not fool proof. The issue is when it falls back to G711 voice codec; i.e. the fax audio signaling is digitised as if it were voice. This is fine on a good ADSL connection, but as soon as you get any variation or packet loss, that's when you will have issues.

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#178414 17-Nov-2008 18:27

Another option might be to look at Telecoms business time package, it offers capped calls to both landline ($0.50 for 1 hour) and Telecom mobiles ($1 for 1 hour).

You also have the option to get the calls to ring your mobile and landline at the same time, with a shared mailbox. You'd be able to get worldxchange (with free vfx - second line) or internet from another provider.

It all depends on how you use it - it may work out to be cheaper, particularly the diverts to mobiles or mobile calling.

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#178421 17-Nov-2008 18:59

cokemaster: Another option might be to look at Telecoms business time package, it offers capped calls to both landline ($0.50 for 1 hour) and Telecom mobiles ($1 for 1 hour).

correct me if I am wrong boss, but as far as I understood the $1.00 for an hour only applies to direct dial not for diverted calls? I was going to suggest this to my client but I am sure that he said that he couldn't get it for diverted calls.

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#178422 17-Nov-2008 19:07

There are two options
The monthly all you can eat option:
Its listed under the 'extras' on the Telecom Business hub website. There is an additional fee - but in return both landline and mobile ring at the same time, you get a shared mailbox, and all calls that were directed at the landline but answered by the mobile are covered.

The call divert option:
Under the terms and conditions it states that you can divert to a Telecom mobile and still get a capped rate.

B) For an additional monthly subscripton you can subscribe to our Call Diversion service. If you are on an eligible
            exchange (61E), a 50c call diversion cap applies for calls of up to an hour which are diverted from your BusinessTime
            landline to a Telecom mobile. If you’re not on an eligible exchange (61E) a $1 call diversion cap applies for calls up to
           an hour which are diverted from your BusinessTime landline to a Telecom mobile.

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#178425 17-Nov-2008 19:09

thanks cokemaster, I will point him there!

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Psilan

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#178434 17-Nov-2008 19:25

At my old work we used a phone card on the fax machine.
To fax you would dial <local access number>, the card would have autopin to save you typing the pin number, then we would dial the destination. Some faxes let you set this up to be completely automated.

You could also use an 0800 number instead of the local number, but that would add 5-10cents pm to the destination charges.

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digitaldream

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#178435 17-Nov-2008 19:31

Thanks for the alternative cokemaster, but "Telecom mobiles" only is going be a bit of a problem.
Most people around here seem to use Vodafone, including my dad who has an e65 he quite likes.
Telecom services and support have also been disappointing in the past, I don't think he'd be too keen to move back to them.

I'll most likely go for the VFX option, though I'm a little worried about the potential downtime: More than one business relies on the system.

Any idea how long it may take for everything to be up and running again?

coffeebaron

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#178439 17-Nov-2008 19:55

digitaldream: I'll most likely go for the VFX option, though I'm a little worried about the potential downtime: More than one business relies on the system.

Any idea how long it may take for everything to be up and running again?

It's two line; biz + home? Does it matter if the home line is down for a bit? If not, we can pretty much eliminate the down time for the biz line.

If you want help with the changeover, PM me your contact details. I'm a WxC dealer, so can manage the process for your Dad and know a few tricks.

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