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Long gone are the days when UK residents had only one provider option for phone service, that being British Telecom (BT) the world's oldest telephone company. The Telecommunications Act of 1984 forced BT to open up its lines to competition and allowed companies such as Virgin Media, and others, to provide landline service to home and business customers. This landline service typically uses existing BT infrastructure and works in conjunction with Openreach - the BT infrastructure division.
However it is the adoption of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) that has turned the UK into a highly competitive market for Telecommunications. After all, VoIP can be provided by any company since all that is needed is a Broadband Internet connection - all calls are transferred over the Internet rather than the landline analog based Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). This makes it relatively straightforward for any company to enter the phone service market in the UK with VoIP technology. For businesses and home owners, the savings can be huge.
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The UK VoIP market for businesses has grown fast with new providers appearing regularly. This fierce competition has ensured that businesses are the real winners and are managing to slash their monthly phone bills. In fact a recent study by Telappliant stated that 7 out of 10 businesses in the UK were integrating VoIP in some form in 2013. With so many VoIP companies to choose from, finding the right one can be time consuming. We have tried to make this exercise easier by evaluating UK VoIP companies for you. Use our list below as a starting point for finding some of the best options. The recommended steps to take are as follows:
Check out this list of VoIP phone service providers for UK businesses. If you find others you think should be listed here please contact us.
Broadband growth in the UK has been rapid in the last 15 years, along with the availability, pricing, competition, and quality of service. Why is this good news for VoIP? This is good news for VoIP because a good high speed Internet connection is a basic requirement for this technology. You see, your call is converted to a digital format and is sent as packets across the Internet rather than traditional landlines, that is why VoIP is so cheap. To check if your Internet is good enough to support VoIP, run our VoIP Speed Test. This is an important step to take before purchasing a new phone service as a good quality Internet connection is critical in order to achieve high quality phone calls.
To help you find a home phone provider, WhichVoIP has performed the research for you and has identified some of the most popular UK VoIP providers for you to compare and review. Our recommended steps to take are as follows:
Check out this list of VoIP phone service providers for UK home phone service. If you find others you think should be listed here please contact us.
One unique aspect about the UK home VoIP market that is important to note here if you are considering making the switch to VoIP, is that in some cases, service providers advertise the monthly fee for unlimited minutes. There is however an additional line rental fee that can often be as high as £15/month because in the UK most broadband Internet services use the landline phone wires as a means to connect to the Internet. You can still save a lot of money over a regular land-line phone service though so do not be put off. This is just a heads up to check on what your exact end pricing will be before comparing options.
#7 : Posted by Valerie
We are moving office to a different area and transferring our Broadband and phone to another provider for ADSL2 (current provider can only offer ADSL1 in new area). We need to retain our existing number for those customers who aren't using the 0845 option to maintain contact with us. Seems our best option is to set up VoIP but TalkTalk (we would like to transfer to) say they can't do this. BT can but their Broadband is the ADSL1. We will have to have a new number (which the 0845 will piggy back onto) but how do we get over keeping the old number? A lot of our customers are retired, some may not cope with taking down a new number from a message on the old number. We want to make life easy for them and we don't want to lose any of our customers. Any suggestions?
-> Response: Normally there is no issue porting your number over to another provider so I am surprised by that. Did TalkTalk give a reason on why they can't port the number over from BT?
Will BT let you keep the number (but remove the broadband connection so less cost) but do a call forwarding service. In other words any time the old number is called, the number is forwarded by BT to your new number?
#6 : Posted by Richard
Potential customers of Vonage should be aware the quality is not as good as a conventional landline telephone; for mobiles the best deal is Apple's Face Time that provides free calls between iPhones; and cancellation of a Vonage contract after the first month incurs a 54 pound cancellation charge.
-> Response: Thanks for your comment. Often the quality is based on other factors too such as how good your Internet service is. If you have a good Internet connection, in my opinion the quality is as good as a landline service.
#5 : Posted by Linda O'neil
I'm about to move from the UK to France but will still be working with clients in the UK. I thought that a VOIP number might be a good way for clients to be able to call, rather than giving them a French landline number. Do I need to do this from France and use a French provider or do I need to do it in the UK to get a UK number to give to my clients? Can I attach my 0845 number to a VOIP number and, again, does it matter whether I arrange VOIP through a French or British provider in order to be able to do this? I will have both British and French bank accounts for the payments.
-> Response: You should be able to sign up for service in the UK (e.g. Vonage UK) and then use this in France. Basically bring the Vonage ATA box with you and plug it into your Internet service in France.
Alternatively get a French VoIP provider and then add a virtual International number for the UK so the UK number and the French number will both reach you in France.
#4 : Posted by Sandra Brownlie
We live in the UK, currently BT broadband speed is 0.5. I want to get rid off BT and wish to move to satellite internet - how does VOIP hook up if I cancel my BT phone?
-> Response: In all honesty, if you move to satellite Internet I would not recommend using VoIP as there is too much latency involved. This article on VoIP over satellite, explains some of the problems.
#3 : Posted by Robert
Would anyone calling me on the same local code, only have to use my local number?
-> Response: Yes providing you choose a VoIP plan that allows you to have a local number (or port your existing local number over) that is indeed the case. Many providers offer very low cost plans that come with a 03 number. This is treated as a standard National number in the UK, cost wise. ie. not a premium number.
#2 : Posted by Sean
If we have one existing number in the house (BT landline) and change to a VoIP provider, can we port the existing number to the service?
-> Response: Yes porting to a VoIP provider is usually a very simple process and your number can be ported over from BT in most cases - it is worth confirming with the VoIP provider first.
VoIP quality usually depends on the quality of your Internet service and for this reason we often recommend getting a new number from a VoIP provider to test the water first and make sure you are happy with it.
Once happy you can then port your old number over.
NOTE: Do not cancel BT until your number has been successfully ported.
#1 : Posted by Pete
I'd like to know which VOIP vendors can offer a UK secondary number. I know Vonage and Broadvoice can do this - any others? Thanks
-> Response: Pete, we are not aware of any others on the residential side but yes Vonage does for sure. By the way, do you mean 2 numbers for the UK or one US number and one UK number? Are you based in the U.S as that would change my response - there are many providers in the U.S that offer UK virtual numbers as an add-on to your U.S number.
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