Over the last few years, many businesses in the UK have installed a GSM Gateway onto their phone system to reduce the cost of calling mobile phones.  In most cases, a GSM gateway could reduce the cost of calling mobile phones by around 50% becuase calls from landlines to mobiles were around 12ppm, and calls made through a GSM gateway were around 6ppm.

A GSM gateway could achieve these savings becuase mobile phone companies had more competitive tariffs to call mobile phones and many GSM Gateway users took advantage of cross network call charges and bundled minutes to drive down the cost of calling mobile phones.

The game has changed with the ongoing demands from Ofcom for fixed telephone line companies such as BT and Cable and Wireless to reduce the cost of calling mobile phones and this year calls have dropped dramatically to around 4.5ppm which means that many users of GSM Gateways are now paying the same price or more by routing their calls over the GSM network.

When businesses take into account the extra cost of managing the extra mobile bills, the maintenance cost of the GSM Gateway and the inability of the GSM Gateway to display the landline number of the business (A GSM Gateway can either present the number of the SIM card it is using to make the call, or withold the number), many businesses are switching off their GSM Gateways and turning back to traditional landlines to make all their calls, with a single monthly bill for lines and calls and the convenience once again of being able to present their normal business telephone number so their customers know who’s calling.

It isn’t all bad news for GSM gateway manufacturers, for example, Telecom FM, a leading manufacturer of GSM Gateways that specialise in the smaller single SIM devices known as a premicell or Fixed Cellular Terminal continue with strong sales of these units into vertical markets such as construction and healthcare because this type of low cost GSM Terminal provides an alternative to an analogue telephone line so can be connected to a wide variety of devices that rely on a telephone connection and in many cases the cost of getting a telephone line installed is prohibitive, for example, many construction companies will use the Telecom FM Cellfax to provide telephone and GSM fax connectivity for their site offices and will install the Cellroute GPRS as the GSM Telephone Line for connection to Lift Telephones and Lift Alarms.

Another product area in the same category as the GSM Gateway and Premicell that has shown dramatic growth in the last few months is the GSM Desk Phone, which as the name implies is a mobile phone in the style of a Desk Phone.  These are used in a variety of applications including telesales and temporary or remote site office telephones and are also widely used to provide a Taxi Phone freephone to help taxi companies gain new customers.  Again, the use of this type of product is due to the high initial cost and rental of traditional telephone lines, rather than the savings on the call charges.

Are you looking for an Avaya Phone System for your business?

We can supply, install and maintain the Avaya IP Office, Avaya IP500 and Avaya Communications Manager business telephone systems across the UK.

Avaya IP Office

IP office is a phone system designed for small and medium sized businesses. It is a hardware-based system that allows a mix of traditional digital and analogue technologies with Voice over IP (VoIP) and advanced telephony features. Modular design means that you can choose a simple and cost-effective basic system, or a full communications solution with advanced capabilities.

Avaya IP500

The Avaya IP500 phone system can be integrated in the Avaya Communications Manager (ACM) making it a flexible solution for all sized businesses. Furthermore, the one-X portal, an application that allows a softphone connection through an internet browser, enables users to adopt flexible working and remote working practices into their business.  The Avaya IP500 platform includes a range of handsets from the 1600 series, 9600 series, 1400 series and 5400 series. These IP phones and digital keyphones enable the Avaya IP500 to be treated as a phone system or a VoIP system taking advantage of SIP trunking.

Avaya Communication Manager

A software foundation that’s open, highly reliable and extensible, Avaya Communication Manager offers an IP telephony platform for enterprises large and small.

Avaya Communication Manager delivers centralized call control for a resilient, distributed network. A wide range of servers, gateways, analogue, digital, and IP-based communication devices is supported. Advanced built-in capabilities include mobility applications, call centre features, conference calling, and E911 capabilities.

To find out how an Avaya Phone System will work for your business call 0800 298 8011 and speak to a member of our sales team.

We will soon be stocking the new Anti Vandal Taxi Phone.  This is a GSM Wall Phone that is constructed of a metal casing with heavy duty handpiece and armoured cable.  This robust taxi phone can easily be deployed in public areas to provide a convenient freephone taxi phone for new customers.  Taxi companies can install these in locations such as supermarkets, hospitals, universities, train and bus stations, in fact anywhere there is the potential for new customers.

The bright yellow colour of this GSM Taxi Phone makes it easy to see and many taxi companies will increase the visability with printed back boards advertising the freephone taxi service.

These robust taxi phones use GSM technology which makes installation easy, simply insert SIM card, mount the GSM Wall Phone and connect to the mains.  Simple programming via the phone keypad can configure the hotdial feature so that the GSM Taxi Phone will automatically dial a single number when the handset is lifted, meaning that the customer only has a single instruction of lifting the handset to call the taxi operator.  In fact this hotdial number can also be set or changed  using an SMS text message sent to the phone so there is no need for a site visit if you need to change your hotdial number.

This GSM Wall Phone uses a dual band (900/1800Mhz) GSM telephone unit so will work with O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange.  This unit does not work on the 3G network frequency of 2100Mhz so will not work with SIM cards from 3 Mobile and will not work with mini femtocells such as Vodafone Sure Signal that operate on the 2100Mhz frequency.

The Vandal Resistant GSM Wall Phone will be priced at £395.00 with significant discounts for bulk or trade orders and will be available in May 2012.

We now stock the Huawei ETS6630 3G Desk Phone.  The ETS6630 works with all UK mobile phone networks including T-Mobile, Orange, Vodafone, O2 and three mobile.  This is becuase it operates on both the 900/1800Mhz GSM (2G) frequencies and the 2100Mhz (3G) frequencies.  In fact the Huawei ETS6630 is a very popular deskphone for use with the Vodafone One Net GSM virtual PBX phone system becuase it has six programmable feature keys that can be used for network features.

The use of GSM Deskphones and 3G Deskphones has increased recently as industries find their own uses for these static mobile phones / Fixed Wireless Telephones (FWT).  For example, taxi companies have taken the GSM Desk Phone and turned it into a freephone taxi phone by installing them in locations to attract new customers.  Some GSM Desk Phones such as the DPH500 include a HotDial feature which means that it can dial a preset number as soon as the handset if lifted and prevent to phone from calling other numbers making it an ideal choice as a Taxi Phone.  But taxi companies are not alone in adpoting these devices, Vodaone One Net is a virtual PBX providing both VoIP and GSM Extensions so many Vodafone One Net GSM customers will use the Huawei ETS6630 3G Desk Phone to provide a traditional desktop style telephone with the convenience of GSM.

GSM Deskphones and 3G Deskphones offer a convenient way to deploy mobile phones in the guise of traditional deskphones.

For those customers that have not yet got around to changing the time on your Panasonic Phone System here are the quick instructions for making the change on the Panasonic KX-TEA308 and KX-TES824 Telephone Systems

KX-TES824/KX-TEA308

Use first extension (ext. 201 or 21 default) only

PRESS PROGRAM
Press 0
YYMMDD
Day of the Week (0=Sunday, 1=Monday ….. 6=Saturday)
HHMM (12 hour)
0 for AM 1 for PM
Store
PRESS PROGRAM

We now stock the Zoom 4506 Travel Router and it is priced at just £39.00 + VAT

The Zoom 4506 Travel Router lets you plug in your 3G Modem, 4G Modem or Smartphone and share your 3G Mobile Broadband internet Connection wirelessly with the high speed wireless N wireless router interface.

The Zoom 4506 sets your mobile broadband free.  Do you have a 3G USB Modem or 4G USB Modem but want to share your mobile broadband with other users, or perhaps want to connect your iPad for fast mobile broadband internet, then plug your modem into the Zoom 4506 Travel Router and share your connection with fast 802.11 b/g/n wireless connectivity.

The Zoom 4506 can be mains powered or you can use the internal battery to provide real freedom to use the internet wherever you are making it a valuable tool for your mobile internet lifestyle.

The Siemens OpenScape Office MX is a great phone system for small to medium sized businesses that want a simple to install and manage business phone system with a choice of functional and great looking desktop phones and Outlook integration.

The OpenScape Office MX is the ideal business phone system for between 10-50 users but will easily cope with several hundred extensions and multiple sites so it is a system that will start small and grow with the demands of your business.

The OpenScape Office MX Phone System is complimented with the Siemens OpenStage Desktop Phone range.  The OpenStage Phones are available as Digital (TDM) extension phones or as IP Phones.

The Siemens Openscape Office MX Telephone System will work with analogue, ISDN2e and ISDN30e Telephone Lines and also comes supplied with 32 x SIP Trunking channels so you can utilise low cost VoIP SIP Trunks.

Choosing your OpenScape Office MX Phone System is easy, select the main unit, your choice of truck card and extension cards (if required – you may want to go VoIP all the way), select your initial comfort plus extension license pack, add the number of Outlook Integration licenses that you need and any other additional comfort or comfort plus licenses.  You then need to choose your OpenStage Phones and that’s the hardware and licenses complete. 

We can offer a full installation and maintenance service as well as providing the telephone lines and low cost call plans and even VoIP Broadband and SIP Trunking.

Call our sales team now on 0800 298 8011 for details and pricing.

Our new low cost call plan offers calls to mobile phones for just 4.5ppm. 

Our landline to mobile calls are charged per second with no minimum call charge and are part of our standard call plan which can be applied to your existing BT Telephone Lines or we can provide calls and line rental together on a single monthly bill.

Calls to UK landlines are also only 0.99 ppm and our international call rates are just as competitive.

Call us for details of how your business can benefit from these new low cost call rates.

Traditionally customers would need a GSM Gateway to provide low cost landline to mobile calls, but with our new low landline to mobile call charges you do not need to install a GSM gateway to enjoy low cost calls to mobiles.

Many Taxi companies are using the DPH500 GSM Desk Phone as a Taxi Phone.

This means that they are installing the DPH500 in shops, pubs, retaurants, bars, supermarkets, hospitals, train stations, bus stations, colleges, universities and anywhere that a potential customer might want a free and convenient way of calling a taxi.

The reason that so many taxi companies are using the DPH500 as a Taxi Phone is becuase it includes a hot dial feature that enables the taxi company to configure the telephone to dial a single number simply by lifting the handset,  This means a potential customer simply has to lift the handset and they are connected to the Taxi Operator.  Whilst in Hot Dial mode the DPH500 Taxi Phone stops the user from calling any other numbers and also disables the SMS feature to prevent misuse and making it a secure solution for Taxi companies to deploy a low cost GSM Taxi Phone solution.

The DPH500 is wall mountable and is priced under £60.00 making it one of the best low cost taxi phone solutions in the UK.

Teltonika have announced the launch of their LTE Router products on Europe. The Teltonika RUT425 and Teltonika RUT435 LTE Routers offer high speed mobile broadband Internet and WWAN connectivity for LTE Long Term Evolution 4G networks that are being rolled out throughout Europe.