Small business telephone systems & telecom services - pbx, broadband Internet, VOIP, mobile phone & similar ICTs.


Initially for UK small business, other SME and remote and Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) workers, we now also review information for residential telephone and personal mobile phone and ICT consumers.

You will find practical applications, benefits and costs of business telecom and similar Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and the technical and commercial reviews and information will be relevant to international, personal and residential telephone users.

Daisy Group plc is a commercial partner of Telecoms Advice, specialising in Business Telephone Lines and Business Broadband within the business to business telecoms sector.

Quick Links to popular telecoms information pages:

(please use the relevant keyword linked sponsored ads around the pages to find suppliers - go to a more specific information page to find more specific suppliers of broadband, VoIP, mobile, DECT, email-to-fax, etc.)


- or use the search engine, index, or categorised contents menu on the left; our FREE ICT Directory or our telecomsadvice blog.

Let us do a business telephone bill comparison, business mobile phone bill comparison or business broadband, leased line or VPN bill comparison - call free on 0808 168 0220 for a free, impartial cost comparison of leading business telecom providers - or maybe you need a more strategic telecommunications consultancy service - click here for our telecommunications and ICT consulting services.

Telecoms Advice was initiated and seed funded by Oftel's Small Business Task Force - see the original Oftel foreword here. We were an official partner in the DTI UK online for business initiative under the DTI Small Business Service, and authored their original Broadband brochure - but we are wholly independent, can make reference to commercial products and services, and link freely to external sources of information.

Sponsored ICT products & services advertising:
Fibre Optic Broadband - Compare and check the availability of fibre optic broadband packages.

The advice or information we publish is intended to be practical, impartial and/or balanced, giving an overview of products and services on offer and drawing on the expertise of both the industry and the experiences of UK personal, residential and small business or SME telecommunications consumers. However, this is a fast moving market, our information cannot be comprehensive and neither inclusion nor exclusion should be taken as recommendation or otherwise. Information on external sites we may link to is outside of our control. Buyers should always beware! And see the usual disclaimer.

Is your business taking full advantage of the products and services on offer in the telecommunications market?

Are you baffled by all the jargon and technical terms?

Got a question?

But where do you start?

How can you contribute?

We want to know what you want to know about telecoms, information and communications technologies (ICTs) and the Internet, and about your experiences good and bad of the products and telephone services on the market. Use our blog to share your experience and see what others are saying.

Who are we?

TelecomsAdvice is published by Crucible Multimedia Ltd based in Sheffield. Crucible was set-up specifically to publish telecomsadvice, initially financed by Oftel through its Small Business Task Force, with the support of the University of Sheffield under the EU funded Telerise project. You can contact us by email, or by completing our comments form.

Oftel's Small Business Task Force comprised UK small business organisations representatives and advisers, government agencies and telecoms and ICT companies including network operators, equipment manufacturers, software producers and maintenance contractors. From April 2000 to 2003 Oftel promoted this site to major telcos asking for sponsorship and subsidised any gaps in funding. Ofcom absorbed Oftel on 31st December 2003 and, although still linking to us along with Business Link, will not be supporting the site financially as Oftel did. TelecomsAdvice will continue with its impartial editorial policy while in future being funded by relevant non-invasive advertising sponsorship from telecom and ICT suppliers and the consultancy services of Crucible Multimedia Ltd.

The Crucible Multimedia Ltd ICT and web consultancy and telecoms brokerage services through telecomsadvice.co.uk for mobile, fixed line and Broadband Internet are available by enquiry using the 'contact us' form or email .

Reviewed January 2011

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See also our UK ICT Directory for supplier lists and links



telecomsadvice blog

telecoms & ICT products, services and issues for business & personal consumers - telephone, broadband Internet, VoIP, mobile phone, etc.

Community radio stations grow to 250

Community radio stations grow to 250 Community radio licences issued by Ofcom now number more than 250 with the award of four new licences in the south west of England. [...]

Posted on 4 May 2012 | 11:09 am

Internet, digital TV, mobile phone and games parental controls

The Internet, digital TV, mobiles and games consoles have transformed the way people orf all ages learn, play and communicate, and children are often quicker to learn about new technology than their parents. But not all content out there is suitable for children – there will be inappropriate programmes and web sites that parents should control access to.

Posted on 24 April 2012 | 8:08 am

HomeServe fined £750,000 for silent and abandoned calls

International home insurance and repairs company HomeServe has been fined £750,000 for excessive silent and abandoned calls to consumers.

Posted on 19 April 2012 | 11:02 am

How to stop unwanted sales and marketing calls

How to stop unwanted sales and marketing calls It can be annoying when you answer the phone and find it’s a sales person trying to sell you something you don’t want - but you can stop those unwanted sales calls. Ofcom provides a register where you can opt out from receiving unsolicited marketing calls - so if you are being being plagued by multiple sales calls there are steps you can take. The register is kept on Ofcom’s behalf by the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

Posted on 17 April 2012 | 4:13 pm

What is a QR code or mobile phone barcode code?

What is a QR code or mobile phone barcode code? QR Codes (Quick Response codes or 2D barcodes) are the apparently meaningless patterned squares you see on some print adverts in newspapers, magazines, flyers, etc . Using this square code (similar to a barcode), a business can provide contact details to potential customers who scan the code into their phone using the built-in camera and an 'app' (application) decodes the details.

Posted on 16 April 2012 | 12:46 pm

business mobile phone deals

Business mobile phone deals are agressively persued by the multitude of agents and sub-agent seeking to supply half-a-dozen handsets and a substantial contract including talk minutes, texts and data.

Posted on 13 April 2012 | 5:16 pm

Community radio licences awarded

Community radio licenses are awarded to services provided on a not-for-profit basis focusing on the delivery of specific social benefits to a particular geographical community or a community of interest. [...]

Posted on 5 April 2012 | 11:12 am

Fasthost web hosting could be cheaper

In the past we have used 'FastHosts', 'UK2Net' and '1and1' for our domain name registration and website hosting but with the arrival of GoDaddy's UK/European servers we can see the competition taken to a new level.

Posted on 4 April 2012 | 1:26 pm

telephone call charges

Calls to 0800 telephone numbers could be free from all phones, including mobiles, under new proposals published today by Ofcom.

Posted on 4 April 2012 | 12:17 pm

Simplified non-geographic call charges proposals

Simplified non-geographic call charges proposals. Calls to 0800 telephone numbers could be free from all phones, including mobiles, under new proposals published today by Ofcom.

Posted on 4 April 2012 | 11:17 am

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Keywords and phrases for information on this site include the following (if there is no direct link or you want more or different information use the search facility at the top left): For the owners and managers of UK small businesses and SMEs. A layman's (layperson's) a guide to ICT applications in sales, marketing, administration, finance, PR, public relations, personnel, human resources, accounting, operations management, procurement, ordering, invoicing, intranet and extranet. Applications of telecommunications, telecoms, telecomms, telephone fixed line and mobile phones in small businesses. Impartial advice and reviews on Internet communications, information and communications technology and technologies (ICT), IP telephony, VOIP, Internet telephony. Telecomsadvice includes an ICT glossary, UK ICT products and services directory, reviews and cost comparisons. Covering such terms as customer relationship management (CRM) computer telephony integration (CTI) and VOIP. It includes a training supplier database and information on remote access telephone and lists phone service providers or operators, directory enquiries, telephone systems, exchanges, switchboards, pbx, pabx and centrex. Information on handsets, analogue, digital, PSTN, ISDN, cordless, DECT, wireless, mobile health, base station, GSM, GPRS, third generation 3G, UMTS. Broadband technologies such as xDSL, DSL, ADSL, RADSL, SDSL, HDSL, VDS, cable modem, two-way satellite, (or satelite or sattelite if you like) leased line. IP VPN. Buyer's guides to direct and indirect telcos, carrier pre-selection (CPS).Conventions and legal regulations on numbers and numbering, std code, junk fax, telephone sales and selling, call centres and silent calls, direct marketing, fax preference service (FPS), telephone preference service (TPS), local, national, premium, personal, follow-me numbers and non-geographic numbers. Rates and tarrif or tariff comparison information and telecom broker services, charges, costs, including using your mobile phone abroad - international roaming, foreign coverage. Signal strength fluctuations, virtual locations, scams, security, anti-virus scanning and mobile phone ring tones, ringtones, tunes, logos, icons, graphics and games. Internet connectivity, connection, dial-up, always-on, FRIACO, unmetered, data bandwidth in kbps and Mbps, narrowband, video on demand, TV broadcast, radio frequency. File upload, download, web site pages, websites, webpages design and webhosting, server co-location, search engine optimisation (SEO) or optimization, spider, crawler, meta word data optimisation, domain name registration, DNS forwarding, cloaking, frame, reciprocal link, link exchange. Newsletter, email or e-mail, e-commerce m-commerce, e-business, on-line or online, hardware and software applications and solutions. Network router, local loop unbundling(LLU) or unbundled local loop (ULL) high speed data with videoconferencing, video surveillance, data and voice conferencing, teleconference or teleconferencing. Voice over Internet Protocol IP VoIP, textphone, text SMS, micro payments, reverse billing, sponsorship, publicity, promote or promotion, advertising and advert including banner and text ads or textads. Sponsors include BT, Cable & Wireless, Cellnet now O2, Colt, Hutchison 3G now '3', NTL, Orange, One2One now T-mobile, Telewest, Thus, Vodafone, MCI formerly Worldcom. UK ICT Directory, UK telecom, Oftel now Ofcom complaints, telecoms ombudsman arbitration by otelo and cisas. Geographic and non-geographic numbers and numbering 0870, 0871, 0845, 0750, 09 premium rate, revenue earning share PhonepayPlus formerly ICSTIS complaint procedure.

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