I have BT Homehub and want the Hosted VOIP phone line? Do I need another line or use same one?

[stevembsl]

Hi,

I have just recently got BT Home Hub (wireless) with VOIP phone.

My company wishes to purchase the Hosted VOIP service, we have BT Business Broadband at the office where the service will run from, and they would like to buy me and some colleagues a £5 a month VOIP line so the costs go to the company and not my home phone.

Questions

1) Will this affect my home broadband which already has an 056 number?

2) I suppose I could carry on and ask will it be an effectively seperate line or use the same line as my Home Hub?

3) If having 2 lines will it affect my broadband speed (when both are idle), are there effectively 2 broadband connections?

4) Will it cost more if I already have a broadband line with VOIP on it?

Kind Regards,

Steve

[minicheddar]

Hi Steve,

From what you've said, I can see two options having installed BT Hosted VoIP at work:

i) Order a BT Falcon phone to take home and plug into your Homehub

ii) Use the software client BT Office Communicator on a home computer

To answer your questions:

1) It won't affect your home broadband, or your Broadband Talk account (hubphone).

2) Yes, it will be a separate VoIP line, using the same caller ID (number) as you have in the office.

3) When the VoIP connections are idle, impact on your broadband speed should be negligible.

Whilst both lines are in use, you should still be able to browse the internet, although I must stress that this will depend on a number of factors such as distance from the exchange, internal wiring of your house etc.

4) Billing will be completely separate from your home account. Calls made using your office VoIP numbers will be charged to your office.

I hope this helps.

Minicheddar