This is the article I wish existed when I started advising UK businesses on phone systems 15 years ago. Everything you need to know, nothing you do not.
Do You Need VoIP?
If you answer YES to any of these, you need VoIP:
- You have employees who work remotely or travel
- Your phone bill exceeds £30 per user per month
- You want call recording but do not have it
- You have more than one office location
- You want your CRM to log calls automatically
How Much Does It Cost?
£20-30 per user per month for a good provider. Everything included. If the provider quotes less but charges extra for recording, video, mobile app, or auto-attendant — add those up. The true cost is higher.
DialPhone: £24/user/month. Everything included. No extras.
How Long Does Migration Take?
5 weeks from sign-up to fully operational:
- Week 1-2: Configuration and testing on temporary numbers
- Week 3: Pilot with 10 users
- Week 4: Training and number porting submitted
- Week 5: Port completes, go live
Your time commitment: ~6.5 hours total across 5 weeks.
Will It Save Money?
Yes. Every time. Average UK savings: 59% (from our 500-company dataset). Minimum we have seen: 47%. Break-even: under 3 months for 100% of our customers.
Will Call Quality Be OK?
Better than landlines. Modern VoIP with Opus codec delivers HD audio that is measurably superior to traditional PSTN. The caveat: your internet must be stable. If your broadband has consistent jitter under 30ms and packet loss under 1% (which 95% of UK business broadband does), quality will be excellent.
What About Downtime?
Cloud VoIP with geo-redundant infrastructure (like DialPhone) has higher uptime than on-premise PBX. Our measured uptime: 99.991%. If your internet goes down, calls automatically route to mobile app on 4G.
What Do I Need to Do Before Switching?
- Disable SIP ALG on your router (5 minutes)
- Configure QoS if you have 25+ users (30 minutes)
- Get your current provider's account number and LOA details
- Tell your staff (they will have questions — quick reference cards help)
What Happens to My Phone Numbers?
They port to the new provider. Takes 5-10 business days for UK geographic numbers. Zero downtime if done correctly (set up new system on temporary numbers first, port after testing).
The One Piece of Advice
Get a free trial. Make 20 calls. Test the mobile app. Call support. If the product is good, you will know in 3 days. If it is not, you have lost nothing.
DialPhone — 30-day free trial. No credit card. No sales calls. Just a phone system that works.
