Home and a seperate Business phone line : (

[Bagpuss]

At home I have a home line through Virgin Media and a Business line through BT. In an effort to save a few pennies, I'm wondering if its possible to permanently redirect my Business number to my home phone line i.e. a single line taking 2 seperate phone numbers, obviously all my business cards have my business number so still want customers to use this. I'm thinking about this from a money saving point of view obviously, times are hard ...

Has anyone else done this who works from home ?

Thanks in advance,
Adam/Bagpuss

[Roboframer]

We've got BT call diversion - the home phone (which is a business line too) is diverted to the shop all day doesn't cost much per quarter. You just dial *21* (number to divert to)# and #21# to take it off - or you can have divert if engaged or divert after X amount of rings.

You pay for the call between your two phones - unless you've got any sort of inclusive deal like we have with BT broadband.

[arcon5]

Could you get an 0870 or 0800 number perhaps? Then redirect it.

[CanvasChris]

I have an 0845 business number which is directed to the home phone with these... https://www.skycomuk.com/index.php

one time set up and thats it. think I paid £9.99.... there is an option to have it redirected to a mobile too... this costs a little a month but is an option, otherwise it's free after that.

[Not your average framer]

How does diverting your business line to your home phone number save you money? I'm assuming that you will still need to pay for having the business line, otherwise you will no longer have the business number, or can you close the business line and still use the number?

Is there something here I don't understand?

[CanvasChris]

You just buy an 0845/0800 number from a telecoms company which manage that number. For a one time set up of £9.99 an 0845 number is then free to use if you redirect it to a landline. An 0800 number is a little different but if you only receive less than 250 calls a month it's covered by the monthly fee starting from £4.99.

You redirect that number to any number from within your control panel on the telecoms site. Admittedly it wont be the same number as your current business number but you will save a shed load of money by ditching the second line.

You could use the money saved to do a mail out to your current data base of clients to let them know of the change... a good bit of marketing too for the ones who haven't been back for a while to remind them you are still here. Stationery is quite cheap nowadays to get redone or use a small sticker on the stuff you have until it runs out.

[David Jarvis Gunnar]

BT offer a service where you can have a second number on your BT line when it rings the ringtone is different so you can keep business and home seperate with minimal cust.
I think it is about £2 per month. We use it alot and find it helps to keep the peace.
Not of course related to my Gunnar mobile where there it is on 24/7 but please don't call after 10pm unless it is an emergency.

[daisy]

I have that too. One BT line coming into the house but two seperate ring tones with two different numbers. Its called ' call sign' and costs £5:25 every quater. I find it great and definately cheaper than two lines.

Daisy