Like you, we have been frustrated with telecoms providers before. Whether it is a mobile phone provider that bounces you from one call centre rep to another, a business phone company that sends a proposal with 20+ spelling mistakes, or a high speed broadband supplier who is anything but high-speed, chances are you have had an appalling experience somewhere down the line. BT and Vodafone, despite their claims and excellent advertising, would appear to be two of the worst. In fact, a Vodafone customer recently had such a horrific experience that she wrote a play about it! Read the play here. The irony is, they are two go-to brands for most people looking for a mobile or business phone system.

But what are the alternatives? Aren’t all the other providers just reselling the services of one of the big telecoms carriers? Isn’t it cheaper just to go to them directly, even if the service is terrible?

The answer is a resounding NO.

All the other telecoms providers are not just resellers.There are lots of resellers indeed, but there are also service providers that buy wholesale network connectivity from BT Openreach and connect it to their private infrastructure to offer (usually) a superior service. 

The question you should now be asking is: What do I have to lose if I get this wrong? What if I sign up for unified communications services from BT or some other company that looks amazing? It can’t be that bad, right?

Consider this

1.  Large telcos don’t really care about you. And service issues are a common occurrence. So if your phone line is crackly and you can’t hear customers, or if your internet is so slow you can’t process orders—you will have to call a “Customer Service” call centre and log a ticket, which will get dealt when it finally shimmies its way through the system to someone who may or may not be able to help. Meanwhile your business suffers.

2.  Most IP business phone service issues are NOT a major network problem, but rather user-error, a local issue or due to the way the system is being managed. Deducing what is going wrong usually requires clever and creative investigation by a knowledgeable engineer. You simply don’t get that at BT or Vodafone, or at least not unless you spend many lives bugging them and waiting.

3.  Telecoms, like all technology, is advancing year on year. In order to take advantage of what is on offer, you need an advisor who will take the time to listen to your needs, and develop a communications solution that will be used to the fullest by your team. That is how you maximise efficiency, productivity and growth. Just signing up for the latest billboard business phone deal is a missed opportunity. 

The bottom line

If you are in the market for high speed internet connectivity, or a VoIP business phone system, or unified communications for your growing business—check out a good service provider near you. You will undoubtedly get an incredibly competitive price, better product and superior customer service.