Because of the uncertainty in call charging on 0845, 0844 numbers have been brought

in. 0844 numbers are at guaranteed fixed call rates across all providers thus removing any confusion regarding to charges. The benefits of using 0844 numbers include call routing facilities, a professional image and can be converted to a virtual switchboard free of charge. Large and small businesses alike are using 0844 numbers to capitalize on the many benefits and opportunities. An 0844 number lets you offer a fixed low rate call charge for your customers, and retain a single number to call from anywhere in the UK.

By going for a free 0844 number for your business or organization you can increase calls to your business by up to 70%. It’s free to your clients and a memorable number will be easier to remember then an existing landline number.

With the availability of call statistics 0844 local rate numbers can be monitored to let you know how many calls you are receiving. This information can be used to see which marketing campaign is working for you, for example one 0844 local rate number could be used by your website and another 0844 local rate number could be used only for magazine advertising. This would very simply allow you to customize your marketing strategy to get the best return on investment.

If for some reason you have to change the address of your business in the coming future you won’t have to change the number your clients have become accustomed to using thereby building your customer’s confidence, this is what an 0844 number means to you.

In the days to come, we will definitely see 0844 numbers replacing other non-geographical numbers with the number of benefits it provides to its owner. Now you may run your business without any tension of changing your number or connecting with your best employees their customers whenever they need them. With the 0844 local rate number in place you should know that if anything happen to your business your recovery time is just a phone call away.

Call is routed. These calls are routed to an Intelligent Network which

Looks up and advises the destination number to which the non- geographic number is

Mapped to, and the call is connected.

Among these is the 0800 number range also called free phone numbers. As the name suggests they are free to the caller calling from landline throughout the UK while charges for calls made from mobile vary from company to company. There can be so many reasons why you want to have an 0800 number on you, it gives the public impression that you are confident, professional and very keen to do business.

The other good thing about this number is that it is used to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. To measure how much response each campaign has been getting individually. By tracking marketing campaigns with your 0800 number you know which campaign to continue with and which one has a tendency to deteriorate your image because in the end its not always about the revenue you get but the affect that particular campaign can have on your company’s image.

Assigning 0800 number can generate you highest quantity of leads not the quality. This then depends on the call receiver who should know how to utilize and make the most out of each call. They are more suited towards business to consumer scenarios and are perfect for support services, such as technical support or after sales service lines.

By having an 0800 number you encourage your customers to call you, making a positive image about your company and show that you care for them. Companies, who are always looking forward to meet their customer’s complaint or wants to be there with their customers every time they need help, should consider having an 0800 number as a business need or requirement. With an 0800 number you can even setup call recording sessions and call queuing to let your customers know that they are on the waiting list and that prevents them from hanging up or getting frustrated because they are made hold whilst paying premium rates.

In the end the difference is simple but will make difference to the profitability of your business.

With the number of benefits you are able to get with an 0844 number there seems to be no limitation or you can say 0844 number is not tailor made for just one type of business or venture. Its benefits are such that whatever it is, a corporate, large, small or medium sized business, can gain an edge over others by having an 0844 number.

Large and small businesses alike are using 0844 numbers to capitalize on the many benefits and opportunities.

Key benefits include:-

• National recognition of your business (non-geographical number) this can give you a competitive edge over others.
• options to switch to another land line number in case of disaster, this mean you loose no call even at the time of any unexpected event occurring.
• Calls routed to mobile phones so you can stay in touch with your clients even if you are out of office.
• no installation or maintenance of onsite equipment
• advanced call handling including Hunt Group routing and Auto Attendant
• Unified messaging (including voice messages & faxes sent to email), this is to provide timely response to the messages left by your customers.
• Unified messaging all offers:
  • • Network voice mail
    • SMS message alerts, helps you receive voice mail messages alerts on your mobile phone
    • Fax to email by receiving incoming faxes as email attachments
    • Voice mail routed to email
• Flexible network routing means you can stay in touch and increase availability
• useful for attracting certain types of leads, managing marketing campaigns and promotions

With all these benefits mentioned, I see no business which cant take advantage of and cannot prosper having 0844 number as its contact number.

There is variety of Services your 0844 number supplier should provide you with, that aid UK businesses to handle their inbound calls more efficiently and effectively.

Firstly there is no need to purchase any device, system or other specialist equipment to automate or enhance your call handling. Your 0844 number provider is required to do all this on a network level so you don’t have to worry about it.

Services you should be getting from your 0844 number provider

• Auto Attendant- improves the professionalism of your business instantly with a company welcome message
• Fax to email-receive faxes straight to your inbox
• Voicemail-to ensure you never miss a customer phone call.
• Call Routing-Also known as hunt groups or ring groups, intelligent call routing will allow you to receive calls to multiple phone lines simultaneously.
• Call Whisper-Frustrated by not knowing whether it’s a personal call or an important business lead? Call whisper will let you know whether the caller is dialing your landline or your 0844 number.
• Conference calls
• Call Queuing- automatically connects to the longest held caller
• VoIP Numbers-this allows callers from any standard Landline or Mobile phone to contact you wherever you are.
• Times Based Routing-Calls can be routed to a main number between 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and then to a hunt group, mobile or voicemail outside of these hours.

Most of these services are easy to setup and activated to you within 24hrs. With the proper tuning of these services with your business type, you can take number of advantage of these services and make huge profit margins.

Key benefits include:-

• National recognition of your business (non-geographical number) this can give you a competitive edge over others.
• options to switch to another land line number in case of disaster, this mean you loose no call even at the time of any unexpected event occurring.
• Calls routed to mobile phones so you can stay in touch with your clients even if you are out of office.
• no installation or maintenance of onsite equipment
• advanced call handling including Hunt Group routing and Auto Attendant
• Unified messaging (including voice messages & faxes sent to email), this is to provide timely response to the messages left by your customers.
• Unified messaging all offers:
  • • Network voice mail
    • SMS message alerts, helps you receive voice mail messages alerts on your mobile phone
    • Fax to email by receiving incoming faxes as email attachments
    • Voice mail routed to email
• Flexible network routing means you can stay in touch and increase availability
• useful for attracting certain types of leads, managing marketing campaigns and promotions

The best thing about the number is that the subscriber of 0844 number is not charged with any money for the receiving call; however the caller pays a flat fee of say 5 pence per minute. From this 5 pence that the caller pays some of the amount usually 1 pence or depends on the call volume, is the call receivers share. If you encourage your callers to call you and increase your call traffic, the 0844 number will itself generate revenues for you.

This is how an automated attend system works

When a caller dials your 0844 number it answered by an automated attendant

Then an optional message could be displayed, with a choice of option e.g

Press 1 for HR

Press 2 for Sales

Press 3 for Account

With this service you can save money and your labor costs, it makes your small business look bigger and more professional. And lastly but most importantly it helps you reduce the amount of unanswered calls. The loss of missing even a single call is immeasurable, therefore the less you miss them the better it is for you.

If you are planning to map your 0844 number on your landline you should know there is no setups cost for doing that. In case of mobile there are two packages available, the first package doesn’t have any setup charges but then it will require you pay %14.99 monthly fees. While the other mobile package costs you 9.99 to setup but then it charges you only 7.99 per month.

There is absolutely no requirement for extra phone lines or any equipment whatsoever. Your incoming calls are simply diverted on an existing number of your choice. Your phone will continue to receive calls on its original number as usual as well as the incoming 0844 calls, and can be used to make outgoing calls as normal

Beside the cost it is also very easy to setup an 0844 number which includes vendor selection, number selection, register the number by filling the form and finally with in 24 hours your number will be mapped to your mobile or landline whichever you selected.

Firstly you need to pay for setting up an 0844 number which can be mapped both to the Landline and Mobile phone. There no charges if you want the number to be mapped on your landline. In the case of mobile phone there are two packages available, the first one is free to setup but it charges you monthly fee of £14.99 while the other one charges you £9.99 for setup and £7.99 as monthly fee.

The subscriber of 0844 number is not charged any money for receiving the calls. In fact he earns money as he receives the calls . The calling charges on 0844 numbers i.e. if some one calls an 0844 number, he will be charged a flat fee of 5 pence per minute + VAT. This is all the charges that the 0844 number dialer or caller has to pay.

0844 telephone numbers cost only 5 pence per minute from a BT landline anytime, anywhere in the UK. While you don’t pay for the calls you receive. In fact you earn money for receiving calls on your number. The amount varies depending on the number of your incoming calls for e.g. if you receive 500 calls or less you will get 1.5 ppm, if more than 500 and less 10000 calls you get 2.0 ppm and if you receive more than 10000 calls then the share you receive get even higher.

In the end it is according to your business requirements you decide which package is more suitable for you to maximize your profits while minimizing your costs at the same time.

Call whisper is a service that plays a voice message to the receiver of the call announcing him/her which telephone number or departmental option has been dialed. This will help you answer each call in a more professional way, with appropriate company greeting, department or name.

This free, simple to use and setup in minutes, combine with an 0844 number the call whisper service will ensure you have the same credibility as your other large competitors.

With a call whisper service you can:

1. Ensures a high level of professionalism on every call received by playing a voice message to the receiver.
2. Eliminate the need for additional phone lines
3. Measure the effectiveness of advertising and marketing campaigns
4. No extra hardware required

If you activate Call Whisper (also known as Call Screening) on your 0844 number, a recording will play to you whenever you answer a call that has come from it. You have an option either to accept the call or hang up to reject it. While the message is being played to you, the caller only hears ringing. This will also allow you to distinguish between business callers and personal callers that have called your destination number directly. With its benefits and features it looks an ideal solution for the home business.

The difference is the way in which calls to the numbers are charged. Industry Regulations set price bands chargeable by callers for each number range.

Difference in the package

0844 number                                                                                                 

0800 number

Free phone numbers (0800/0808) provide the highest call volume but proportionally lower quality leads. They are more suited towards business to consumer scenarios.

While 0844 numbers are perfect for support services, such as technical support or after sales service lines.

0844 numbers are beneficial for revenue generating. Most of the 0844 number provider companies share revenue with subscriber by sharing 1 penny per 5 pence to the subscriber. Similarly, if the numbers of minutes per call increases, the subscriber’s revenue share also increases. However, this also revenue varies with the vendor you select and also on the package. The greater the calls received on 0844 number, the greater the revenue company can generate. While this is not the case if you have an 0800 number on you. Infact you will be required to pay for the calls you receive.