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VoIP Express - everything you need to know
What is VoIP Express?
VoIP Express is a hosted Voice over IP service designed for single user environments. Each VoIP Express account includes one UK geographical or non geographical number. You can select a preferred area code and telephone number at the point of signing up to the service.
What does it include?
In addition to one UK geographical or non geographical number, VoIP Express also provides all essential call features as below:
- Web-based VoIP Express User Portal – This is an online portal where you can manage the VoIP Express account. This is a very easy way to manage a VoIP account as you are able to edit their call features wherever they are. All call features can be edited on the User Portal and any changes made on the portal are updated immediately.
- Voicemail – One voicemail is included in the VoIP Express account. You can retrieve voicemail from a phone, by email (voicemail will be delivered to a designated email address as a WAV file) and from the VoIP Express User Portal where they can listen to and download the voicemail file.
- Anonymous Call Rejection – You can activate this feature if you do not want to receive any calls without number presentation.
- Caller ID withheld – You can hide the VoIP telephone numbers for outgoing calls so that recipients do not see your VoIP telephone numbers.
- Call Forwarding – You can forward incoming calls to a different telephone number via the User Portal. A standard VoIP Express call charge applies when a call is forwarded to a chargeable outgoing telephone number.
- Black List – This is a call screening facility that allows you to block unwanted incoming calls. All incoming calls from the numbers on a black list will be blocked or diverted to a voicemail. You can manage the black list on the User Portal by simply adding the telephone numbers to the list.
- White List – This is an advanced Do-Not-Disturb feature. If the white list feature is activated and there is no number on the white list, then all incoming calls to your VoIP number will be blocked or diverted to voicemail (similar to Do-Not-Disturb feature). However, if this feature is activated with telephone numbers added to the white list, then the system will allow incoming calls from these white list numbers only. This is particularly useful when you wish to receive important calls even under Do-Not-Disturb mode.
- SMS – The VoIP Express account enables you to receive SMS text messages on their VoIP Express telephone numbers. If an SMS is sent to your VoIP Express account, the phone will ring and the message will be played back when the phone is picked up. You can also send SMS texts to a mobile number via the User Portal. Outgoing text messages are charged at 10p per text.
- Tariff Checker – You can check the tariff for a destination by simply entering the first few digits of the destination telephone numbers into online Tariff Checker. This is a useful tool which can be used to check the charge for a call before you make it.
- Real-time call data – All call information including received calls, missed calls and outgoing calls is available on the User Portal in real-time for information and monitoring purposes.
How many simultaneous calls are allowed on VoIP Express?
The VoIP Express service only allows one call at a time. For multiple simultaneous calls, please see VoIP Enrich product.
How does the Billing work for VoIP Express?
VoIP Express is a pre-pay only service. You must setup a recurring credit/debit card payment with our partner Entanet. The monthly rental fee is then charged in advance on a monthly basis to your payment credit/debit card under the name of Entanet International Ltd. You pre-pay a call credit by topping up your VoIP Express account with a credit/debit card. The account can be topped-up in two ways:
1. Ad-hoc top-up: You can top-up an account anytime you wish via the User Portal. Once they complete the payment online, the call credit is added to the VoIP Express account immediately.
2. Automatic regular top-up: You can setup an automatic regular top-up for a VoIP Express account. You can define a certain amount (e.g. £20) to be topped up to the account when the account credit level falls below certain amount (e.g. £5). In this example, every time when the account call credit falls below £5, the system will automatically charge £20 call credit from the registered payment credit/debit card and top-up credit to the account immediately.
Call credit on VoIP Express accounts is valid for 90 days only, from the date it is added to the account. Any unused call credit after 90 days will expire and is not refundable.
What is an “on-net” call?
Calls from a VoIP Express account to any other VoIP users on Entanet’s VoIP network are classified as ‘on-net’ calls. All on-net calls are free of charge and we do not limit the number of on-net calls that can be made per account.
What is an “off-net” call?
Calls to any numbers outside Entanet’s VoIP network are classified as ‘off-net’ calls. For example, calls to to mobile numbers or calls to any other non Entanet VoIP numbers.
Off-net calls are chargeable. The charge to each different destination can be found on the User Portal under ‘Tariff List’. Off-net calls are charged on a per second basis and are rounded up to the nearest penny.
What level of support and service is available?
You have access to 24/7 UK-based technical support team. Calls to the support team from a VoIP Express account are completely free of charge.
Is there any minimum contract for VoIP Express?
There are no minimum contract terms on the VoIP Express service. However, a 30 day cancellation notice applies. All unused call credit in the account is NOT refundable.
Which CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) should be used?
The VoIP Express service is a SIP-based service. Therefore, it can be configured to any SIP devices including IP phones and ATAs (analogue terminal adaptors). There are three options for using the service:
1. Analogue Terminal Adaptor (ATA)
This is a device that can be purchased to enable VoIP calling from any existing standard (non-IP) telephone handset. An ATA is an adaptor that connects telephone handsets to the broadband router. With correct configuration, all outgoing and incoming calls made from the existing standard telephone handsets are routed over the VoIP Express account.
2. IP Telephone Handset
This is a device that replaces your existing standard (non-IP) telephone handset. The IP phone directly connects to the broadband router and can be configured to make/receive calls through the VoIP Express account. The IP phone offers a more user-friendly way to access certain call features such as voicemail, as it normally has function keys on the telephone keypad.
3. Software Phones
For those who do not wish to invest in an IP device, a PC-based software phone can be downloaded free of charge from different web sources. However, this is not a recommended method as there are many factors that could affect the call quality which are outside of our control. For example, the PC sound card quality, the PC microphone sound quality….etc.
The SIP configuration details that are required to configure a SIP device are available on the User Portal. This information is sufficient for an IT department to configure the device.
Entanet works closely with IP device manufacturers in testing its service with various IP devices on the market. This helps it to make sure the service is compatible and easy to configure with most of the popular IP devices. Based on the results of testing, these devices can be purchased from our online store.
Entanet’s technical support specialists are fully trained to support any configuration problems that occur with any of our devices. This means you can call the Technical Support Team for assistance on configuration if the device was purchased from us.
999 Emergency Service
Entanet intends to support 999 Emergency Service access from its service. When the access is granted, the call is made at no charge. However, please note 999 emergency access is not yet guaranteed on Entanet’s service. This means that there is a possibility that the 999 service cannot be accessed from Entanet’s service.
Please note VoIP service is dependent on power and Internet availability and therefore you will not able to make/receive calls under the circumstances below:
1. When there is no power – Unlike traditional telephony service which does not rely on power to supply the service, a VoIP service is dependent on the devices (such as PC, ATAs or IP phones) that require power supply. A VoIP service would stop working (and therefore emergency service cannot be accessed) if the power fails.
2. When there is no Internet access – A VoIP service fails when the Internet service fails.
It is strongly recommended that you have an alternative method of making emergency calls (such as PSTN or mobile) and have such alternative calling methods available on the premises where VoIP is installed. 112 Emergency service is not accessible from Entanet’s VoIP service.
What is the size of each call?
VoIP calls takes up around 40k – 60k bandwidth each way. It is recommended that you have no more than 5 VoIP users on a single broadband connection. For small businesses who will make a lot of calls and use the internet we recommend having a dedicated broadband connection for VoIP only that is not shared for data usage.
BT Number Porting
If you have BT telephone numbers that they wish to retain, we can support the number porting from BT to our VoIP service. This process may take around 3 weeks and there is no guaranteed lead-time. If you wish to port a BT number, please discuss with us.
Help contact details
For sales enquiries, please call the Sales team on 01296 320 005.