Team Partners Telecommunications

Why you should be asking for telecoms recommendations

Posted on Sep 19, 2025  | Tags: phone systems, broadband, mobile phones, VoIP

In our July blog we spoke about phone systems, looking specifically at those that had been bought during Covid times and how the financing of these was still biting some businesses hard. We ended up with the suggestion that any organisation looking to review their existing phone package to see whether it meets their existing requirements would be wise to give us a ring here at Team Partners Telecom…

It's as a follow-up to that blog that we offer you the following hopefully helpful suggestions…

…the first of which is to ask you whether you actually need all the hardware that goes with most telephone systems. Admittedly there is a certain ‘something’ about having a phone receiver to tuck under your chin and a curly telephone wire for your spare hand to toy with, but, well, if that’s something you enjoy, make the most of it, the day of the separate telephone is just about past. It’s increasingly common for people to either use an app on their mobile phone for all calls, or simply to chat through their laptops or tablets, it’s less clutter and less cost.

Our next tip is another money saver. We haven’t made a lifetime study on this, but our experience tells us that most accounts don’t make as many calls as they think they do. If you’ve spent hours negotiating an unlimited calls package this may come as a sorry surprise, but what you might find a good idea would be to actually just pay for the calls you make for a few months and then review whether the extra you’re paying for that unlimited calls package is actually worth it. We’d love to hear the outcome, just for research purposes, of course.

How long is your contract? Some of the companies we highlighted in our July blog would appear to have been tied into something interminable, certainly for their financing, and this is totally contrary to Ofcom’s stipulation that contracts should run for no longer than 24 months, unless, that is, there’s been a large investment in hardware or installation. How’s yours doing?

Referring back to our July blog again, there’s another wrinkle about financing that we haven’t yet considered, which is engagement. The snag with leasing is that the supplier gets paid immediately by the finance company. From the supplier’s point of view, it’s a done deal and they can, integrity aside, move on. So, what happens when things go wrong? The supplier’s client was the finance company, not you. You can see the problem. On the other hand, could you buy alternative hardware elsewhere for less and not have to finance the purchase at all. As a rule of thumb, a good quality handset, if that’s the way you want to go, will cost you around £100. It’s an option!

Been recommended a good restaurant or TV series recently? We tend to ask about social stuff but not so much about business services and equipment. There’s probably some interesting psychology behind this, but our point is that if you know other business owners and trust their judgement, ask them about their experience and whether they can recommend what you’re looking for. Or ask us!

We leave you with an obvious one that few people think of. Look at the reviews for the supplier or equipment you’re considering and then ask to be able to speak to some of their clients. If they’re worth their salt this won’t be a problem. It certainly wouldn’t be for us!