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Everything you need to know about business telephone lines

Monday, 10th December 2018

Everything you need to know about business telephone lines

Business phone lines are essential for SMEs in all industries as they are necessary for making and receiving calls and accessing the internet. There are a number of business telephone line rental options available. We are discussing the three main types namely; analogue, digital and SIP lines.

For any business, call quality is extremely important and that is dependent on the type of business telephone line that you choose and the quality of that line. Therefore, it’s important to know what type of line to choose.

Analogue, digital and SIP: What’s the difference?

Analogue lines, also referred to as PSTN lines which stands for public switched telephone network, are the traditional phone lines that consist of a single line, similar to the circuit that you would use at home. These lines connect users through a “subscriber loop” that is made of copper wiring. Analogue lines should be used for voice calls, franking machines and fax machines. It can be connected to a modem for a dial up internet connection, but this has become obsolete due to VoIP technology. We recommend that businesses steer clear of analogue lines as they are affected by the weather which can lead to reduced call quality.

Businesses need stronger connections and so generally use digital lines in the form of ISDN2 and ISDN30.  These lines compress voice signals and remove any unnecessary frequency bands which creates better sound quality. ISDN lines offer the ability to transfer incoming calls back out from your site to any external telephone number and the ability to have additional numbering options for incoming calls known as DDI ranges.  One of the main business advantages of ISDN or digital lines is the high speed that they offer which ultimately leads to higher quality calls. Over the next few years however they will be phased out in favour of SIP trunks and VoIP phone systems.

SIP lines, standing for Session Initiation Protocol, were created to transmit voice traffic over a data line.  Business SIP trunks and IP telephony are the new age business phone lines. SIP trunks connect to your broadband connection which allows for VoIP calls to be made.

Looking after your lines

As well as choosing your business phone line there are a number of features that can be used to look after your lines. These include fraud monitor, line safe and level care.

Fraud monitor aims to protect businesses from telephone fraud which is the largest source of fraud in the UK. This is done through your telecoms provider monitoring your calls 24/7 and then contacting you immediately as well as barring the service should any discrepancies show up.

A “line safe” guarantee protects you from engineering call out charges. We ensure that you don’t pay engineers call out charges for issues that are caused by your own equipment or wiring.

Keeping your telephone lines in full working order should be a priority for your telecoms provider which is why we offer Level Care packages. If our customers experience any phone line issues, we will look into it as a priority.


Want to find out how our telephony solutions can help you increase your productivity and reduce your costs? Or are you just looking for some friendly, impartial advice on the best tools to make communicating a breeze? We can help! Contact us today via our live chat, call 0333 3603 423, or email enquiries.uk@enreach.com.