Update: BT partners on software-based SMB phone system

BT has partnered with a U.S. company, RingCentral, to offer an Internet-based phone system in the United Kingdom that’s easy for small and medium-size businesses to configure and maintain.

RingCentral’s software is designed to let small businesses set up their own phone system with a professional feel without needing to make significant investments in hardware. The software works with mobile, landline and VoIP calls.

Businesses can configure a virtual PBX through a Web-based interface, and perform tasks such as assigning voice lines and configuring voice mail and interactive menu options.

Customers can either use a real telephone to answer or make calls or their PC through RingCentral’s Desktop Call Controller. That interface lets users see call logs and launch calls with a single click by a contact’s name, among other functions.

Voice mail messages can also be delivered to a user’s e-mail, and then played through a PC’s speakers. Another feature is fax software that can send faxes from Microsoft’s Office applications or from a mobile phone.

In the United Kingdom, businesses using RingCentral have their choice of two prefixes for their main phone numbers, which then can be routed to up to 50 extensions. One option is 0800, which is a free number for callers but paid for by the recipient, or the 0844 prefix, which is paid for by the caller.

Fees charged to use numbers with those prefixes are how BT makes money from its arrangement with RingCentral, said Ake Nylen, BT’s general manager for broadband, VoIP, and software-as-a-service propositions in the United Kingdom. BT also gets a share of the subscription revenue.

BT already offers professional services for 0800 numbers, but RingCentral’s software allow small businesses to do their own configurations online, Nylen said.

While RingCentral offers a VoIP service called DigitalLine for outgoing calls in the United States, there are no plans to offer that service in the United Kingdom, Nylen said.

Pricing starts at £15 ($30), excluding VAT, per month. Calls are charged per minute, rounded up or down to the nearest 30-second increments, the companies said. A full table of charges is available on BT’s Web site.