What BT Digital Voice is
Digital Voice is BT's replacement for the analogue landline. Your existing number carries on, but the call travels over your broadband instead of the copper voice path, and the handset plugs into the router rather than the wall socket.
It is a line replacement. It keeps a landline working in the digital world, and for a home or a single-line business that's often all that's needed.
What cloud VoIP is
A cloud VoIP service isn't tied to a building at all. The number lives in a platform, and you decide which devices it rings — mobile app, desktop app, desk phone, several at once, or in a set order.
It's a phone system rather than a line: hunt groups, out-of-hours routing, voicemail to email, call recording, direct dials for each person, and reporting on what you missed.
The differences that matter in practice
- Where you can answer: Digital Voice is anchored to a handset at a premises; cloud VoIP rings anywhere
- Multiple people: Digital Voice suits one or two lines; cloud VoIP scales per user
- Call handling: menus, hunt groups and time-of-day routing come as standard with cloud VoIP
- Broadband dependency: both need broadband, but cloud VoIP can fail over to a mobile automatically
- Provider lock-in: with cloud VoIP the number and the broadband are separate purchases
The bit worth thinking about: broadband coupling
With a line-replacement service your phone and your broadband are the same purchase from the same supplier. If you want to change broadband, the phone comes along for the ride.
With cloud VoIP they're independent. Change broadband and the phone system doesn't notice, because it isn't tied to that connection. For a business that moves premises or renegotiates connectivity, that separation is worth real money.
What happens in a power cut
Neither works without power at the premises, because both depend on a router. The difference is what happens next. A cloud service can be set to divert automatically to mobiles when the office connection drops, so calls keep landing. A handset plugged into a dead router just rings out.
Which one should you choose?
Digital Voice is a reasonable fit if you're a one-person business with a single number, you're happy answering at a desk, and you want the least possible change.
Cloud VoIP is the better fit if you have more than one person answering, if calls need to reach people who aren't at a desk, if you're missing calls out of hours, or if you want the phone system decoupled from whoever supplies your broadband.
Either way you keep your number. See switching from BT for how the move works, or pricing for what a cloud system costs per user.
Want this set up for you?
Plans start at £19 per user per month with UK calls included. See pricing or get a quote.