PiaTel Takes On The Existing Providers Of UK Free Phone Numbers

May 12, 2007 - Businesses of all sizes stand to benefit from the launch on the 10th May 2007 of PiaTel (http://www.piatel.co.uk). PiaTel will offer all customers signing up to it’s services, (which can be broadly listed under the three headings of telephone, web and financial), a free phone number at no additional charge. In addition to the free number, the owner of the number will be charged a low rate of 1p a minute inclusive of VAT, which is far below the norm, of around 4p inclusive of VAT.

Once an organisation subscribes to PiaTel it has access to more than 80 functions, from the familiar (such as voicemail, fax and call forwarding) to facilities that have hitherto been beyond the reach of many smaller concerns, served and managed on PiaTel’s single, unified platform The phone functions offer great flexibility. Without a need for extra phone lines, companies can have as many individual numbers as they need, including 0800 numbers, and route those numbers to destinations anywhere in the world, landline or mobile. A company with multiple sites, mobile staff or home-working contractors can give each employee a number which will find them wherever they are, if necessary trying several destinations until the call is answered. The same facility can be invaluable to a sole trader. This ‘follow me’ concept isn’t new, in itself, but traditionally it’s associated with premium rate 07 numbers. PiaTel now makes it available globally on geographic (i.e. landline) numbers at extremely competitive landline prices.

Because of the unified platform, PiaTel’s web-based facility provides online management for many functions, including follow-me routing, voicemail, fax and phonebooks. The fax functions go beyond the now common fax-to-email by offering fax sending, whether a single fax or thousands of faxes simultaneously, which makes the service ideal for low cost direct marketing campaigns. And for software and document security, users can upload or backup documents to their own private online document store. They can also manage their PiaTel accounts and billing online.

PiaTel’s financial services offer a breakthrough for smaller businesses wishing to take credit and debit card payments but discouraged by the cost and contracts of traditional merchants. For the first time in the UK, businesses, sole traders and individuals can receive card payments via their PiaTel account. This service comes complete with customer order taking, credit and debit card processing, and electronic funds access and transfers. In short, a customer pays over the phone, using touch tones to enter card and payment details, and the funds can be credited to the company’s PiaCard, which is a standard debit card; the card is accepted by over 24 million merchants around the world, and cash can be retrieved at any one of a million ATM locations worldwide.

The PiaTel service is run on a private secure global network and has a superior audio quality which is a far remove from conventional public networks, and the service overcomes the quality criticisms levelled at established telephone providers. Monthly subscriptions to PiaTel cost from just £7.99 including VAT and customers can sign up online, instantly, at any time. Call charges are typically 1.25p per minute, including VAT. Customers wishing to try the service and hear the quality for themselves can sign up for a risk free one-month trial at http://www.piatel.co.uk.