DBS top selling virtual local numbers

DBS Telecoms offers virtual local numbers for almost 500 different towns, cities and areas across the UK.

We've listed our top selling virtual local phone numbers below so that you can navigate easily to the most popular choices. Not surprisingly London is our top selling local phone number!

London 0203, 0207 & 0208 phone numbers

Nottingham 0115 phone numbers

Aberdeen 01224 phone numbers

Northampton 01604 phone numbers

Liverpool 0151 phone numbers

Leicester 0116 phone numbers

Bristol 0117 phone numbers

Glasgow 0141 phone numbers

Leeds 0113 phone numbers

Manchester 0161 phone numbers

Birmingham 0121 phone numbers

Cardiff 029 phone numbers

Warrington 01925 phone numbers

Harrogate 01423 phone numbers

Chelmsford 01245 phone numbers

Edinburgh 0131 phone numbers

Cambridge 01223 phone numbers

Bradford 01274 phone numbers

Oxford 01865 phone numbers

Reading 0118 phone numbers

DBS Telecoms now selling international toll free numbers

DBS Telecoms prides itself on selling a wide range of different telephone numbers to meet the needs and demands of its customers. Its current range includes UK freephone 0800 telephone numbers, UK 0845 lo-call numbers, revenue sharing UK 0844 phone numbers and virtual local numbers for 479 different UK area codes, including London 020 numbers. All of these types of numbers can be pointed to a landline or mobile phone, and are all available as fax-to-email numbers as well. DBS Telecoms also have a wide range of extra features to accompany these numbers.

In line with supplying what its customers want, DBS is now supplying international toll free numbers. In the same way that virtual local numbers allow businesses to appear to be in an area of the UK that they don’t actually have offices in but want to operate in, international toll free numbers give businesses a presence in a country that they don’t have offices in but want to operate in. This means that customers in that country are not put off calling a business because they don’t want to phone a “foreign number”.

DBS will now be supplying international toll free numbers for 106 different countries around the world. These will include:

• USA

• France

• Germany

• China

• Japan

• Italy

• Spain

• Australia

• Canada

• New Zealand

Commenting on the launch of DBS international toll free numbers, DBS Director David Clarke said: “We are delighted to be able to offer international toll free numbers to our customers now for 106 different countries. So much business is international now due to globalisation in the last few decades, and the internet has only accelerated that. These numbers reflects businesses needs to not just have different phone numbers for areas across the UK but to cover the countries across the globe where companies want to do business and are doing business. It is great to see that there are businesses out there that are expanding internationally even in these tough economic times”.

International toll free numbers from DBS can be pointed to either landline phones or mobile (cell) phones, or any working phone number worldwide. As always with all numbers from DBS there is no long term contract, you only need to give 30 days’ written notice to cancel your international toll free number. Discounts are available on multiple numbers.

As each number is different, if you would like more information on the range of international toll free numbers available, call DBS on 0800 046 1688. DBS has been established for 25 years and has Investors in People status and are members of the Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce.

OFCOM forces telecoms companies to cancel long term contracts

OFCOM announced this week that it will be banning both landline telephone and broadband contracts that automatically tie customers into long term arrangements from the 31st December 2011.

These long term contracts, which are known as Automatically Renewable Contracts (ARCs), automatically come in to effect if customers do not specifically opt out of them. Therefore, customers have had to been aware of the contracts and go to the effort of saying that they did not want them, otherwise they were automatically saddled with them and with all the restrictions that came with them. This included penalties for moving to another service provider.

According to OFCOM around 15% of UK residential customers have been automatically placed on such contracts, or around 1 in 7. The biggest and most used telecoms company which uses ARCs is in fact BT, although they are also used by BT Adept Telecom, Axis Telecom, Eze Talk and iTalk for residential customers, and TalkTalk Business, Titan Telecoms and Optimum Calls for business customers, to list just a few.

Announcing the move, the Chief Executive of OFCOM, Ed Richards, said: "ARCs raise barriers to effective competition by locking customers into long-term deals with little additional benefit."

Commenting on the announcement, David Clark, Director of DBS Telecoms, a leading supplier of 0800, 0845 and virtual local numbers, including London 020 numbers, said: “I am delighted to say that this move will not affect DBS, our telephone numbers or our customers, because we do not use such contracts. DBS takes great pride in being able to say to our customers that you will not be tied into any form of long term contract when you order with us. It certainly isn’t a case of you have to opt out of anything with DBS Telecoms, we simply do not believe in imposing long term contacts of any type. DBS Telecoms feels that if a telecoms company provides good numbers, good customer service, sensible prices and responds to the needs of its customers then it should not need to force customers to stay with them, because they will want to stay with them. If customers want to stay then they will stay, but if they are not happy, if they want to leave, or if their personal circumstances change then they shouldn’t be made to stay against their will. All we require when someone wishes to cancel their number is 30 days written confirmation. You can have a number with DBS for as much or as little time as you want.

“In one sense, I welcome this move, because it means that customers will have real choice as to who supplies their phone numbers without being forced to stay with companies and without fear of penalties for leaving”, said Mr Clarke, “but at the same time I think it’s a shame that OFCOM had to force companies to do this. They should have taken the same attitude as DBS and allowed customers to make their own choices. They should have had a bit more faith that their customers would stay with them without being forced, and if they were worried that customers would leave them unless they were locked in, then they should have improved their companies, their service and their support so that customers would want to stay without being forced. Still, at the end of the day I am glad that telecoms customers are going to be getting a better deal.”

Local phone calls will soon require full phone number

One of the headlines on the BBC News on Thursday 8th September was that local phone numbers are about to get even longer. Well, that is not really the case. Beyond the headline it was revealed that local phone numbers will in fact stay the same length, you will just have to start using the full area code soon, if you are phoning someone in the same area, and initially only in Bournemouth.

OFCOM is slowly introducing changes to the way we make local phone calls, beginning next year. Because there is a shortage of telephone numbers, in order to effectively give them more options on which numbers they can use and to manage future demand, they are changing the telephone system so that if you phone someone who has the same area code as you, you will still have to dial the full area code to phone them.  This means that OFCOM will be able to create telephone numbers with 0 and 1 at the beginning of them. At the moment they cannot because if you have a phone number starting with 0 or 1 and phone it as a local number without an area code, then the phone will think it is an area code, which is why it can’t be used. This option will open up a great deal more numbers. Previously if you were making a local phone call by phoning someone in the same area code as you then you did not have to dial the area code, you could just dial the six digit phone number.

On its website, OFCOM headlined that it was announcing “plans to safeguard the supply of UK telephone numbers” in a way that meant not changing existing telephone numbers, and therefore causing the least amount of confusion and upheaval possible to people. However, it should be reiterated that this scheme is only being rolled out in areas where there is a shortage of phone numbers remaining. Bournemouth is expected to be the first area code to need this applied from the middle of next year, so if you live in Bournemouth and want to phone someone else in Bournemouth you will have to dial 01202 and then the number. Once this is introduced, you could start seeing Bournemouth numbers beginning with 01202 0 or 01202 1 which you currently don’t see. After Bournemouth, OFCOM expects Brighton and Hove on 01273, Aberdeen on 01224, Milton Keynes on 01908, Bradford on 01274 and Cambridge on 01223 to need this scheme within the next 5 years. OFCOM have published a very useful map showing the timeline for the expected changes to local phone numbers up to 2021 and beyond. London 020 numbers will not be affected by this change.

David Clarke is a Director of DBS Telecoms, which provides a wide range of telephone numbers, including virtual local phone numbers. Commenting on the announcement he said: “This is probably going to cause a minimum amount of disruption to individuals and businesses, firstly because it means there won’t be any changes to numbers or dialling codes, as has so often been the case in the past, but also because a lot of people automatically dial the full area code these days anyway because they are so used to using mobile phones. Also, many numbers are often saved on speed dial functions, which will include area codes. This is probably the best way of making sure there are still plenty of numbers to go round without making numbers longer or adding different digits. It doesn’t mean companies have to change their advertising on signs, posters, listings or vehicles, and we welcome that”.

Report on China illustrates growth in online businesses

According to a report on the BBC News website on 30^th August by Nick Mackie, online shopping is experiencing a huge growth spurt in China. In fact, according to his report, figures show that the online shopping industry in China grew by 87% year on year in 2010, a quite dramatic leap when you think about how poorly industry is doing everywhere else around the world right now. The industry in China had a turnover of $80 billion dollars in 2010. 

Apparently there are now around 5 million small, online stores operating in China. It is hardly surprising that so many small online stores are emerging, when there are 420 million internet users in China, who spend a billion hours each day online. This is a huge market to tap into. 

David Clarke, Director of DBS, which specialises a range of communications, including website design, internet marketing and telecoms, said: “At a time when sadly there is still low job security, rising youth unemployment and an increasing number of graduates coming fresh out of university finding that there isn’t much work out there, it is easy to see why more and more people are turning to setting up their own online company. It is so easy. Plus, it allows people to work in a much more flexible way, looking after the children or the home whilst being at work. And despite predictions to the contrary, e-commerce is continuing to grow, and will continue to grow as the younger generation emerges. All you need is a website, you don’t even need to have to pay out to buy offices or any of the other overheads that have previously been associated with owning a business. If you want you can operate out of your spare bedroom in your dressing gown! More and more people are now just working from home, and getting a virtual phone number such as London 0207 phone numbers or 0800 numbers pointed to their existing mobile or landline phones to give them a professional appearance and to give them some privacy by not releasing their private mobile or home number to the world. Setting up your own business has never been easier.”

It is interesting to note the potential for growth in this field. At the 2010 census in China, the population of the country was recorded at just under 1,340,000,000. If there are only 420,000,000 internet users in China, then that means that only around 31% of the Chinese population are currently on the internet. So, if you think that online commerce is a major player in China’s economy now, just imagine the impact it is going to have as more of China’s population grow up with the internet. That figure is going to continue to increase dramatically. The population of the USA is less than a quarter than that of China, with their geographic area being quite similar. It is already the second largest economy in the world, the fastest growing economy in the world, and with figures like this it isn’t hard to see the possibility of it overtaking the USA in the not too distant future. 

Back here in the UK, it was reported last week that 77% of UK households now have access to the internet, with a huge leap in people using the internet from their phones rather than a computer. 45% now access the internet on their smart phones, compared to 31% last year. The figure was 71% among 16-24 year olds, so again expect that figure to keep growing. It is becoming increasingly clear that phones are going to replace computers as the normal method of getting online. Google’s recent purchase of Motorola was the perfect example of this. It is therefore apparent that the phone is going to become even more important to how we do business, both in the UK and globally in the coming years, whether it is through more people using phones to access the internet or through using a virtual phone number instead of an office to operate from.