Your new phone system, from form to first call

Start here

How the whole thing works #

A new phone system looks complicated from the outside. In practice there are five stages, and only two of them need much from you.

1. You fill in the configuration form One form, eight short sections. It tells us who needs an extension, how you want calls answered, and what should happen out of hours. This is the part that decides everything else.
2. We build your system We configure the phone system to match the form, set up your extensions, and get your handsets or softphones ready.
3. We start your number port Moving your existing numbers across runs in parallel and takes the longest, so we begin it early. There is a whole guide on this: Moving your numbers across.
4. We test it with you Before anything changes for your callers, you get to ring in, ring out, and check the menus and groups behave the way you expected. Changes at this stage are easy.
5. Go live Your numbers move across and calls start arriving on the new system. We are on hand for the day itself and the few days after.

Your part

The configuration form #

Everything we build comes from this form, so it is worth doing properly rather than quickly.

The form lives at:

link.ccup.uk/voip-config-form

It is split into eight sections with a progress bar across the top, so you can see where you are and move between them.

Your part

What each section wants #

Eight sections, in the order the form asks for them.

1. About you

Who is filling this in, and how we reach you. This is the person we will come back to with questions, so it should be someone who can actually answer them or find out quickly. Name, email and a direct phone number.

2. Phone Numbers

Two different things, and the form asks about both:

• Numbers you already have and want to keep. List every one, in full, including any you barely use. A number nobody mentions is a number nobody ports, and once your old service ends it can be gone permanently.
• New numbers you would like. Tell us the area code you want and how many. New numbers are quick, so these can go live long before a port completes.

3. Company Details

The legal name of the business and the address the numbers are currently registered to. This has to match your current provider's records exactly, because it is checked as part of the port. It may be labelled “Customer's Company Details”, since the same form is used when a partner completes it on a client's behalf.

We also use the address for emergency services, so it needs to be where your phones will physically be if that differs from your registered office.

4. Extensions

The list of people who need a phone, and the internal number each one gets. This is the backbone of the whole system, and everything later in the form refers back to it.

For each person we need their name, email address, and the extension number you want them on.

5. IVR

The menu callers hear, as in “press 1 for sales, press 2 for accounts”. Tell us what the greeting should say and where each option should go.

You do not need a menu at all. Plenty of businesses are better served by calls simply ringing a group of people. If that is you, say so and we will skip it.

6. Groups

Who should ring when a call comes in for a department. Tell us the group name, who is in it, and roughly how you want it to behave: everyone at once, or one after another, or callers held in a queue.

The difference between a ring group and a queue matters more than it sounds, and is covered in the features guide.

7. Out of hours

Two parts:

• When you are open. Your normal hours, plus anything unusual like a half day on a Friday or a lunchtime close.
• What happens when you are not. A message and voicemail, a divert to a mobile, or a different message at the weekend. Bank holidays too, if you want them handled separately.

8. Everything else

The free text box, and the most useful section on the form. Anything that did not fit elsewhere goes here: call recording requirements, a receptionist who needs to see who is on a call, an existing set of handsets you want to reuse, integration with another system, or simply a note that you are not sure about section five.

Your options

Handsets, or no handsets #

Three routes, and you can mix them. Plenty of businesses put handsets on the desks that need them and softphones everywhere else.

Important

International calling #

We disable international dialling on every new system by default. If you need it, you have to tell us.

This is not us being awkward. Compromised phone systems get used for toll fraud, where an attacker dials expensive international and premium rate destinations for hours, usually overnight or over a bank holiday weekend. The bill lands on you, and it can be very large.

Leaving international dialling switched off removes that risk almost entirely for the majority of businesses, who never dial abroad anyway.

Enabling it later is a five minute job, so if you are not sure, leave it off. Discovering you cannot dial France is a minor inconvenience. Discovering a four figure bill for calls to a satellite phone is not.

After the form

What happens next #

Once the form is back with us, most of the work is ours.

1. We read it properly and come back with questions There are almost always one or two. Usually about how a group should behave, or a number that looks like it might belong to someone else.
2. We submit the number port This has the longest lead time, so it starts as soon as we have what we need. See Moving your numbers across.
3. We build and configure the system Extensions, menus, groups, hours, and your handsets or softphones.
4. You test it We give you a temporary number to ring in on, so you can hear the menus and check calls land where you expect, well before anything changes for your customers.
5. Go live Your numbers move across. We stay close for the first few days, because small adjustments always come up once real calls start arriving.