3Rnet.co.uk Reaps Benefits of Adding Purple Networx to its Portfolio

An affordable, scalable and user-friendly product, Purple Networx offers 3Rnet.co.uk a range of abilities

As a reseller:

* To access the SME market with an affordable VoIP telephony solution that will grow with the customer’s business
* To provide high level product support and customer service to its end-users via O-bit Telecom
* To access the telecoms expertise of O-bit and be supported in the sales, marketing, installation and servicing of Purple Networx

As an end user:

* To benefit from the flexibility of a simple, affordable VoIP telephony solution
* To manage remote and home working capabilities
* To benefit from full technical support in product installation and general use

Background

Established six years’ ago with the aim of providing IT products to customers across the internet, 3Rnet.co.uk offers a wide range of IT and telecoms solutions to businesses and home-workers. In addition to products such as ADSL, ADSL routing, anti-virus, hosting and VoIP, 3Rnet.co.uk provides comprehensive IT support and maintenance which ensures that customers continue to benefit from its portfolio of solutions as technical problems are quickly resolved. Founded on IT expertise, 3Rnet.co.uk added telecoms solutions to the company’s product range when it signed up as a reseller with O-bit Telecom in 2005.
Challenge

3Rnet.co.uk’s CEO Richard Robinson recognised a need to expand his company’s reach into the telecoms sector in order to remain competitive in the reseller space. Robinson wanted to source a telephony solution that would complement 3Rnet.co.uk’s existing portfolio of products and also be simple to install, manage and use.

“Simplicity and scalability is the key to finding a product that will ultimately be profitable as a reseller,” explains Robinson. “No matter how clever it may be, if a product is complicated to deploy, requires manpower or unusual equipment, and then is even more difficult for the customer to use, it will just end up costing my business time and money to sort out. So it becomes particularly important to make the right choice.”

As a small business itself with the need to manage home working, 3Rnet.co.uk also wanted to find a VoIP telephony solution that it could deploy to meet its own operational requirements.
Solution

Already working with O-bit Telecom as a reseller of its ADSL solution and wholesale telecoms line rental, Robinson was keen to find out more about O-bit’s VoIP telephony product Purple Networx when it was launched in late 2009. An opportunity to meet the O-bit Purple Networx team and test out the product in person was too intriguing to miss, so Robinson visited the O-bit offices in September 2009.

“I was definitely impressed with Purple Networx and how easy it was to set up and use,” recalls Robinson. “I come from an IT background so Purple Networx really made sense to me in terms of the installation process. It was also a real bonus to meet the support team so I knew I could put faces to names when I would be calling on them for help in the future.”

One of the key benefits of Purple Networx is the minimal equipment required to install the system into business premises. The customer simply requires enough handsets for their needs: a Purple Networx router; an existing phone line; and a PC with an internet browser.

“When the handset and router arrived I phoned the O-bit helpdesk who talked me through the various buttons to press to identify the IP address. Once I’d found the IP address, I punched this into my internet browser and logged into the Purple Networx set-up site,” explains Robinson. “Here I needed to enter various data fields such as extension numbers, passwords and SIP trunks to ensure the system was properly routing to my handsets. All in all, the process literally took about twenty minutes and we were ready to go.”

It wasn’t all completely plain sailing for Robinson, however, who experienced some minor issues at one stage with dialling a particular 0500 number. “Any problems we experienced was actually more down to my unfamiliarity with the product rather than any inherent flaws in Purple Networx itself,” Robinson explains. “It turns out the 0500 number just wasn’t in the dial plan, so once I had spoken to the O-bit support team and got that straightened out, it simply wasn’t a problem.”
Customers

Having established Purple Networx very comfortably within his own business, Richard Robinson was keen to ensure his customers were getting the benefit of the new technology. One of the first customers he sold Purple Networx into was Hatch, a furniture business based in Epping.

“The team at Hatch were basically operating from a barn building in Epping and had an old BT feature line installed to service their telephony needs,” recalls Robinson. “However, the company is expanding and growing in terms of staff numbers, so they realised they would need a proper phone ‘system’. The cost of rolling out the BT technology across a higher volume of users was going to be disproportionate to their actual needs, so I saw this as a golden opportunity to set them up with Purple Networx.”
Support is key

For Robinson, the real success of Purple Networx lies in the O-bit customer support team. “I have used and installed many different types of VoIP solutions - and there are certainly plenty out there on the market, But what really sets Purple Networx apart from the competition is knowing I can call an 0800 number and speak to a UK-based adviser who can help with my query. Not only does this give me considerable piece-of-mind as a user myself, but significant additional value to offer my customers when I’m selling the Purple Networx solution to their business.”

O-bit Becomes First UK Company to Offer Automated 999 Feature on Calypso

O-bit Telecom has become the first company in the UK to offer an automated 999 feature on the new Calypso system. This new platform is set to replace the current BT system for 999 data base management. The development will go hand-in-hand with O-bit’s unique Purple Networx portfolio –the true end-to-end VoIP solution.

Other phone companies that supply IP telephone numbers have to manually register the number on the now outdated emergency services database. This is to offer added protection for the user – so that if an unidentifiable 999 call is made from the handset, a member of the emergency services can be sent to the registered location to investigate.

O-bit has become the first UK company to offer this service entirely automated and supported by Calypso. Whenever one of O-bit’s customers places an order for an IP phone, the newly generated number will be automatically registered onto BT’s database against the user’s address – with no manual involvement from the customer or O-bit.

O-bit CEO, Dave Breith, referred to the new service as “revolutionary!” Saying this week, “Our new automated 999 offering is just another example of how O-bit can make life so simple for its customers and partners”.