If you are a BT customer, be on your guard!

BT is warning customers about a series of phone scams involving people claiming to be calling from the company.

If you are targeted, the scammers will call you and warn that your account is in arrears.

They then ask for bank or credit card details to settle the account.

If you ask for proof or refuse to pay, the fraudsters then offer to prove who they are by disconnecting the phone line then and there.

When you put the phone down, the scammer stays connected to their line, creating the impression that your line no longer works.

These places have all been affected:

• Suffolk
• Sussex
• Kent
• Nottinghamshire
• Shropshire
• Warwickshire
• North Yorkshire
• Devon
• West Midlands
• Pembrokeshire

If you get one of these calls, you may notice poor line quality, and a lack of background chatter and no call centre noise in the background, which there usually is when someone from a big company calls you.

This type of phone scam has been happening all over the country.

The Trading Standards Authority admits this type of phone fraud is around.

So if somebody calls you, keep your wits about you, be cynical and mistrust them if you have to, or don’t trust them, particularly if they are asking for money.

If they want your bank or credit credit card details don’t be afraid to say no!

BT says it does sometimes make calls to customers about debt – but they stress that they never carry out disconnections during a call.

They advise customers never to give out any banking details over the phone unless they are absolutely certain who they are dealing with.

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Essential Business Telecom Services

Introduction

Telecommunications technology – in all forms, and certainly not least in business – continues to advance at an alarming rate.

Business people, today, are faced with a plethora of existing, convergent or entirely new technologies, and must make important, informed decisions to safeguard the future of their businesses.

New telecommunications technologies, products and services must be suitable for conveying important business information, in the first instance, but must also offer immediate payback in terms of efficiency, flexible working and customer service.

Business Telecom Products & Services

A standard, fixed line, or "landline", telephony is still the mainstay of many modern businesses, and, despite deregulation, British Telecom (BT) is still the largest network provider.

This does not mean, however, that you cannot choose a different service provider to carry calls – indeed, may discounted rate business deals are available elsewhere – even if the telephone line, itself, belongs to BT.

Mobile phones, on the other hand, tend to be supplied as a package, which includes the phone, itself, access to a network – Orange, Vodafone, etc. – and an inclusive number of call minutes, for which you pay a monthly rental fee.

The cost of individual phones is heavily subsidised – indeed, some are supplied free of charge – and a business package may include free calls to other mobile, or landline, numbers registered to the same company.

The Internet is another important telecommunications medium for modern businesses, allowing electronic mail, or other data, to be distributed globally.

Most businesses require a fast, "always on", Internet connection, and may choose from ISDN ("), ASDL, etc. to suit their own, individual requirements.

Many ISPs ("Internet Service Providers") also provide a web hosting service, so it may be possible to have a company website hosted, and obtain cost reductions as a result.

One of the most recent innovations, of course, is 3G ("3rd Generation") – or, strictly speaking, 3.5G, if HSDPA ("High Speed Downlink Packet Access") is included – mobile broadband.

This technology offers a broadband Internet connection, not through a landline, but through a small, lightweight broadband modem – a.k.a. a "dongle" – which sends and receives data to and from mobile phone networks.

The dongle plugs directly into a USB ("Universal Serial Bus") port on, say, a laptop, and provides Internet access anywhere where there is adequate 3G coverage. 3G coverage currently extends to 90%, or more, of the UK population.

Orange mobile broadband, for example, is a recent addition to existing offerings from 3, T-Mobile and Vodafone; the Orange deal offers a download speed of 1.8MB, and a monthly download limit of 3GB, making it suitable for everyday Internet browsing and email, and also includes a free USB broadband modem as part of the package.

The "Web `n` Walk" package, from T-Mobile, on the other hand, offers a download speed of 4.5MB, together with a free modem, but is subject to a 24-month contract, while Vodafone mobile broadband offers a download speed of 7.2MB, 14 times faster than standard 3G.

Do remember, however, that even the fastest download speeds, and most generous download limits, mean little if 3G coverage in your area is poor; all of the 3G providers have coverage maps, and the facility to check coverage by postcode, on their websites

The Local Loop connects your telephone socket or switchboard to the telephone exchange.

In the past, this has always been owned by BT.

Since telecom deregulation was introduced to break the BT monopoly and create free market competiton and a "level playing field", call traffic between telephone exchanges was allowed to pass over alternative networks.

This is known as LCR or LEAST COST ROUTING.

But historically BT always owned the last part of the connection and charge line rental for the privilege, having lost the call revenue.

Now, thanks to LLU, you can transfer both your calls, and your line rental, to a new provider, for both lower call charges and reduced line rental.

It used to be that BT owned a monopoly on landlines, since they built up the infrastructure to supply them. A landline is the final connection from the BT Exchange to your premises, also known as the Local Loop.

On 1st August 2006 Ofcom allowed other telecom companies to supply landline services. This is also called Local Loop Unbundling, or LLU.

Other providers can now rent the LLU from BT and supply it to the customer themselves, usually at cheaper rates and sometimes as part of an overall package which can provide calls (minutes) and Broadband.

To leave BT as your land line supplier, all you need do is contact an alternative provider and they will manage the transfer for you.

Usually this results in lower costs and payment monthly in arrears, rather than payment quarterly in advance with BT, which is better for your cashflow.

Unlike some call plans with alternative telecom suppliers, a land line rental usually comes with a minimum contract.

If you do transfer your land line rental away from BT, they still own the responsibility for repairs, so all you do is alert your new provider to any problems, and again they will handle the management of BT to resolve the problem.

On 1st August 2006, Ofcom, the UK Telecoms Regulator, ended the formal controls on the cost of phone line rentals and calls from BT.

This leaves all phone companies (including BT themselves) free to set their own retail prices for consumers.

So now you, not the regulator, are free to decide whether you think a phone company is good value or not, and can choose the right deal for you. Then keep checking it's delivering what you want, at the right price!