In short
BT Cloud Voice is BT's hosted VoIP phone system for growing small and medium businesses, aimed at teams of five or more users. Each user has a licence (Basic, Connect or Collaborate) and makes calls on a BT desk phone or the BT Cloud Voice app over a business internet connection, managed from an online portal.
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What is BT Cloud Voice?
BT Cloud Voice is a hosted business phone system run by BT. Instead of a phone system in a cupboard, the call handling lives in BT's network and your phones connect to it over the internet, which is why it is often called BT's cloud-based phone system. BT describes it as a hosted VoIP phone system for growing SMEs, designed for the larger business with five or more users.
Each person who needs a phone gets a BT Cloud Voice licence, called a user feature pack. You can give different people different packs, add site-wide features such as an auto attendant or call queues, choose a call plan, and pick the devices each person needs.
On this site, BT Cloud Voice is supplied by Forever Communications, part of Forever Group. We plan the system with you, place the order with BT, manage the number port and look after you afterwards. This is not BT's own website.
Forever Group's main site covers its BT Wholesale cloud phone system.
How BT Cloud Voice works
The BT Cloud Voice service is made up of four things:
- User licences: every user needs a feature pack. Basic, Connect and Collaborate can be mixed across your team.
- Devices: a BT Cloud Voice desk phone, cordless phone or headset from BT's approved range, configured before it arrives, and/or the BT Cloud Voice app on a computer or mobile.
- A business internet connection with enough bandwidth for your calls. Fibre is not always required, and BT checks your connection before you order. See internet connection requirements.
- The BT Cloud Voice Business Portal, where administrators set up users, call routing and greetings, and users manage their own settings. See BT Cloud Voice login.
Because the system is hosted, adding a user, changing a greeting or rerouting calls is a settings change rather than an engineer visit, and people at different sites or at home all work on the same BT Cloud Voice telephone system.
BT Cloud Voice for business: what it gives you
Beyond replacing your phone lines, BT Cloud Voice changes how calls reach your team, whether they answer on a BT Cloud Voice phone, a computer or a mobile:
- One business identity, wherever people work. Calls reach the user on a desk phone, a computer or a mobile, and Call Director shows your business number when calling out from elsewhere.
- Numbers that are not tied to your area. BT lets you choose regional numbers from across the country, so a team in one city can look local in another without opening an office there. See numbers and porting.
- Calling, meetings and messaging in one app. Connect and Collaborate users get the BT Cloud Voice app for calls, voice and video meetings and messaging on their business number.
- Management from any device. The online portal works from any internet-connected computer, tablet or phone, so changes do not wait for someone to be in the office.
- Insight when you want it. Optional Call Analytics reports on attempted, made, received and missed calls, by company, department, team or person.
- A better wait for callers. BT offers on-hold music and messaging services, so time in a queue can carry useful information.
Features, feature packs and add-ons
Start with the BT Cloud Voice features hub, or go straight to a topic:
| Topic | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Feature packs | What Basic, Connect and Collaborate include, and who each suits |
| Auto attendant | An automated receptionist with menus, greetings and schedules |
| Hunt groups | One number that rings several phones, plus Hunt Group plus |
| Call queues and Call Centre ACD | Queues, comfort messages and agents who log in and out |
| Receptionist console | See who is free and transfer calls with a click |
| Voicemail to email | Messages delivered to your inbox, from Connect upwards |
| Call Director | Show your business number when calling from another phone |
| Call recording | Record and manage calls, with UK GDPR in mind |
| Call Analytics | Reports on calls made, received and missed |
| CRM integration | Click to dial and screen pop with your business systems |
| The BT Cloud Voice app | Desktop and mobile calling on your business number |
| Microsoft Teams integration | Click to call through BT Cloud Voice from inside Teams |
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Buying BT Cloud Voice
BT Cloud Voice is licensed per user, on BT's standard 60-month licence term. These guides help you work out what you need before you ask for a quote:
- BT Cloud Voice cost: how the price is built up, from licences and site features to devices and the yearly price change
- BT Cloud Voice call plans: pay as you go, shared minute bundles and unlimited UK calling
- BT Cloud Voice setup: switching step by step, from the connection check to go-live day and training
- BT Cloud Voice vs BT Cloud Phone: which BT product fits the size and shape of your team
- BT Cloud Voice Express: BT's simpler digital line for very small businesses
- BT One Phone replacement: moving BT One Phone users onto BT Cloud Voice
Numbers, devices and connectivity
- Numbers and porting: keep numbers beginning 01 or 02, add regional numbers that are not tied to your local area, and see how go-live day works. Non-geographic numbers such as 0800 and 03 are checked case by case.
- Handsets and headsets: desk phones, cordless DECT phones, conference phones and headsets from BT's approved range.
- Connectivity: bandwidth, cabling and backup, with our BT Cloud Voice firewall guide and call quality fixes.
- BT Cloud Voice SIP: SIP trunks from BT for a compatible on-site phone system you want to keep for now.
Need help choosing?
We will recommend what fits your organisation and explain why, in plain English.
Ready for the PSTN switch-off
BT Group is due to retire the analogue phone network (PSTN) on 31 January 2027, and Openreach has aligned its withdrawal of analogue lines with that date. ISDN goes with it. BT Cloud Voice replaces analogue and ISDN lines with internet-based calling, and the sooner you start, the more time there is to test devices and port numbers before the deadline.
Read our PSTN switch-off UK guide, see the dates and routes off ISDN on ISDN switch-off, and check the devices that quietly use a phone line with our alarm lines PSTN switch-off checklist and card machine PSTN switch-off guide. If a line is not moved in time, Openreach's Emergency Voice Access is a temporary fallback, not a plan.
Help and sector guides
Existing customers can start at BT Cloud Voice support, with how-to guides for BT Cloud Voice voicemail, BT Cloud Voice login and diverting calls.
We also explain how BT Cloud Voice fits particular kinds of organisation:
- BT Cloud Voice for schools and academies
- BT Cloud Voice for retail and hospitality
- BT Cloud Voice for healthcare practices
- BT Cloud Voice for accountants, solicitors and agencies
To talk about your own set-up, contact us and tell us how many users and sites you have.
More about BT Cloud Voice
Why buy BT Cloud Voice from Forever Communications
Forever Communications is part of Forever Group and an Authorised Supplier for BT. We supply, set up and support BT Cloud Voice for businesses, schools, charities and public sector organisations, from a handful of users to multi-site teams.
- Your system planned with you: numbers, call flows, user feature packs and handsets
- Your numbers moved for you, with BT Cloud Voice number porting timed to keep the interruption to incoming calls short
- Connectivity checked first, so network problems can be found before go-live; see our internet connection requirements
- Help with the digital switchover, including alarms, lifts, card terminals and other analogue lines
- Training and ongoing support for the apps, Microsoft Teams integration, moves, adds, changes and faults
BT Cloud Voice is BT's business phone system, and we tailor every set-up to how your organisation takes calls.
Frequently asked questions
What is BT Cloud Voice?
BT Cloud Voice is BT's hosted VoIP phone system for small and medium businesses. The phone system runs in BT's network, and users make and take calls on BT desk phones or the BT Cloud Voice app over an internet connection, with settings managed in an online portal.
How does BT Cloud Voice work?
Each user has a licence (Basic, Connect or Collaborate) and a BT Cloud Voice desk phone, cordless phone or the app. The phones connect over your business internet connection to the phone system in BT's network, and administrators set up users, call routing and greetings in the BT Cloud Voice Business Portal.
What is the BT Cloud Voice service?
The BT Cloud Voice service is BT's hosted telephone system for businesses: per-user licences, site features such as an auto attendant and call queues, a call plan and devices from BT's approved range. On this site it is supplied, set up and supported by Forever Communications, part of Forever Group and an Authorised Supplier for BT. It is a business service, and this site is not BT's official website.
How many users do you need for BT Cloud Voice?
BT positions BT Cloud Voice for businesses with five or more users. Smaller teams may be better suited to BT Cloud Phone or BT Cloud Voice Express; our comparison explains the differences.
Can I keep my phone number with BT Cloud Voice?
Existing numbers beginning 01 or 02 can be ported to BT Cloud Voice, and non-geographic numbers are checked case by case. See numbers and porting.
Do I need fibre broadband for BT Cloud Voice?
Not necessarily. BT says the speed you need depends on how many people use the system, and broadband may be enough. BT checks your connection before you order, and recommends a leased line or business fibre. See internet connection requirements.
Does BT Cloud Voice work with Microsoft Teams?
Yes, through BT Cloud Voice's Teams integration, which lets users click to call through BT Cloud Voice from inside Teams. See the BT Cloud Voice Microsoft Teams integration.
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