Looking for a BT featureline alternative ?

Head to head: BT featureline V LazyPBX.

BT featureline claims it gives small to medium-sized businesses the call handling capabilities of an advanced phone system without costly network set-up.  To me that sounded like they were pitching lazyPBX, so I thought we’d stack the two against each other and see how they compare.  I’ll be as objective as I can, but hey we do run LazyPBX so you’ll need to factor that in for yourself.

Firstly, there’s a fundamental differences in the two products to highlight at the start. LazyPBX is not a dial out platform, BT featureline is.  I’d like to view this as a strength for LazyPBX because it lets you select any low cost provider for making calls,  or just a mobile ! But it also means I will not be comparing any of the BT featureline outgoing call features.

The second big difference between LazyPBX and featurline is the method used to control your phone system. LazyPBX uses a rich web application, BT featurline uses the phone via dial codes and voice prompts. Which you prefer may depend on how comfortable you are using the web. On one hand using phone access (as featureline does) means quick access, but a large number of codes to remember and a finicky prompts system for more complex operations. On the other  hand a web tool (as LazyPBX has) means a great deal of customisation is possible with more features, but you need to login to a browser every time you want to make a small change.  We should note that LazyPBX does make use of some key sequences, for example ‘**’ is used for in call transfer between extensions.

Contract & Pricing

	LazyPBX	Featureline
Contract	No contract	12-60 months
Price	from FREE	From £18.05

Matching Featureline Features

This is a comparative list of the features supported by featurline and how they’re matched by LazyPBX. Note that, as I mentioned above, LazyPBX does not support dialing out so we omit features like call barring etc..

	LazyPBX	Featureline
Hunt group numbers	Y	Y
Hunt Group Queuing	Y	Y
Call diversion	Y	Y
Call Waiting	Y (needs phone support)	Y
Call Pick-Up	N	Y
Call Return	Y (via email/SMS)	Y
Call Transfer	Y (internal only)	Y
Three-way calling	N	Y
Caller Display	Y (VoIP bridge only)	Y
Missed Call Alerts	Y (via email/SMS)	N
Voicemail	Y (via email)	Y (requires call minder)
Remote Call Diversion	Y (via web)	Y (via phone)

LazyPBX features Featureline does not have

	LazyPBX	Featureline
Web management	Y	N
Custom number routing	Y	N
Time based routing	Y	N
Powerful Call Analytics	Y	N
Works with mobiles	Y	N
Unlimited Sites	Y	N
VoIP bridging	Y	N
International numbers	Y	N
Call Menus (IVR)	Y	N
Call Recording	Y	N
Call Screening	Y	N
branch via API	Y	N
*Virtual channels	Y	N
*Virtual extensions	Y	N

*by Virtual channels and extension I mean the number of ‘phone lines’ you have is not limited by the number of real lines in your office.  For example you can create extensions which are connected to your mobiles.

Conclusions

Most of the features provided by featureline can be matched by LazyPBX, and you get a heap more. The biggest disadvantage with BT featureline is the long contract duration and requirement for installing real phone lines when you add extensions (which will be expensive),  LazyPBX has a real advantage here, because extensions are not tied to any real lines in your office, you can use VoIP lines, mobiles or any landline (anywhere).

Of course I also think LazyPBX shines because of it’s fantastic web application for customising call flow.

What’s my advice ?

Move to LazyPBX if you’re a featureline user (of course!) .
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