Business numbers from people you can actually ring

SwitchBoardOne is run by Jack Brown at J Brown Online Ltd, a small Milton Keynes company that builds websites and business systems for local firms.

It started with a simple observation. Plenty of tradespeople and small businesses put their personal mobile number on everything: the van, the website, their Checkatrade and Facebook pages. That means business calls at 9pm on a Sunday, no proper voicemail, and a number they can never really switch off.

A virtual landline fixes that, but many of the options are built for call centres, sold on long contracts, or hard to change once they are set up. SwitchBoardOne is the version we wanted for our own clients: a local number, a phone that rings when you are open, a proper message when you are not, and an account you can change yourself in a minute.

It is a small business on purpose: when you ring, you talk to the person who set your number up. If you want a hand getting a desk phone working, or you are not sure which plan suits you, just call.