NBC Review: No-Frills Small Business Phone System

NBC (National Business Communications) is a UK-based VoIP provider offering affordable, small business-friendly plans with unlimited UK calling, essential features, and responsive local support.

Its Cloud Voice Enterprise and Cloud Voice Complete Mobility plans are its strongest options for most companies. While they don’t offer the integrations or training tools you’ll get with RingCentral or 8×8, both those plans have excellent call management, reliable security, and solid communication tools for all at a reasonable price point.

In this NBC review, we’ll break down each plan, compare its strengths and weaknesses to key rivals, and help you decide if NBC is the right fit for your business.

NBC Review: Key features

NBC’s Cloud Voice platform has a solid suite of business VoIP tools, especially if you are a small business that wants a streamlined package with all the essential calling tools. NBC goes as far as to say that they ‘only work with small businesses‘, showing their commitment to this market.

Let’s break down its key features and how they compare to other leading platforms.

Calling tools and routing options

NBC Cloud Voice holds its own when it comes to call management. Both the Enterprise and Complete Mobility plans offer 40+ built-in tools, including unlimited UK calls, call forwarding, voicemail-to-email, extension dialling, and out-of-hours call handling.

From the Enterprise tier up, you’ll also gain access to more advanced tools like auto attendants to manage inbound calls with menus and routing options, or build complex hunt groups and call queues to better distribute calls across teams. You can also use music on hold, call flows, and ring groups here, giving small teams the flexibility to manage higher call volumes with professional routing logic.

Unlike many competitors, NBC also includes call pickup groups, call parking, and series completion – a feature that automatically hunts for available agents if a line is busy. Call capacity management can restrict how many concurrent calls are made across a site, which is particularly useful for bandwidth planning.

NBC’s administrative controls for calling are strong, too. Authorization settings and Account Codes tracking can restrict or track outbound calls made outside your business, while Configurable Extension Dialling helps simplify internal communications across departments or locations. These tools are more commonly found in enterprise-level VoIP systems, but they’re available across NBC’s small business-focused plans.

However, NBC misses a couple of expected inclusions: there’s no caller ID customisation or voicemail screening, both of which are available with Dialpad and RingCentral. These omissions may frustrate businesses that regularly deal with high call volumes and want to filter priority callers or weed out spam.

Still, we’d argue that all these calling tools do compete with mid-tier packages from the likes of 8×8 and Vonage, and go beyond what you get from bOnline unless you pay extra.

Communication channels

NBC supports HD audio and group video conferencing from the Enterprise plan upwards. Both Enterprise and Complete Mobility users can host video calls and share screens in high definition, with support for multiple participants – a useful touch for hybrid teams.

That said, NBC doesn’t offer SMS or WhatsApp messaging at any tier – a growing expectation among modern VoIP providers. For instance, Dialpad and Vonage both offer unlimited SMS in the UK, while GoTo Connect also offers SMS support across all plans. If text-based communication is key to your business, NBC may fall short.

Training tools

NBC includes basic call recording and call reporting from its Enterprise plan onwards, which is helpful for performance tracking and compliance. But it lacks real-time coaching tools like whisper, barge, or live monitoring – features that RingCentral, 8×8 Work, and Vonage Pro include as standard.

If you’re growing a customer service team or onboarding new sales agents, this absence could hold back your internal training processes. In addition to those providers listed above, Dialpad offers live AI support on calls by bringing up information as it is mentioned, as well as searchable transcripts and AI summaries thereafter, which make performance management much easier. Although, like NBC, it doesn’t include coaching tools unless you opt for its Support or Sell plans.

Software integrations

This is an area where NBC struggles. There are no listed integrations with CRM systems like Salesforce or HubSpot, albeit you do have support for Google and Microsoft Workspaces on the Enterprise and Complete Mobility plans.

By comparison, even bOnline supports some basic CRM integrations (albeit as paid add-ons), while 8×8 and RingCentral support hundreds of apps out of the box. If your business relies on syncing calls with customer data, you’ll want to look elsewhere.

Hardware options and device compatibility

NBC includes desk phone hardware as part of select plans, but availability depends on which tier you choose.

If you opt for the Cloud Voice Complete Mobility plan (£24.99/user/month), you’ll get a ‘state-of-the-art’ desk phone included for free, provided you meet NBC’s eligibility criteria. This makes it one of the few UK providers offering bundled hardware at no extra cost – for instance, that’s something bOnline charges extra for, while other providers don’t offer integrated hardware by default, unless part of a custom solution.

The Cloud Voice Enterprise plan offers discounted desk phones from £5 per month, which is fairly competitive, especially when compared to standalone purchases (usually £200+ upfront). You’ll still get the free desktop app with Enterprise, but mobile apps are only included in the top-tier Complete Mobility plan.

All three plans support what NBC calls ‘Plug-and-Play’ compatibility, meaning all of its provided equipment arrives pre-configured and works straight out of the box. However, keep in mind that NBC integrates with fewer phone brands than competitors like 8×8 and GoTo Connect, so it’s worth confirming compatibility before committing.

Security and admin

NBC Cloud Voice performs well on security. It enforces multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all plans, supports user permission levels, and meets third-party data standards. This places it comfortably alongside providers like RingCentral and GoTo Connect for safeguarding communications.

However, NBC doesn’t go as far as RingCentral’s password strength controls or 8×8’s user-level compliance settings. For most small businesses, though, its security will be more than sufficient.

NBC Review: Pricing Plans

NBC Cloud Voice is available in three plans: Call Centre Basic, Cloud Voice Enterprise, and Cloud Voice Complete Mobility. While each includes unlimited UK calls (except for Call Centre Basic), the features vary considerably.

Still, what stands out most is NBC’s transparency – there are no hidden fees, and most plans come with hardware, mobile apps, and setup support included.

How much does NBC Cloud Voice cost?

*No calls included on Call Centre Basic; 25 user minimum

What’s included?

Cloud Voice Enterprise includes unlimited UK calls, a free desktop app, 40+ business-grade features, and optional desk phones from £5/month. Complete Mobility adds mobile and desktop apps, HD video conferencing, and inclusive hardware, such as a free desk phone, making it a stronger fit for remote or mobile-first teams.

Both Enterprise and Complete Mobility plans also come with UK-based support and 1-to-1 onboarding. Setup is straightforward, and there are no activation fees.

Any add-ons?

• Call recording: From £5/month for 30-day storage
• Auto-attendant with AI: From £2.99/month
• International call bundles:
  • 500 mins to 100 destinations: £6/month
  • 1,000 mins: £10/month
  • Unlimited to essential destinations: £5/month
• Extra numbers: Non-geographic or local from £2/month
• Additional desk phones: From £5/month

These are priced in line with (or slightly below) the market average, and unlike some competitors, NBC makes it easy to predict your final monthly bill.

How does NBC’s pricing compare?

NBC Cloud Voice Enterprise is cheaper than low to mid-tier plans from the likes of GoTo (£18), Vonage (£20), and RingCentral (£24.99 to £29.99), while still offering unlimited minutes and a solid range of calling features.

Its Complete Mobility plan is roughly equal in price to top-tier competitors but includes hardware, an edge over providers like 8×8 Work and Dialpad, who charge extra for devices or support fewer handset options. Still, as we’ll get to, NBC’s value for money around features is up for debate.

NBC Review: Help Resources and Customer Support

NBC offers a strong customer support and onboarding experience, particularly for small UK businesses that want responsive help from a team that understands their context.

Customers benefit from 24/7 UK phone support on both the Enterprise and Complete Mobility packages, or between 9am and 6pm on its Express plan. On top of this, NBC includes one-to-one onboarding support, which means a human advisor will walk you through setting up your service and tailoring call flows, user accounts, and device management to your business’s specific needs. That’s a standout offer for small business owners who may be unfamiliar with VoIP.

However, its online help resources are limited. There’s no public-facing support centre or searchable FAQ library, and the website lacks technical walkthroughs or product videos, according to our research. Businesses relying on troubleshooting guides or after-hours self-service will find Dialpad’s AI Help Centre or RingCentral and 8×8’s comprehensive support hubs to be far more equipped in this respect.

NBC also doesn’t offer in-platform live chat, and users looking to submit tickets digitally or track their queries in a portal won’t find those options here either.

Still, its human-first model has proven effective (and calling often is the easiest way to get hands-on specific support for your needs), and is reflected in its strong Trustpilot reviews, where many customers cite helpful, attentive support staff as a highlight. If your business values relationship-driven service over high-tech tooling, NBC’s support offer is likely to suit you well.

NBC Review: What Alternatives Are There To NBC?

NBC’s Cloud Voice plans deliver solid call management and UK-based support at a fair price, but there are a few stronger alternatives worth considering, especially if your business needs better software integrations, smarter training tools, or more flexible packages.

Since NBC is best suited to small businesses, let’s first compare our top plans discussed on our best small business phone systems page, which includes NBC Cloud Voice Enterprise. We’ll then compare NBC to two providers in general, discussing features and scalability compared to NBC.

➡️ RingCentral – Best for growing teams that need advanced features

Price: From £14.99 per user, per month (Essentials) to £29.99 (Ultimate, billed annually)

RingCentral is one of the UK’s most powerful VoIP systems, offering a much deeper feature set than NBC, especially on its higher-tier plans. You’ll get advanced tools like call whisper, barge, live analytics dashboards, and integrations with 400+ apps, including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Microsoft Teams.

Compared to NBC, it’s more complex to set up, and the price is a little higher. But for sales or support-focused teams that need detailed reporting, coaching tools, and omnichannel communication, RingCentral is a significant upgrade in terms of features.

Best for: Medium-to-large businesses focused on sales, customer service, or call quality oversight.

➡️ bOnline – Best for sole traders and small businesses on a budget

Price: From £7.00 to £15.50 per user, per month (billed monthly, + VAT)

bOnline is one of the most affordable providers we’ve tested. Its mid-tier plan offers unlimited UK calling, call recording, and over 45 VoIP features, all for under £10 per user. You won’t get the same range of call management options or business features as NBC, but it’s easy to use, reliable, and very low-cost.

Unlike NBC, bOnline supports useful add-ons like CRM integrations (unlike NBC) and video conferencing (at extra cost), making it flexible for very small businesses with niche needs. In that sense, while they are both relatively cheap VoIP providers, bOnline could be considered more scalable to future needs.

Best for: Sole traders or very small teams that want plug-and-play VoIP without breaking the bank.

How We Reviewed bOnline and Other VoIP Software