So I've chucked my dead end day job in (brave or stupid we shall see!). I'm going to swell the ranks of a one man band business and mostly work from home. So I need a second line at home for business calls.

We need to bat calls that come in to the primary number at HQ from him to me, and divert when out. Three way facility would be good. Investing in costly hardware is not an option at this stage. We've been in touch BT who recommend "Featureline" Does anyone have any suggestions about alternative systems that can help us out? Thanks.

Skype have various things with a landline number that you could check out.

We just have one business line which we each divert onto our mobiles if going out or home phones when at home using BT's standard phone divert. Works fine for us.

Hmm, Skype is not a business grade product, so may be a bit Flaky during business times, so call quality may well be ropey.
No point in getting a featureline, its just a single analogue line with some extra services on it (most of which you wont need).
TBH your best option is just a bog standard single analogue line with call divert service on it.

Thanks bigyinn, I should have said, we want to avoid VOIP for those reasons. Anyone know of decent non-BT services?

Plus to run VoIP you also need a broadband connection, so if you're running a big download either the download speed will drop, or the VoIP quality will be poor.
Alternative to BT? Hmm, unless you get something from a cable operator (Virgin / Telewest, assuming they are available in your area to start with and tend to be more residential focused) there isn't much out there that isn't sourced directly or indirectly from BT.

What about a call answering service?…we use a company where you have a PA who knows your business to answer when you need to divert calls. costs about £1.25 a call, they take a message and email or text you straightaway, sounds really professional like a bigger organisation, I was skeptical when Mrs suggested it but its been ace….used too feel guilty taking a couple of hours off but much more relaxed now.

I agree with comments about Skype not being up to scratch. Great (usually for internal stuff), but way too flaky if you want/need to sound professional to prospects, customers, etc.

Standard BT line gives you the options to do stuff like accept another call and put the original on hold, call divert etc. FWIW we've got a Vodafone package but these services on the landline on not as good as BT's

In my experience BT call divert is very expensive. I use a call divert thingy(!) that can divert a call to any number -you text it what ever number you want it to divert to. Works by using a mobile sim, just get a cheap 1 month contract sim with how ever many mins you need. Went from spending £100plus per month to £20 for the sim

EDIT its a stand alone device that your regular line is conected to, and diverts as and when is necessary

Thankyou guys so far, any other experiences good or bad?