Phones

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Brian

Brian

DJ
Oct 28, 2006
1,005
10
North Carolina
www.southcharlottedj.com
I'm wondering if someone could enlighten me as to getting a good phone system up for the business. Currently I use my cell phone as my primary business phone, but because it has gotten expensive and I'd like to make my cell number more private, I need another business number. I was thinking either another cell phone contract with a lower priced plan, or a go-phone would work, I'm thinking that another land line wouldn't work well.

I am also interested in some sort of phone menu system that will ring through to my cell phone or any other number when an extension is dialed, etc. These services are a bit hard to find, and the one I found (Vmail) was cheap for the basic package, but there were other charges that made it pretty expensive, and the intermediate package starts at $50 a month :sqeek:

http://gotvmail.com/
 
donotcall.gov to remove your cell number from being sold to telemarketers first and foremost.

I think by the time you add another line, push, or go land line, you'll spend more money than ever. Seems like every new whizzygidget I buy or try simply keeps me hangin on to the celly. I have a good cell phone, good reception, and I can check email on the go. Its really all I need for communications.

I'm sure you'll get some more replies. good luck
 
I use AT&T for my cellphone. For just under $50/month, I take all my personal and business calls. There's no additional charge for long distance or roaming and there's free mobile-to-mobile calling to people on the same network. I've had clients on AT&T mobile who like that last tidbit.

I've gotta admit...I keep my phone basic. No internet, no text messaging, just making and receiving calls and voicemails. This has worked well for me overall.
 
jtnichol said:
donotcall.gov to remove your cell number from being sold to telemarketers first and foremost.
Click to expand...


Do not call, only applies to personal numbers -- not business listings... ;)
 
:sqlaugh:I use my cellphone for my business and it works fine no crank calls at all. It will probably be more of a hassle and even expensive to change everything. Like I always say if it aint broke dont fix it.
 
jtnichol said:
My cell phone is listed under my name and business....either way, it was accepted....
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Yeah, they'll take it, but after some amount of nuisance calls, I looked it up -- check this out man.


From the FTC website:

14. Can I register my business phone number or a fax number?

The National Do Not Call Registry is only for personal phone numbers. Business-to-business calls and faxes are not covered by the National Do Not Call Registry.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt107.shtm


What that means in layman's terms, is that the telemarketers, do not have to respect that number, if it is listed as a business number or both.
 
If you are looking for a slap yo' momma down right inexpensive price, listen to what I did.

a) Format a computer tower with Linux, any somewhat decently powered system will do, you are bound to have a slow but not exactly fast computer around which linux will run efficiently on.
b) Install Asterisk, learn everything you can about it, Setup a dialplan using a call prompt system... Mine gives callers an option to dial depending on the aspect of my business they wish to discuss.
c) Get voicepulse service, it is 11 to get started, 11 a month, and pennies per minute, even internationally. This was prompted due to working with an overseas client (cough, JTV)
d) Buy 1,2,100 Grandstream GXP2000 (I believe I got the model # right) phones, you can pick these up used or new from ebay, these phones are awesome. We use them for conference calls, intercom, all kinds of stuff at the office since my employee and I are in seperate rooms and cannot hear each other over the roar of the computer server towers.

I also picked up a zaptel card for 40 bucks but it crapped out 6 months after I bought it. Basically it converts my land-line into a VOIP line, I've been too lazy and too cheap to connect it back to my computer therefore we answer the phone with a pair of panasonic cordless phones, and scott (my employee) will press the transfer button if they wish to speak to me. Works pretty well and it gives our customers a big corporate presence.

PS, the asterisk stuff is pretty intense and you will spend several hours if not days figuring out how to program the system, but overall, the savings for going VOIP with this system are well worth the cost.
 
Travis B said:
If you are looking for a slap yo' momma down right inexpensive price, listen to what I did.

a) Format a computer tower with Linux, any somewhat decently powered system will do, you are bound to have a slow but not exactly fast computer around which linux will run efficiently on.
b) Install Asterisk, learn everything you can about it, Setup a dialplan using a call prompt system... Mine gives callers an option to dial depending on the aspect of my business they wish to discuss.
c) Get voicepulse service, it is 11 to get started, 11 a month, and pennies per minute, even internationally. This was prompted due to working with an overseas client (cough, JTV)
d) Buy 1,2,100 Grandstream GXP2000 (I believe I got the model # right) phones, you can pick these up used or new from ebay, these phones are awesome. We use them for conference calls, intercom, all kinds of stuff at the office since my employee and I are in seperate rooms and cannot hear each other over the roar of the computer server towers.

I also picked up a zaptel card for 40 bucks but it crapped out 6 months after I bought it. Basically it converts my land-line into a VOIP line, I've been too lazy and too cheap to connect it back to my computer therefore we answer the phone with a pair of panasonic cordless phones, and scott (my employee) will press the transfer button if they wish to speak to me. Works pretty well and it gives our customers a big corporate presence.

PS, the asterisk stuff is pretty intense and you will spend several hours if not days figuring out how to program the system, but overall, the savings for going VOIP with this system are well worth the cost.
Click to expand...


Travis I've been thinking about doing something just like that but until now I didn't know what software or anything. Thanks! I've got a few older PCs floating around and If time permits I'll see if I can rig up something like that.
 
www.grandcentral.com is a google product. Get a number with your area code (free) and when someone calls that number, you can have it forwarded to any number you have and it screens the call for you. It's really kinda cool. Oh, try Vonage for an inexpensive service.

Dave
 
SoftJock Rick said:
Yeah, they'll take it, but after some amount of nuisance calls, I looked it up -- check this out man.


From the FTC website:

14. Can I register my business phone number or a fax number?

The National Do Not Call Registry is only for personal phone numbers. Business-to-business calls and faxes are not covered by the National Do Not Call Registry.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt107.shtm


What that means in layman's terms, is that the telemarketers, do not have to respect that number, if it is listed as a business number or both.
Click to expand...


Dude...I bow once again to the almighty goat. Thanks for the info!~)
 
Just wondering, do you guys really get that many out of the area calls that you need an 800 number? Personally, if I am looking through the phone book, I would shy away from anything that is an 800 number because it would seem to me to be more national than local.
 
patrickrlewis said:
Just wondering, do you guys really get that many out of the area calls that you need an 800 number? Personally, if I am looking through the phone book, I would shy away from anything that is an 800 number because it would seem to me to be more national than local.
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Some may live in multiple Area code area's where even dialing accros the street requires a 1+(area code) to complete the dialing take Chicago for example.
 
jokerswild said:
Some may live in multiple Area code area's where even dialing accros the street requires a 1+(area code) to complete the dialing take Chicago for example.
Click to expand...

Ah, yes, that makes sense.

I forget sometimes not everything lives in Hicksville like me :sqlaugh:
 
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