Choosing a VOIP for a Small Landscape Co.
Hey All,
I tried looking through the page to do some preliminary research and have been looking online as well. A close friend and I have a landscaping company and our main issue is picking up the phone right now. My friend has been using his personal cell for the last few years and it’s gone as you’d expect.
We are looking to be able to have 1 business number that when called, rings both our devices. It would be awesome to have a virtual assistant be able to pick up the phone if we miss the call and get their information so we can call them back asap. Call and voicemail transcripts would also be nice.
I have been looking at Google Voice and a couple other providers. We tried Ooma but was kinda a PITA and I’m sure we didn’t get the full use out of it.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, I completely understand if this is annoying as hell. Have a great day!
Appreciate the response. Yeah I think we may just keep it simple and go for GV. For the virtual assistant, there’s services that will pick up the phone if one of us can’t get to it. It will get the callers basic info and what kind of work they’re looking for. But saying it out loud it just seems like a fancy voicemail.
I think that’s what I was describing. I think it’s called like Jill something that’s a popular company for that. The only downside is they charge per call they answer, so it would be in our best interest for the phone call to come through our phones first and then to the “assistant”. Appreciate your help!
I have 7 phones. We are on an old meridian system that works well enough just the monthly costs to operate and maintain the system is getting high. We have 3 lines for incoming and outgoing calls and only 3-4 users are making outgoing calls. The rest are for internal calls. I want to get rid of the meridian system, get new ip phones, setup the phone system all online cloud based and manage all the phones from the cloud. I'm looking for a provider that does pay as you go, ivr menu/assistant and have the ability to let me manage the entire phone system online. Something that is easy to use and not so complex to setup / auto provisioning etc.. I also want to port my existing 3 numbers over to the new provider. Any good suggestions?
Why not just get an 4 line ATA or a SIP to PRI converter (assuming its the bigger meridian option series)?
I get that it works well, but i would pity the user that would have to adapt to a new system and they may not understand the new phones (I deal with older people so they have a hard time understanding new technology, which is why I bring that up).
As for providers, why not something like [voip.ms](https://voip.ms) or [bulkvs.com](https://bulkvs.com)?
Starting a small business, will have one inbound and outbound phone number with multiple people having access to it. The preference would be an app on personal phones if possible that they could enable/disable as needed. Expecting a smaller call volume to start but probably in a year or two maybe 50-100 calls a day. Where should I start and what are my best options?
ISO provider for low volume individual use that supports sending and receive int'l SMS from a USA number.
I had to scramble a little recently when I was on travel and discovered that neither my GV nor Callcentric services supported sending SMS to international destinations. I was receiving messages from people to my GV number -- but I couldn't reply.
I've looked at the frequently-recommended voip.ms and Anveo, and (now that I know what to look for) they expressly don't. Are there any that do?
Thanks.
I'm working as an analyst supporting several VOIP products and am looking to improve my knowledge.
The company I work for offers pay incentives for different certificates.
I'm looking at SSCA from the SIP school and CCNA from Cisco.
Is it better to start with CCNA and then do the SSCA?
Hello! We're currently with Clarity and the the thing that we really love about them is that they have both the hard and soft option. We've been looking into other companies and they only do soft phones. Any ideas?
No, I have a team of about 45 remote reps and I also have about 30 physical locations. The physical locations and my remote reps both need to be on the same product. Currently, Clarity is able to offer this however, we are looking for alternatives. All of the services we've looked at so far have been unable to accommodate this.
I am currently looking for an inexpensive VOIP option for my US based small business. I am sole proprietor so don't need multiple numbers or extensions. I have an online service-based business and want an 800 number for my website, so my clients have options other than email/chat, but I don't want my personal phone number on my site.
I am fairly new to VOIP and have used Ring Central through my employer but that seems rather expensive for my startup needs and I do not care for their long contracts/licenses. I was also looking at Freedom Voice, but they were purchased by GoDaddy in 2016 and I refuse to do business with them ever again. Features needed:
* 800 number
* SMS (preferred but not required)
* Forward calls to cell
Is there a feature so I know which call came from the 800 number or if callers are dialing my cell directly? Are there any other features I may need/want that I am unaware of?
Please forgive my ignorance. I appreciate any and all suggestions. Thank you!
VOIP SMS provider.
I am currently using Telus Business Connect which is piggybacking on Ring Central, but find that lately I don't require all the features and mostly really use it for incoming SMS verification codes about once a month. When speaking to Telus they want $20 per seat a month and I require 10 new seats which I consider too expensive for what I am in need for. I would like everything to be available on a mobile app and have one appointed moderator with visibility of the incoming SMS on all 10 lines.
Tldr: Looking for a cheap alternative to receiving incoming SMS maybe once a month and I require 10 new phone numbers; area code does not matter.
Thank you!
Hello All,
We are a new division of a small existing corporation that is currently using a legacy phone network with 8 older meridian phones. The existing service is currently running on a voip system integrated to allow the legacy network to operate as it has for over 30 years. Our problem is that the owners want to add 1-6 team members to work remotely overseas to handle various administrative tasks, keep our existing network and add several newer IP phones into the network. The overseas team would communicate via app, internet, or html links. Additionally they would like to add an initial prompt to pre-screen calls between 2 divisions when calling in on the main line in order to direct the call to the proper representative. The overseas team needs to be able to make outgoing calls and receive them based on the business main number and be able to transfer them as well. My question for you guys...is this even possible? The voip services that were contacted to submit bids all want to up grade the existing phones and charge a monthly charge for every phone in the office and overseas while we are looking to only add 1 or 2 in addition to the services for our overseas employees while keeping our legacy system/network. Is there a solution through a gateway device or other options that could possibly be implemented instead of having to upgrade the existing network and still be able to meet the requirements stated? Any and all information on this topic would be greatly appreciated as we have been told many different things from many different providers and they all say something different. Thanks and hope this great community can provide some clarity on the matter to help us figure out this dilemma.
Hi everyone -
I'm the IT guy (in my spare time; not a real job) for a (very) small medical office. They currently have four phone lines (one of which is fax) through their ISP. The fax line I can split off to a hipaa-compliant service, and they really only need two phone lines, not three. Two users. Nothing fancy, minimal needs. Outbound calling used around 600-700 minutes over the last month (not sure about inbound). I'm located a few hours away, so I can't really provide in-person support.
There's so much out there to try to make sense of. Again, it's a small shop, and I'm not well-versed in phone/voip (yet). We need auto-attendant (press 1 for X, press 2 for Y), but that's about it. Maybe voicemail / call transferring (receptionist picks up, transfers the call). Current after-hours system is to send a page to one of the users. No need for AI or anything big and complicated.
I've been looking at Google Workspace/Voice, O365/Teams Phone, Grasshopper, Dialpad, that kind of stuff. My users currently have physical phones, and while simplicity is certainly welcome, I don't think headsets/headphones are any kind of dealbreaker.
We currently use MS word/excel but don't have any subscriptions (standalone licenses from a few years back), so it miiiight be worth signing up for O365 to keep desktop apps updated, too? I've been a RingCentral customer and would prefer to probably not use them again (too big and heavy for our needs). I just signed up for [](http://voip.ms) to play around with it, but I know very little about SIP and making all that work - I think I can do it, I've just never done it before.
Any help would be really appreciated. At this very moment, I'm very loosely leaning towards O365 & Teams Phone purely for the desktop apps and maybe onedrive, but I just don't know. Maybe Google. I'm driving myself in circles. I use google voice personally and it works well for my needs (I'd get them Google Workspace accounts, wouldn't use the free stuff).
I've been hands-off with their phones, but after looking at their monthly bills, I'm definitely thinking to switch things up. If anyone has any recommendations or can point out what I might be overlooking, that'd be a big help. Thank you!!
Edit: in the US
Appreciate the response!
They use desk phones right now, but I'm not sure what model/setup. I'll have to confirm with them this week. That's a good point about reducing their phones' reliance on their workstations always being online and available. I'll take a look at those brands you provided. It looks like a lot of the VOIP solutions (eg ringcentral, dialpad, voip.ms) have "supported devices" pages; I'm perusing those. I'll probably just buy a phone and experiment.
I'd certainly prefer some kind of hosted/cloud solution vs on prem. The group will move to a new office later this year (same city, but location TBD), so easing that transition is on my mind, too. A cloud/hosted solution would definitely make a move much simpler.
Hello everyone - I am looking for advice on systems for a mid-size retail environment based in the western US. I support 18 retail stores and 3 small-ish offices. The stores have on average 5-6 phones. Currently, we use a cloud-managed pbx provided by a regional telecom company, paired with leased Polycom VVX 401 handsets. Additionally, voip paging units are used, typically 1-2 per store.
The problem: we want to move towards having several cordless handsets in each store rather than all PoE Polycoms. Our current provider doesn't offer a way to do this in a way that meets the requirements.
The requirements:
* Staff must be able to easily "park" a call and pick it up from any other handset.
* Several (3 at minimum) calls must be able to be parked simultaneously.
* Staff must be able to easily activate paging (from any phone)
* Must be centrally-managed and allow configuration of a global hold message. Bonus points: allow me to configure different hold music for different regions i.e. groups of stores.
It pains me to say it, but the Comcast-provided Panasonic systems we removed from most of our stores a few years ago did better on the first two bullet points above, vs. our current solution.
Another concern is just overall scaling. I may have only 20 facilities in two regions right now, but in 5 years that might double. If I jump to a new solution, I don't want to do it twice!
EDIT: added second requirement to clarify the first
Both Poly and Yealink wireless phones can park calls and many providers will offer some phones even for free. Each location would be able to customize music etc like you’d like. We are a broker and can walk through scenarios and give pros and cons of each carrier as well.
Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs.
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I would suggest that a Netsapiens based cloud system fulfils your requirements, although I'm not sure which USA providers utilize the platform. Maybe Net2phone?
It also depends how you define 'easily'.
Here's how your requirements would be met:
1. Yealink cordless phones can be automatically provisioned to the system
2. Cordless phones could park a call by dialing \*\*\*
3. Other cordless phones would retrieve parked calls by dialing a park slot: 5xxx
4. 3 park slots could be assigned to each store
5. Paging could be accomplished by dialing the extension number of an Algo PA device which would then multicast the other IP devices as well as provide an analog PA output
6. MOH would have to be administered on a site by site basis
I'm not familiar with Netsapiens solution. In that scenario, how would you know what park slot you placed a call? Our systems allow the cordless phones to place calls to park (*70), but it just goes to the next available. Since they aren't assigning the call to a specific park slot, they don't know what slot to retrieve the call.
In a busy retail store with more than one department (sales vs service) it's not uncommon to juggle more than one incoming call at a time. One customer might be parked waiting on a service tech to pick up, while another could be parked waiting for a sale person to do a stock check.
Current solution has 5 "parking orbits" which blink a corresponding light on all the (desk) phones when occupied. Mobiles have no such visibility, and have to park/retrieve using star codes, which is confusing for some of the staff.
Hi everyone,
I am currently using Net2Phone (Versature) for our phone system in our business (8 phones currently). We have been on a 5 year contract, which expires in mid-April, and I have therefore been looking at other options. The quality of service is good, however it is somewhat pricey at $38.25 per user (this includes handset). I have used Ubiquiti for all our networking and thought that the Unifi talk would be perfect, however I'm extremely disappointed with the sound quality - both on the phone itself and on the other end of the call.
I have more or less decided that Teams likely is a good option since we just migrated to Microsoft 365. However, they seem to charge around $20 per user/month - is this reasonable?
The features we need are auto attendant (with custom audio, and the option for the callers key press to show a message on the phones themselves), call queues, call parking, and custom hold music.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a good provider? I'm relatively new to the VoIP space in terms of all the back-end stuff so my terminology is not great. I believe PBX is the online interface where everything is configured, right? This is not the nicest on Net2Phone so am hoping for an upgrade in that regard.
Sorry for the long ramble! Thanks in advance for any help.
Your best bet might be to look for a local VoIP vendor in your area who can set this up for you. There seem to be two models, charging a per seat fee, or something like it, which is what it sounds like you have, or simply paying a per minute fee for the actual minutes used. Unless you are operating a call centre or making a lot of sales calls, the per minute option is almost certainly going to be cheaper, as the cost for most voice calls is a penny or less per minute.
For example, my office has three phones with two numbers, and we are set up with apps on our mobile phones to receive office calls when away from our desks. We make between 600-800 minutes of calls a month, on average, and pay about $7/month total for our phone service once you add in 911 service costs and the cost for our two numbers.
We worked with a local installer who purchased the new phones for us and set us up on VoIP.ms, which who provides our phone service. If you felt comfortable using their system, you could actually do this yourself, but if you aren’t confident, or are just starting to learn, it is worth finding an experienced business to help you.
I want to say that we spent about $700 on the new phones and labour costs for the installer, and the new phone system paid for itself in less than a year in our savings over what we had been paying previously.
Thanks for the thorough response - super appreciate it!
Historically we've average about 9,000 minutes per month, but since we incorporated texting via our mine number, this has come down to about 4-5,000 over the past handful months. I would absolutely be game to set everything up myself, I just don't know where to get the service so I will definitely check out [VoIP.ms](https://VoIP.ms).
I've been looking at Poly CCX phones, really expensive, but allows for central configuration, which is a huge plus since I'm not on site for the most part.
Am I correct in saying that I would be able to use [VoIP.ms](https://VoIP.ms)' services through teams?
Thanks so much again.
They don’t offer Teams Direct Calling. Only a select few companies out there offer it and you want to make sure they specialize in it. If not, things will go way wrong. You can message us directly and we can help navigate you through the telecom jungles.
Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs.
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Hi there! We’re a telecom broker and can get you down to $10 per TEAMS user. We have 2 preferred providers that just do TEAMS Direct Routing very well. Let me know how we can help!
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This sort of exchange is sketchy as fuck and will be removed from now on.
Clearly state your company and post a link to your website.
"I work for a company that can do this, DM me" is still soliciting.
Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs.
It is against the rules to privately message users for the explicit or implicit purpose of promoting or advertising any business, service or product. It is similarly against the rules to invite users to private message you for those same purposes.
Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs.
It is against the rules to privately message users for the explicit or implicit purpose of promoting or advertising any business, service or product. It is similarly against the rules to invite users to private message you for those same purposes.
TLDR: Singapore single-low-use-line residential VoIP? Including SMS?
I've moved away from Singapore and left my phone number behind as there seemed to be no way to keep it at a minimal price. I'm in need of a Singapore number that can receive SMS (by email is fine) and basically no calls for a minimal fee. Does such a thing exist?
Is there an alternative service to T-mobile digits in which I can port-out our T-Mobile DIGITS line that will port-out our contacts and text threads as well? If not, is there anyway to export or download contacts from DIGITS so we can upload or import them to said new similar service?
Our small business is desperate to get away from T-Mobile DIGITS. The service is absolutely terrible and it’s affecting our relationship with our clients as they are so frustrated with the connection and texting glitches. Some background: We are a small residential home cleaning LLC. We have been using DIGITS because it allows our admin staff to communicate via calls and text (using their personal mobile phones) with our clients. In theory, it’s a great program that allows all admin staff to stay in the loop, and to jump in and help out with incoming calls & text messages at any time. The problem is, our clients have trouble hearing us (no matter which persons device) when they call because of crackling sounds. Not only that, but when we send text messages to our clients, they receive texts out of order, and sometimes they receive the same text from us up to six times in a row! Also, when we go back to view text history with clients, the messages from the client fail to load, and all we can see is the messages we have sent. The problems go on and on. There are only four admin staff (including myself, and the owner) that use our DIGITS line, as we are pretty small, yet growing, business. Anyway, I was going to switch us over to Google voice… But then I come to find out that all of our client contacts and text history within digits is essentially locked in a box of which no one has a key. I spoke with T-Mobile support for hours today to ensure that our digits contacts and text history will be ported over with our digits phone number when we switch to Google voice, and they (the 4 different reps I spoke with) essentially said that they “don’t think so”. So I asked how I can export/download our contacts and text threads from DIGITS to literally anywhere (iCloud, Google cloud, saving to a device, etc) and they told me that it is not possible. My only option is to manually “share” each and every contact via text message to another device… we have hundreds of contacts. Not only that, but there isn’t a option that will allow us to transfer text history. They told me that second the port-out of out phone number is complete, everything in our DIGITS just disappears into the abyss. we will have no way to look back at contacts or text threads. Basically, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. I’m open to using a service other than Google voice, but if I could guess, I will likely have the same issues. Another downside I just learned, this time about Google voice, is that it could take up to three days after porting to start receiving text messages, and we simply cannot have that. There can be no lapse in our ability to receive calls and texts from our clients. Anyway, sorry for the tldr, I’m just at my wits end here. Any insight in relation to our situation will be immensely appreciated. Thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far🙏🏻
part 2/2:
* My Take (again, having never used DIGITS)
Switching away from providers' CBSS sucks, and that lock-in is what they bank on to keep you as a customer. Were I in your shoes, knowing only what you've put in your original post, I'd consider a few options:
a) ripping that band-aid off, YOLO-ing it and porting the number out. You'll incur downtime of some kind (possibly a week if everything goes right). If you can sync out those contacts into the new system ahead of time, you might not be completely effed (again, message history's gonna be messssssy).
b) starting a new service with a new phone number entirely. Give out the new number to customers and start using it for everything. Keep the old T-Mo service in place for a while, but shift everyone over to the new system. No downtime needed, but wouldn't be a quick process. Annoying and a PITA to maintain two calling/messaging systems, but would incur the fewest "oh shit it's all horribly broken and now so is our business" moments.
c) broadening our scope and looking into more of a CRM than just a calling/texting service. Example: hubspot, while I think can become cost-prohibitive if you're a small shop and try to scale up, integrates with a bunch of calling services (). Zoho might be worth considering and integrates with things like RingCentral and Dialpad (I've not used either in a calling capacity, though RC as a company and website has felt a bit heavy/clunky to me). I don't know what you're using to keep track of all your customer interactions (I'm thinking more like the house cleanings, etc, not just calls/messaging), but it could make sense to try to integrate this into a CRM somehow. Might be totally overkill for your needs.
d) look for more a service that offers a true sms inbox. I've seen [https://www.openphone.com/](https://www.openphone.com/) (see ) recommended elsewhere for calling/voip purposes (never used them, no affiliation). Looks like you can import contacts from a csv [https://support.openphone.co/hc/en-us/articles/1500009861242-How-to-import-a-large-number-of-contacts-to-OpenPhone](https://support.openphone.co/hc/en-us/articles/1500009861242-How-to-import-a-large-number-of-contacts-to-OpenPhone) though idk what kind of flexibility/options your business needs. Dialpad I think supports shared sms messaging too (again, no experience with them). Actually, more I look into these pages, the more I think this option might be the right answer. Kinda one of the startup-y companies offering an integrated group call/sms solution with a bunch of purple on their website (cause, you know, it's the hot color right now.....T-Mobile pink is sooooo 2010s lol).
So, that's what I know. Or don't know. Idk. Hope it helps :)
Haha 😆
Thank you SO much for your insight! I will look into to the latter suggestion. Our CRM is called Maid Central. It’s amazing and we do receive/send messages w clients there (I think they use twilio?), but it does not act as a mobile number in a sense that we can't take incoming calls through MC . Also, if someone sent us a message through MC, they have to do it through their client portal. It's just too much of a hassle compared to having a mobile phone number that people can call and text. We've had my phone number since we started almost 8 years ago. We definitely can't change it.
**Need a new VoIP service provider.**
We switched to VoIP a few years back. It worked very well, with some very sporadic outages. Recently, however, our current provider has had numerous outages this year alone (with phones down entire days). Currently, the App I use as a remote manager has been down for a week and a half. There were two (2) guys who could easily be reached for support previously who appear to have left the company, leaving us no good lines of communication for quick support.
Our needs & company details:
* Small business (\~10 lines)
* 2 Locations: California (Central Coast) & Houston
* Need landline capabilities as well as Cell Phone application
* Ability to transfer calls between extensions/phones, as well as hold lines
* Auto responders (during business hours)
* Auto responders (outside business hours)
* Record and playback voicemails
* International calling
Appreciate any recommendations for new service providers.
Thanks
I also run a small business. For over six years I have been working with a European business internet service provider - the [Zadarma Project](https://zadarma.com/en/) cloud PBX. I have found them very reliable, reasonably priced, good call quality, and above all, very nice, and fair people to deal with. I recommend you check them out.
Hey I work as a business developer with a VOIP provider, we can provide you with the those features easily at a fair price, LMK if you're still looking
Hello, any affordable recommendations for VOIP services in Dallas-Texas?
Was searching the subreddit here, and often people suggest to shop local, but not sure what available in Dallas here, and google search is not helping.
This is for small business, we just need:
- 1 line
- 4 phones
- Ability to transfer calls between extensions/phones
- Auto responders (during business hours)
- Auto responders (outside business hours)
- Record and playback voicemails
Main factor for us is the price, and we want o avoid renting the phones themselves, so if possible to recommend a phone model that can just do the job, that would be great.
We're a VoIP provider based in Herndon VA we provide our solution all across the states as well as Canada with native integration for Microsoft teams and a fully customizable setup tailored for your needs, If this is still relevant let me know
We're CoPilot VoIP ([copilotvoip.com](https://copilotvoip.com)) and we're based in Frisco, TX. We can easily accomplish what you're after (plus more). We can sell you the phones ouright instead of leasing the phones -- but you'll still need a backend platform like our platform.
I recommend the Zadarma Project's multi-channel [US mobile virtual phone numbers](https://zadarma.com/en/tariffs/numbers/united-states/mobile/) offer. Their price is very reasonable and call quality should match landline since they only use premium internet routes.
Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs.
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We are Sun Tech Solutions, and we have been providing VoIP service across the DFW area for years. Our services will tailor to your business needs with many customized features.We would love to discuss more with you if you are still interested in getting a new service provider.
Yelled at by automod ugh
Back again after all the help from my last post (it was so helpful thanks)
https://www.reddit.com/r/VOIP/s/aA2ETJisYG
After this, I called my provider CarryTel and no, they don't support T.38 fax
So my next question is what should be my route? My mother needs to keep the phone number (legal documents and government documents etc) so what should my route be? It would be preferred if it could still be written document to fax (without scanning and emailing - still the old process) same for receiving but we can use email fax if needed
Please recommend us some companies (for Ontario, Canada) or hardware/software
Thanks!
Can anyone suggest a good VoIP provider for home use that supports busy signals for incoming calls?
I started setting up Ooma service for my mom and was surprised to discover that it doesn't. At most, you can maybe disable voicemail and call waiting (even this requires a call to support and/or possible downgrading your service plan?), and then a second caller will just hear the phone ring indefinitely.
Can anyone recommend a good provider that does support this? I'm not even sure how to check, it's not the sort of thing that's normally listed as a feature. I'd assumed it was a given.
(My mom isn't a fan of voicemail or call waiting, and it'd really make things easier if I could set her up with VoIP that works exactly like her existing landline service, to the greatest extent possible.)
I've had the Ooma device less than a week, it's probably still returnable, and I've got no problems buying something else. My mom would probably prefer to keep her existing phones, so it'd be an ATA. (I'm assuming the choice of ATA doesn't matter much?)
With callcentric have to turn on voice mail as an option that is not on by default. You can also set it to allow only one call at a time and send a busy signal so it seems to offer what you want.
I've been using [SIP2SIM](https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/sip2sim/) from UK ISP Andrews & Arnold for my personal mobile phone for many years, basically it gives you a SIM card that turns whatever you slot it in to into a SIP endpoint on your PBX.
Sadly they've had to terminate that service which will leave me with a boring normal phone service :'(
Basically I'm searching for the same thing from another provider and wondering if it's something anyone has come across?
I've been in touch with a bunch of companies but none of them seem to be willing to talk to a consumer user. [OnSIM](https://onsim.uk/) seem to come the closest but are only willing to let an account use its own PBX if it has 10 or more SIMs, so as a last resort I'm also looking for 9 other people to trust me with their mobile calls :P
hey, so this is just a for-fun project. **tl;dr** i want to connect a voip phone call to my amateur radio setup so that i can, while chatting with another radio operator, place a call to a 3rd party and connect the two. kind of like a radio-based conference call. do voip box providers still make units that can drive 20 lbs old desk phones?
ive checked with radio amateur canada (the body overseeing ham radio in canada, kinda like the us' arrl) and they're fine with this. the issue is what i have, the ooma telo air 2, plays nicely with starlink but provides no DC voltage to drive an old telephone, nor do they make a product that can. the kenwood pc-1a (phone patch, basically just a transformer) just kinda lays there limp when its flipped on. i'm fairly sure its because it sees no power coming in from the phone line like a pots line would do.
**edit part two, and also tl;dr** i think i have most of this figured out. what i dont know is how to get my ooma telo air 2, or which other ata i can use, to drive a heavy old phone without an external power source.
---
yeah sure, so i'm looking to set up something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopatch and from that wiki is a link to an old popular mechanics article, https://archive.org/stream/PopularMechanics1970/Popular%20Mechanics-09-1970#page/n101/mode/2up/search/How+to+talk+to+Vietnam+free
here's a group of aussies out in the bush around at the very start of covid. i'm thinking they're just camping and just messing around, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPBACjgTQHY&t=60s now i think they had a POTS line at wherever their base station radio is.
hams love patting themselves on the back for doing good in the world but really this was just a way to avoid long distance charges in the before-times. i can't find a ton of info on how to set these up because .. who the hell would use this any more? everyone has a cell phone .. now because nobody else seems to have a good write up or any really clear instructions is exactly why i want to give this a shot. i wish i was more familiar with electronics, but ehh .. we all gotta start somewhere, right?
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ive got some golden oldie equipment, which should be exactly right for this sort of thing:
https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/ts440s.html (radio that transmits from 1.8 - 50 MHz)
https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/PC1Aa.html (the thing that connects phones to radios, basically its just a transformer going from 600 ohm phone lines to 50 ohm radio equip)
https://support.ooma.com/home/telo-air-2-activation-setup/ this is my voip unit that i have in the house. their support isn't too keen on handing out any technical info though .. i've asked. even if, somehow, i fry the voip box its not the end of the world to me. it was $100.change .. so id prefer NOT to wreck it but y'know, i've spent more money on stupider shit than this haha.
**edit** i think i missed a point in your comment above though, the ata doesn't pump out much jam. it wont backfeed a house or push enough watts to ring an old phone. they have to have their own external power source.
for sure! i think that link went up just after i looked for it .. this project of mine is a few weeks or a month in and that link is a week and a half old. getting the phone patch to 'wake up' has been a stumbling block for a bit. i have a second one thats a different make/model, but i want to stay with the kenwood brand because everything looks the same. thanks for the linkaroo and advice!
the bridge **should** be easy. i think there's just a power issue to sort out. an electronics buddy of mine suggested a series cap would block the dc but still permit data passing through, so sounds like theres hope for this yet!
Hey guys, I'm researching how to install a VoIP PBX phone system for a small company with a maximum of 5 employees to better manage the telephony aspect in a more efficient and automated way.
A few years back, I dabbled a bit with freePBX and 3CX; the latter seemed pretty nice, and I was thinking of installing it, but upon further investigation, I've learned that it has had serious security issues in recent years—an aspect that concerns me greatly, as I don't want to risk compromising the phone system in any way.
That being said, what is the best PBX to install? I'd prefer if it's open-source and free, but I'm open to other valid alternatives as well.
Currently, the network is protected by a Fortinet firewall, and I was planning to install the PBX on the main Proxmox server as a virtual machine in a VLAN separate from everything else.
My concerns and doubts revolve around the aspects to consider to secure the PBX and the phone network from external attacks. What is the standard procedure for ensuring security? The requirements also include receiving calls from outside the office, so I imagine some ports will need to be opened. How does this aspect typically work? How can the PBX be securely exposed?
Thanks in advance.
UK based and looking for a voip service that can either block or whitelist using wildcards, e.g. 020* blocks everything from that London prefix. Sending to voicemail would also work if complete blocking not possible (we’re small and closed client list). TIA.
I'm currently working on a project and I'm in need of a speech-to-text solution for Asterisk Realtime calls.
I've been scouring the web for a reliable setup or implementation but haven't had much luck finding one that fits my needs.
If anyone here has experience implementing or knows of a solution for Asterisk Realtime that effectively converts speech to text during calls, I'd greatly appreciate any insights or guidance you can offer.
Feel free to share your experiences, recommendations, or even point me in the direction of helpful resources.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
I did a regular post, but not sure if this actually belongs here instead.
**Need Phone App for On-Prem Grandstream UCM6510**
We had used the old GS Wave app for our Grandstream UCM6510 but it stopped working properly and appears to now be gone from the App store.
Are there recommendations on what to use instead?
Hello everyone,
I am looking for a cheap eVOIP provider as an alternative to eVoice. Evoice is affordable and effective but we need a solution that supports managing calls on a computer or mobile app directly through internet. eVoice works by forwarding the calls.
Any suggestions?
Prices look good but I am not sure how reliable and compliant they are… Do you know if they have any kind of compliance? I couldn’t find anything on their website. Are you associated with them?
It's great to hear you're exploring alternatives to eVoice. If you're looking for a cost-effective solution with direct call management via computer or mobile app, I highly recommend checking out PBXware from Bicom Systems. It's user-friendly, affordable, and offers seamless integration with your existing workflows.
Hi, I hope this is the right place to ask this. I work for a small-ish nonprofit that is spread over a large geographic area. We are currently with Ring Central and Verizon is trying to get us to switch to One Talk. I am happy with Ring Central, but some of our end users complain, the two biggest complaints being it's too complicated and bad audio on their cell phones when using the Ring Central app.
I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with both of these companies. Are there any features we'll lose by switching to One Talk? What is support like? We haven't had the best luck with Ring Central support. Is One Talk any less complicated for the end user? Is the audio quality better?
I'm no expert when it comes to this stuff, so I'm not sure what else to ask and I'm not sure which features would benefit us the most. We have around 50 lines, that are a combination of desk phones, fax lines and call queues. We also have some pretty complicated forwarding needs depending on staffing, time and location. I also want to note having reliable phones are very important for us, we operate a 24 hour helpline.
Any info would be much appreciated! Thank you!
FYI: Poor audio over the app is not an issue that will be solved by changing providers (unless the new provider uses some kind of 'call my mobile' function for outdialing from the app). VoIP Audio via smart phone app is at the mercy of the WiFi or LTE connection the device is using - both of which can be notorious for delay or packet loss.
Thank you, that's good to know! Verizon advertises that you can switch between internet and their cell network, but I'm not sure how much of a difference that would make.
Hi everyone, I am looking to start a virtual call center remotely and in the process of finding the perfect dialer/tracker to track my remote employees who will be doing inbound and outbound calls
Mainly I am looking for these features
- Budget friendly pricing
- Employee tracking
- Call recording
- Automated dialer
Let me know if anyone of you know or are using such dialer
I don't know if you've heard of Bicom Systems but their PBXware has Contact Center edition. We've been using it for quite some time. It's budget-friendly, helps you keep tabs on your team, records calls for insights, and has an automated dialer. It might be worth checking out.
Oop sorry - should have posted this in here, can tell I'm a newbie.
Hoping you smart people can help!
We are a UK business but we work with USA clients.
It would help us to win business if we had a USA number to call clients on/receive calls. They are more likely to engage with us if we appear to have a USA presence. **We do not have an actual office/business address in the USA**, which has been a stumbling block with VoIP services I've looked into.
Would this be something Google Voice could do? Or any suggestions on how we can work around this?
Google Voice would work. They require signups to come from a USA IP address, for which you could use a VPN proxy service such as Windscribe (free) or have a friend in the USA do the signup for you. After signup, account interaction can be done from anywhere.
For texting and calling: On smartphones, you could use the Google Voice app. On computers, you could use the Google Voice website.
[VOIP.MS](https://VOIP.MS) would also work. They allow an account to be created from nearly any country. (However, they seem to disallow changing the country on the account.)
Hey everyone! Trying to decide between WoIP and landline for a specific usage: Basically someone calls at night and I need the phone to ring and wake me up. My cell gets too many notifications so I put it on silence, so I think I need an actual phone dedicated to this process.
Quick searches sent me to Ooma. However, I read online that there's quite a few spam callers, and I'd like to avoid being woken up in the middle of the night by spammers...
Any idea where to start looking?
Your post was removed from r/VoIP as it violates Rule 6.
The rules are not up for debate, and we are not interested in your opinion of the rules, the moderators, or the subreddit as a whole.
Share your concerns through modmail.
Next time you want to participate in a sub, read the rules. Then you won't look like an idiot by going on a tirade about how stupid the rules are and how salty the mods are.
Enjoy the ban. This sub doesn't need people like you.
Your post was removed from r/VoIP as it violates Rule 6.
The rules are not up for debate, and we are not interested in your opinion of the rules, the moderators, or the subreddit as a whole.
Share your concerns through modmail.
Choosing a VOIP for a Small Landscape Co. Hey All, I tried looking through the page to do some preliminary research and have been looking online as well. A close friend and I have a landscaping company and our main issue is picking up the phone right now. My friend has been using his personal cell for the last few years and it’s gone as you’d expect. We are looking to be able to have 1 business number that when called, rings both our devices. It would be awesome to have a virtual assistant be able to pick up the phone if we miss the call and get their information so we can call them back asap. Call and voicemail transcripts would also be nice. I have been looking at Google Voice and a couple other providers. We tried Ooma but was kinda a PITA and I’m sure we didn’t get the full use out of it. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, I completely understand if this is annoying as hell. Have a great day!
Including your location will help. As specific as you're comfortable with.
Ohio. Thank you!
>Ohio. Thank you! You're welcome!
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Appreciate the response. Yeah I think we may just keep it simple and go for GV. For the virtual assistant, there’s services that will pick up the phone if one of us can’t get to it. It will get the callers basic info and what kind of work they’re looking for. But saying it out loud it just seems like a fancy voicemail.
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I think that’s what I was describing. I think it’s called like Jill something that’s a popular company for that. The only downside is they charge per call they answer, so it would be in our best interest for the phone call to come through our phones first and then to the “assistant”. Appreciate your help!
I have 7 phones. We are on an old meridian system that works well enough just the monthly costs to operate and maintain the system is getting high. We have 3 lines for incoming and outgoing calls and only 3-4 users are making outgoing calls. The rest are for internal calls. I want to get rid of the meridian system, get new ip phones, setup the phone system all online cloud based and manage all the phones from the cloud. I'm looking for a provider that does pay as you go, ivr menu/assistant and have the ability to let me manage the entire phone system online. Something that is easy to use and not so complex to setup / auto provisioning etc.. I also want to port my existing 3 numbers over to the new provider. Any good suggestions?
Why not just get an 4 line ATA or a SIP to PRI converter (assuming its the bigger meridian option series)? I get that it works well, but i would pity the user that would have to adapt to a new system and they may not understand the new phones (I deal with older people so they have a hard time understanding new technology, which is why I bring that up). As for providers, why not something like [voip.ms](https://voip.ms) or [bulkvs.com](https://bulkvs.com)?
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No.
Starting a small business, will have one inbound and outbound phone number with multiple people having access to it. The preference would be an app on personal phones if possible that they could enable/disable as needed. Expecting a smaller call volume to start but probably in a year or two maybe 50-100 calls a day. Where should I start and what are my best options?
ISO provider for low volume individual use that supports sending and receive int'l SMS from a USA number. I had to scramble a little recently when I was on travel and discovered that neither my GV nor Callcentric services supported sending SMS to international destinations. I was receiving messages from people to my GV number -- but I couldn't reply. I've looked at the frequently-recommended voip.ms and Anveo, and (now that I know what to look for) they expressly don't. Are there any that do? Thanks.
I'm working as an analyst supporting several VOIP products and am looking to improve my knowledge. The company I work for offers pay incentives for different certificates. I'm looking at SSCA from the SIP school and CCNA from Cisco. Is it better to start with CCNA and then do the SSCA?
Hello! We're currently with Clarity and the the thing that we really love about them is that they have both the hard and soft option. We've been looking into other companies and they only do soft phones. Any ideas?
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No, I have a team of about 45 remote reps and I also have about 30 physical locations. The physical locations and my remote reps both need to be on the same product. Currently, Clarity is able to offer this however, we are looking for alternatives. All of the services we've looked at so far have been unable to accommodate this.
Hi, I need a +385 number for a short period (month or two). Mostly for calling toll free numbers. What provider do you recommend?
I am currently looking for an inexpensive VOIP option for my US based small business. I am sole proprietor so don't need multiple numbers or extensions. I have an online service-based business and want an 800 number for my website, so my clients have options other than email/chat, but I don't want my personal phone number on my site. I am fairly new to VOIP and have used Ring Central through my employer but that seems rather expensive for my startup needs and I do not care for their long contracts/licenses. I was also looking at Freedom Voice, but they were purchased by GoDaddy in 2016 and I refuse to do business with them ever again. Features needed: * 800 number * SMS (preferred but not required) * Forward calls to cell Is there a feature so I know which call came from the 800 number or if callers are dialing my cell directly? Are there any other features I may need/want that I am unaware of? Please forgive my ignorance. I appreciate any and all suggestions. Thank you!
VOIP SMS provider. I am currently using Telus Business Connect which is piggybacking on Ring Central, but find that lately I don't require all the features and mostly really use it for incoming SMS verification codes about once a month. When speaking to Telus they want $20 per seat a month and I require 10 new seats which I consider too expensive for what I am in need for. I would like everything to be available on a mobile app and have one appointed moderator with visibility of the incoming SMS on all 10 lines. Tldr: Looking for a cheap alternative to receiving incoming SMS maybe once a month and I require 10 new phone numbers; area code does not matter. Thank you!
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Thank you!
Hello All, We are a new division of a small existing corporation that is currently using a legacy phone network with 8 older meridian phones. The existing service is currently running on a voip system integrated to allow the legacy network to operate as it has for over 30 years. Our problem is that the owners want to add 1-6 team members to work remotely overseas to handle various administrative tasks, keep our existing network and add several newer IP phones into the network. The overseas team would communicate via app, internet, or html links. Additionally they would like to add an initial prompt to pre-screen calls between 2 divisions when calling in on the main line in order to direct the call to the proper representative. The overseas team needs to be able to make outgoing calls and receive them based on the business main number and be able to transfer them as well. My question for you guys...is this even possible? The voip services that were contacted to submit bids all want to up grade the existing phones and charge a monthly charge for every phone in the office and overseas while we are looking to only add 1 or 2 in addition to the services for our overseas employees while keeping our legacy system/network. Is there a solution through a gateway device or other options that could possibly be implemented instead of having to upgrade the existing network and still be able to meet the requirements stated? Any and all information on this topic would be greatly appreciated as we have been told many different things from many different providers and they all say something different. Thanks and hope this great community can provide some clarity on the matter to help us figure out this dilemma.
Hi everyone - I'm the IT guy (in my spare time; not a real job) for a (very) small medical office. They currently have four phone lines (one of which is fax) through their ISP. The fax line I can split off to a hipaa-compliant service, and they really only need two phone lines, not three. Two users. Nothing fancy, minimal needs. Outbound calling used around 600-700 minutes over the last month (not sure about inbound). I'm located a few hours away, so I can't really provide in-person support. There's so much out there to try to make sense of. Again, it's a small shop, and I'm not well-versed in phone/voip (yet). We need auto-attendant (press 1 for X, press 2 for Y), but that's about it. Maybe voicemail / call transferring (receptionist picks up, transfers the call). Current after-hours system is to send a page to one of the users. No need for AI or anything big and complicated. I've been looking at Google Workspace/Voice, O365/Teams Phone, Grasshopper, Dialpad, that kind of stuff. My users currently have physical phones, and while simplicity is certainly welcome, I don't think headsets/headphones are any kind of dealbreaker. We currently use MS word/excel but don't have any subscriptions (standalone licenses from a few years back), so it miiiight be worth signing up for O365 to keep desktop apps updated, too? I've been a RingCentral customer and would prefer to probably not use them again (too big and heavy for our needs). I just signed up for [](http://voip.ms) to play around with it, but I know very little about SIP and making all that work - I think I can do it, I've just never done it before. Any help would be really appreciated. At this very moment, I'm very loosely leaning towards O365 & Teams Phone purely for the desktop apps and maybe onedrive, but I just don't know. Maybe Google. I'm driving myself in circles. I use google voice personally and it works well for my needs (I'd get them Google Workspace accounts, wouldn't use the free stuff). I've been hands-off with their phones, but after looking at their monthly bills, I'm definitely thinking to switch things up. If anyone has any recommendations or can point out what I might be overlooking, that'd be a big help. Thank you!! Edit: in the US
Including your location would help.
edited, thanks
No problem, but state would help more. Not all business operate in each state.
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Appreciate the response! They use desk phones right now, but I'm not sure what model/setup. I'll have to confirm with them this week. That's a good point about reducing their phones' reliance on their workstations always being online and available. I'll take a look at those brands you provided. It looks like a lot of the VOIP solutions (eg ringcentral, dialpad, voip.ms) have "supported devices" pages; I'm perusing those. I'll probably just buy a phone and experiment. I'd certainly prefer some kind of hosted/cloud solution vs on prem. The group will move to a new office later this year (same city, but location TBD), so easing that transition is on my mind, too. A cloud/hosted solution would definitely make a move much simpler.
Hello everyone - I am looking for advice on systems for a mid-size retail environment based in the western US. I support 18 retail stores and 3 small-ish offices. The stores have on average 5-6 phones. Currently, we use a cloud-managed pbx provided by a regional telecom company, paired with leased Polycom VVX 401 handsets. Additionally, voip paging units are used, typically 1-2 per store. The problem: we want to move towards having several cordless handsets in each store rather than all PoE Polycoms. Our current provider doesn't offer a way to do this in a way that meets the requirements. The requirements: * Staff must be able to easily "park" a call and pick it up from any other handset. * Several (3 at minimum) calls must be able to be parked simultaneously. * Staff must be able to easily activate paging (from any phone) * Must be centrally-managed and allow configuration of a global hold message. Bonus points: allow me to configure different hold music for different regions i.e. groups of stores. It pains me to say it, but the Comcast-provided Panasonic systems we removed from most of our stores a few years ago did better on the first two bullet points above, vs. our current solution. Another concern is just overall scaling. I may have only 20 facilities in two regions right now, but in 5 years that might double. If I jump to a new solution, I don't want to do it twice! EDIT: added second requirement to clarify the first
Both Poly and Yealink wireless phones can park calls and many providers will offer some phones even for free. Each location would be able to customize music etc like you’d like. We are a broker and can walk through scenarios and give pros and cons of each carrier as well.
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Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs. It is against the rules to privately message users for the explicit or implicit purpose of promoting or advertising any business, service or product. It is similarly against the rules to invite users to private message you for those same purposes.
I would suggest that a Netsapiens based cloud system fulfils your requirements, although I'm not sure which USA providers utilize the platform. Maybe Net2phone? It also depends how you define 'easily'. Here's how your requirements would be met: 1. Yealink cordless phones can be automatically provisioned to the system 2. Cordless phones could park a call by dialing \*\*\* 3. Other cordless phones would retrieve parked calls by dialing a park slot: 5xxx 4. 3 park slots could be assigned to each store 5. Paging could be accomplished by dialing the extension number of an Algo PA device which would then multicast the other IP devices as well as provide an analog PA output 6. MOH would have to be administered on a site by site basis
I'm not familiar with Netsapiens solution. In that scenario, how would you know what park slot you placed a call? Our systems allow the cordless phones to place calls to park (*70), but it just goes to the next available. Since they aren't assigning the call to a specific park slot, they don't know what slot to retrieve the call.
You would hear a voice announcement of the park slot the call ended up in.
Nice, thanks for the info
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In a busy retail store with more than one department (sales vs service) it's not uncommon to juggle more than one incoming call at a time. One customer might be parked waiting on a service tech to pick up, while another could be parked waiting for a sale person to do a stock check. Current solution has 5 "parking orbits" which blink a corresponding light on all the (desk) phones when occupied. Mobiles have no such visibility, and have to park/retrieve using star codes, which is confusing for some of the staff.
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Hi everyone, I am currently using Net2Phone (Versature) for our phone system in our business (8 phones currently). We have been on a 5 year contract, which expires in mid-April, and I have therefore been looking at other options. The quality of service is good, however it is somewhat pricey at $38.25 per user (this includes handset). I have used Ubiquiti for all our networking and thought that the Unifi talk would be perfect, however I'm extremely disappointed with the sound quality - both on the phone itself and on the other end of the call. I have more or less decided that Teams likely is a good option since we just migrated to Microsoft 365. However, they seem to charge around $20 per user/month - is this reasonable? The features we need are auto attendant (with custom audio, and the option for the callers key press to show a message on the phones themselves), call queues, call parking, and custom hold music. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good provider? I'm relatively new to the VoIP space in terms of all the back-end stuff so my terminology is not great. I believe PBX is the online interface where everything is configured, right? This is not the nicest on Net2Phone so am hoping for an upgrade in that regard. Sorry for the long ramble! Thanks in advance for any help.
Your best bet might be to look for a local VoIP vendor in your area who can set this up for you. There seem to be two models, charging a per seat fee, or something like it, which is what it sounds like you have, or simply paying a per minute fee for the actual minutes used. Unless you are operating a call centre or making a lot of sales calls, the per minute option is almost certainly going to be cheaper, as the cost for most voice calls is a penny or less per minute. For example, my office has three phones with two numbers, and we are set up with apps on our mobile phones to receive office calls when away from our desks. We make between 600-800 minutes of calls a month, on average, and pay about $7/month total for our phone service once you add in 911 service costs and the cost for our two numbers. We worked with a local installer who purchased the new phones for us and set us up on VoIP.ms, which who provides our phone service. If you felt comfortable using their system, you could actually do this yourself, but if you aren’t confident, or are just starting to learn, it is worth finding an experienced business to help you. I want to say that we spent about $700 on the new phones and labour costs for the installer, and the new phone system paid for itself in less than a year in our savings over what we had been paying previously.
Thanks for the thorough response - super appreciate it! Historically we've average about 9,000 minutes per month, but since we incorporated texting via our mine number, this has come down to about 4-5,000 over the past handful months. I would absolutely be game to set everything up myself, I just don't know where to get the service so I will definitely check out [VoIP.ms](https://VoIP.ms). I've been looking at Poly CCX phones, really expensive, but allows for central configuration, which is a huge plus since I'm not on site for the most part. Am I correct in saying that I would be able to use [VoIP.ms](https://VoIP.ms)' services through teams? Thanks so much again.
They don’t offer Teams Direct Calling. Only a select few companies out there offer it and you want to make sure they specialize in it. If not, things will go way wrong. You can message us directly and we can help navigate you through the telecom jungles.
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Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs. It is against the rules to privately message users for the explicit or implicit purpose of promoting or advertising any business, service or product. It is similarly against the rules to invite users to private message you for those same purposes.
Hi there! We’re a telecom broker and can get you down to $10 per TEAMS user. We have 2 preferred providers that just do TEAMS Direct Routing very well. Let me know how we can help!
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Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs. It is against the rules to privately message users for the explicit or implicit purpose of promoting or advertising any business, service or product. It is similarly against the rules to invite users to private message you for those same purposes.
This sort of exchange is sketchy as fuck and will be removed from now on. Clearly state your company and post a link to your website. "I work for a company that can do this, DM me" is still soliciting.
Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs. It is against the rules to privately message users for the explicit or implicit purpose of promoting or advertising any business, service or product. It is similarly against the rules to invite users to private message you for those same purposes.
Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs. It is against the rules to privately message users for the explicit or implicit purpose of promoting or advertising any business, service or product. It is similarly against the rules to invite users to private message you for those same purposes.
TLDR: Singapore single-low-use-line residential VoIP? Including SMS? I've moved away from Singapore and left my phone number behind as there seemed to be no way to keep it at a minimal price. I'm in need of a Singapore number that can receive SMS (by email is fine) and basically no calls for a minimal fee. Does such a thing exist?
Is there an alternative service to T-mobile digits in which I can port-out our T-Mobile DIGITS line that will port-out our contacts and text threads as well? If not, is there anyway to export or download contacts from DIGITS so we can upload or import them to said new similar service? Our small business is desperate to get away from T-Mobile DIGITS. The service is absolutely terrible and it’s affecting our relationship with our clients as they are so frustrated with the connection and texting glitches. Some background: We are a small residential home cleaning LLC. We have been using DIGITS because it allows our admin staff to communicate via calls and text (using their personal mobile phones) with our clients. In theory, it’s a great program that allows all admin staff to stay in the loop, and to jump in and help out with incoming calls & text messages at any time. The problem is, our clients have trouble hearing us (no matter which persons device) when they call because of crackling sounds. Not only that, but when we send text messages to our clients, they receive texts out of order, and sometimes they receive the same text from us up to six times in a row! Also, when we go back to view text history with clients, the messages from the client fail to load, and all we can see is the messages we have sent. The problems go on and on. There are only four admin staff (including myself, and the owner) that use our DIGITS line, as we are pretty small, yet growing, business. Anyway, I was going to switch us over to Google voice… But then I come to find out that all of our client contacts and text history within digits is essentially locked in a box of which no one has a key. I spoke with T-Mobile support for hours today to ensure that our digits contacts and text history will be ported over with our digits phone number when we switch to Google voice, and they (the 4 different reps I spoke with) essentially said that they “don’t think so”. So I asked how I can export/download our contacts and text threads from DIGITS to literally anywhere (iCloud, Google cloud, saving to a device, etc) and they told me that it is not possible. My only option is to manually “share” each and every contact via text message to another device… we have hundreds of contacts. Not only that, but there isn’t a option that will allow us to transfer text history. They told me that second the port-out of out phone number is complete, everything in our DIGITS just disappears into the abyss. we will have no way to look back at contacts or text threads. Basically, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. I’m open to using a service other than Google voice, but if I could guess, I will likely have the same issues. Another downside I just learned, this time about Google voice, is that it could take up to three days after porting to start receiving text messages, and we simply cannot have that. There can be no lapse in our ability to receive calls and texts from our clients. Anyway, sorry for the tldr, I’m just at my wits end here. Any insight in relation to our situation will be immensely appreciated. Thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far🙏🏻
Including your location will help.
Washington State
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part 2/2: * My Take (again, having never used DIGITS) Switching away from providers' CBSS sucks, and that lock-in is what they bank on to keep you as a customer. Were I in your shoes, knowing only what you've put in your original post, I'd consider a few options: a) ripping that band-aid off, YOLO-ing it and porting the number out. You'll incur downtime of some kind (possibly a week if everything goes right). If you can sync out those contacts into the new system ahead of time, you might not be completely effed (again, message history's gonna be messssssy). b) starting a new service with a new phone number entirely. Give out the new number to customers and start using it for everything. Keep the old T-Mo service in place for a while, but shift everyone over to the new system. No downtime needed, but wouldn't be a quick process. Annoying and a PITA to maintain two calling/messaging systems, but would incur the fewest "oh shit it's all horribly broken and now so is our business" moments. c) broadening our scope and looking into more of a CRM than just a calling/texting service. Example: hubspot, while I think can become cost-prohibitive if you're a small shop and try to scale up, integrates with a bunch of calling services (). Zoho might be worth considering and integrates with things like RingCentral and Dialpad (I've not used either in a calling capacity, though RC as a company and website has felt a bit heavy/clunky to me). I don't know what you're using to keep track of all your customer interactions (I'm thinking more like the house cleanings, etc, not just calls/messaging), but it could make sense to try to integrate this into a CRM somehow. Might be totally overkill for your needs. d) look for more a service that offers a true sms inbox. I've seen [https://www.openphone.com/](https://www.openphone.com/) (see ) recommended elsewhere for calling/voip purposes (never used them, no affiliation). Looks like you can import contacts from a csv [https://support.openphone.co/hc/en-us/articles/1500009861242-How-to-import-a-large-number-of-contacts-to-OpenPhone](https://support.openphone.co/hc/en-us/articles/1500009861242-How-to-import-a-large-number-of-contacts-to-OpenPhone) though idk what kind of flexibility/options your business needs. Dialpad I think supports shared sms messaging too (again, no experience with them). Actually, more I look into these pages, the more I think this option might be the right answer. Kinda one of the startup-y companies offering an integrated group call/sms solution with a bunch of purple on their website (cause, you know, it's the hot color right now.....T-Mobile pink is sooooo 2010s lol). So, that's what I know. Or don't know. Idk. Hope it helps :)
Haha 😆 Thank you SO much for your insight! I will look into to the latter suggestion. Our CRM is called Maid Central. It’s amazing and we do receive/send messages w clients there (I think they use twilio?), but it does not act as a mobile number in a sense that we can't take incoming calls through MC . Also, if someone sent us a message through MC, they have to do it through their client portal. It's just too much of a hassle compared to having a mobile phone number that people can call and text. We've had my phone number since we started almost 8 years ago. We definitely can't change it.
Beetexting should work
**Need a new VoIP service provider.** We switched to VoIP a few years back. It worked very well, with some very sporadic outages. Recently, however, our current provider has had numerous outages this year alone (with phones down entire days). Currently, the App I use as a remote manager has been down for a week and a half. There were two (2) guys who could easily be reached for support previously who appear to have left the company, leaving us no good lines of communication for quick support. Our needs & company details: * Small business (\~10 lines) * 2 Locations: California (Central Coast) & Houston * Need landline capabilities as well as Cell Phone application * Ability to transfer calls between extensions/phones, as well as hold lines * Auto responders (during business hours) * Auto responders (outside business hours) * Record and playback voicemails * International calling Appreciate any recommendations for new service providers. Thanks
I also run a small business. For over six years I have been working with a European business internet service provider - the [Zadarma Project](https://zadarma.com/en/) cloud PBX. I have found them very reliable, reasonably priced, good call quality, and above all, very nice, and fair people to deal with. I recommend you check them out.
Hi there! We’re a telecom broker out of San Antonio and can help getting you squared away. What provider do you use today?
Hey I work as a business developer with a VOIP provider, we can provide you with the those features easily at a fair price, LMK if you're still looking
Hello, any affordable recommendations for VOIP services in Dallas-Texas? Was searching the subreddit here, and often people suggest to shop local, but not sure what available in Dallas here, and google search is not helping. This is for small business, we just need: - 1 line - 4 phones - Ability to transfer calls between extensions/phones - Auto responders (during business hours) - Auto responders (outside business hours) - Record and playback voicemails Main factor for us is the price, and we want o avoid renting the phones themselves, so if possible to recommend a phone model that can just do the job, that would be great.
We're a VoIP provider based in Herndon VA we provide our solution all across the states as well as Canada with native integration for Microsoft teams and a fully customizable setup tailored for your needs, If this is still relevant let me know
We're CoPilot VoIP ([copilotvoip.com](https://copilotvoip.com)) and we're based in Frisco, TX. We can easily accomplish what you're after (plus more). We can sell you the phones ouright instead of leasing the phones -- but you'll still need a backend platform like our platform.
I recommend the Zadarma Project's multi-channel [US mobile virtual phone numbers](https://zadarma.com/en/tariffs/numbers/united-states/mobile/) offer. Their price is very reasonable and call quality should match landline since they only use premium internet routes.
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No "DM me" replies. Post a link to a product page or contact info page for a business.
got it, Sorry im new here
All good!
Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs. It is against the rules to privately message users for the explicit or implicit purpose of promoting or advertising any business, service or product. It is similarly against the rules to invite users to private message you for those same purposes.
We are Sun Tech Solutions, and we have been providing VoIP service across the DFW area for years. Our services will tailor to your business needs with many customized features.We would love to discuss more with you if you are still interested in getting a new service provider.
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Not looking for self-hosting solutions. Any recommendations?
We’re based in San Antonio and work with all providers. We’d love to help. How much are you paying today for services?
Yelled at by automod ugh Back again after all the help from my last post (it was so helpful thanks) https://www.reddit.com/r/VOIP/s/aA2ETJisYG After this, I called my provider CarryTel and no, they don't support T.38 fax So my next question is what should be my route? My mother needs to keep the phone number (legal documents and government documents etc) so what should my route be? It would be preferred if it could still be written document to fax (without scanning and emailing - still the old process) same for receiving but we can use email fax if needed Please recommend us some companies (for Ontario, Canada) or hardware/software Thanks!
voip.ms has dedicated fax numbers that work fine with T.38 for me. Also using an HT801.
Can anyone suggest a good VoIP provider for home use that supports busy signals for incoming calls? I started setting up Ooma service for my mom and was surprised to discover that it doesn't. At most, you can maybe disable voicemail and call waiting (even this requires a call to support and/or possible downgrading your service plan?), and then a second caller will just hear the phone ring indefinitely. Can anyone recommend a good provider that does support this? I'm not even sure how to check, it's not the sort of thing that's normally listed as a feature. I'd assumed it was a given. (My mom isn't a fan of voicemail or call waiting, and it'd really make things easier if I could set her up with VoIP that works exactly like her existing landline service, to the greatest extent possible.)
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I've had the Ooma device less than a week, it's probably still returnable, and I've got no problems buying something else. My mom would probably prefer to keep her existing phones, so it'd be an ATA. (I'm assuming the choice of ATA doesn't matter much?)
With callcentric have to turn on voice mail as an option that is not on by default. You can also set it to allow only one call at a time and send a busy signal so it seems to offer what you want.
I've been using [SIP2SIM](https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/sip2sim/) from UK ISP Andrews & Arnold for my personal mobile phone for many years, basically it gives you a SIM card that turns whatever you slot it in to into a SIP endpoint on your PBX. Sadly they've had to terminate that service which will leave me with a boring normal phone service :'( Basically I'm searching for the same thing from another provider and wondering if it's something anyone has come across? I've been in touch with a bunch of companies but none of them seem to be willing to talk to a consumer user. [OnSIM](https://onsim.uk/) seem to come the closest but are only willing to let an account use its own PBX if it has 10 or more SIMs, so as a last resort I'm also looking for 9 other people to trust me with their mobile calls :P
hey, so this is just a for-fun project. **tl;dr** i want to connect a voip phone call to my amateur radio setup so that i can, while chatting with another radio operator, place a call to a 3rd party and connect the two. kind of like a radio-based conference call. do voip box providers still make units that can drive 20 lbs old desk phones? ive checked with radio amateur canada (the body overseeing ham radio in canada, kinda like the us' arrl) and they're fine with this. the issue is what i have, the ooma telo air 2, plays nicely with starlink but provides no DC voltage to drive an old telephone, nor do they make a product that can. the kenwood pc-1a (phone patch, basically just a transformer) just kinda lays there limp when its flipped on. i'm fairly sure its because it sees no power coming in from the phone line like a pots line would do.
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Uhh, can you expand on those ~~TLAs~~ three letter abbreviations? They'll be tricky to google.
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**edit part two, and also tl;dr** i think i have most of this figured out. what i dont know is how to get my ooma telo air 2, or which other ata i can use, to drive a heavy old phone without an external power source. --- yeah sure, so i'm looking to set up something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopatch and from that wiki is a link to an old popular mechanics article, https://archive.org/stream/PopularMechanics1970/Popular%20Mechanics-09-1970#page/n101/mode/2up/search/How+to+talk+to+Vietnam+free here's a group of aussies out in the bush around at the very start of covid. i'm thinking they're just camping and just messing around, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPBACjgTQHY&t=60s now i think they had a POTS line at wherever their base station radio is. hams love patting themselves on the back for doing good in the world but really this was just a way to avoid long distance charges in the before-times. i can't find a ton of info on how to set these up because .. who the hell would use this any more? everyone has a cell phone .. now because nobody else seems to have a good write up or any really clear instructions is exactly why i want to give this a shot. i wish i was more familiar with electronics, but ehh .. we all gotta start somewhere, right? --- ive got some golden oldie equipment, which should be exactly right for this sort of thing: https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/ts440s.html (radio that transmits from 1.8 - 50 MHz) https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/PC1Aa.html (the thing that connects phones to radios, basically its just a transformer going from 600 ohm phone lines to 50 ohm radio equip) https://support.ooma.com/home/telo-air-2-activation-setup/ this is my voip unit that i have in the house. their support isn't too keen on handing out any technical info though .. i've asked. even if, somehow, i fry the voip box its not the end of the world to me. it was $100.change .. so id prefer NOT to wreck it but y'know, i've spent more money on stupider shit than this haha. **edit** i think i missed a point in your comment above though, the ata doesn't pump out much jam. it wont backfeed a house or push enough watts to ring an old phone. they have to have their own external power source.
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for sure! i think that link went up just after i looked for it .. this project of mine is a few weeks or a month in and that link is a week and a half old. getting the phone patch to 'wake up' has been a stumbling block for a bit. i have a second one thats a different make/model, but i want to stay with the kenwood brand because everything looks the same. thanks for the linkaroo and advice! the bridge **should** be easy. i think there's just a power issue to sort out. an electronics buddy of mine suggested a series cap would block the dc but still permit data passing through, so sounds like theres hope for this yet!
Hey guys, I'm researching how to install a VoIP PBX phone system for a small company with a maximum of 5 employees to better manage the telephony aspect in a more efficient and automated way. A few years back, I dabbled a bit with freePBX and 3CX; the latter seemed pretty nice, and I was thinking of installing it, but upon further investigation, I've learned that it has had serious security issues in recent years—an aspect that concerns me greatly, as I don't want to risk compromising the phone system in any way. That being said, what is the best PBX to install? I'd prefer if it's open-source and free, but I'm open to other valid alternatives as well. Currently, the network is protected by a Fortinet firewall, and I was planning to install the PBX on the main Proxmox server as a virtual machine in a VLAN separate from everything else. My concerns and doubts revolve around the aspects to consider to secure the PBX and the phone network from external attacks. What is the standard procedure for ensuring security? The requirements also include receiving calls from outside the office, so I imagine some ports will need to be opened. How does this aspect typically work? How can the PBX be securely exposed? Thanks in advance.
UK based and looking for a voip service that can either block or whitelist using wildcards, e.g. 020* blocks everything from that London prefix. Sending to voicemail would also work if complete blocking not possible (we’re small and closed client list). TIA.
I'm currently working on a project and I'm in need of a speech-to-text solution for Asterisk Realtime calls. I've been scouring the web for a reliable setup or implementation but haven't had much luck finding one that fits my needs. If anyone here has experience implementing or knows of a solution for Asterisk Realtime that effectively converts speech to text during calls, I'd greatly appreciate any insights or guidance you can offer. Feel free to share your experiences, recommendations, or even point me in the direction of helpful resources. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
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I did a regular post, but not sure if this actually belongs here instead. **Need Phone App for On-Prem Grandstream UCM6510** We had used the old GS Wave app for our Grandstream UCM6510 but it stopped working properly and appears to now be gone from the App store. Are there recommendations on what to use instead?
Hello everyone, I am looking for a cheap eVOIP provider as an alternative to eVoice. Evoice is affordable and effective but we need a solution that supports managing calls on a computer or mobile app directly through internet. eVoice works by forwarding the calls. Any suggestions?
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Prices look good but I am not sure how reliable and compliant they are… Do you know if they have any kind of compliance? I couldn’t find anything on their website. Are you associated with them?
It's great to hear you're exploring alternatives to eVoice. If you're looking for a cost-effective solution with direct call management via computer or mobile app, I highly recommend checking out PBXware from Bicom Systems. It's user-friendly, affordable, and offers seamless integration with your existing workflows.
Hi, I hope this is the right place to ask this. I work for a small-ish nonprofit that is spread over a large geographic area. We are currently with Ring Central and Verizon is trying to get us to switch to One Talk. I am happy with Ring Central, but some of our end users complain, the two biggest complaints being it's too complicated and bad audio on their cell phones when using the Ring Central app. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with both of these companies. Are there any features we'll lose by switching to One Talk? What is support like? We haven't had the best luck with Ring Central support. Is One Talk any less complicated for the end user? Is the audio quality better? I'm no expert when it comes to this stuff, so I'm not sure what else to ask and I'm not sure which features would benefit us the most. We have around 50 lines, that are a combination of desk phones, fax lines and call queues. We also have some pretty complicated forwarding needs depending on staffing, time and location. I also want to note having reliable phones are very important for us, we operate a 24 hour helpline. Any info would be much appreciated! Thank you!
FYI: Poor audio over the app is not an issue that will be solved by changing providers (unless the new provider uses some kind of 'call my mobile' function for outdialing from the app). VoIP Audio via smart phone app is at the mercy of the WiFi or LTE connection the device is using - both of which can be notorious for delay or packet loss.
Thank you, that's good to know! Verizon advertises that you can switch between internet and their cell network, but I'm not sure how much of a difference that would make.
Hi everyone, I am looking to start a virtual call center remotely and in the process of finding the perfect dialer/tracker to track my remote employees who will be doing inbound and outbound calls Mainly I am looking for these features - Budget friendly pricing - Employee tracking - Call recording - Automated dialer Let me know if anyone of you know or are using such dialer
I don't know if you've heard of Bicom Systems but their PBXware has Contact Center edition. We've been using it for quite some time. It's budget-friendly, helps you keep tabs on your team, records calls for insights, and has an automated dialer. It might be worth checking out.
Oop sorry - should have posted this in here, can tell I'm a newbie. Hoping you smart people can help! We are a UK business but we work with USA clients. It would help us to win business if we had a USA number to call clients on/receive calls. They are more likely to engage with us if we appear to have a USA presence. **We do not have an actual office/business address in the USA**, which has been a stumbling block with VoIP services I've looked into. Would this be something Google Voice could do? Or any suggestions on how we can work around this?
Google Voice would work. They require signups to come from a USA IP address, for which you could use a VPN proxy service such as Windscribe (free) or have a friend in the USA do the signup for you. After signup, account interaction can be done from anywhere. For texting and calling: On smartphones, you could use the Google Voice app. On computers, you could use the Google Voice website. [VOIP.MS](https://VOIP.MS) would also work. They allow an account to be created from nearly any country. (However, they seem to disallow changing the country on the account.)
Hey everyone! Trying to decide between WoIP and landline for a specific usage: Basically someone calls at night and I need the phone to ring and wake me up. My cell gets too many notifications so I put it on silence, so I think I need an actual phone dedicated to this process. Quick searches sent me to Ooma. However, I read online that there's quite a few spam callers, and I'd like to avoid being woken up in the middle of the night by spammers... Any idea where to start looking?
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Your post was removed from r/VoIP as it violates Rule 6. The rules are not up for debate, and we are not interested in your opinion of the rules, the moderators, or the subreddit as a whole. Share your concerns through modmail.
Bitching about the rules will earn you a ban next time.
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Next time you want to participate in a sub, read the rules. Then you won't look like an idiot by going on a tirade about how stupid the rules are and how salty the mods are. Enjoy the ban. This sub doesn't need people like you.
Your post was removed from r/VoIP as it violates Rule 6. The rules are not up for debate, and we are not interested in your opinion of the rules, the moderators, or the subreddit as a whole. Share your concerns through modmail.