ramystyle Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Hi, I'm thinking of getting a 1800 number for support.. I figured that when a visitors sees a phone number a website, they feel safer.. don't you agree ? What is your experience in having a 1800 number? Where do you get one? I've made a quick google search and there are so many sites offering a 1800 numbers but i'm not sure how much I should be paying.. Any ideas, suggestions ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generic Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 have used several in the past, currently using ring central http://www.ringcentral.com/ and love it. You can have the number forwarded to any number of phones and even ring simultainously. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickendippers Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Yes indeed, we use http://www.toll-free800.com/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isdoo Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 nope - don't get many calls from the USA 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceman Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Yes......... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
generic Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 i like your server stats page.. but you may want to check your numbers...is it really possible to have an http uptime of 230672.88% 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcdigital Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 800pbx.com is BY FAR THE BEST!!! They have it all, including free vanity numbers! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramystyle Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 Hey Generic ! Thanks !! It's probably a glitch.. I'll try to fix it Thanks for the links everyone.. I'm taking a look at them right now to decide which one to take.. If more ppl have more links, feel free to post !! Thanks 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uberhost Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 GotVmail.com offers decent plans, and they're owned by Vonage, so it's a stable system. As for price and value, I think arcdigital's 800pbx.com suggestion may include the most features for the money. Check out the various links in this thread and sign up on a month-to-month basis to start. This way you can change providers if they don't live up to your expectations. Best of luck, Rick 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ur Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 You don't need to use a service like GotVmail or 800pbx to get a toll free number. Those are more if you require a hosted PBX and are actually pretty nice in terms of features. If you are in the US or Canada, and don't need a PBX or already have one, you can simply order one from your telco, and forward it to your main number, or even just get a 800 through your favorite VoIP number. Anyway, just some thoughts. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uberhost Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 You don't need to use a service like GotVmail or 800pbx to get a toll free number. True, but that assumes a one-man shop, doesn't it? For instance, with GotVmail and 800pbx, etc, each extension can be set up to forward to a different phone number. This is handy if you have sales/support staff in various locations. And it costs nothing to switch destination phone numbers when you replace someone. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ur Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Well, that *does not* assume a one-man shop at all. Many businesses have their own PBX and handle that internally, thus no need for services like GotVmail and 800pbx ... see my point? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 We use the 3CX pbx, which we host on a Windows server at the data center we use. 3CX has a lot of great features in the free version, but we had to pay for call queues. This is coupled with a toll-free number through Vitelity which only costs $0.50 per month and $0.019 per minute for incoming calls. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uberhost Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Well, that *does not* assume a one-man shop at all. Many businesses have their own PBX and handle that internally, thus no need for services like GotVmail and 800pbx ... see my point? When the lease was over on our $150/mo Lucent-Avaya in-house system, we saved a lot of money by going with GotVmail. See my point? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramystyle Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 I contacted 800pbx.com because I am a Canadian resident and their price for their Personal plan is more exensive (19.99$/montH) for Canadians.. Strange ! I checked gotvmail and so far it looks like it's really good... No extra charges for Canadians ! It's on top of my list right now ! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ur Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 @uberhost ... agreed. it can be expensive, particularly when you add up all the equipment, phones and the telco costs. I said nothing bad about GotVmail, in fact to the contrary. However, no matter which way you look at it, if you have multiple users and call volume, even hosted solutions like the ones mentioned can get expensive. With GotVmail's rates with 10 users and an average of 500 min per user, you'll have a hefty monthly bill too. Some of these services do offer bulk minute discounts. Granted, it is a very good and even very attractive solution for a small shop wanting big-business features. We run an asterisk servers. Like the solution Troy mentions above, it's your own IP PBX. Running your own IP PBX is not for everyone (you need server management skills, stable and adequate bandwidth, possible CODEC licenses, IP Phones, etc), but the good news is that there are many 'free' IP PBXes on the market today and installation is a breeze with the right hardware. Even Avaya now offers a free IP Office ( for SMBs). Other well known ones include Asterisk, Trixbox, Switchvox, Thirdlane (not sure if this one is still free). All you need is spare PC, a free IP PBX and a SIP or IAX provider if you are not using real trunks. Vitality is a great company with good rates particularly at the wholesale level. There are other ITSP like Gafachi, Level3, etc. Depends on your commitment/needs but per minute pricing can be very low. Anyway, my intentions are not to flame anyone nor start any arguments about what is better or worse, but simply offer another point of view. Hopefully someone finds this at least remotely interesting. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uberhost Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Hopefully someone finds this at least remotely interesting. I find it remotely interesting. Seriously, thanks for the info--perspective is a good thing. Everyone's situation is different, and I agree about the per minute cost (though we spend most of our phone time returning calls via VoIP, so the GotVmail cost isn't bad at all). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masspatsfan Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 GotVmail.com offers decent plans, and they're owned by Vonage, so it's a stable system. As for price and value, I think arcdigital's 800pbx.com suggestion may include the most features for the money. Check out the various links in this thread and sign up on a month-to-month basis to start. This way you can change providers if they don't live up to your expectations. Best of luck, Rick Gotvmail is not owned by Vonage....I used them in the past...they are a privately held company. Thus their ability to be named by Inc. 500 as the 66th fastest growing private company in the U.S. Personally I prefer GrandCentral but it all depends on your needs I suppose. In short there are plenty of places to get 800 numbers...just do a Google search for them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 I love RingCentral!!! It is by far one of my favorites. I do think that Gotvmail is very interesting though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcdigital Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Not sure why it's more expensive for you, but it's by far one of the best ones. They have SO many features, it's not even funny. They are even going to be doing a live receptionist service! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wickshosting Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I use Kall8 - it's great for those of us who just take a few calls. It's $2 / mo + $0.069 / min. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isdoo Posted January 16, 2008 Share Posted January 16, 2008 Not sure if you are still looking but http://www.voicenetwork.ca/voipservice.html seems a very good service. it allows you to forward a 1-866 number to a sip account anywhere in the world. Look under Canadian freephone for ones available to work free in both the US & Canada. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isdoo Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Ironically a client of mine needs a 1-8** vanity number. However it seems that none of the names listed above allow diversion of numbers to SIP URI addresses. They only seem to allow termination on regular USA numbers, which means that we cannot transfer calls out of hours to a VOIP phone here in the UK. These seems daft as most UK VOIP companies allow numbers to be terminated anywhere including VOIP phones. Anyone know of such a service. I have found the number - I just need to purchase it and the service I have tried several services so far, without joy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPS Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 We're using GotVMail's Virtual Phone Number for our toll free phone number. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isdoo Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 Sadly GotVMail does not allow forwarding (AFAIK) to Sip addresses (VOIP) - if it did it would be perfect. In fact I am yet to find a USA based company, that allows forwarding to VOIP, especially with a IVR (PBX) - no issues over here, there are several - but not in the USA 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.