For a while now I’ve been considering a Virtual office setup in order to get rid of my cell phone. Since I work in-house, it’s really the only form of outside communication I can have at the moment. I also figure that it’ll help me down the road after Hubby and I move to Ohio. I can keep the same phone number because all you really need is a broadband connection, and I did some poking around many different companies and I have to say that iPBX is looking to be a pretty decent service at this point.
I think I’d go with the Virtual Attendant plan which is in the $14.99 a month range. I don’t need to go overboard on expenses because as far as my business is concerned, it’s really just the four branches that need to be contacted. Support, Sales, Billing and Programming. Why? Because I’m slowly introducing Sean to the AGn Solutions world and am currently working on getting him a few programming jobs. Typically people refuse to work over email when it comes to telling the programmer what they’re interested in, so having him get his own line wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
The way they work is you’re given a single phone number, figure it’s like 1-888-123-1234 (obviously that’s an example, don’t go calling anything). From there you can have a few sub lines. So say Support is 001 as the extension. Sales is 002, Billing is 003 and Programming would be 004. If I really wanted to get tricky I could make my direct line to my phone 004, even though I’d more than likely pick up on the phone on everything except for programming. But this gives me an idea of just what kind of call is going to come through when I use the phone.
Currently for the Business based lines, you have the option of a free wireless phone with every purchase, the thing is – the phone requires a 2 year service agreement with Sprint. I’m not overly fond of Sprint so if there is a way to accomplish this setup without having to use an outside company it would be great. So after looking through the site I came across the Uniden UIP1868P which gives you the standard base, and then there’s the side head-sets, I figure this would resolve the problem of having to go through an outside company. I see no point in having two cell phones, and I refuse to leave my current provider for Sprint considering the two-year contract I just signed, and my distaste for the company in general. So the Uniden would be great to have the main base on my line, and then I can throw a satellite on Sean’s desk and the rest is history.