Phone Setup for Office

[BLG]

In the process of setting up a new business. For my other business we've always just used regular one-line business phone service and ring central for faxes. I was wondering what other options there are out there now. We'd like at least 2 maybe 3 lines for our small office and fax. Any suggestions?

[SKUlabs]

VoIP is the way to go nowadays, no question about it. RingCentral is pretty popular and well rated, and is very fairly priced for small businesses. Set up a toll-free number, a few lines, and cell phone forwarding for when you're out of the office. I haven't tried their Zendesk integration, but anything to make the support channels work better together is a big plus.

As for the number of lines, that really depends on your specific situation and needs. You could start small, with just a couple of lines, and expand as you acquire more phone staff and your call volume increases. Make sure you have hold, mobile forwarding, and voicemail systems in place in case you have all lines blinking and you miss a call.

[MyITGuy]

Check out FreePBX.org. Its open source software that you can install on your own hardware, or you can purchase an appliance with support if thats more your style.

[Harold Mansfield]

Check out Vonage. I really liked Vonage for business when I used it. Tons of features, reliable service, easy to set up, and they've gotten even better since then.
https://business.vonage.com/

If you some kind of virtual service like toll free numbers, call transfer, extensions and so on, check out Grasshopper.
Grasshopper Virtual Phone System | Manage Your Calls Online (http://grasshopper.com/)

[billbenson]

Check out Vonage. I really liked Vonage for business when I used it. Tons of features, reliable service, easy to set up, and they've gotten even better since then.
https://business.vonage.com/

If you some kind of virtual service like toll free numbers, call transfer, extensions and so on, check out Grasshopper.
Grasshopper Virtual Phone System | Manage Your Calls Online (http://grasshopper.com/)

Trying to use Vonage residencial with features like simuring (rings at two different locations at the same time) and call forwarding really suck.The business side may be better.

[BLG]

I'm glad to see some familiar names such as Vonage and Ring Central. Thanks for the input.


Check out FreePBX.org. Its open source software that you can install on your own hardware, or you can purchase an appliance with support if thats more your style.

This is certainly interesting. Would this mean the phone system's monthly costs would be free or are there some other things that must be integrated that cost a monthly fee? I truly have no idea how all this works so I really don't know what to expect.

[MyITGuy]

This is certainly interesting. Would this mean the phone system's monthly costs would be free or are there some other things that must be integrated that cost a monthly fee? I truly have no idea how all this works so I really don't know what to expect.

~$750 - You buy the hardware - I usually opt for a Dell PowerEdge R2XX Series with an Intel E3 Processor, 8+ Gigs of ram and 250GB+ Drives in a Raid1 config.
~$175 - IP Phone - I usually opt for the AASTRA (Acquired by Mitel) 57I IP Phone.

Now that you have the hardware (That you install the software on), you have to find a provider. I would recommend Flowroute.com. Each DID (Direct Inward Dial) or Toll-Free number will set you back about $1.50/month each. Then you can opt to pay per minute for usage at $0.012/minute, or you can purchase the number of concurrent calls you need at a time for $20/line.

[journalist55]

I use RingCentral and I would recommend it! You can download the app to your phone, making it convenient to answer when you are not right by your office phone!