Evoice is a virtual small business phone service that says you can “Add an Extra Phone Line to Your Mobile Phone for Business Calls.” This service offers an automated attendant to answer calls, voicemail to text, toll free numbers, music on hold, and call routing (follow me type of feature). It’s essentially what you would expect of a virtual phone system. There is a 30-day free trial. Feature We Like: Integrates a live receptionist answering service option for those who need it (extra charge).
Still, COVID-19 won't last forever and hybrid work may not be right for your business, so keeping in mind core VoIP criteria is important. That means providing voice communications for employees at their desks once they start returning to the office. VoIP systems may also need to support a call center for sales or customer service and support; and they often need to connect with and through a host of other communications channels, such as conference calls, fax machines, mobile communications, text messaging, video conferencing, and wireless handsets.
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Business voicemail services often let users record their own voice through a simple interface. You could, for instance, dial a short code like *97 to reach your personal voicemail box. Then you just speak into your phone to record a message when prompted.
The problem there is that VoIP traffic is much more sensitive to network bumps and potholes than most general office traffic. That translates to garbled conversations, difficulty connecting over Wi-Fi, or (worst case) dropped and lost calls. If your business is small and your network is essentially contained in one or two wireless routers, then your configuration and testing headaches might be fairly easy (though still there). For medium and larger networks, these tasks can be complex and time-consuming, which translates into added cost in terms of man-hours.
2. “Hi! We’re glad you called [company name]. We’re happy to help but we are either on the line with another client or on the go! Please let us know your name, number, and reason for your call today. As soon as we become available, we will call you right back. Thanks!” Ask your callers to leave a short message so you can determine when to return their call.
eVoice, like some of the other virtual business phone systems on this list, also offers a nifty app for both Android and iOS users and has detailed call logs and an advanced reports feature to help users keep track of their activity.
Workeasy is focused on being voicemail for growing businesses. They also offer a toll-free virtual phone number service. No free trial, starts at $19.95/month. Note that some features that are all-included in the price of other packages (such as auto attendant greeting) have an add-on fee. So compare prices carefully. Feature We Like: Voice talent service – they’ll provide a professional to record your voice message for you. [Note: service appears to be gone.]
Users of VirtualPhone.com applaud the company for its international calling features. Some users report frustration with customer service delays. These delays seem to be especially frustrating for customers experiencing billing issues. This problem should probably be considered when deciding between this and other companies.
FreedomVoice has two main offerings: Cloud Phone (VOIP) and Cloud Number (virtual phone system). The company says it has 250,000 small business customers. They offer a 30-day free trial for Cloud Number, then $9.95/month for limited minutes. CloudPhone, which includes a VOIP phone, starts at $29.95 per month. Feature We Like: Nice guided signup on the website for both services – very clear.
9. "Hey, this is [your name]. Thanks for reaching out. I'm busy at the moment, but if you leave your name, number, and message, I'll return your call.”
Looking for a business phone system that gives you everything? Learn more about RingCentral. 2. Talkroute: $19 to $99 per month
19. Hi, you’ve reached [employee name]’s voicemail box. [Employee first name] no longer works for [company name]. Please call our main line at [phone number] and we’ll be happy to connect you with a current team member who can help.
That said, Nextiva provides more than 40 VoIP features, making it one of the best virtual phone systems you can find for your business. These features include call screening, queuing, forwarding, holding, and blocking, auto-attendant, and voicemail. There’s also a number of rare features like call park, call pulling, voicemail forwarding, and AI-enabled voicemail to email.
CallHippo can help teams to improve their customer support, analyze and optimize the productivity of their employees, and train new employees how to work within the processes that are built out from within their system. Their in-depth activity feeds allow you to have a complete top-down view of your operations. They currently offer numbers from more than 50+ countries around the world and boast a system setup process that takes less than three minutes in total.
Voicemail is a voice message that a caller leaves when the person called is absent or is busy with another conversation.
Local, on-premise servers can also provide businesses with voice service. They can create greater security but come with a higher cost of ownership and more complexity in setup than their hosted counterparts.
Phonewire provides business telephone system sales, nationwide installation, text messaging, and technician services. One of the services they offer is voicemail transcription, ‘typed by actual human beings’. Transcriptions are sent to an email address with the audio file attached, and also include a Gender ID with the Caller ID information to tell you whether the caller is male or female. Phonewire also offers a developer API that integrates with most business phone systems and voicemail services, including OnSIP.