Need help getting a new biz started (phone number)

[rob781]

Anyone Please help me!!!

I have been spending hours trying to find away on how to get a local phone number. I'm trying to buy a local phone number for my biz and the transfer it to Magic Jack because they don't have any local phone numbers in my area for customers to call me at, all Magic Jack phone numbers are long distance. If I can get a local phone number, I can then transfer it to Magic Jack..

Any info on how to do this would be very help-full, I can't find anything on this online for this and have spent hours looking for any infomation on how to do this.

Thanks,
Rob781

 

[Velvis]

I have a Magic Jack and the quality is not very good. Certainly nothing you would want to talk to clients on. Very hit or miss, and mostly miss.

For $20/year its fine for kids or a backup, its just not something you would use for talking to clients. Very spotty and low quality.

I have it as the only "landline" in the house as a backup to the cell phones.

 

[pcbox]

Sign up for Google Voice to grab a free, local number, then just forward it to whatever telephony system you decide to go with. There's actually a great new Technibble article detailing its benefits: http://www.technibble.com/how-to-leverage-google-voice-for-your-computer-repair-business/

 

[OldSchoolPC]

Sign up for Google Voice to grab a free, local number, then just forward it to whatever telephony system you decide to go with. There's actually a great new Technibble article detailing its benefits: http://www.technibble.com/how-to-leverage-google-voice-for-your-computer-repair-business/

+1. I highly recommend the above suggestion. However, forget Magic Jack all-together. Simply set google voice to ring your cell phone. Also, set it so that it comes up as your google voice number and add it as a contact in your phone. That way, when a customer calls your "business line" it will come up as such on your cell's caller id.

 

[acesdeals]

MJ is pure rubbish not worth it at all and little to no customization

GV with a OBi110 turns it into a real phone and i do almost everything in that article mainly setting the time periods to get calls

i also block #s and callers that are spam or selling crap and you can also record calls too legal in some states of course

 

[nightkingdoms]

+1 on Google Voice. I use it exclusively for my business and have another one for personal use (awesome to mark creepy ex-dates as "spam" and no longer have to hear from them lol).

I have no dedicated receptionist or able to take calls, etc. If I'm available I can answer calls when it rings, but I usually can't. If I can I take the information, enter it into my online system and go from there. If I can't answer, it usually goes to the answering service or GV voicemail, both of which take (or transcribe) a message and send it off by email which auto-creates a ticket in my system.

I also have an online fax service with a matching area code. I use it more for personal use than for business, but it's still there for a small fee every month and I can access it from anywhere with an Internet connection.

 

[marcink99]

ok how I see it you have two options.

1st get a skype phone number you will get local number no problem. (You can have skype on cell phone) I had it this way worked good and cheap

2nd Get toll free number if you need it.

 

[acesdeals]

there is also an option to use configure it will a pbx box for even more functionality

 

[Peaceful]

I totally agree with others on the Google Voice recommendation, it's the bee's
knees.

Where I disagree is the knock on magic jack. I use it for my home landline
and for the voice quality I'd rate it grade A. The voice quality is amazing, when
I first got it I expected some sort of shortcoming for the price but it's far
exceeded all expectations. I have 0 cell coverage where I live so I forward
the GV no. to magicjack. And 20 bucks a year beats the hell out of any other
offering out there.

 

[Tekko]

I would look into voipms

 

[dweebsonduty]

+1 for google voice then you can forward it to Majic Jack if you want to use it still or better yet get skype with a number and skype out. That is how I have done this sort of thing.

 

[tobey]

MJ is pure rubbish not worth it at all and little to no customization

GV with a OBi110 turns it into a real phone and i do almost everything in that article mainly setting the time periods to get calls

i also block #s and callers that are spam or selling crap and you can also record calls too legal in some states of course

This is what I do also, love the OBi box. Also with an OBi box you can switch carriers down the road if you need something more than GV offers (I highly recommend voip.ms, I use them for my personal calls. Dirt cheap rates, plus you can set up a digital receptionist if you want to get all fancy...)

 

[HouseOfTechs]

Sign up for Google Voice to grab a free, local number, then just forward it to whatever telephony system you decide to go with. There's actually a great new Technibble article detailing its benefits: http://www.technibble.com/how-to-leverage-google-voice-for-your-computer-repair-business/

+1 im using this now... highly recommended

 

[scottjess]

I totally agree with others on the Google Voice recommendation, it's the bee's
knees.

Where I disagree is the knock on magic jack. I use it for my home landline
and for the voice quality I'd rate it grade A. The voice quality is amazing, when
I first got it I expected some sort of shortcoming for the price but it's far
exceeded all expectations. I have 0 cell coverage where I live so I forward
the GV no. to magicjack. And 20 bucks a year beats the hell out of any other
offering out there.

I completely agree; my wife uses magic jack for hours on end from New Zealand talking to her mother in America.
Our magic jack is 4 years old 1st gen and the qaulity is amazing.

That being said there is a crack in the casing but that doesn't effect the quality of voice and soon we will be buying one of the new mj that do not require a pc.

 

[agile]

+1 for Google Voice from me. been using it for 2 years now and works well. it forwards directly to my cell phone. i did have to upgrade my cell plan for more minutes due to this extra usage but it is a write off anyway.

 

[coolercity]

Does anyone know of a way to tell that a call is coming from GV AND show the caller's caller ID? (I'm having my number forwarded to a iphone if that matters)