I use the office plan from RingCentral. I love their service. It works great and has a ton of features.

Julie

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Julie | Virtual Resource Services, Inc (VRSI)
http://www.vrsioffice.com

I'm also looking for a land line replacement. I've tried Google voice but it only works with Smart phones or more popular cell versions. Hoping Vonage will be a solution for me.

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Romaine;
Providing home-based entrepreneurs with startup solutions.

I'm thinking of sticking with googlevoice and transfer calls to my cell, and have skype as a back-up plan. I haven't had landline for yeats, and I'm definitely not trying to start now. I think it's doable for entepreneurs in sole proprietorship. If you work for a company, then you have certain requirements. Explore different avenues and see what works for you. Wish you all the best

I am just starting out and have read through this thread and guess I still have some questions.

I gave up my land line many years ago though still have it for my fax (which I will also be looking at to change). I have been using my cell phone for work with no problems (I love Verizon). I don't know much about skype, google voice or any of those. So could someone explain why I would need to sign up for something like that as opposed to just continuing to use my cell? What are the advantages? or disadvantages?

I use google voice and make phone calls with my headset right from my laptop! I also ported my android phone to work with it!

Google voice is nice but it doesn't work with all cell phones.

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Romaine;
Providing home-based entrepreneurs with startup solutions.

Something no one has mentioned has been Sprint and Verizon home phone service.

The way it works is, you get a cellular phone device (with a built in battery, in case your electricity goes out). You put it where you can get a good signal, and you plug a regular phone into it.

Both companies charge $20 per month for unlimited domestic (USA) calling.

The only thing that this device depends on is if it gets a good signal. If your internet goes down, it doesn't matter; this device keeps working. If your electricity goes down, the device will still work for several hours (internal battery).

If the phone line coming into your house is dead (i.e. you currently don't have any phone service), then you can plug the phone device into any phone jack. Now all your phone jacks are active with the Verizon or Sprint home phone service!

Originally Posted by Kendra

So could someone explain why I would need to sign up for something like that as opposed to just continuing to use my cell? What are the advantages? or disadvantages?

Kendra,

Cell phone is fine, but sometimes you just want to "turn off" the business. With your cell phone clients can call anytime. It can become annoying and disrupt your work for other clients and/or your family time. When you worked in the outside business world, would you have wanted calls about work coming to your personal phone 24/7? Most likely not. The same premise applies to a VA business.

With a Cloud PBX service like RingCentral you can have professional voicemail, calls forwarding to you when and where you want, and the ability to ignore business calls after hours. Also if you terminate a client, you can avoid having them hassle you after you part ways. (There are a lot of unstable people out there, and in our business you can never be too careful, since we seldom ever meet our clients.)

Also a Cloud PBX / VoIP Business number lends an air of professionalism to your business and gives you some privacy.

Just my opinion,

Julie

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Julie | Virtual Resource Services, Inc (VRSI)
http://www.vrsioffice.com

Hi, My business number "is" my cell phone number also. Since I am a "virtual" company, I have to have my phone and client contacts at my fingertips. I am not a stay at home VA. I am always on the go, trying to recruit new clients. It is not too expensive as having a land line, but my cell phone enables me to give me the option of skyping and email while I am out also so I do not miss any client calls. There is too much competition out there as it is .. all you VA's. "wink wink"

Kathi,

A Cloud PBX system like RingCentral does allow you to use your cell to make and receive calls (for those of us always on the go). Or you can use your computer/softphone, regular phone, or any other type of phone (LAN, etc). The service is very flexible and allows you to customize incoming and outgoing calls to fit your business model. When using a cell (or other phone) to make calls it just shows the person you are calling your business number not your cell number.

Julie

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Julie | Virtual Resource Services, Inc (VRSI)
http://www.vrsioffice.com