Virtual telephony

We have been looking for an inexpensive virtual telephony service for a while. Yes, there are a few services around, but we've never found a perfect fit. What we didn't want was a virtual receptionist service although we may want this at some point in the future.

Our requirement was for a virtual service where can choose your telephone number and then control where and how you receive or make the call.

I have previously raved about Skype and still do, but it didn't work as we wanted for external calls. First, we got a restricted selection of telephone numbers. We wanted a Harrogate telephone number (01423), but was only offered Leeds (0113) as our nearest location .. it doesn't really fit a business operating in Harrogate. Second, we have not managed to get the voicemail to work off the external telephone number. This may be possible and it has been fine for direct Skype calls, but that wasn't a solution we were  totally happy with nor do I think it works in practice. People just know when your on or off-line Skype so don't tend to use the voicemail service all that much.

So, we looked at some options on the web and found a service offered by Soho66 http://www.soho66.co.uk. They offered the all important 01423 number and a few more bells and whistles. We can route the call to either another landline or to an IP based phone plugged into your broadband. You can also configure the workflow so that the call is directed to multiple numbers simultaneously ie. your mobile phone at the same time. You choose how many seconds delay before you can send to voicemail. The system then sends you message via  email and you can play back the message. We use Outlook push email, so the message is automatically relayed to the mobile phone. The service does more than this and we felt the customer experience was good, so we have a cost effective solution that we are happy with now -- a fully functional virtual business line that works where ever we happen to be working.