Disgusted waiting for GrandCentral

At 02 Oct 2009 00:48:11 -0500 Sarah Austin wrote:
> I have a home based business and we have DSL and the home phone with
> Qwest and the cell phone with T-Mobile.

> We set it up with Qwest to forward calls from home to the cell, after 4
> rings, but often get people who ring 5 times, we get one ring on the cell
> and then they hung up before we can grab it. And we can lose $100 or more
> when that happens.
>
> YES I heard about GrandCentral quite awhile ago but have been unable to
> get into them, though I tried. And they're always saying "available soon"
> but it never happens.


Well, GrandCentral is now Google Voice, so you might look into it again.

> I need something NOW, that will simultaneously ring my home and cell
> phone.


I guess my first question is "why?" If these calls are so important, why
are you messing with two numbers? When my business went from retail
storefront to home-based a few years ago, I ported my business landline to
my
cellular phone and never looked back.
Your cell works both at home and away, your home phone only works at home.
Forget using the home phone for business, and just use the cell. If it's
"too late" and the home phone number is already in advertising and business
cards, port the landline to the cell and get a new landline number from
Qwest.

Todd Allcock <elecconnec.RemoveThis@AnoOspamL.com> wrote :

>
> I guess my first question is "why?" If these calls are so important,
> why are you messing with two numbers? When my business went from
> retail storefront to home-based a few years ago, I ported my business
> landline to my
> cellular phone and never looked back.
> Your cell works both at home and away, your home phone only works at
> home. Forget using the home phone for business, and just use the
> cell.

We still use the home landline for faxing from the desktop, plus we dont
have to carry the cell all around the house.

With the cell we only get so many monthly minutes, with the land line, no
limit. It's with Qwest and we also have the DSL on it.

> If it's "too late" and the home phone number is already in
> advertising and business cards, port the landline to the cell and get
> a new landline number from Qwest.

At 03 Oct 2009 21:06:22 -0500 Sarah Austin wrote:
> Todd Allcock <elecconnec DeleteThis @AnoOspamL.com> wrote :
>
> >
> > I guess my first question is "why?" If these calls are so important,
> > why are you messing with two numbers? When my business went from
> > retail storefront to home-based a few years ago, I ported my business
> > landline to my
> > cellular phone and never looked back.
> > Your cell works both at home and away, your home phone only works at
> > home. Forget using the home phone for business, and just use the
> > cell.
>
> We still use the home landline for faxing from the desktop,

Plenty of fax-to-email services exist, some are even free if only
snd/receive a couple of faxes a day. You scan the document, email it to
the provider and they fax it for you. Incomng faxes are emailed to you as
pdfs. efax.com, Faxzero.com, Fax1.com, Gotfreefax.com, etc.,

> plus we dont
> have to carry the cell all around the house.

True. Instead you carry a cordless landline. I fail to see the
practical difference.

However, plenty of adapters exist that connect Bluetooth cellphones to home
phones. Dock-n-talk, Cell Fusion, etc. Your home phones would esentially
plug into the cellphone service instead of a wall phone jack.


> With the cell we only get so many monthly minutes, with the land line, no
> limit. It's with Qwest and we also have the DSL on it.


I don't know about your state, but in mine, Colorado, Qwest sells DSL
without land line service. Your DSL goes up $5/month, but you lose the $30
(or whatever) the landline costs. Then you can use that money to buy a
bigger cell plan if necessary.

Remember, I'm working off your info- if these missed calls are costing you "
$100" are you really quibbling over a few extra bucks/month not to miss any
of them?

Sure it's not perfect, but there are no free alternatives to Google Voice
that I'm aware of, and I don't think Google Voice lets you port, at least
not yet, so even if they offered you an account today, you'd have to start
giving customers a new phone number- the GV number.

Todd Allcock <elecconnec RemoveThis @AnoOspamL.com> wrote :

> At 03 Oct 2009 21:06:22 -0500 Sarah Austin wrote:
>> Todd Allcock <elecconnec RemoveThis @AnoOspamL.com> wrote :
>>
>> >
>> > I guess my first question is "why?" If these calls are so
>> > important, why are you messing with two numbers? When my business
>> > went from retail storefront to home-based a few years ago, I
>> > ported my business landline to my
>> > cellular phone and never looked back.
>> > Your cell works both at home and away, your home phone only works
>> > at home. Forget using the home phone for business, and just use
>> > the cell.
>>
>> We still use the home landline for faxing from the desktop,
>
> Plenty of fax-to-email services exist, some are even free if only
> snd/receive a couple of faxes a day. You scan the document, email it
> to the provider and they fax it for you. Incomng faxes are emailed
> to you as pdfs. efax.com, Faxzero.com, Fax1.com, Gotfreefax.com,
> etc.,
>
>> plus we dont
>> have to carry the cell all around the house.
>
> True. Instead you carry a cordless landline. I fail to see the
> practical difference.
>
> However, plenty of adapters exist that connect Bluetooth cellphones
> to home phones. Dock-n-talk, Cell Fusion, etc. Your home phones
> would esentially plug into the cellphone service instead of a wall
> phone jack.
>
>
>> With the cell we only get so many monthly minutes, with the land
>> line, no limit. It's with Qwest and we also have the DSL on it.
>
>
> I don't know about your state, but in mine, Colorado, Qwest sells DSL
> without land line service. Your DSL goes up $5/month, but you lose
> the $30 (or whatever) the landline costs. Then you can use that
> money to buy a bigger cell plan if necessary.
>
> Remember, I'm working off your info- if these missed calls are
> costing you " $100" are you really quibbling over a few extra
> bucks/month not to miss any of them?
>
> Sure it's not perfect, but there are no free alternatives to Google
> Voice that I'm aware of, and I don't think Google Voice lets you
> port, at least not yet, so even if they offered you an account today,
> you'd have to start giving customers a new phone number- the GV
> number.

Yes, I appreciate this and will look into it. I'm not up on all the
latest tech possibilities, being 60 yrs old.

thanks!

Todd Allcock <elecconnec.DeleteThis@AnoOspamL.com> wrote :

> At 03 Oct 2009 21:06:22 -0500 Sarah Austin wrote:
>> Todd Allcock <elecconnec.DeleteThis@AnoOspamL.com> wrote :
>>
>> >
>> > I guess my first question is "why?" If these calls are so
>> > important, why are you messing with two numbers? When my business
>> > went from retail storefront to home-based a few years ago, I
>> > ported my business landline to my
>> > cellular phone and never looked back.
>> > Your cell works both at home and away, your home phone only works
>> > at home. Forget using the home phone for business, and just use
>> > the cell.
>>
>> We still use the home landline for faxing from the desktop,
>
> Plenty of fax-to-email services exist, some are even free if only
> snd/receive a couple of faxes a day. You scan the document, email it
> to the provider and they fax it for you. Incomng faxes are emailed
> to you as pdfs. efax.com, Faxzero.com, Fax1.com, Gotfreefax.com,
> etc.,
>
>> plus we dont
>> have to carry the cell all around the house.
>
> True. Instead you carry a cordless landline. I fail to see the
> practical difference.
>
> However, plenty of adapters exist that connect Bluetooth cellphones
> to home phones. Dock-n-talk, Cell Fusion, etc. Your home phones
> would esentially plug into the cellphone service instead of a wall
> phone jack.
>
>
>> With the cell we only get so many monthly minutes, with the land
>> line, no limit. It's with Qwest and we also have the DSL on it.
>
>
> I don't know about your state, but in mine, Colorado, Qwest sells DSL
> without land line service. Your DSL goes up $5/month, but you lose
> the $30 (or whatever) the landline costs. Then you can use that
> money to buy a bigger cell plan if necessary.
>
> Remember, I'm working off your info- if these missed calls are
> costing you " $100" are you really quibbling over a few extra
> bucks/month not to miss any of them?
>
> Sure it's not perfect, but there are no free alternatives to Google
> Voice that I'm aware of, and I don't think Google Voice lets you
> port, at least not yet, so even if they offered you an account today,
> you'd have to start giving customers a new phone number- the GV
> number.
>
>
>

One consideration, is if there's an emergency and the cell phone system
goes down, often the land line system stays up.

Have to think about it all.

Maybe we could simplify the land line service down to just the line and
nothing else ( no services ) for the cheapest possible monthly rate, and
use that for the faxing out ( maybe get rid of Callwave and use it for
incoming too, if there's a way to convert incoming land line faxes to
emails and pdf's and send them to me, which is very convenient with the
Callwave ) and DSL, then port the business number over to the cell phone
and use that "Dock-n-talk" device when home, if it can be done that way.

At 05 Oct 2009 00:36:51 -0500 Sarah Austin wrote:

> >> We still use the home landline for faxing from the desktop,
> >
> > Plenty of fax-to-email services exist, some are even free if only
> > snd/receive a couple of faxes a day. You scan the document, email it
> > to the provider and they fax it for you. Incomng faxes are emailed
> > to you as pdfs. efax.com, Faxzero.com, Fax1.com, Gotfreefax.com,
> > etc.,
> >
> >> plus we dont
> >> have to carry the cell all around the house.
> >
> > True. Instead you carry a cordless landline. I fail to see the
> > practical difference.
> >
> > However, plenty of adapters exist that connect Bluetooth cellphones
> > to home phones. Dock-n-talk, Cell Fusion, etc. Your home phones
> > would esentially plug into the cellphone service instead of a wall
> > phone jack.
> >
> >
> >> With the cell we only get so many monthly minutes, with the land
> >> line, no limit. It's with Qwest and we also have the DSL on it.
> >
> >
> > I don't know about your state, but in mine, Colorado, Qwest sells DSL
> > without land line service. Your DSL goes up $5/month, but you lose
> > the $30 (or whatever) the landline costs. Then you can use that
> > money to buy a bigger cell plan if necessary.
> >
> > Remember, I'm working off your info- if these missed calls are
> > costing you " $100" are you really quibbling over a few extra
> > bucks/month not to miss any of them?
> >
> > Sure it's not perfect, but there are no free alternatives to Google
> > Voice that I'm aware of, and I don't think Google Voice lets you
> > port, at least not yet, so even if they offered you an account today,
> > you'd have to start giving customers a new phone number- the GV
> > number.
> >
> >
> >
>
> One consideration, is if there's an emergency and the cell phone system
> goes down, often the land line system stays up.

True, but I believe your "naked" (no landline) Qwest DSL line would still
offer 911 service.


> Have to think about it all.
>
> Maybe we could simplify the land line service down to just the line and
> nothing else ( no services ) for the cheapest possible monthly rate, and
> use that for the faxing out ( maybe get rid of Callwave and use it for
> incoming too, if there's a way to convert incoming land line faxes to
> emails and pdf's and send them to me, which is very convenient with the
> Callwave ) and DSL, then port the business number over to the cell phone
> and use that "Dock-n-talk" device when home, if it can be done that way.

Switching from Callwave to a cheaper fax provider with help- I dropped CW
last year when they cancelled my grandfathered $4/year plan.

There are certainly a myriad of options though!