SpeakerNet News Compilations

Toll-Free Service

John Pullum

Anyone use services other than AT&T for their toll-free number? I’m NOT looking to switch my main phone service to another company, just my toll-free numbers. Not too concerned if they only go to voice mail (I’d rather have it ring to any number I want it to).

Note that this question was also addressed in 2005.

— Doug Fleener

I’ve been quite happy with the features, price, and services from www.kall8.com. I’ve used them for about five years and have never had a single issue.

— Rick Notter

I find www.tollfreeexpress.com to be a very good toll free service. They actually have 800 numbers, not just 877, 866 and 888.

— David Geller

My phone calls cost pennies. Really. Dropped from $50-$100 a month down to about $16 a month.

CondorPhone, Inc.
PO Box 55004
Newark NJ 07101-1399
800-470-0923

— Sam Silverstein

This is where you go to find out if a toll-free number is available.

This is who I use to get the number and handle my long distance (both inbound and outbound): www.worldwidephone.com.

— Gregory Kompes

I use Vonage. They offer online voicemail and email notification when someone leaves a message. This keeps my main line free. Of course, they also offer call forwarding, etc. all for the price of admission. (About $35/month) for a regular number and an 800-number.

— Maria Mullen

I use a company called Voiceshot (www.voiceshot.com). You don’t need a hard phone line, you have the “press 1, 2, 3” options, you can send calls to any physical number, you can control the hours the phone rings and when to send to “office closed,” plus they have outbound features so if you want to send an announcement to a set of phone numbers you can schedule it. Sooooooooo many great features and I only pay $35.00 a month.

— Catherine Whitcher

I use Ring Central (www.ringcentral.com) and am very happy at the flexibility and pricing they have.

— Robert McEntee

I use a company called Lifeline for just my toll free incoming calls. Don’t have to change other service. I think I pay 7 cents/min and they donate I believe 10% to charity of your choice.

— Lori Silverman

I’ve done lots of research and the best company seems to be www.gotvmail.com.

— Jim Bouchard

I’ve had great luck with GotVmail.com. It’s relatively inexpensive, give a very top-end appearance to the caller and has tons of options including multiple boxes, call-forwarding that allows you to screen and more.

UPDATE by John Pullum

I asked a few speaker/entertainer friends that also used www.Kall8.com and ended up signing up with them. It was VERY easy to transfer my numbers to them. All I had to do was download a couple of forms and fax them to them. They called a couple days later to confirm some information and within a day or so the numbers were transferred. They have an easy control panel and other features my former carrier AT&T didn’t offer.

SpeakerNet News is produced by Rebecca Morgan and Ken Braly. It is not affiliated with the National Speakers Association. Send comments or suggestions