Telephone tech question - avoiding a $208 per DAY phone bill

[AJMD429]

Any way around a $208 per DAY telephone bill...???

We are moving the office a couple miles, and can't have the same phone number for whatever reason (I guess it crosses some district line?), so we will need to have as many as 600-800 calls per day forwarded.

I now find out that the charge is not only a monthly fee, but $0.26 per call...

So my monthly phone bill would be around $4,000 or so.

Is there some way around this stupidity...?

If I were still renting the previous space, I could have some kind of physical device there to forward the calls, could I not...? I'm betting the landlord would rent me the space for less than $4,000/month, since otherwise it will sit empty. I could pay the new tenant a hundred bucks a month just to have my machine in their closet, forwarding calls.

When one moves a business, they don't want to change their phone number unless they have to, and I guess that is one way to be held hostage by the phone company.

[Old Ironsights]

See if you can get that phone number "ported" to a Cell Phone... then forward the cell phone (no use of minutes)

Heck, even if it cost you a minute per forward it would still be cheaper to have a 1000 minute "plan".

[wecsoger]

They talking about taking your old number and making it an RCF? Yes, the phone company will have its way with you (in almost the biblical sense) on the fees. I'm working at a company doing a massive reorganization of phone systems (100 plus locations across the US) and we've got hundreds of the RCF's. Yes, you can imagine the bills. We are porting all these numbers ( and hundreds others) over to the Verizon cloud to avoid the charges. Last year's savings I hear were just a little south of a mil or so.

The cell phone plan sounds best. Any LEC (local exchange carrier) can not refuse a number port request. If you've got a cell phone plan like mine, one more phone is another 9.99 a month. Stick that number on a phone, once you get it ported, then forward that cell to your new biz number.

Make sure you won't go over your minutes on a voice plan! Otherwise you'll get screwed by the cell company.

Another option, port that number to a cell, then set the cell voicemail to answer on first ring. On that voicemail message, tell them your new number. And check the voice mail couple times a day for any messages. After several months you should be able to get the word out.

[SteveR]

Have the phone company put your new number in a message that it has changed from the old number, that should be free and they usually leave the message up for 30 days.

This way your customers will have the new number and forces them to use the new number, because when the porting ends either way your customers will have to use the new number.

Steve

[flatnose]

Magic Jack. You can have your number transferred to it for a small fee. I have been using the jack for 3 years, and no phone bill. Needs to be plugged into a computer that has internet access. It will automatically save messages on your computer. The only downside to the magicjack is that you cant send faxes through it.

[wecsoger]

Went back and re-read that post. 600-800 calls a day? Is this accurate and you have CDR records to back that up? I have truck facilities with six trunk lines going in that have no where near that volume and the folks there are a' hoppin' being busy.

If you don't go with a cell number (looking back, don't know if that's a good fit, you can look at the magic jack or one of the other VOIP (voice over IP) alternatives. Again, a service provider can not refuse a port request from another provider.

There has to be another person within the footprint of that LEC that would be willing to be the point-of-presence for a year or so for another phone line.

Why I'm wondering about your numbers - 600 calls a day for a 10 hour day is 60 calls an hour which means if averaged, you can only have call length less than a minute or else another call will get a busy. And phone traffic is not a smooth average, depending on the business there will be peaks, say at 9am and 1pm with slow activity other times.

Not having customers hit a busy is another issue but you need to have a serious conversation with service providers if you're going to keep your current number.

Let us know how it works out...

[Streetstar]

Regarding going over minutes with a cell phone solution ----- just use an unlimited plan - my plan is unlimited calls/ data/ minutes / etc -- less than $130/ month

[AJMD429]

Why I'm wondering about your numbers - 600 calls a day for a 10 hour day is 60 calls an hour which means if averaged, you can only have call length less than a minute or else another call will get a busy. And phone traffic is not a smooth average, depending on the business there will be peaks, say at 9am and 1pm with slow activity other times..

Yes, it is an estimate, but it is based on the number of 'notes' we take and process; many calls are very short. Some are outgoing returns for messages left, but I still counted those, as the 'message left' is part of the call total, even if it just goes to an answering machine (some are during office hours and some from the night before). We have several incoming lines and an automated 'referral' line, 'prior authorization' line, and 'prescription refill' line, plus three private lines with a barrage of pharmacies and insurance companies and so on calling. The other issue is we get about 1,200 pages of faxes daily, mostly from insurance companies pushing-back against prescriptions we've written, tests we've ordered, etc., and the average one is only 2-3 pages long (forms we have to fill out to justify using a certain medication or ordering an X-ray or whatever), so that would count for 300-400 'calls' as well.

I remember my family doc when I was a kid, and they had three desktop phones - one in his office with an answering machine that got all calls from physicians, that he answered himself, one up front his secretary answered to schedule appointments, etc., and one other one up there for when they needed to make an outgoing call (and not tie up the incoming call line). I wonder if he knows how good he had it back then vs. nowdays...

[wecsoger]

ahh, I didn't get the full concept of what you were doing from the original post. You've a major move in front of you and you're going to need some serious IT help, not just relying on some sales weasels from the phone company.

I know exactly what you're getting into, as that's what I've been living at my company for the last five years. We have a hundred plus locations across the U.S. Currently we're converting all the older phone systems (80's and 90's vintage) from copper to Cisco IP phones - a much higher grade of install than just a magic jack or time warner phone. Same concept though. All the phone voice traffic goes across the Verizon cloud with T-1 links into our every facility

I'll go to a location and having done all the phone programming prior. At a particular time all the old, copper line based phones stop ringing and the network connected phones start ringing. Not magic, just a network programming and configuration behind it. And these are facilities with six, eight, twelve trunk lines coming in.

Yes, old days were a lot simpler. Don't think I would like to go back though.

And remember, the complexity of your set up is not a requirement of your work, it's a reaction to all the requirements placed on you by the gov't, insurance, regulations, etc.