Internet Phone Service For Home and Office

Do you just want to be able to make Computer Phone Calls, from either your work or home, and don't care about other features such as call forwarding, auto attendant, or call answer?

If "YES": Then Skype would be an easy, affordable solution. Skype is simply a software application you download enabling you to make telephone calls online. It also includes Video Conferencing and Instant Messaging capabilities.

When you call another person "Skype to Skype", it's free. Skype costs you money only when you need to call landlines and mobile phones, and that's determined by the pricing package you select.

Skype also offers packages for Small and Medium Businesses. Business Skype lets you set up accounts for employees, allocate them credits for calling, and decide which feature each employee will have.

You can do other things with Skype, such as Using Your TV as a Phone! Read about it below...but before you do...

What does it mean to Transfer calls VERSUS Forward calls?

These are an example of two terms people often interchange, yet they actually mean two different things:

Transferring a Call, means putting the call on hold by selecting, transfer, flash or the flash-hook, then entering the extension you want to transfer the call to. At that point, you can hang up and the call will "transfer" to that extension, or you can announce your transfer then hang up, at which time the call will go through to the transferred extension.

Forwarding a Call involves pre-programming a phone to automatically forward incoming calls to another telephone or extension.

Why is important to understand the difference?

Because, if all you want to do is forward calls between work and home, your place of work probably has the feature already built into it's phone system, so you wouldn't require an internet phone service to make this happen. Also, a call forwarding feature is normally available from most telephone companies; so if you want to forward calls from one outside phone number to another outside phone number, then you could have your local phone company activate this service for you, and again, no internet phone service is required.

To transfer calls between two locations, such as work and home, you need the phones to functions as "Extensions" between each other, and thus you would need a phone service. An Internet Phone Service would be useful in this case. Also, an online telephone service comes packed with many additional features.

Many Internet Phone Services come with Automated Receptionist capabilites as part of the service itself. However, If you would like a "Live Receptionist", you need to seek out a specific service which provides that.

The term "Virtual Receptionist" is often interchanged to describe, "A Live Receptionist" and an "Automated Receptionist". Both of these services can be Virtual, hence the confusion.

A Live Receptionist: There are several services available whose primary function is to provide a real person to answer, handle and process your telephone calls. There are various price packages to choose from. Just remember the terms "Virtual" and "Automated" do not necessarily imply that the service includes a "Live Receptionist".

Davinici Virtual is another. They offer Live Receptionist Services and an Automated Receptionist Service, at affordable rates. They also offer "Live Web Chat": Live Web Chat is the "Chat Box" you sometimes see sliding up on a website, offering online visitors assistance via live chat.

Ask Yourself these Questions:

1) Do you want a full blown telephone system, with multiple incoming lines and extensions? If yes, then seek out a "Virtual PBX" or "A Cloud Based System".

2) Do you want a Basic Internet Phone Service that can grow with your business? Again you need to understand any limitations a service has. Some services offer the ability to add extensions or lines but place a limit on the number of one or both. Be sure to check that out.

3) Do you want full online management capabilities? This one is easy, as most every service offers this.