OK, wondering what the best solution is here...

I have a service that answers my work phone (I own the line, it's forwarded to their switchboard) and during business hours they answer, put the caller on hold and transfer to my cell phone. After hours, they have a voicemail box for me that I can call into and check.

PROBLEM: After hours and on weekends, I have no indication that someone has called and left a message. Therefore, I either need to call in to the voicemail every hour to check, or know I will be leaving people hanging who leave me a message at 5:15PM.

I can have the switchboard FORWARD all my calls after hours to a different number than my cell though (I don't want clients calling through to my cell directly on nights/weekends), so I thought about having them forwarded to my google voice number so I at least get a notification that a message has been left, but I am wondering if there is a different/better way to accomplish this?

 

We've used Allworx phones for quite a while now. It's my first and only experience with VoIP phones so idk how they compare to Cisco but they've met all the needs of us and our clients and afaik I know they do all the stuff a SMB would need and they're cheaper than Cisco.

If someone leaves us a vm it gets emailed to all of us, you can set an incoming call to forward to our cell phone after a certain amount of rings. The phones don't have to be on the same local network as the allworx box, we all have a VoIP phone at home so when anyone calls the office it rings our homes too. We have some sort of after hours setup too, not sure exactly how it works. My boss is the phone expert so if you're looking for some more info I can ask him.

Or I can give you his email, dude is a VoIP phone wiz!

 

I'm not really clear what you are looking for. You just want a voicemail box with notification?

A Skype phone number is pretty cheap. I have one. If you aren't signed in calls goto voicemail. I think calls also go right to voicemail if you are signed in but in DND mode. Skype will send you an email when you get a voicemail.

 

I use RingCentral for my side businesses which allows me to set the "work hours". Any call that comes in after that time is automatically sent to vmail, and you get an email about it. You can either check the vmail in the email, or log into your dashboard. If you download the free app (iOS or Android), you'll get the notification and can check the vmail on your phone.

I used them since 2007 and never had an issue. They have vanity numbers available as well which we had when we owned the franchise stores...

 

I use RingCentral for my side businesses which allows me to set the "work hours". Any call that comes in after that time is automatically sent to vmail, and you get an email about it. You can either check the vmail in the email, or log into your dashboard. If you download the free app (iOS or Android), you'll get the notification and can check the vmail on your phone.

I have used them since 2007 and never had an issue. They have vanity numbers available as well which we had when we owned the franchise stores...

 

Line2 (Toktumi)

http://line2.com/

800 number plus fully customizable voicemail and auto-attendant for about $150/yr. ios and androip app as well.

 

http://www.ooma.com/products/business

My friend/business partner uses this. Would do everything you are looking for. I can give more details if you'd like.

 

I use Magicjack here in London. Works well.

 

I switched to Ooma for the house line a few months ago and we've been happy with it. I have a second virtual line for it tied to my GV number, which I use for work and hand out as my number when companies ask for one. I set the hours I want it to ring through to either the house phone, my cell, or that rare occasion I'm in the office. Since I work in the dungeon when I do go in, I can't just give out my cell number.

 

thanks for all the info guys, it is very helpful. I need to see what options I ave with the virtual office setup insofar as BYOD hardware, etc... The skype/GV option may be the easiest/quickest/cheapest if it will work for after hours forwarding.