SOHO VoIP
And SOHO Phone
Service Ideas

Welcome to SOHO VoIP SOHOers! Ummm, is that even a word?

I have a special place in my heart for the Small Office / Home Office guy or gal, because I spent years on and off as a small entrepreneur.

E-Dude knows what it means to squeeze every last nickel out of business VoIP phone service offerings, so dig in and save some money here!

You’re going to see a few SOHO VoIP phone service offers here and there on this page. Just know I’ve kicked the tires and made sure this stuff works before recommending it OK?

I’ve also outlined a few other cool ideas on this page to help the SOHO guy or gal maximize time and be more efficient, hope you enjoy it folks!

Best SOHO VoIP Providers

First you need to decide if you need phones, that is IP handsets. Or are you going to use the analog phones you already have? Secondly you will decide if you need more than one line.

Remember most VoIP connections don’t work well with fax machines, but the ones below may do OK if you want to attempt it, check out their FAQs before you assuming VoIP fax will work. Make sure to read up on my VoIP fax page for more on this.

Either way, if you already have your broadband internet, the folks at the banners below can provide a great option for either type of business VoIP phone service. In other words buy your flashy new IP phones from them, OR they will generally throw in a couple of adapters to allow you to use existing phones and fax machines you might have.

Plan “B”
Triple Or Double Play

If you need broadband internet access bandwidth, why not just bundle it with the business VoIP phone service? Click here to see what’s available. Some of the “double play” options on this site will actually allow you to buy a single home phone line that includes the “double play” of internet too, which is a great way to go if you only need one line.

The reason for this is generally it’s really cheap, has unlimited Long Distance, it also gives you cheap, decent internet and you can use your existing handset. You won’t be in the business Yellow Page directory, but who cares when you’re saving all that money!

An added benefit here is the “One Throat To Choke” service model, which means no finger pointing if something isn’t working, as your internet and phone service is from a single provider.

Your faxing then can be taken care of by using an internet fax service since you won’t need a second line. A great service I use and can recommend is click here for MyFax.com for details on pricing and features! Sign up on line and get a special discount. Many additional advantages of internet faxing - check it out to learn more.

Moving Forward To
Integrating Your SOHO Voicemail

Ok, this only works if you only need one voicemail box and have maybe one or two lines at the office and they are in “hunting” meaning phone calls roll over to the other line if you have more than one.

It works perfectly if you have only a single voice line like I do at my home office.

So let’s review – by now you’ve got your Internet access, your SOHO VoIP or regular analog (AT&T or similar home phone line) unlimited long distance phone service, and of course this stuff all comes with voicemail.

Now of course you realize that we all have voicemail to begin with on our cell phones, right?

I don’t know about you, but I find it annoying to check two voicemails. I also wish I had a second line sometimes when I’m working from my home office, so here’s what we’re gonna do (being E-Dude, I'm not going to pay extra for these features, and neither will you since I'm your pal…)

First off, let’s make it so we only have to check and worry about one voicemail shall we?

We’re going to want all phone calls (and hence voicemail) to eventually come to our cell phone. This is because if we’re not in the office, we’re going to have the calls “roll-over” to our cell phone and ring there, before ultimately going to our cell voicemail. If we don't want to answer the cell phone, fine, we'll turn it off, or simply let it go to voicemail anyway.

This has the added benefit of allowing you to publish only one phone number, your office number. Why give out two phone numbers all the time, when you can give out only one – keep it simple for people to get a hold of you!

I mean think about it, your customer shouldn’t have to call TWO numbers, your office and your mobile to get you. Make it so they call ONE number and get you no matter what.

Here’s how we do it.

1. Call the SOHO VoIP or land line provider for your main office phone. Tell them you want BOTH your “call forward don’t answer” and “call forward busy” features to “ring to” your cell phone number. In other words all voicemail requires these two features to work, you’re simply telling the office phone provider to map it to your cell phone. So now if you’re on the office phone, or not in the office, all calls will come to your cell phone, completely by-passing any voicemail box provided by your office phone provider – OK
2. Also go ahead and program in speed dial on your office phone to “hard forward” (generally *72 + your cell number) to your cell number. You’ll be using this, (if you remember) when you leave the office and go on the road. This will assure your customers don’t have to put up with the 4-5 rings at the office, before their call is forwarded to your cell phone. If you forget to forward, no big deal, but customers might have to wait 8 rings or so until voicemail ultimately picks up (4 rings at the office and 4 rings on your cell phone)

Poor Mans Hunting

OK, now you might not realize it, but when you’re back in the office, you have two voice lines!

Huh?

Well, whether you un-forward the office line or not (generally *73) , when you’re on the office line, your cell phone is going to ring – that’s right, you have now instituted what I like to call “poor mans” hunting.

This means you’ve actually created a two line “roll over” from your office phone to your cell phone. In so doing you’ve consolidated to one voicemail box, you’ve given your customers a single phone number to use, AND you have two lines “at the office”

Talk about efficient! In fact at the office many times I have a Bluetooth headset in each ear, one for my office phone, one for my cell phone. If someone calls that I need to talk with on “the other line” I simply place the first caller on hold (headset # 1) and take the incoming call on my cell, or visa versa …

Now with this said you don’t have to hand out your cell phone number anymore. In fact I get so many compliments from customer’s who ask, “well give me your cell phone number for this or that reason, to make sure I can get a hold of you”. They’re so happy when I tell them “here’s my number, call it and you’ll get me…”

So, there you have a few great ideas for SOHO business VoIP phone service and stuff. Share this page on your Facebook or whatever, and help your SOHO friends get more efficient and productive as well!

Remember, if you want to save big, check out some of my SOHO VoIP and Best VoIP providers at the banners around here, and sign up for my RSS feed, as I’ll be adding stuff here from time to time that might be of interest to you.

I Love VoIP !

Your Buddy,

E-Dude

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