any business owners with 800 numbers?

08rookie · 12-08-2010, 05:13 PM

curious who you use?

i am advertising a service i provide in the philly metro area but i dont want to blast my cell number in print media...

plus i think an 800 has a better image then a cell number..

i know they base rates per minutes use but it seems like they have too many bells and whistles that i wouldnt need. only feature i need is call forwarding to my cell...

any ideas??

Feyd · 12-08-2010, 05:24 PM

Yeah.. I don't know about that 800 number having a better image. LOL.

In all honesty, unless your number is 877-yourbusnessnamehere, it probobly won't have any effect on making your business more legitimate. I do business with all kinds of vendors every day that don't have 800 numbers.

Maybe call your phone company and see if they can set up some kind of phone number for you that is a legitamate phone number, but not your "personal" phone number that will just automatically ring through to your cell phone. Sort of the same principal of internet URL masking.

Or just get another phone number and carry a second cell phone. They make "non-smartphone" cell phones pretty tiny these days.

BTM · 12-08-2010, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feyd

Yeah.. I don't know about that 800 number having a better image. LOL.

In all honesty, unless your number is 877-yourbusnessnamehere, it probobly won't have any effect on making your business more legitimate. I do business with all kinds of vendors every day that don't have 800 numbers.

+infinity. I'm always talking with vendors for work too. I dread calling 800 numbers. Indicates I will be on hold for 20min and pressing 30 fucking buttons

Quote:

Maybe call your phone company and see if they can set up some kind of phone number for you that is a legitamate phone number, but not your "personal" phone number that will just automatically ring through to your cell phone. Sort of the same principal of internet URL masking.

Or just get another phone number and carry a second cell phone. They make "non-smartphone" cell phones pretty tiny these days.

The only thing I can think of would require opening a landline and literally having it plugged in and forwarding to whatever number you want. This is set up by the actual phone, not the account. Not all phones can auto-forward but it's not a hard feature to find. All in all, I'd just open a dedicated account for the business.

DMan11389 · 12-08-2010, 05:29 PM

Also check out Google Voice. Get a second number from them that's only for this ad (or your business). You can have it forward to any phone you need.

scottwww · 12-08-2010, 09:38 PM

It might work somewhat differently when coupled with cellphone service, but you should be able to get "distictive ring" service. This is so you can have more than one phone number for the same phone. Each number has it's own ring-tone so you know how to answer the call.

Also, you should be able to get local service at another location (I can't think of the name for that now). Say that you are located in Chicago, but you want a local L.A. phone number. People in L.A. call a local seven-digit phone number that rings at your Chicago phone at local call rates. You can call L.A. on that line at local call rates. If you call Chicago on that line, it is long-distance.

If you have a toll free number, I believe you can caller ID even blocked id numbers.

12-08-2010, 05:13 PM	#1
08rookie Private First Class 200 Rep 123 Posts Drives: bmw Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: phila, pa iTrader: (0)	any business owners with 800 numbers? curious who you use? i am advertising a service i provide in the philly metro area but i dont want to blast my cell number in print media... plus i think an 800 has a better image then a cell number.. i know they base rates per minutes use but it seems like they have too many bells and whistles that i wouldnt need. only feature i need is call forwarding to my cell... any ideas??
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12-08-2010, 05:24 PM	#2
Feyd Major 369 Rep 1,288 Posts Drives: a DEEZZULL Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Chicago, IL iTrader: (2)	Yeah.. I don't know about that 800 number having a better image. LOL. In all honesty, unless your number is 877-yourbusnessnamehere, it probobly won't have any effect on making your business more legitimate. I do business with all kinds of vendors every day that don't have 800 numbers. Maybe call your phone company and see if they can set up some kind of phone number for you that is a legitamate phone number, but not your "personal" phone number that will just automatically ring through to your cell phone. Sort of the same principal of internet URL masking. Or just get another phone number and carry a second cell phone. They make "non-smartphone" cell phones pretty tiny these days.
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12-08-2010, 05:29 PM	#4
DMan11389 Private 4 Rep 55 Posts Drives: AW 135i Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Sacramento iTrader: (1)	Also check out Google Voice. Get a second number from them that's only for this ad (or your business). You can have it forward to any phone you need.
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12-08-2010, 09:38 PM	#5
scottwww Brigadier General 552 Rep 4,760 Posts Drives: 07 BMW 335i, 15 Infiniti Q60S Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: USA iTrader: (0)	It might work somewhat differently when coupled with cellphone service, but you should be able to get "distictive ring" service. This is so you can have more than one phone number for the same phone. Each number has it's own ring-tone so you know how to answer the call. Also, you should be able to get local service at another location (I can't think of the name for that now). Say that you are located in Chicago, but you want a local L.A. phone number. People in L.A. call a local seven-digit phone number that rings at your Chicago phone at local call rates. You can call L.A. on that line at local call rates. If you call Chicago on that line, it is long-distance. If you have a toll free number, I believe you can caller ID even blocked id numbers.
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