Voicemail Inboxes (i.e. Press 1 for X, Press 2 for Y)

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: May 27, 2009 Posts: 1

Hello Everyone,

I'm investigating call system options for a small Tailoring / Alterations business. The business owner is often working alone, fitting or measuring customers and would rather not be disturbed with an incoming call unless necessary. A large percentage of callers simply want hours, directions, etc. and don't need to speak with the business owner directly. I'd like to have the following happen:

Customer calls during business hours, answer on first ring, with recorded menu:
Press 1 for store hours and directions
Press 2 for common price info
Press 3 to speak to an associate

Customer calls after hours, answer on first ring, with recorded menu:
Press 1 for store hours and directions
Press 2 for common price info
Press 3 to leave a message for an associate

I have pretty much already decided on a Vonage Small Business Unlimited plan with a virtual 2nd number, and plan to leverage Voicemail Plus with email notification (she has a computer in the back office).

Is something like this at all possible with the Vonage solution used in tandem with another technology? I looked into the Asterisk open source PBX a little yesterday, but am unsure as to the voicemail capabilities of that solution.

Thanks in Advance!
Paul

Posts: 656 · Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 9:37 pm Post subject:

Voicemail systems themselves offered by just about any phone company are not interactive. So this would not be possible. An Asterisk box would allow for this as it is very configurable and customizable to suit many needs. You would also not be using the Comedian VM system that comes with Asterisk for this. The functions would either be through basic extension configurations or macro scripts ran through the extensions.conf which would point to sound files. This would allow for your interactive menu.

However, the only way you can even use a Asterisk box or any 3rd party hardware or software with Vonage is by purchasing an additional softphone line. This is because Vonage does not release the SIP password to customers on Residential or Business accounts as the only supported devices are the ones Vonage ships and they are provisoned and locked down to Vonage. The softphone will have 500 minute outbound and unlimited incoming for 9.99 a month. With this you get the SIP password and you can configure it to your Asterisk box.

Just note that Vonage support will not assist with any configurations of the Asterisk box or provide any support to you for this line when used on anything other then the X-Pro softphone client.

Posts: 183 · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:30 pm Post subject:

If Vonage isn't capable of doing what you want, and you don't want to bother with an Asterisk type of solution, look into ringcentral.com. You can use it with Vonage lines or telco lines. They host it and you configure it as you described aqbove.