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Ask HN: Google Voice as the main phone solution for a small business?
We use Google Apps for our 15 person company. We currently get separate phone service from ATT/local VOIP provider. I was thinking about moving all of those lines to Google Voice as our primary number(s), to save cost. If you've set this up, how has it fared? Is it reliable/enterprise-ready in such a context? Did you set up landline phones with it? Or just had headsets to go with the laptops?
- tracker1 10y agoI'd probably lean towards using a virtual PBX hosted on digital ocean using something like twilio (OpenVBX) or tropo (TropoVBX). From that, you should be able to use most IP phpnes or use soft phone on a computer, combined with a decent headset. That's a relatively inexpensive option, that would allow you to grow.
- philiphodgen 10y agoThe quality of your telephone service -- voice quality and can people even reach you? -- is powerful marketing or antimarketing for your business. If I am a customer or prospect and I call you, what will it sound like? Is your self-hosted solution the best use of your time? What if your VPS provider gets a DDOS attack and your VPS and phone service is unreachable? An executive's time is worth millions. Don't piss it away saving $25/month per employee. Oh. And Google Voice. A steaming pile of telephone call spam and text messages is what it turned out for me. Avoid. Serious people use serious tools.
- dhruvkar 10y ago>Serious people use serious tools. Agreed. This was an effort to determine if Google Voice fell in this category. If call quality is decent and doesn't drop more than a regular landline, it makes it worth it. >Is your self-hosted solution the best use of your time? This would be no more self-hosted than a VOIP solution of the rack. I'm not hosting infrastructure, merely adding a physical phone to a service provided by Google.
- tracker1 10y agoI haven't noticed the spam at all, I have my GV set to block spam calls, and have mostly enjoyed it with google hangouts app... I don't like that sending a text message in the desktop chrome/hangouts requires a weird UI, or that the contacts removed the send sms option. I've been using GV since it was Grand Central before Google bought them out. Although I wouldn't use it for a multi-user business, it's been pretty nice for me, since you have filtering options, can set custom outgoing messages per caller, and can keep the number while switching your mobile carries (T-Mobile -> Boost -> Simple Mobile -> Verizon) all while keeping my GV number as my main contact number. I use an Obihai box at home connected to a regular pots cordless phone, and that has been pretty nice. Weird thing, it will drop a call if you're on longer than 2 (or is it 3) hours, and if you're calling someone else on an IP/wireless phone, the lag/conflict can get interesting. Works better on obihai than cell phone, for example.
- dhruvkar 10y agoThis is useful. I ported my number to Google Voice in 2011, and have used that as my main number ever since (Iphone), changing providers quite a few times in the middle. Never used an IP phone with it, but this use case would require it. >if you're calling someone else on an IP/wireless phone, the lag/conflict can get interesting Good to know, didn't realize this was an issue.
- tracker1 10y agoIt's just that each hop adds latency... cell phones are bad enough, and cell to cell is worse... gv is effectively cell + IP ... and with the two on either side, it's wild. If you ever notice when you and someone else start talking, and step on eachother... it's mostly because of the additional latency cell and IP phones tend to add on top of what POTS phones would have.