cblaisd

Am needing a solution for:

A small non-profit needs to have various staff people "on call" for urgent/emergency needs. We want to publicize a phone # but be able to go online and change whose actual cell phone the number forwards to.

I could pick up another $10 line on my personal AT&T family plan, but don't really want to give folks access to my online account so that whoever's on-call can change the forward to their number.

A GoogleVoice number won't work, because some staffers already have personal GoogleVoice #s that forward to their cell phones and GoogleVoice won't let you forward to a number that's already being forwarded to via another account/#.

Any free/cheap/easy options that you'd recommend?

Thanks.

ajGoes

Won't Google Voice allow you to forward to the other GV numbers?

cblaisd

Perhaps I'm dense, but how would that help?

ajGoes

You forward your Google Voice number to your staff member's Google Voice number which forwards to their cell phone.

Dubai Stu

Look at the Line2 Pro Plan. You can set up a number of forwarding numbers and switch them on or off as needed. You have an IVR. If calls aren't answered on the person's phone, it jumps back to your voicemail rather than his. You can also text message on the accounts.

VoxOx has something similar, but you pay by the minute.

cblaisd

Thanks....

Doing some more research, I discover that there a dozens of choices.

Any opinions on others?

This number would get very light use, probably no more than 30-50 minutes a month if that. And inbound-and-forward only, no need for outbound calling.

Most interested in something that's cheap (looks like there are a number of options at $10/month per number), and most importantly can change forwarding numbers at will easily online. Even better would be able to put in a list of staff numbers and be able to simple tick on or off whichever number is to be forwarded to for that day.

Need

Not sure if this is current, but I read that 2 GV numbers could be forward to the same phone if you do NOT select Mobile as one of the phone type. In other word, you will have to ask all your staff to pick Home as their personal GV and the one they are sharing as Work. The only about that is that they will not get TXT on the GV numbers... but there are ways to get around that too.

docbert

Voip.ms (or Callcentric, or any of the others that come up every time this question is asked).

Voip.ms has the advantage that they have an API that could be used to change the forwarding, if you're so inclined. Alternatively you can do it via their website.

With voip.ms and 50 minutes/month you're looking at a total of about $2/month.

Doc Savage

I used to have a couple of 800 numbers which could be forwarded via this service:

http://kall8.com/toll-free/monthly-cost/

Looks like they are $2/month and 7cents/minute/

I seem to remember a fairly easy web interface to change the forwarding number.

tom911

Ooma offers that feature in their premium plans ($10 extra a month). I could go in right now and change the number I forward to. I have my home number set up to ring both my home and cell phones simultaneously but can change that setting to only ring the forwarding number. I think the hassle factor of changing the setting each night, and turning it off in the morning, might outweigh any benefit, but it is an option.
http://ooma.com/app/support/call-for...and-multi-ring

Janus

Skype (with a SkypeIn number) allow for forwarding to external numbers.

milepig

I just experimented with Google Voice and you can add multiple forward to numbers - don't need to be a google account. There is a check box to turn forwarding to any given number off or on.

So, you could enter numbers for Mary, George, Sue, John, etc. and then just turn on the one(s) you want messages forwarded to during any given time period.

I'm not sure if there is a limit to how many numbers you can have.

AnalogMan

It looks like you have gotten some recommendations already but replying to say why I don't think Google Voice will work.

Google Voice has a limit of ~6 forwarding numbers, and each of those cannot be a Google Voice number. I have not tried having multiple Google Voice forward calls to the same home/work number, I know each cell phone can only have 1 incoming Google Voice forwarding number.

weekilter

Kall8 will do what you want. You are assigned an 800/888/877/866/855 number and you can target any dialable number world-wide. 800 numbers are $5 to assign and $5/month. Other toll-free (or a local Seattle, Washington number) are $2 to assign and $2/month. Forwarding costs 6¢/minute the last time I checked. You can change the target number by accessing your account on the web.

docbert

For 2-3x the price of Voip.ms/Callcentric.