Google Voice alternatives

[Justin Knighten]

Greetings,

I've recently listed my first property for rent and have found some trouble getting it filled.  One of the issues I've had is receiving tons of phone calls (at all hours...) and I'm not always available to answer.  I have a full time job and can't always get to the phone.  I'm also not crazy about having my personal number out there either. 

It seems like Google Voice is a reasonable answer, but their customer service sucks and apparently my number has been used before so I can't set up an account from my phone.  Is there a cheap/free alternative to GV?  I'm looking for something that has a separate number, that I can set a voicemail up for that can be property specific, that I can answer from my current phone.  I know there are paid services and such, however, we're just getting started, will probably be at 2 properties for a while, and I'd rather not spend a few hundred a year on this.

Thanks,

Justin

[Matthew Olszak]

Gotta love those 1am calls: "Hey, I saw your apartment on hotpads, how many bedrooms is it?"🤦

I use GV for my business cell number, and have a separate number through Grasshopper for rental listings. That way I can silence that particular number after 8pm because I know absolutely no emergency situations would be calling. I always put at the beginning of my listings - TEXT ONLY, NO CALLS, but alas, that number rings constantly. 

[Mitch Messer]

Hey @Justin Knighten. For just two properties, I think Google Voice is your answer. You just need to get a friend who's not using Google Voice to set up your account and forward calls and vmails to your cell phone. Or, get yourself a cheap Walmart cellphone and use that...

I've been using GV this way for over a decade, and honestly I've never needed to talk to customer service (which I'm sure does suck, but still... it's FREE!)

[Account Closed]

Hey Justin- Vumber is super cheap. I think 10$ a mo gets you 3 numbers. I set mine to voicemail only to capture calls, then my employees call back from their personal skype numbers for which call recording software is available. You can call directly through vumber but the interface kinda sucks, which is why i just use it for call capture. 

If you have some more questions about it I'd be glad to help!

[Mike G.]

@Justin Knighten @Mitch Messer the one headache i can say about google voice is when i was using it to do cold calling so that way i knew what mode of marketing was bringing inbound calls. Everything was going fine for a while, then apparently someone complained or filed something and google without notification just shut my number down. POOF!! it was gone and all my marketing materials that i spent money on that had that google voice phone number was now deemed worthless. That pissed me off and for that reason, when it comes to google voice, Im OUT!! 

[Jason D.]

@Justin Knighten I have an app called 2nd line. It's free and has caller ID, which Google voice does not.

[Mark Sewell]

Get Call Rail.

[Dan Moore]

I used https://www.kall8.com/ in the past and had very good luck with it. When I say in the past I mean 20 years ago so YMMV but they are still around and the product still looks good. WIth that said, I just setup Google Voice for my number because everything else I use is Google so why not. 

[Craig Herring]

@Mike G. the same thing just happened to my Google voice number.  What did you end up doing? I’m thinking of getting a cheap pay-for-minutes tracfone but not sure that’s the best option.

[Matthew Olszak]

Gotta love those 1am calls: "Hey, I saw your apartment on hotpads, how many bedrooms is it?"🤦

I use GV for my business cell number, and have a separate number through Grasshopper for rental listings. That way I can silence that particular number after 8pm because I know absolutely no emergency situations would be calling. I always put at the beginning of my listings - TEXT ONLY, NO CALLS, but alas, that number rings constantly. 

[Mike S.]

For cellphone number on iPhone I have been happy so far with MySudo app.

But for landlines, I am using a VoIP SIP provider and a SIP phone. There are many good providers out there. I have been happy with voip.ms

[Mike G.]

@Craig Herring I went with Line2 as a 2nd line and like it so far. Its way better than google voice in freedom and functionality. 

[Jake Yusko]

@Mike G.

I know this is a really old thread but this exact thing happened to me a couple days ago! It’s a huge bummer. What did you end up using instead to make all your cold calls? Thanks in advance!

[Justin Knighten]

I have my personal phone with Xfinity mobile.  You have to be a Comcast customer, but it’s the same flat fee for up to 5 lines.  I only need one for the wife and I so I used a 3rd one on an old phone to use for listing vacancies and such.  Not ideal, I can’t have them come to the same phone on a different line, but cheap enough and fairly effective.

[Ian Walsh]

I like Ring Central

[Eric Cozby]

@Justin Knighten

The one thing I don't like about Google voice is that when it forwards to my cell phones it shows my GV number and not the caller's number.

I use an app called iPlum and like it a lot. It's an inexpensive alternative.

-Eric