Renting voice mail for your office

Want to add voice mail to your phone system? Who doesn't. But many balk when they learn it can cost as much as, if not more than, the phone system itself. That doesn't mean that voice mail is out of reach altogether, though.One low-cost alternative to purchasing a system outright is to rent voice mail from a service bureau.

With this option, you rent one or more voice mail boxes from a service bureau that maintains its own phone and voice mail system. Service bureaus usually offer two basic options: renting boxes individually or in a "tree" format.

Renting individual boxes (about $10 to $20 a month per box), provides you with a phone number for every voice mailbox you rent. Callers dial this number and are then forwarded directly to voice mail.

If you rent a mailbox in a "tree," or distribution, format, you are given a single phone number and up to nine voice mailboxes. Callers dial this number and are greeted by an automated attendant, where they can then choose which mailbox they want to reach.

Voice mail service bureaus don't have all the same features as a regular voice mail system, though. The primary downside is that the voice mail won't necessarily work seamlessly with your current phone system. Callers may need to dial a different number to leave a voice mail message vs. reach a live person at your office.

This can be easily addressed with call forwarding, if each person in your office has a particular phone number that they share with callers. Much as its name suggests, call forwarding (about $3-$4 per month) automatically forwards incoming calls to a preprogrammed phone number after a certain number of rings. When used with a voice mail service bureau, it would be sent to the phone number for a voice mail box. If all phone lines are shared among the office, it can be useful to look into the ability to manual transfer answered calls to remote voice mail if the recipient isn't in (usually no more than $10 per month per phone line, where available.)

Quick tips

Consider leasing. Leasing provides the customized, sophisticated services of owning a system, but at a cost only slightly above rental rates. It's worth a look if you are considering renting even 15 boxes. Plan to bargain. Service bureaus sometimes offer discounts for group purchases and annual payments. Consider the long term. Service bureaus usually purchase phone numbers in large, undivisable blocks, and so you can not retain the same phone number if you cancel your service, causing an inconvenience to your clients.

Even if you coordinate your rented voice mail with your phone line, you'll be a little short on typical voice mail conveniences. Benefits such as having the system turn the light on the phone when new messages come in, being able to listen to a message as it is being recorded so you can selectively screen calls, and allowing callers to exit the system at any time to speak to a live attendant aren't available with a rented system. Some service bureaus are offering creative solutions to these issues.

When comparing options, be sure to ask about features such as the time limit on outgoing and incoming messages, as well as how many messages can be saved and for how long. Most bureaus can increase the length of messages, and saving options if you are willing to pay.

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