How much for a business phone line?

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. I live in Jacksonville, Florida and I'm starting a home business. 1) However, I want to know how much does it cost to have another phone line in my house that I will only use for business use. 2) How much does it cost to have the ability to provide a toll free number for my customers to call?

A. I don't know how much it costs in the US (I'm in Canada), but I would recommend you look into a service called Tagline. Think of Tagline as a "virtual" phone line. It's a toll-free phone number with voice mail and conference calling (to name two of its services) PLUS a toll-free fax number. You don't need a second business line. You can have your Tagline number "follow" you -- it'll ring at your home number or your cell number or a client's office if you're on a job site. The only disadvantage is that you don't hear a distinctive ring, so you alwasy have to answer the phone during business hours with your "business owner" hat on. We just went through a round of cost mining. The best local service (business line) provider that we found was TalkAmerica (I don't knoe if they service your area - we're not in FL). They're about $38 per line including tax and fees but before LD charges. The best we found for inbound (toll free) LD was Teligent at $2.50 / mth service charge and .04 per minute at 6 second intervals. We also found that the bundled LD that everyone pushes is more expensive than paying per minute unless you only have one line *and* spend hours on LD. What I know is that the phone company likes to charge you extra for being a business versus a personal phone line. If you don't need a phone book listing it is cheaper to simply tell the phone company that you want another personal line. This can save you up to $30.00 a month. I did this when I needed a seperate line for my fax. As far as the toll free number the charges are for usage. I no longer remember how much we used to pay for the incoming phone calls that were toll free. We did use Broadwing Communications for long distance and the toll free number. Not sure about the business phone line but I can answer your 2nd question. Costco teams up with TTI to provide telephone service and if you are an executive member you can get a 1-800 number FOR FREE (no monthly fee or activation fee), and only pays for the usage. The rate is quite good (same as your residential rate when I sign up my residential line). You can look at http://www.costco.com for detail.

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