We here at VoxOx are bringing you, our loyal and dedicated users, even more tools to take control of your communication headaches … um, I mean needs. With this week’s launch of VoxOx’s virtual numbers, we’ve made it possible for you to add custom phone numbers from a bevy of area codes (100+ to be specific),  so that you can “be local” anywhere in the U.S. and major cities in Canada.

You can even do a “vanity” search for phone numbers that might spell your name, or snag specific digits you like. The calls you receive to these virtual numbers will forward to VoxOx and can be forwarded to any other phone numbers via VoxOx Find Me (our call forwarding feature). So … you can give out a number like 212-BEN-5555 and have it ring your cell phone. Pretty cool, right? 

There are probably a million ways to use these new virtual numbers, but I was thinking of a few of them, and I thought I’d share a few: 

1) For your Craigslist ads

Looking for a roommate on Craigslist? It would be useful to give out a contact number, but you may not be thrilled with the idea of some stranger having your cell phone or home number. The nice thing about virtual numbers is that you can just add the new number for a month, forward it to your cell, and when you’re done, cancel the number. So easy.

Continue reading… Four Reasons You May Want a VoxOx Virtual Number (or Numbers)

Ben, the VoxOx Intern, is a second-year MBA student at the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He has drunk beer on 4 continents, is fluent in 3 languages and has an encyclopedic knowledge of obscure NBA players. Ben also...wait, are you really still reading this? Because, you know, he's just an intern.

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Last fall, Google bought Gizmo5 in order to create a desktop VoIP application to complement Google Voice, Google’s web-based phone forwarding service. The app hasn’t come out. However, some media reports say it’s unclear when and if the project will be completed. About a week ago, Google Voice users created an online petition, in which 3000+ people (with a goal of 500K) are demanding Google complete is planned desktop application.

Why such strong demand? A couple of reasons. First, Google Voice users cannot currently receive calls on their desktop. Second, they can’t make phone calls directly from their desktop (without the use of an actual phone).

The VoxOx Alternative

VoxOx gives out a free U.S. phone number upon sign-up in the U.S. (and dozens of other supported countries). This number rings the user’s desktop application and it can also be forwarded to other numbers, but that’s not necessary in this scenario.

So, once someone adds the free VoxOx phone number to the list of phone numbers they maintain in Google Voice, the user gains the ability to pick up a phone call on their desktop. They also gain the ability to make VoIP calls directly from their desktop without the use of an additional phone. 

Receiving Calls to Your Desktop

Here’s the process of how to set this up. If you’re a Google Voice user:

Continue reading… Google Voice + VoxOx = Google Voice Desktop Alternative

Natasha Grach is a PR pro by day and singer by night -- when not telling the world about VoxOx, she can be found on stage at some of San Diego’s favorite musical theater venues. She is also a travel junkie. Her favorite countries include Turkey, Israel, Spain, UK, Italy, Russia, Lithuania. She’ll be using VoxOx SMS CallBack on her next trip around the globe!

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In my role as company president, I’m pretty much guaranteed frequent flyer status, so I’m always thinking of new ways to make my business trips more convenient and stress-free. VoxOx has gotten me out of all sorts of travel-related jams — whether it’s real-time language translation or cheap international calls. However, this example I just had to share in detail, as it’s probably the most creative approach to electronic faxing I’ve seen yet!

Recently, while on a business trip, I found myself needing to print out my boarding passes for my flights later that day. My hotel room was not equipped with a printer, and I wasn’t about to pay the ridiculous Internet and printing rates at the hotel’s business center. So, I wondered if VoxOx could help me out.

Our CEO, Bryan Hertz, who was traveling with me, suggested I do the following:

1. Check in for the flight using my laptop and the hotel room wifi
2. When the screen displays my boarding passes to print, save them as PDF files on my computer
3. Then, open up VoxOx and use the fax feature to send the PDF to the hotel to my attention
4. Grab it at reception at check-out and voila — all set!

This was incredibly handy for me, and, I imagine, this would be useful to any traveler in need of printing a document from a hotel room. So, whether you need to print your boarding pass, a copy of your passport, or your day’s agenda, VoxOx has you covered.

Michael is our Harvard/Wharton-educated, though technologically-challenged, president. In fact, when he’s not speaking with investors, we mostly use him for usability testing -- if HE can use it we know ANYONE can. Michael grew up in Italy and was very happy about the launch of our Universal Translator service as he can now pretend that he still speaks fluent Italian.

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If you’ve ever hosted a holiday party, you know it can be a madhouse. Guests call you last minute about all sorts of stuff, like asking for directions, what to bring, where to park, and so on. You want to be available to them, but whether you’re running party errands or running around the house in preparation, you don’t want to think about which phone might be ringing and where. Now, wouldn’t it be nice if the phone could just find YOU?

Well, that just happens to be our specialty! VoxOx lets you manage all your phones from a single phone number. With our call routing feature, VoxOx Find Me, you can create a common link between all your phone numbers – mobile, home, work phone, and so on – and then set all your phones to ring in sequence or simultaneously.

Say you’re in the kitchen preparing for your 4^th of July BBQ this weekend. You hear your cell phone ring and realize that you have no idea where it is! You may feel an urge to run like a chicken with its head cut off to find it and see who’s calling, but then you remember – you’ve set up Find Me to route the call to your home phone next. So, you can just dry off your hands and get ready to pick up the kitchen landline phone. Relaxing thought, no?

Continue reading… Party Planning is Easier with Find Me – VoxOx Tips for 4th of July and Beyond

Natasha Grach is a PR pro by day and singer by night -- when not telling the world about VoxOx, she can be found on stage at some of San Diego’s favorite musical theater venues. She is also a travel junkie. Her favorite countries include Turkey, Israel, Spain, UK, Italy, Russia, Lithuania. She’ll be using VoxOx SMS CallBack on her next trip around the globe!

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It’s that time again – when the best and brightest soccer talent on the PLANET duke it out for global bragging rights…. it’s the World Cup! Get ready to wave your nation’s flag and wear your nation’s colors. And while you’re at it, why not show your World Cup pride through VoxOx?  There are so many ways to do this, but we’ll just go with my favorites:

1) Update your global status to let everything know your team scored

When your team scores you have about a second to react before the moment is gone. Just imagine yourself trying to post your “WE OWN YOU BRAZIL” on your Facebook, Twitter, AIM, etc.  By the time you’re done, the other team may have scored, and that’s just embarrassing. With VoxOx, you can update all your networks with one click. Just go to the status bar, bang out your best heckle and enter. Takes 2 seconds and your friends know who’s boss.

2) Use the Universal Translator to gloat to your friends in their language

Talking smack about other teams is fun, but what about talking international smack?  Not so fun when the other person doesn’t understand what you’re saying. Well, luckily we have just the thing – with the VoxOx Universal Translator feature, you just type your…er… feelings… in the VoxOx chat window Continue reading… 5 Ways to Score an Amazing 2010 World Cup Experience Through VoxOx

Matt is a software developer, working tirelessly behind the scenes to give us the tools we need to work faster and smarter. He’s the type of guy that is always updating his status, Tweeting, or jumping in on the newest social media network, which makes VoxOx a more-than-natural home for him. When he manages to disconnect from the Internet, you’ll find him glued to his xbox, enjoying the beautiful scenes of San Diego, or throwing a Frisbee.

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Did you know that Mother’s Day boasts the most long-distance calls of the year, while Father’s Day holds the record for the most collect calls?  Poor Dad!! Don’t make him pay for it this year – use VoxOx to tell him how special he is without spending a fortune, or needing him to spend it on you.

With VoxOx, you have incredibly cheap calling rates for more than 200 regions worldwide, including:

Plus, when you sign up for VoxOx, we give you some initial pocket change so that you can make a few calls on us! For example, when signing up within the U.S. or Canada, you get a $1 credit, and at $.01 per minute that gives you more than an hour and a half to fill Dad’s head with things that’ll make him go awwwww. 

Continue reading… Don’t Call Dad Collect This Father’s Day — Call Him Free or Cheap on VoxOx, Instead!

Connie is the telephone number guru responsible for your VoxOx phone numbers (let's call her director of CLEC operations). With several certifications she’s really a jack of all trades and keeps us humming along. She may be dubbed the team step-mom, but has more fun than most! With all the RV trips to the River & Desert, VoxOx is great for staying in touch with the “real” world…who says you need to be stuck behind a desk?

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What’s cool about VoxOx is its flexibility. That’s because we strive to make things as convenient for you as possible. Take VoxOx voicemail, for example. When someone calls your VoxOx number and leaves a voicemail, the messages stored within VoxOx are accessible not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different ways! You can access them via: 

(1) Phone call – by calling into the VoxOx service from any phone (and dialing *YourCode#)
(2) SMS – by receiving a text link to your mobile phone
(3) Email — by receiving an mp3 file sent to your email address
(4) VoxOx desktop client – by checking the Messages icon in the Apps tab

Pretty handy for those of us who are always on the go… isn’t that everyone these days?  Check out the below instructions on how to set all this up! 

Continue reading… Did You Know That You Can Access Your VoxOx Voicemail FOUR Different Ways?

Natasha Grach is a PR pro by day and singer by night -- when not telling the world about VoxOx, she can be found on stage at some of San Diego’s favorite musical theater venues. She is also a travel junkie. Her favorite countries include Turkey, Israel, Spain, UK, Italy, Russia, Lithuania. She’ll be using VoxOx SMS CallBack on her next trip around the globe!

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Alright VoxOx loyalists, let’s explore reasons why you should get your friends on VoxOx, starting with some VoxOx-to-VoxOx features! You probably know that you can call your VoxOx buddies for free and you can video chat with them… but did you know that you can embed images and clickable videos into your chat conversations? 

All you do is you paste a URL for the video or graphic you want to send into the area where you type your text chats. Hit enter, and the URL will appear as either a clickable video or an image within your chat thread. Check it out:

Continue reading… Who Needs Words When You Can Chat in Pictures Via VoxOx?

Natasha Grach is a PR pro by day and singer by night -- when not telling the world about VoxOx, she can be found on stage at some of San Diego’s favorite musical theater venues. She is also a travel junkie. Her favorite countries include Turkey, Israel, Spain, UK, Italy, Russia, Lithuania. She’ll be using VoxOx SMS CallBack on her next trip around the globe!

follow natasha.grach twitter.com/natashagrach

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You only hope that when you work as hard as we do around here, that someone out there notices.  Of course we do it “all” for our users, but it’s pretty cool (ok, it’s downright awesome) when you’re also recognized by others in the industry… say the very prestigious American Business Awards, for example!

TelCentris was just selected as a finalist for “Most Innovative Company of the Year” in The American Business Awards, a.k.a. “The Stevies,” and we’re thrilled! 

2,700 entries from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted for consideration in more than 40 categories, so you can imagine our excitement to be in the finals.  Last year, VoxOx won in the “Best New Product or Service” category at The American Business Awards, so we’re crossing our fingers for TelCentris this year!

Stay tuned and we’ll update you when the winners are announced in June at a big event in NYC.

Connie is the telephone number guru responsible for your VoxOx phone numbers (let's call her director of CLEC operations). With several certifications she’s really a jack of all trades and keeps us humming along. She may be dubbed the team step-mom, but has more fun than most! With all the RV trips to the River & Desert, VoxOx is great for staying in touch with the “real” world…who says you need to be stuck behind a desk?

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CrunchGear referred to the VoxOx team as a “group of voice networking ninjas,” and leading this “ninja pack” is a highly technical CTO who routinely thinks out of the box – his name is Kevin Hertz.

It’s Kevin’s birthday today, and what better birthday present can a guy get than to have his hard work and dedication acknowledged?   

Late last week, the third annual San Diego Business Journal IT Executive of the Year Awards event recognized the most outstanding Information Technology executives who work in San Diego County, and for the second year in a row, Kevin was selected as one of the finalists. Nominees were submitted by their fellow co-workers, which just goes to show how much we all think of Kevin around here.

Continue reading… San Diego Business Journal Names Our Very Own CTO Kevin Hertz as One of Top IT Executives of the Year

Connie is the telephone number guru responsible for your VoxOx phone numbers (let's call her director of CLEC operations). With several certifications she’s really a jack of all trades and keeps us humming along. She may be dubbed the team step-mom, but has more fun than most! With all the RV trips to the River & Desert, VoxOx is great for staying in touch with the “real” world…who says you need to be stuck behind a desk?

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