Skype as support

[webhost17]

hello is there any hosts that offer Skype as a way to contact them like for support as i know most of them have toll fee numbers and stuff but what about the hosts who can't afford to pay a monthly bill for a toll fee number?

[hostmaster]

I have a Skype line for business purposes and tie a Kall8 800 number into it. I only offer sales info over the phone and no support, unless I make an outgoing call to speak to a client.

Kall8 gives you a toll free number for $2 a month and then 6.9 cents per minute. That's 100 minutes for $6.90 a month. If your business can afford that, then you have a few options.

- Don't offer phone support.
- Offer phone support with a local number and have clients pay phone call costs.
- Rethink your business plan to allow for necessary business expenses.

Good luck.

[Timmy00]

A limitation of Skype is that people have to have a program from the Skype site installed on their computers to be able to use it. That's probably OK for clients who expect to be calling you more than once although it wouldn't work as well for sales.

Who knows, maybe Skype will become so common that a large percentage of people will have and use it. It looks like it's been around for a couple of years, but I only noticed it recently.

Tommy

[MikeR]

Well, with Ebay purchasing them, I suspect that they will become more widely used. I purchased a SkypeIn package so I have an actuall phone number people can call from their regular phone.

[Hostbiz]

Skype can be a good communication tool - but the only limitation is both parties should have the application installed.

Not sure if skype has a web based version too ? if yes then that would make it more easier

[Tony]

StanaPhone is a free and simple internet telephone that uses a real US phone number and enables user to make and receive free calls to and from any phone ...

www.stanaphone.com

[Gabe]

Yeah,

StanaPhone is great. I actually use it to tie in with my toll free number that way I just have to pay for the minutes with the toll free number, no cell phone costs, plus you can have your employees get StanaPhone and have the calls route to each number (depending on your toll free # setup).