Idea for lowering cost and improving voicemail at RVSS
This is a response the the subject of telephony costs for RVSS, recently discussed at the Sustaining Members meeting. A test system has been set up to explore the possibility of adopting an Enquiries Number for the club. The number could be published on the club's contact page and used for any purpose. This number would not be used for outgoing calls. The intended purpose is to adopt a better voicemail solution at no cost to the club.
With an adequate voicemail system in place, it may be simpler for the club to adopt a separate pay-as-you-go or low-cost Cellular service for use at the Red Shack. These kinds of services are inexpensive to maintain in the off season. Cell service would be a separate investigation, but it becomes more compelling if a standalone voicemail improvement is found as there is then one less reason to continue with the current, expensive land-line arrangement. The cellular service would be lightly used. Outgoing calls such as opening the airspace and incoming calls from members are guessed to be the primary uses of a potential cell phone.
How it works
To test the proposed voicemail system, leave a message at 613-366-8208
All messages are converted to an email attachment and forwarded to rvss_vmail@rvss.ca The attachment is in .au format which can be played on your PC.
rvss_vmail@rvss.ca is a group, and the members of the group each receive the messages. At present, the Directors are members of this group so that they can help make an assessment of this proposal.
In practice, the group may be comprised of two people: the Primary and the Backup contacts. The Primary contact can process voicemail as usual. The Backup can process the messages when the Primary notifies that he will be absent. Members can be added and removed from the group as necessary by the web site administrator (tf).
Advantages
- Voice messages converted to email arrive almost instantly. The Primary does not need to remember to call in to collect voice mail. Urgent messages do not sit uncollected.
- The email subject line includes the Caller ID (tel number) of the party leaving the message. This is great for easily returning a call. The date and time of the voice message can be inferred from the date and time of the corresponding email message. The following image shows an example of this...
- Messages can be simply forwarded to other club member's regular email when it is sensible to do so. For example, a message about towplane parts could easily be forwarded to Paul's email by the Primary. Here is an example of me forwarding a message to Paul...
- Voicemail continues to be accessible by the traditional method of calling a number, providing the password and listening to the messages. The password is the same as the current password on our Bell voicemail service.
- There is no cost. This is a free service. I've been using this service at my home for about 12 months.
Future
RVSS needs to study the retention or the release of its current telephone number. The most cost effective method of adoption of a new telecommunications system may dictate that the existing telephone number be released. If retention of the existing number is paramount, we will need to research if (business) number portability is possible.
The following sections express some ideas of how a new system might be set up.
Single number option :: voicemail and follow-me
With this setup, RVSS would publish a single contact number. The number is configured with a "follow-me" feature. When a caller dials the number, the system rings the first follow-me number e.g. the Red Shack for 30 seconds (duration is configurable) before falling back to the answering service which will distribute voice messages via email as described earlier.
It is possible to setup multiple follow-me numbers which are called in sequence before voicemail intercepts the call. Imagine this sequence for a rainy Saturday morning.
- Caller dials RVSS number.
- System forwards call to Red Shack for 30 seconds but there is no answer.
- System forwards call to George's cell for 30 seconds giving him an opportunity to tell Intro enquirers not to attend.
- If George did not answer the call, it will be intercepted by voicemail.
This kind of setup permits RVSS to provide a single telephone number which services all incoming calls.
In this scenario, the phone service at the follow-me numbers must not provide voicemail service as this would leave messages scattered across multiple systems. The follow-me ring duration is configured with a sufficiently short period to prevent those numbers from intercepting with their own voicemail. In the case of the phone at the Red Shack, it would be pointless to pay for voicemail service in the future if we intend never to use it.
Multiple number option :: dedicated voicemail
In this scenario, the club publishes voicemail contact details on the web site. It would be possible to use dedicated (different) numbers for specific purposes. For example: a specific number for General Enquriies; another number for Intro Enquries. The messages would be distributed separately which may be more efficient. The enquiry numbers would not cause the phone at the Red Shack to ring.
At any point in the future, the Enquiries number can be forwarded to a real telephone number (although I can't think of a reason to do this). For example, we could forward the Enquiries number to a new RVSS cellular number where it could be answered. Unanswered calls would be picked up by the voicemail system and distributed as described above.
Account details of the test voicemail system
Notes on Cellular for the Red Shack
OK, this page is supposed to be for the Voicemail investigation. Nevertheless, here are some notes on costs for installing a cell phone to replace the land line.
- Will reception be good enough?
- Phone needs to be purchased or donated. Basic phone, nothing fancy required. Ringer must be loud enough to be heard.
- Charging solution has to installed.
- Phone has to be tethered to prevent "walking".
- Options used during the flying season can be dropped over the winter to reduce costs.
- Account monitored online. Paper bills are an extra expense, usually.
Koodo monthly
$25 Includes unlimited weekend use, 7pm Evenings, and 150 minutes outside those times.
50 outgoing text messages per billing cycle. Unlimited incoming text messages.
Extra airtime minutes at $0.35. Extra long distance minutes at $0.35. The idea is to select a plan and avoid paying these addtional rates.
$10 Unlimited calling to- from- five Canadian numbers. Good for opening the airspace if reverse charges method not useful on the cell phone.
$2 Long Distance rate saver option. (replacing above $10 Unlimited option). LD Canada calls at $0.05/min but consumes monthly airtime allotment. Good option if airtime unlikely to be exceeded.
Voicemail is not necessary if using an external service as described elsewhere on this page.
Phone can be purchased on the Koodo "Tab" which is reduced by 10% of the bill each month. Eventual cost of phone will be zero. Tab then starts building towards credit for replacement phone.
A Koodo "referral" can be used to reduce the initial tab.
Paper invoice is a $2 option.
Many bill payment options. See http://koodomobile.com/en/ab/paying-bill.shtml
Others
Windmobile and Mobilicity do not have standard coverage at Kars so unacceptable expense would be incurred in normal use.