Newbie Question: Reseller Features/ PBX

I just signed up for the reseller program today, so bare with me.

1. Is there access to more advanced features such as: SMS Controls, Simul Ring, Call Recording, Mobile Distinctive Ring Caller-ID Scheduling ..etc in the reseller version?

2.Is there a way to setup the service in more of virtual PBX fashion or plans to?
3. Specific ex: I want to setup a small business account with one main number and multiple DID. What's the best approach?
a.) I setup a new account and then added another line to the main account, but then that's just considered a virtual number.
b.) Do I have to setup a new line for each person and if so could they be considered under a sub-account?

Again, I apologize for my ignorance

Beta features are not part of the Reseller Plan.

I see SMS controls in Residential are under beta, as well as the rest of your list.

SMS controls is the only feature VOIPo brags about for their Residential service of the beta apps.
They don't even list other Beta services on http://www.voipo.com/features.shtml at all that I can see.

I see that you say you've been with VoIPo since 2007, I'm a little confused then as to why it is taking so long for this Reseller product to roll-out it's now over 3 years based on your post?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pbxinabox

I see that you say you've been with VoIPo since 2007, I'm a little confused then as to why it is taking so long for this Reseller product to roll-out it's now over 3 years based on your post?

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VOIPo has been in the residential VoIP business for years and is a leading budget residential provider.

The reseller program is a new service for us and has been in public beta for less than 2 months.

A virtual number will ring through to the main number you assign to. Think of it as "parking a number" on top of another one.

If you setup multiple "lines" then you can assign them to the different ports on the phone adapter and use them independently of each other.

We don't provide PBX functionality (menus, greetings, IVR, etc) at this time.

Hi Tim,

Do y'all have (or would it be possible to create) a "roadmap" of the features y'all are working on, and what features are planned for the future in the reseller program? It would be nice to have some idea of where things are headed so we resellers can make some roadmaps of our own.

Thanks! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GreenLantern

Hi Tim,

Do y'all have (or would it be possible to create) a "roadmap" of the features y'all are working on, and what features are planned for the future in the reseller program? It would be nice to have some idea of where things are headed so we resellers can make some roadmaps of our own.

Thanks! :)

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Priorities change a lot and what we're working is pretty dynamic depending on what's going on. Sometimes things get pushed up or down or are combined with other things for lots of different reasons.

It's hard to give a list too far out in the future, but as things are pretty much ready for testing, we'll definitely announce them.

We just don't want any false expectations floating around because once we announce something takes longer than we expected or is changed from original form, some people get disappointed and in some cases even mad.

I have been appreciative of Tim's time lines during the Residential development. Residential Beta lasted longer than they originally planned, but they would not compromise/rush the product to a paid Residential plan until they were ready for it to scale, and satisfied with the core features. This came with extended free Beta user testing, but those expenses were worth the cost of getting the core functionality right so a rapid footprint in the VoIP marketplace would have less user support concerns.

I am not surprised that the Reseller Plan follows the same standards. Mind you, the Reseller Plan is on a much faster track than Residential because they have that previous time and experience.

The omission of beta features should mean a more simplified self-explanatory product that should not be difficult for Resellers to support - even without the bonus documentation that will soon come.

I agree, and I trust Tim will do this "right". That's why I signed up.

However, I am hungry for a few particular features, and curious if they are at all on the radar (even if we're talking more than a year out). In particular, if we can get PBX-like features, such as "call group" or "call hunt", that would open the door to complete with Packet-8 for higher margin business accounts.

see www.8x8.com

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GreenLantern

I agree, and I trust Tim will do this "right". That's why I signed up.

However, I am hungry for a few particular features, and curious if they are at all on the radar (even if we're talking more than a year out). In particular, if we can get PBX-like features, such as "call group" or "call hunt", that would open the door to complete with Packet-8 for higher margin business accounts.

see www.8x8.com

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Unfortunately I don't anticipate PBX features being added soon. Our direct service is 100% residential only with no business users, so we don't offer PBX functionality directly either.

I'm not saying it's something we'd never offer PBX, but I'm saying that if we ever do it will be a while because it would basically require an entirely new platform to be designed almost from the ground up. While some of the core components could be re-used for a business oriented service, most of it would need to be built from scratch due to the differences in that type of service. PBX is really an entirely different service and different market and not a lot could be re-used from our existing infrastructure.

Just as an example, with our current design the audio does not pass though VOIPo servers except in very rare cases. It goes directly between the end user and the actual phone network gateway connecting the call vs going from phone network to VOIPo to user with VOIPo in the middle. Having it connect direct improves call quality quite a bit for most users and allows us to keep our prices low since we're not paying for bandwidth for all the calls.

For a PBX service, VOIPo would have the intercept 100% of the audio in order to be able to listen to keytones. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to tell when a menu option was pressed.

So there's a lot that would need to be done to offer PBX. We don't want to spread out and do a bunch of things poorly and want to focus on improving and adding functionality to the current system until we're fully happy with them before we start getting into entirely new stuff and complete redesigns.