Hi, I'm Fred Grant and you can find more about me and why I've created this site on the 
onebox Review
- #1 Choice for The Best Live Receptionst Plan
- #5 Choice for The Best SOHO and Small Office Plans
- Rated one of the Best Value Plans
August 2009 - Sad News! onebox DOES NOT give you ownership of your number.
I've recently heard from a couple of people about a dissapointing issue with onebox and I'm sorry to say that it could be a "deal breaker" for a lot of people. onebox does not provide its users with ownership of their number!! What does this mean? If you decide that you want to switch service providers, you will not be able to "port" the number to the new service!!! I've reviewed the material provided on the onebox site and confirmed that onebox retains ownership of the number if you leave their service. However, you can pay onebox to give you permanent ownership of your number. I hope they consider providing this option for free!
April 2009 - onebox Update
onebox has acquired TollFreeMAX! This is a great move for previous TollFreeMAX customers as it will provide them with virtual pbx coverage from a far better company.
March 2008 - onebox Update
onebox has made some big changes since the last time I reviewed them and they continue to have a great product. As you will see below, they have a new plan which provides a Live Receptionist and enhanced their features.
onebox Plans
- Onebox Receptionist - virtual phone system for small businesses
- Ideal for businesses with 2 to 20 people
- Onebox Live Receptionist - have your calls answered by a live and professional attendant.
- A real person directs all of your calls, takes messages, schedules appointments, and much more
- More expensive but may be the personal touch you are looking for!
- Onebox Executive - full featured virtual assistant for individuals o Great for individuals and highly mobile professionals.
- Unified Messaging - voicemail and fax for individuals
Onebox is a fantastic plan! They have all the features of a great virtual pbx system with a good price and they've even thrown in a little twist - they only bill for your actual talk-time.
That's right, they do not charge you minutes for calls while callers are on hold, leaving a message, while you're checking your voicemail, etc. - only when you are actually talking to a live person!!
| Level | Included Minutes | Price/ |
Add'l Min |
Mailboxes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Executive | 100 | $16.95 | 10¢ | 1 |
| Executive | 400 | $19.95 | 10¢ | 1 |
| Executive | 2000 | $29.95 | 10¢ | 1 |
| Receptionist | 2000 | $49.95 | 10¢ | 4 |
| Receptionist | 2000 | $79.95 | 10¢ | 10 |
| Live Receptionist | 100 + 2000 | $199.95 | 3.9¢ | |
| Live Receptionist | 250 + 2000 | $499.95 | 3.9¢ |
onebox Positives
- No cost to transfer an existing toll-free number
- 1 leg billing
- No setup fee
- Robust features available
- Minutes are NOT billed when someone is on hold, being transfered to you or leaving a message
onebox Negatives
- Navigating their plans online can be confusing. Choose one of their plans based on need
- Executive Plans are for 1 person
- Receptionist Plans are for 1 to Many people
- Live Receptionist Plans are for 1 to Many
- You DO NOT get to own your number!!! This is a HUGE negative!!
Things to be aware of with onebox
- Conference calls can be made with up to32 people
- Advanced features are available with the Receptionist plans only.
- You can add as many extensions to the Receptionist plan as you want - call for pricing.
- You DO NOT get to own your number!!!
onebox Special Features
- Professional Greetings are available
- Messages can be delivered to a fax. Spoken words are converted to text (word transcription) and sent to the fax - WOW!! It is a bit pricey $.02 per word, but still a great feature.
- Text-to-Speech allows you to type a message to a caller who is on hold waiting to hear from someone and the system will read what you've written - VERY COOL!!!!!
- Speed dial list of frequently called numbers
- Online calendar and email available
- DID (Direct Inward Dial) is available for Receptionist plans
onebox Contract Length
- Month to Month – no charges to cancel
Live Receptionist Plan
I believe that the option of providing a live receptionist with the virtual pbx plans will become increasingly prevalent with the virtual PBX plans. While it costs a little more it provides the best of both worlds - a professional call management system at an affordable price!
There are two packages with the onebox live receptionist service. The only difference between the two packages is the amount of time you have available for receptionist service (and of course cost).
It is up to you how you would like to use the time of your receptionist, but some of the more popular uses are:
- Answering calls
- Directing calls
- Taking messages
- Order Taking
- Surveys
- Appointment Scheduling
Package #1 costs $199.95 per month and includes 100 minutes of receptionist time.
Package #2 costs $499.95 per month and includes 250 minutes of receptionist time.
Both packages also include 2000 minutes of the typical toll-free service for faxes, time you are on the phone, conference calls, etc.
Additional minutes of receptionist time is $2.50 per minute. While this may seem like a lot, it's not. You are only paying for the time that you use them.
