Coming in July...

**VOIPoTim** · 06-22-2012 06:54 PM

Exciting things are happening at VOIPo.

The new vPanel is FINALLY done and is being tested now. Here's a preview of what's coming in July.

1) New vPanel - Redesigned control panel based on 2 years of your work and your feedback. Less clunky, better navigation and easier to find what you're looking for.

2) SMS Text Messaging - Send and receive text messages on your VOIPo phone number.

3) Lower International Rates - New international rates with significant reductions to most destinations.

4) Portable International Calling - Access your VOIPo account from virtually any phone (including cell phones) to make international calls with our low international rates from that external phone.

5) New Small Business Options - New options for small businesses including easy to add rollover options that support up to 8 rollover/hunting lines on a single phone number.

6) Less Restrictive BYOD Options - Less restrictive BYOD options to allow you to use other IP phones, SIP software, and mobile SIP clients for international calling.

7) Outbound Caller ID Name - We're happy to announce that we've finally reached an agreement with our core carrier partners to begin offering Outbound Caller ID Name for nearly all numbers. The new vPanel has a section for submitting requests to add/update the name associated with a number in your account.

We have a lot planned. After a lot of debate, we recently decided to shift our focus and we'll soon be moving away from the heavily discounted prepaid promotions and renewal offers. We'll be moving away from the heavy prepaid discounts shifting toward monthly plans so that we can focus on providing the highest quality service with the best features and support rather than simply trying to provide cheap phone service. We'd love to keep providing huge discounts, but we'd rather just focus on providing great service instead and have the margins to innovate.

**holmes4** · 06-22-2012 07:04 PM

Interesting. Will there be an email gateway and will all the companies that ask for a mobile number for text messages accept a VOIPo number? (They don't with Google Voice's SMS, for example.) I'm just trying to figure out who would use this.

**VOIPoTim** · 06-22-2012 07:05 PM

Originally Posted by holmes4

Interesting. Will there be an email gateway and will all the companies that ask for a mobile number for text messages accept a VOIPo number? (They don't with Google Voice's SMS, for example.) I'm just trying to figure out who would use this.

It's real SMS. So you've be able to text your VOIPo number from any cell phone. The messages would show up in your vPanel and you could also reply from there. The e-mail destination field is just to forward a copy of the message to to alert you so you don't need to keep checking the panel. Alternatively it could also be forwarded back out via SMS to another number such as a cell phone. The view posted is a "conversational" view which basically shows all the messages to/from a specific external number kind of in the same format as an instant message.

An example where this is very useful would be someone who ports a cell phone number to VOIPo (they could still receive text messages on it).

**Russell** · 06-23-2012 05:11 AM

Originally Posted by VOIPoTim

It's real SMS. So you've be able to text your VOIPo number from any cell phone. The messages would show up in your vPanel and you could also reply from there. The e-mail destination field is just to forward a copy of the message to to alert you so you don't need to keep checking the panel. Alternatively it could also be forwarded back out via SMS to another number such as a cell phone. The view posted is a "conversational" view which basically shows all the messages to/from a specific external number kind of in the same format as an instant message.

An example where this is very useful would be someone who ports a cell phone number to VOIPo (they could still receive text messages on it).

These are really exciting new features. I'm looking forward to them!

Tim, if it doesn't cost VOIPo more, please see if you can integrate into the various gateways. I've got a Telna Mobile cell phone number. I can send and receive texts fine to other cells, but for some reason it does not participate in various gateways or short codes. e.g. you can't receive Facebook or Twitter notifications. Or, use it for my bank or investment accounts' SMS notification. So, if VOIPo's SMS does not have these limitations it would be awesome.

**Junior Barnes** · 08-02-2012 09:55 PM

Can someone please explain how the rollover options will work?

**VOIPoTim** · 08-02-2012 10:16 PM

Originally Posted by Junior Barnes

Can someone please explain how the rollover options will work?

We will announce new rollover options soon. It will be an addon to existing accounts that essentially allow you to add additional lines to the account. It's mainly intended for situations where multiple lines may be needed and all calls come into the same number. Similar to the "cloned line" concept that many of our plans include, but expandable to 8 lines instead of 2 (primary + the clone).

**ymhee_bcex** · 08-02-2012 11:26 PM

Unfortunately, my Aunt Millie who wants to use speed dials the way she used it on her first touch-tone phone 30 years ago (you know - speed dial number / name / optional telephone number) still can't do it. I tried to explain that in the new VOIPo world speed dial is called "outgoing call routing", and she can add her brother Henry to "contacts", and then add a speed dial under outgoing call routing. It's only 10 clicks more, and instead of retyping Henry's phone number she can just cut-and-paste... but apparently she dozed off while I was explaining.

On the upside, I am glad to see that outgoing call routing still has "Blocked", "Busy signal" and "Disconnected". So those who want to be very granular in preventing their family members from using telephone are well taken care of!

**Tumultus** · 06-23-2012 12:50 AM

Sounds cool! I am especially looking forward to the redesigned CP, the old one was sort of "unfinished". It sure worked but, well, "better and improved" is better!

I would love an addition to the SMS feature though: the ability to respond to an SMS via my VOIPO registered email. For example, if I get an SMS forwarded via email, I would love to be able to simply reply to it and it then gets sent out to the recipient without me having to go into my VOIPO CP and send it from there. Well, maybe something for a future improvement.

**holmes4** · 06-23-2012 06:59 AM

Russel's concerns are what I was trying to get at. Being able to exchange SMS with cellphones is great, but there are many services that send text messages that just don' work with non-cellphone SMS (and apparently some cellular carriers.) You don't get any errors when you enter a number for these services, you just don't get the message. If all you use SMS for is texting friends, then great. But for most purposes, I find I need to use my "real" cellphone number or I won't get the message.

**VOIPoTim** · 06-23-2012 08:40 AM

Russell and holmes4, I'm not really sure. Our SMS solution is using Syniverse which is the major SMS partner out there. If you guys want, you can try sending a test message to my test account number 3047096900 (it'll just go to me so it's safe) and I can let you know if I receive it.

We've tested with all the major cell carriers, but there may be some smaller ones that don't support it.