1800askmefi

April 4, 2007 9:50 PM

What Resporgs (toll free number operators) would you recommend?

I am going to get a toll free number for a small business project. The problem is that the online information about Resporgs is quite limited. Has anyone gotten one and would recommend them? Any advice in general for this?

I want these features at least:
1) full recording of every call
2) Auto attendant (it should play a custom message of our choosing before the CSR picks up)
3) It should be able to do proportional routing to our numbers anywhere in the country

posted by tasty to Technology (1 answer total)

RespOrgs are just business organizations, generally communication network operators, who have access to the SMS 800 Database managed under contract to the US government, by Lockheed Martin. Any number of organizations besides RespOrgs can do the functions you ask about, although most RespOrgs can do so as well, and in the larger commercial organizations such as Sprint, there are usually several divisions of the company teaming up to provide 800 number "service."

The "full recording of every call" requirement subjects you to a web of federal and state laws concerning communications privacy and recording notifications, some of which would be dependent on the origination point of the call to a toll-free number. That is possibly going to involve more significant set up, and may limit your options regarding storage and use of recordings. You may want some legal review of this requirement, before placing communication service orders, to be sure you are able to operate the way you wish to, before incurring expense and schedule issues.

If your organization already has a primary communication network vendor providing services to your distributed office network, it would behoove you to discuss the project first with them. Personally, I've had good experiences with Sprint and Level3.
posted by paulsc at 5:22 AM on April 5, 2007