If you’ve priced a multi-line phone system, even for a small company, you know the price can range anywhere from $2000 up to $8000, and even higher.

Factor in the cost of wiring and your cash outlay becomes bigger.

But what if I told you that you could have a multi-line telephone system for less than $10 a month?

• No wiring
• You get your own personal 800 toll free number with the system
• Plus you get a bundle of other features expensive systems can’t touch

Sounds rather unbelievable, doesn’t it? But all you have to do is check out ‘toll-free pbx telephone communication services’ on the Internet. You’ll find it’s all absolutely true.

Here is how a toll-free business phone system works.

When you sign up with the toll-free business phone service you receive your own personal toll-free number. You can use it on your business card, in your advertising or include it in any of your promotions. In fact, it is the only number you will ever have to give out. It becomes the number for your office, fax machine, cell phone, home phone or any other phone in your office.

Your multi-line toll-free business phone will provide you with a number of extensions. These can be set up anyway you want. You can make #1, your office...#2, your secretary...#3, your fax...#4, your home...and on it goes. And remember, there is no wiring required. You can arrange for your toll-free business telephone in the morning and be using it that afternoon...without having to buy extra equipment.

Your phone can be answered in a number of different ways.

You can, of course, answer the phone yourself or have someone in your office do it. Or it can be answered by one of several greetings you or someone else records. For example, you can have one message for daytime and another for after closing hours. These messages can greet your callers in your voice, provide a list of menu options (which are the extensions you set up), invite them to leave a message or suggest they call back during business hours.

Each of these messages can be setup to automatically click-in at appropriate times of the day. That way you don’t have to remember to activate them manually. You won’t end up driving a block away from your office and suddenly think that you didn’t change the telephone message before you left.

However, you can override the automatic setup, make any changes you want or record new messages by simply bringing up your control panel on the Internet. This control panel can only be accessed by you or someone you share your password with and makes everything apple-pie simple.

No busy signals.

It doesn’t matter how many extensions are being used, your phone will always be answered. If an extension is busy, the caller will be invited to either stay on the line or leave a message. And if they decide to hold, you can provide music while they wait. This music can be anything you want because you select it...record it...and upload it using your personal control center.

Have your calls forwarded.

This is another feature with toll-free business telephone services. If you’re going to be out of the office and want all your calls transferred to another number, you can set this up in less than a minute through your control center on the Internet.

Also, if you are expecting an important call or fax and won’t be in the office to receive it, relax. Your multi-line toll-free services will send you an alert as a text message on your cell phone or PDA.

Here’s still another ‘out-of-the-office’ feature. All messages left on your voice mail are recorded as a ‘wav’ file which means they can be e-mailed. And they will be...automatically. So wherever you are, you have access to your messages either on your computer or by picking up the phone and calling your voice mail.

Customize your phone number.

Let’s say you run a wholesale florist business. Think how much easier it would be for you and your customers if you had a toll-free number such as 1-800-FLOWERS. Easy to remember. Simple to give out over the phone. And every time someone sees or uses your telephone number, you are promoting your business.

Your toll-free business phone provider will help you select a custom number that fits your business.

Keep track of all your calls.

Your toll-free business phone service will keep a log listing every call you receive or make. If you bill for telephone time, you always have a complete record showing every number you called or the numbers of people who called you. The log includes the length of the call, the date, the telephone number and other information you will find useful. It will even include missed calls.

All these features are available without new equipment, wiring or delay.

You could pay thousands of dollars for a multi-line system and still not have all the features talked about in this article. So before committing yourself to a multi-line telephone system, consider its reliability.