TalkPlus is a versatile business tool designed for the executive on the go. It provides a fantastic convenience - never available before - of multiple affordable inbound phone numbers in a variety of area and country codes! Thanks to voice over IP technology (VOIP), customers, co-workers, friends and relatives can reach you easily and cheaply using local numbers no matter where they (or you) are.

At 2.7 cents per minute on top of your regular mobile phone bill, TalkPlus is not as cheap as using calling cards for overseas phone calls. But in this increasingly small world, the service may be just for you. Currently in late beta phase, TalkPlus is offering a generous 30 day trial.

What do you get when you create a TalkPlus account?

To start with, you get a new phone number in the area code of your choice to use side by side with your mobile number. You can have this phone number for receiving incoming calls, and to show on caller ID when you place calls to someone else. That being said, your choices are still somewhat limited during the beta period. I couldn’t get an area code anywhere in my state so I opted for the next state over and got a Miami FL number. I’m not sure where the bank of numbers came from that TalkPlus uses, but the one I got is either “previously owned” or very close to another popular number as I receive a lot of wrong number calls from some man who doesn’t seem to speak any English. You can always simply change your TalkPlus virtual number, or set up call blocking based on an individual number.

Separate your personal life from your business life

The basic idea is that if you are doing business outside of your own area code, you will be able to provide better service if your customers can dial you directly, without having to pay for long distance. So if you’re living in New York, but you have an important client in San Francisco, it only makes sense for you to have a local number for your customers to use to call you.

Add an international phone number to your Treo

TalkPlus doesn’t stop there though. The world is getting smaller, and they know it. Not only can they provide a business in NY with a phone number in Miami, but they can provide that same NY business with a local phone number in Toronto, London, or even Brisbane. International business inquiries alone would increase with a local number, thereby multiplying potential sales.

The cost of local phone numbers varies by region, and incurs a monthly fee as well as a per minute cost. When viewed from an international sales perspective, it may be a small price to pay. The prices are very affordable because TalkPlus relies on VOIP technology, though it’s not as inexpensive as some calling cards currently available.

Add Visual Voicemail to your Treo

You can have as many phone numbers as you can afford, and manage them easily from the TalkPlus website, or your Treo. You can set up an outgoing voicemail message per account, and you can even set a global Do Not Disturb: especially helpful if you are on a different time zone than your virtual phone number. TalkPlus also offers visual voicemail as part of your account. This gives you unlimited voicemails for life and also allows you to listen to your voicemails from any computer connected to the internet. TalkPlus users can also listen to voicemails by simply clicking on the mp3 file attachment that TalkPlus emails you right from your Treo.

Mirror your office number

The single feature that really hooked me was mirroring an existing phone number. Let’s say you’re a busy physician who needs to return phone calls to patients on your drive home, or a teacher who needs to call parents in the evening or on weekends. The last thing you want is for all the people you’re calling to have your cell phone number. So you set up TalkPlus to mirror your office line (which takes about 5 minutes), and when you place your phone calls, your recipient’s caller ID shows your office phone number and not your personal phone number. As most cell carriers provide free night and weekend minutes, the only charges here are the 2.7 cents per minutes from TalkPlus – and well worth the anonymity it provides.

Change your caller ID in seconds

So how difficult is all of this on your Treo? It’s as simple as installing the TalkPlus app, selecting a profile, and using it instead of the built in dialer. It even accesses your regular contacts database!

Due to a series of unfortunate events, I cannot report how an incoming call works or what one looks like at this time. With my trial expired, all my calls automatically went to voicemail. The people at TalkPlus were kind enough to extend my trial so that I could complete this review, but I have encountered “all circuits are busy” today, and am still unable to receive a call on my virtual number. However, there are several options in the web profile settings that control your incoming calls, and I recall using the option that gives a voice prompt asking if you want to accept the call.

As you can see, one of the options within the Profile is to set DND. You can also set a global DND from your web control panel. As mentioned previously, you can also block callers based on individual numbers. Many of the same filtering options Treo users love in Lightwav are available with TalkPlus. Meanwhile, I am notified twice (with both SMS and email) of every voicemail that is left, so that I can return calls as needed.

Easy Conference Calling

Another really nice feature of TalkPlus is “Add to Conference Call.” This is done from your Treo, using your contacts database, or manually adding numbers. This works best when the conference is pre-scheduled so that everyone can be waiting for your call. While not a feature I have that much use for (I’d rather conference call online with Skype), I did use it successfully with 4 other mytreo.net forum members. The system allows up to ten participants, and there just is no other way to accomplish this feat on your Treo.

Call Logging

TalkPlus logs all your calls, and you can access them both from your web account, or from your Treo. This is especially helpful for chargebacks to customers. Although your Treo notifies you of missed calls when it is on, you have no way of knowing who might have called when it was off. Not so when using your TalkPlus virtual number because it is always on! You can even place your outgoing call right from your call log.

Conclusion

TalkPlus is a very powerful business tool that gives you great geographical freedom. If you have customers, friends or family in various area and country codes, this service is for you. While it’s new and the Palm OS Treo application is only in beta, the company came across to me as highly committed to the Treo community and intent on providing outstanding service and application updates.

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Filed under: Software reviews