Hosted FreePBX for Friends and Family?
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I am thinking about doing a FreePBX install hosted for Friends and Family.
Any downsides I should think of?
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How much support will they expect from you? Do they pay for their phone usage? If so how much?
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@Breffni-Potter Yes, but the support should be minimal. I am already running it for my own personal use, so adding a couple of extensions and DID's is no big deal.
Yes, they pay for usage - same price I pay. No markup
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Keep in mind, for most of my friends and family $25/year would cover them.
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@aaronstuder said:
Yes, they pay for usage - same price I pay. No markup
Will they believe you?
What I mean by that is, will some people get "expectations" and will that get in the way of the relationship?
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Remember Keep it simple. This is a an over complicated setup with no good justification, unless it's just for fun or learning. I wouldn't do it - but then you wouldn't really want your family/friends relying on it.
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I have considered doing this for my family. However one person has they're number connected to a package deal with Verizon (FIOS) so that puts that out. But I could add some others and get by with it. Port their number into the system and have 'family' call ability without having to step outside the PBX system, Voice Mail (and VM to email), and if I really felt like it, IM ability and an 800 number for dial in. Since you would port their number, each extension would have their own set Caller ID.
Support should be that much to deal with. There are a few times thus far with FreePBX that we have gone more than two weeks without even talking about it.
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No one in my family has a land line. All people just use mobile only.
My sister has an OBI110 connected to a google voice number just in case she has a sitter or something and someone HAS to make a call. But again, it has never been needed. Everyone has a mobile that she interacts with.
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We do this for my family. The really nice features are that we can do family to family calling at zero cost and never hit the PSTN at all. Leaving a connection open full time is no problem whatsoever. And you can video chat very easily, too.
Downsides is no one wants to deal with an extra thing to make calls on. Even for free.
