RingBranch

New Caller-ID features launched

Yesterday, we launched a cool new feature that our users have been requesting.  The new feature allows you to designate whether you want your RingBranch number or the actual phone number of the phone you are calling from when you are making a call through RingBranch.   An example better illustrates this feature and its usefulness:

• Say that "Joe" is a RingBranch user. 
• Let's assume that Joe's RingBranch number is 678-234-1234. 
• Let's further assume that Joe is calling into RingBranch from his mobile phone with phone number 404-376-0000.
• Joe calls into his RingBranch number, enters his PIN, then choses the contact that he wants to call.
• Let's assume that Joe choses to call Jill from his personal directory that he maintains on RingBranch.
• When Jill's phone rings, Joe can decide whether he wants 678-234-1234 (i.e. his RingBranch number) to show on Jill's Caller ID, or if Joe wants 404-376-0000 (i.e. his mobile number) to show on Jill's Caller ID.

One can change this option at any time from the MyProfile section of his account. Look under the "Making Calls to Friends" header and you will see the option to designate this. 

Additionally, we also offer you the ability to designate what number should show on your own Caller-ID when you Receive a call from your RingBranch number.  Again, an example helps to explain this:

• With RingBranch, you can make AND receive phone calls. So, if someone calls you on your RingBranch number, the call will ring through to the number that you have designated.
• Let's assume that Jill knows Joe's RingBranch number and calls it.
• Let's assume that Jill is calling from her landline in New Orleans at 504-222-0000.
• From within RingBranch, Joe has set things up so that any call to his RingBranch number is set to automatically forward to his mobile phone.
• When Jill calls Joe on his RingBranch number, Joe can decide if he would like to see Jill's mobile number on his Caller ID or if he would like to see his own RingBranch number on his Caller ID.

You can change this setting at any time under the "Receiving calls from friends" section under MyProfile.

Enjoy this new feature and let us know if you have any questions.

Advertising-based calling plan

As we continue down the beta road, we are contemplating an advertising-based model that would allow us to continue to provide the RingBranch service for free.  Our plan is to offer a free ad-supported service and a service that has no ads but charges $5 to $20 per month, depending on the number of minutes used. 

In-call advertising is a rather new advertising medium.  You may have heard an In-Call ad if you called a service like Free411. ( You can listen to this sample ad from Free411 to hear an example of In-Call advertising).   

We are still sorting through things like the number of ads that would be played and when they would be played.  We obviously want to make this as non-intrusive to our users as possible and we will focus on this  At the same time, we have to be able to make enough money on the advertising to pay for connecting your phone call.  If you make a call to a friend and talk for 10 minutes, we, on average, would incur telecom costs of around $.20, assuming we have to connect through the PSTN.   So, during the course of that call, we have to figure out a way to make, on average, more than $.20.  Otherwise, we give you free long distance calling and we lose money!

We would like to hear your opinion on In-Call advertising.  Would you agree to listen to short audio ads in return for a free long distance service?  What if we could offer free international calling?  Please send us your thoughts.

New Account Sign-up Bug when using Vista and IE

For some reason which we are still researching, you cannot complete the final step in our new account signup process if you are using Vista and IE.  We are working to resolve this issue and hope to have it licked by EOD. 

If you are trying to sign up for an account and are using Vista and IE, please contact us directly and we will setup your account manually.

Many thanks for your interest in RingBranch.

New beta accounts now available again

We have made our adjustments to the sign up pages. New users are welcome to sign up for a RingBranch account now.

Please let us know if you have any questions or feedback.

New RingBranch Account Sign-ups temporarily suspended

I wanted to let everyone know that we are currently adjusting a few things on our new account sign up page.  Once we have made these modifications, you will be able to sign up for the free beta and get a RingBranch number.   Until then, you won't be able to do so.

I hesitate to give a time estimate because I am usually wrong about these things. But, I have been told by my fellow co-workers that it "shouldn't be too long."   

I will provide an update on this blog as soon as we are back to normal.

RingBranch behind the scenes

So, just because we have been quiet doesn't mean we haven't been busy!  I just realized that it's been 2 months since my last post.  As you can see from our new logo and new website, we have undergone an extensive and much needed redesign. 

See a Before and After comparison below:

Before:

And, Wait for it....

After:

I wanted to give a big shout out to the individual who helped us with our redesign.  If you need a hand with branding, web design, and UI assistance, I recommend you speak with Jared England of the Ice Design Group.   Jared definitely has skillz!

Viva La RingBranch!

How RingBranch can help T-Mobile MyFaves users

As alluded to earlier, if you are one of the more than 3 million T-Mobile MyFaves' subscribers, RingBranch may be of great interest to you.   

Before we explain why this is the case, let's review the MyFaves plan.  If you chose one of the MyFaves plan from T-Mobile, you get:

• Unlimited nationwide calling to any five numbers on any network, even landlines

So, why then  might you be interested in RingBranch if you are a MyFaves user? Because, simply by choosing your unique RingBranch phone number as 1 of your 5 MyFaves, you can effectively increase the number of people that you can enjoy unlimited nationwide calling to.   Remember, when you list your RingBranch number as 1 of your MyFaves, any call to or from that number does not go against your plan minutes.   So, you can call your RingBranch number from your mobile phone, reach your RingBranch Auto-Attendant, and connect to 1 of up to 100 contacts that you can maintain in RingBranch.  When you talk, since the initial call was placed to a phone number within your MyFaves, the call should be counted as a MyFaves phone call.

Additionally, you can give your contacts your RingBranch phone number and ask that they call you on this number. (Remember, when they call your RingBranch number, they will get you. When you call your RingBranch number, you get your Personal Auto-Attendant to connect to your contacts. ) If you have your RingBranch number listed as a MyFave, then any phone call FROM that phone number will be treated as a MyFave call as well.

To give this a try, first sign up for a free beta RingBranch account   Then, edit your MyFaves by logging into  the T-Mobile website or through your mobile phone.  Input your new RingBranch number as 1 of your new MyFaves and give your new MyFave a name.  ( I call mine "Bob" just so I can easily find it.)  You should be able to verify that this is working by looking at your detailed billing records--you will see that calls to your RingBranch number have been counted as a MyFave call.

Let us know if you have any questions on any of this.

T-Mobile and MyFaves® are trademarks or registered trademarks of T-Mobile USA, Inc. Neither this website nor the RingBranch service are, or have been, endorsed by, and are not affiliated with any of the third party companies mentioned on this site. RingBranch is a service mark of CallBranch, LLC.

What Phone Number Will You Get from RingBranch?

When you sign up for a RingBranch account, we provide you with your own unique phone number.  This phone number is just like any 7-digit phone number that you are accustomed to using.  Currently, all of the phone numbers that we provide are within the state of Georgia and thus have area codes from this area.  For example, you are likely to get a phone number such as:

(678) 555-1234   or (770) 555-1234 

(NOTE: These are just example numbers--each of our users gets his/her own unique and different phone numbers)

In the near future, we will be able to provide you with a phone number within a specific area code that you request so it will not be a long distance call for you to call into your Personal Auto-Attendant.  Most mobile carriers and many land line providers provide free long distance so hopefully this IS NOT currently an issue for you. 

For example, my sister in Seattle calls into her RingBranch Auto-Attendant dialing a 678 area code number from a 206 area code number.  It's long distance (obviously) but it doesn't cost her anything extra since her mobile plan doesn't charge extra for long distance--most don't these days!

Let us know if you have any questions on this.

RingBranch Service further explained

While our website hopefully does a decent job of explaining "what is RingBranch", I thought it would be helpful to further clarify what we do.

What we Do:

• Provide you with a new and unique phone number--we call this your RingBranch number. It's a regular US-based phone number with format: (area code)-xxx-xxxx.
• When you call your RingBranch number, you reach what we call your RingBranch Personal Auto-Attendant.   The RingBranch Personal Auto-Attendant will then connect you with any of your contacts that you have entered through our website. 
• You can call into your RingBranch Personal Auto-Attendant from any of your phones, whether it be your mobile, home, work, etc. And, you can use a regular cell phone, land line, or VOIP phone—you don’t have to be on the Internet or on our website to use it.    
• If you want, you can give your RingBranch phone number to your contacts.  When they call you on this number, one of your phones will ring.  You designate which one(s) from our website.   It's important to note that when they call your RingBranch number, they will not get your Auto-Attendant.
• The RingBranch service includes the actual time that you are talking on the phone, whether that be local or long distance.   During the beta, this is provided for free. Once we transition to commercial release, we will provide a healthy serving of all you can eat minutes for one low fixed cost.

So, why do you need a service like this?

• If you are one of the estimated 3 million T-Moblle MyFaves subscribers or one of the Alltel Circle of Friends users, then this is could be very useful to you. We will post more about this later but for the time being--think of the benefits of having your RingBranch number as 1 of your 5 MyFaves. All of a sudden, instead of 5 MyFaves, you really would have over 100! 
• It can help save you time if you keep all of your contact’s phone numbers programmed into your mobile phone but you still use your landline from home in order to conserve your cell phone minutes (268 million Americans have landlines)
• In the event that your cell phone is lost or stolen, RingBranch can serve as a backup of your most frequently dialed phone numbers.  In fact, it is like a virtual SIM card—you don’t have to worry about storing your phone numbers on your phone or SIM card. 

Let us know if you have any questions on any of this.  And, as always, please send us your feedback.

RingBranch Dial by Name Directory using a Blackberry phone

With RingBranch, when you want to talk to one of your contacts, you simply pick up your cell, home, or work phone and call into your RingBranch number to access your Personal Auto-Attendant.  Your Auto-Attendant will prompt you to enter the extension of the person you are trying to call followed by the # sign OR to press * (star) for a dial by name directory.

If you chose the dial by name directory, the Auto-Attendant will ask you to enter the first three letters of the person's first or last name.  This is hopefully pretty straightforward as most of us do this regularly when navigating a company's auto-attendant. 

But we have had a few questions about how to "spell out" letters if using a BlackBerry phone.  On the Blackberry, the letters don't correspond correctly to the numbers like on a regular phone. 

But Blackberry does have a way to allow you to "spell" something with your keypad (a name for example).  You hold down the ALT key while typing the letters required and the Blackberry will dial the appropriate tone for the letter being pressed.

For example, let's say that you have a contact named "Sam Jones" in your RingBranch contact directory. If you wanted to spell out "Sam" from the dial by name directory, then you would simply just hold the Alt key and use the multi-tap method to get the letter you want. Specifically, you would hold the Alt key and hit the "AS" key twice. Then, while you continue to hold the ALT key, once it displays the "S", hit the same key once to display the "A". Still holding the Alt key, hit the "M" key once for the M. The BlackBerry makes the translation between the letter and what it would be on a standard phone keypad.

Once you have spelled out "SAM", then RingBranch will ask if you would like to connect to Sam Jones and presto, you are on your way!

In case you don't know, the Alt key is the one at the bottom left of the more modern Blackberrys. See the image below for further clarification.

Image courtesy of MobileWirelessNews.com