Using Business VoIp Phone Apps can definitely optimize your time for those always on the go.  Grasshopper phone app is definitely the most reasonably priced VoIP business service designed for micro businesses.   All these business VoIP phone apps come with their set of pros and cons to wrap your head around.  We tend to steer small businesses to more robust services like Jive or DialPad for avoiding the quirks and receiving more robust features.  With that said, a micro business in its early stages should be paying no more than $40 or $50 monthly for using Grasshopper services.  That’s some significant cost saving that cannot be overlooked for a cash strapped new business.  Many businesses start out with Google Voice and port that number over to Grasshopper phone app when they have outgrown Google Voice.   We have some business VoIP phone apps tips with emphasis on Grasshopper but a lot of this discussion can be applied to other services too.

What makes Grasshopper the de-facto Business VoIP Phone Apps leader besides Price?  Any reason to avoid it?

Grasshopper specifically designed for the always on the go team.  They are not relegated to the desk all day.  Therefore, the default and most used feature is call forwarding to employee’s cell phone.  They in turn use the Grasshopper app for making outbound calls w/ the business line caller ID.  The app is a bit wonky and support is pretty bad.   They tell you to log off the app or delete the app rather than fix their buggy app.  This is an every 3 or 6 month ordeal where I utilize those steps for fixing the phone app.  Meanwhile, the desktop app never remains logged in.  Most businesses never use Grasshopper for integrating a physical desk VoIP phone.  While I knock it, the price can’t be beat and we review the quirks below so those issues become less annoying.  ProTip!  You may want to generate phone call reports for relaying to support if you feel like your missing phone calls.

How do I reach Grasshopper support?

800-820-8210
help@grasshopper.com

Should the Grasshopper Phone App have the “WiFi Calling” feature be on or off?

There is no right or wrong answer to this.  It is purely situational.  Let’s say your home office or work has poor cell phone coverage.  We encourage you to hop on the local WiFi network of your phone.  Then the phone will consistently receive calls over the WiFi if “WiFi Calling” on the Grasshopper app is enabled.  Disclaimer:  Please test the phone quality with someone.  Do not turn on if the caller says it sounds poor.  The same type of setting is in iPhone.  It can sound like garbly goop if that setting is turned and you have terrible WiFi.

business VoIP phone appsbusiness VoIP phone apps

 

Great!  Do I have turn “WiFi Calling” off when my phone is not on good WiFi?

No because your cell phone contains its own data plan.  The “WiFi Calling” feature still works regardless if you are on or off the WiFi because the Grasshopper service will use your own cell phone data plan for conducting VoIP calls.  This is a great feature when travelling internationally.  However, it may not work that well because your phone’s data plan is usually reduced to a really poor and unreliable data plan offering when travelling internationally.  It may be worthy of getting a temporary phone plan overseas if you want to catch all calls.

Why would anyone have the Grasshopper WiFi calling turned off?

Yes, it does sound great to always have this feature on if you are relying on good data coverage from WiFi and cell providers.   Calls our free all through out the world but we all know cellular data plans are still unreliable at times in ’21.   Cellular data plans are more unreliable when roaming around than voice.  So if sales call counts and you are quite the iterant worker, it may worthy of disabling WiFi calling.  Just be aware of what you are getting into if you leave it on during European vacation.

Tell me more about disabling WiFi Calling on Grasshopper

International calls if you are dialing out from Europe, etc may have a cell phone provider charge because it’s calling a US number 8442002779 (call-out access number)   These numbers allow the Grasshopper app to function by recognizing your caller ID and linking it to your Grasshopper account when making outbound calls.  WiFi Calling and the Grasshopper desktop app do not have this problem.  I am not sure how other business phone VoIP apps get around this issue or if they do the same thing

Using Business VoIP Phone Apps & International Data Plans plus Grasshopper FAQ Summary

  • WiFi calling is great most people but I disable it for my own reasons articulated above
  • Consider a temporary phone and MiFi when traveling internationally
    • MiFi Skyroam (separate high speed device from phone)  $8 a day… only when used.
  • The soft phone or also know as Grasshopper desktop app may be great for people that are chained to their desk