Archive for January, 2010

Ribbit Mobile named “App of the Week” on New York Times’ Gadgetwise

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 | located in Articles and Media Mentions, Awards | No Comments »

I love coming into the office and finding a little nugget of goodness to start my day off right. Today it is seeing the New York Times’ blog, Gadgetwise, naming Ribbit Mobile their App of the Week. Sweet.

From their website:

Among the most compelling features Ribbit…is the ability to have a single number that rings all of your phones…also transcribe your voicemail to an SMS or e-mail message so you can see which calls need immediate attention without checking voicemail. Voicemail messages can be forwarded, and you can record and e-mail audio messages. Ribbit also links your contacts with your Twitter and Facebook accounts, so when you make or receive a call you see the most recent posts from the person on the other end of the line.

Thanks Gadgetwise!

No phone? No service? No problem.

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 | located in Features | No Comments »

My iPhone is generally fairly reliable, but wouldn’t you know it – it suddenly turned wonky on a weekend when I had a big project due. I didn’t have the time to take my phone in for troubleshooting, but I HAD to know who was calling, and HAD have access to my messages.

Cue Ribbit Mobile. I simply logged into my account online to see who had called, and who had left me a message. Throughout the weekend, I was able to check my missed calls, read my messages, and make calls via the web-based phone. Since I have my preferences set to use my mobile number as my Caller ID, the people I was calling knew it was me on the other line.

It’s the little things that matter… and having a backup phone through Ribbit Mobile made what could have been a very stressful weekend a relatively calm one.

This feature even comes in handy when my iPhone is perfectly well behaved. My parents live in a rural area, where mobile coverage is iffy at best; going to visit them was always somewhat stressful, as I was almost guaranteed to miss important calls. But they do get internet, so now I can extend my visits, knowing that I can still access all my phone communications online through Ribbit Mobile. It sure makes my mom happy…

Where would you go more often if you didn’t have to worry about losing service on your mobile phone?

10 Ways to Use Ribbit Mobile in 2010

Thursday, January 14th, 2010 | located in Features, How To | No Comments »

Happy New Year!  We wanted to take a moment to celebrate this new decade with you by sharing 10 ways you can use Ribbit Mobile in 2010.

1. Read your voicemail like email
Business-grade voicemail transcriptions are the #1 reason people use Ribbit Mobile today.  We’ve heard positive feedback about our transcription quality, and iPhone users were thrilled when we released our first mobile app.  Sign up today, link your mobile phone, and enjoy all the benefits of having your voicemail messages transcribed to text and sent directly to your phone.

2. Make and receive calls, even in areas with poor mobile coverage
If you have poor mobile phone coverage at home or at work, Ribbit can help. In your Ribbit Mobile account, you can easily set up a new IP/Internet Phone (VoIP) phone or route your mobile calls to any of your existing phones. For instance - if you’re heading up to the mountains for a ski weekend but worry about having no mobile coverage, Ribbit can route calls to your mobile phone to ring the phone at your destination.

Here’s how: after you activate Ribbit on your mobile phone, you can add additional phones. From the Quick Links menu at the top of the account page, select Add Phones & Numbers and then select the type of phone you want to add.  Once you’d added your phone, setup your call routing profile.  All inbound calls to Ribbit will then be routed to all the phones you’ve set to Ring.

3. Get a local number to assist with a job search
If you’re looking for a job in 2010, you may be given higher priority if you’re local to where you’re seeking work. Why not include a local number on your resume? Simply log in to Ribbit Mobile and request a Ribbit Mobile number for your account in the area code where you’re searching.

4. Set up a dedicated sales hotline
Need a sales hotline for your customers? Set up a Ribbit Number dedicated to sales calls. If sales calls are handled by more than one person, add each of their phone numbers in the call routing profile. If a call isn’t answered, Ribbit will take a message and transcribe it to text, so you’ll have more information about the caller before you you respond.

5. Create a company support line
Need an efficient way to handle support? Here’s a great solution: first, set up a Ribbit Number to use as your support line.  Then set up call routing so that your available support team can answer live support calls. For times when calls cannot be answered, set email and/or SMS (text) notifications to go to all the right people so your collective team can respond quickly.

6. Add a virtual “messages only” number
It can be very useful to have a phone number that only receives messages. Simply get a Ribbit Number and set up alerts to receive both text transcriptions and audio files of the messages via email and/or SMS (text).

7. Set up a “Parent Finder” number
Do your children have to dial multiple numbers when they need to get in touch with mom or dad? A great solution is to set up a Ribbit Number to dial all mom and dad’s phones… simple and effective.

8. Make and send Group or Company announcements via MP3
Now you can quickly and easily send audio announcements to your entire group or company. Set up a new Ribbit Mobile account, add a Ribbit Number to the account, then set up notifications for all message recipients. To do this, add each email recipient’s address or set up an email distribution list and add that distribution list as a single notification email.  To create the audio message, call your Ribbit Number from any phone and leave a “voicemail” - this message will be sent to your entire group or company via MP3 and text.

9. Make conference calls fast
Need to create instant group calls on the fly? Try out our Conference Now app - simply go to apps.ribbit.com and select the Conference Now app.  Post it to your iGoogle page (everyone has one).  Then, log in to the app with your Ribbit Mobile account and enter up to five numbers, including you that you want to call.  Click Start. The app will dial all the numbers at once.

10.  Call home from all around the globe
Ribbit lets you make calls over the internet, which is especially handy when you’re out of your mobile service area - such as traveling in a distant country, or in the sky with WiFi.  Sign in to Ribbit Mobile and use the Flash phone to make calls to any US phone (international calling will be open once we’re out of beta).  And best of all, you can use your mobile Caller ID so the person you’re calling will know who is on the other line.

We know there are many more ways to use Ribbit Mobile, and we look forward to learning from you in 2010.