Archive for the ‘How To’ Category

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.

How to Set Up Call Routing that Works for You

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 | located in How To | No Comments »

In a previous post, we talked about Ribbit Mobile’s call routing feature, and explored a few different reasons why people are finding it useful. Now we want to explain how you can set up call routing to best suit YOUR needs.

First, ask yourself this question: where is it most convenient for you to answer calls? If you’re often on the go, you may want your other phones to ring on your mobile, so you can answer wherever you are. If you are traveling to an area with poor mobile coverage, you may want to answer on your computer, mobile phone, home, or office phone.

1. Route your mobile to ring on other phones.
This option takes only a few seconds to set up.

Simply log in to your Ribbit Mobile account, click on Settings, then click on Phones & Phone Numbers. Add the phones you want to answer on.

Then click Call Routing, and select your mobile phone; under each phone you want to ring, select “Ring” on the pull-down. That’s it – if you don’t pick up when your mobile phone starts to ring, your other phones will ring, too. Sweet!

2. Route other phones to ring on your mobile.

This option takes a bit more time. Here’s why: to route your home or office phone to ring your mobile, you’ll have to activate call forwarding through your phone carrier. We wish there was a simpler way to do it, but we haven’t yet discovered a magical way to bypass the phone company.

First, log in to your Ribbit Mobile account, click on Settings, then select Phones & Phone Numbers. Add the phones you want to route to your mobile. You’ll then have to contact your phone carrier (for instance, AT&T or Comcast) to find the call forwarding code to punch into your phone.

Once you forward your phone to Ribbit, click Activate and Ribbit will place a test call to confirm that your phone is forwarding to Ribbit correctly. Once confirmed, Ribbit will answer all calls that are forwarded to Ribbit.

Need help? Check out our How-To Videos for screen-by-screen assistance in setting up call routing.

Setting Up Ribbit Mobile? Check Your Old Voicemail First!

Monday, December 7th, 2009 | located in How To | 1 Comment »

If you’ve received an invitation to set up your Ribbit Mobile account, congratulations! (If not, hold on. We’re getting them out as fast as we can!)

Before you activate Ribbit on your mobile phone, we recommend that you dial into your old voicemail to check for messages that may contain important information. Once you link your mobile phone to Ribbit, it will no longer be connected to your old voicemail system, so it’s a good idea to check it before you get started.

Here’s what to do:

• Dial into your old voicemail; check your messages and jot down any important information.
• Proceed with activating Ribbit Mobile on your phone and setting up your new voicemail account.

If you’ve already activated Ribbit Mobile on your phone, and are wondering how to access your old messages, here are two things you can do:

• If you received a separate voicemail number from your phone carrier, you may be able to dial into it from another phone (not your mobile phone).
• If that doesn’t work, de-activate Ribbit Mobile on your phone, then dial into your voicemail, retrieve your messages, and re-activate Ribbit Mobile.

And just think… now that you have Ribbit Mobile, this the last time you’ll ever have to worry about jotting down voicemail notes!