Bandwidth.com introduced Phonebooth Free for small businesses today. Targeted to small business, such as virtual organizations, early-stage startups and sole proprietors, the cloud-based phone service offers 200 free minutes per month of inbound calling and call-routing features, including auto-attendant and multi-user support. The free service offers businesses local number availability, extension routing from a single number that can direct calls to multiple people at any number they prefer, and voice mail with text transcription delivered via email.

Phonebooth Free also provides businesses with a dynamic Contact Us Plus widget that can placed on blogs and web sites for customers and partners to initiate calls. The widget can be customized with business logos and has the option to add avatars and social media accounts - a WordPress plug-in is currently in development.

Commenting on the launch of the new offering Bandwidth.com CEO David Morken said, "Phonebooth Free gives small businesses, freelancers and independent professionals a way to have a professional-sounding phone system at no cost. While there are already web-based voice applications designed for basic social use, Phonebooth Free provides 200 minutes per month of inbound calling plus the call-routing features, like an auto-attendant and support for multiple users, that small businesses and professionals need. If you are a virtual company, with employees who are on the go or working from home, there is no better phone solution than Phonebooth Free."

Bandwidth.com is national provider of VoIP phone service and data to SMBs. The economics of the company's nationwide VoIP network allows it to offer the free service to the small business segment. The free service breaks into a new market category not already tapped by Bandwidth.com's paid offering: Phonebooth OnDemand. A $20 monthly service now out of Beta, Phonebooth OnDemand offers all the services of Phonebooth Free with the notable additions of unlimited inbound and outbound calls (both local and long distance), 24-hour customer support, support for full-featured HD phones, conference calls, number porting, international calling, toll-free number support, and call records.

The appeal of the new free offering for small businesses is obvious, but as of this writing, the service still carries a "Get Phonebooth Free Soon" billing on the product web site so despite the announcement, the product is not yet available.

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