SmartLine by GoDaddy

The app of the week is SmartLine by GoDaddy. I have been looking for a 2nd line for my phone as I don’t like to give out my personal number for work calls which is what I’ve done for the past 13 years. At the start of the last school year I started using Google Voice, it works well but I was never happy with the voice quality. My hearing is not very good as I have a pretty substantial hearing loss so voice quality and clarity is of upmost importance. I stuck with Google Voice for most of last school year as I struggled finding a better solution. This past April I stumbled across GoDaddy’s product called SmartLine which is similar to Google Voice but instead of using your data/wifi for the calls (VoIP) it uses your actual cellular connection. The difference is very different as the quality is the same as your normal phone calls.

The app is available for iOS and Android, links are at the bottom. They have a 30 day free trial and then two tiers of paid plans, a $3.99/month or a $9.99/month. The $3.99 plan is limited as you receive 100 minutes of voice and a 100 tests per month and the $9.99 plan is unlimited which is the plan I have been using. The did just introduce another tier that starts at $74.99/month that includes the unlimited texts and calls but it allows you to have a live receptionist which for businesses could be really nice.

When the app is installed in the settings you can set business hours so if the call is outside of those hours it goes right to voicemail. You can set a custom voicemail for calls that come to the SmartLine, email notifications, block numbers, and text and make calls from the app using your SmartLine number which you can choose from a ton of numbers similar to Google Voice.

When a call comes in it ID’s itself as coming through your SmartLine and will send you notifications if you miss a call or if a voicemail is left just like with your main phone line. Overall I have been very happy with it, it does have its moments where it is a little glitchy in the interface but I’ve never had an issue with missing calls, quality, or doing what I need to do. As a second line it has worked very well. I have suggested this app to a number of fellow educators and administrators so they do not need to give out their personal number. The really nice thing is if the district purchases it and there is a change in position just log out of the app on the employee that is leaving and login on the new phone and the number can stay the same and transition to the new employee.

Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.godaddy.gdm.smartline&hl=en_US

iOs – https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smartline-second-phone-number/id1161533637?mt=8