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Line2 is a mobile app from Toktumi that’s a refreshing option for iPhone users who need to maintain a separate personal and a business phone number. It’s also useful — and potentially revolutionary — for iPhone owners who want to cut down on their monthly voice minutes by allowing them to place calls over Wi-Fi as well as over 3G Voice Over IP (VOIP). As opposed to the Google Voice approach, which routes a single number to multiple phones and requires you to determine whether any particular incoming call is business or personal, Line2 easily separates your personal and business contacts into separate tabs and allows incoming calls to easily sort themselves based on context. The interface of the app is intuitive and easy to use — in fact, it’s visually identical to the iPhone’s own phone interface (which is an impressive feat considering App Store rules that typically frown on precisely that).
A sophisticated web interface management tool also allows you to set up highly granular rules for incoming calls — imagine being able to send all business calls direct to voicemail after 7 p.m. or on the weekends, for example. Besides visual voicemail management and call-routing tools, the web control panel can be used to transfer calls, set up call forwarding rules, trigger auto-attendants, and more — think Google Voice on steroids. Line2 also supports easy conference calling for up to 20 participants, and all calls including conference calls can be placed over regular voice, Wi-Fi, or 3G VOIP — once again potentially saving you voice minutes, and giving you alternative options in low AT&T voice service areas. Unlike other iPhone apps that support VOIP calling, incoming voice calls won’t kill your in progress VOIP connection; you can simply choose to send the voice call to voicemail and continue your VOIP call or conference.
Line2 is available in the App Store now for $0.99, which includes a 30-day free trial of the full service. If you like what you see after 30 days, you can continue the service for $14.95 a month, which includes unlimited U.S. and Canada calling and conference calling. For small businesses, Line2 could be an attractive and web-savvy alternative to traditional PBX infrastructure, and the app’s appeal extends into the consumer market for anyone who wants to maintain two separate and easily manageable numbers or take advantage of sophisticated call routing and management. We sat down with Toktumi CEO Peter Sisson for a demo of the app; check out the video below for a walkthrough of some of Line2’s featureset (pardon the slight blur due to focal distance limitations of the camera we had on hand).
