Offering Telephone Support to Members
By Ash Nallawalla,
Melbourne PC User Group
Melbourne PC User Group (Melb PC) has office space that includes a telephone
system where any extension can be across an Internet connection. We have a
“First Aid” telephone number that members can call if they don’t know how to
solve a computer problem, such as knowing which of the 200+ Dial Help volunteers
to call. (see below)
Dial Help
Dial Help is a list of about 150 topics and 1 - 4 members and their telephone
numbers underneath each topic. It is sent with our monthly magazine. These
topics include general headings such as “Security” or specific versions of
software such as “Windows Vista”. The volunteers can choose to display different
telephone numbers for Day and Evening, which we define as 9 am to 5 pm and 6:30
to 9 pm respectively. The callers are advised not to leave a message asking to
be called back, as telephone calls are untimed, but not free in Australia.
First Aid
The First Aid line is diverted to a volunteer-of-the-day’s home number by prior
arrangement; where a volunteer has a fast Internet connection, he or she could
simply take home the special Internet-protocol telephone and plug it into a
spare port on their router. Using the Internet for phone calls keeps the
landline free for personal calls.
SkypeIn
We do not use this paid Skype service, but for $38-$60/year you can get a
telephone number in your area code. When someone dials the number, it rings the
Skype program on your PC. If your members were to contribute to the cost, you
could open a Skype account in the name of the user group and use SkypeIn to
offer a single First Aid number to your members. The volunteer of the day would
be the only person to log into Skype that day and take the calls. If the
volunteer has to step out for a minute or go to sleep, he or she simply logs out
and the call diverts to voicemail!
The volunteer can be logged in from any corner of the world – as long as there
is a fast Internet connection.