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We have three phone lines that run into our theatre. On these lines we post recordings of show times and other information for prospective patrons. The problem is that this kind of format is getting to be very time consuming. Its a tango between the lines. I was wondering if any of you have this kind of problem or if there might be a better way to handle this kind of dilema.We feel that we need the three phone lines.

I have one phone line with a digital answering machine. you get the times on the general greeting, press #1 for the review, #2 theater info. I have busy/no-answer forwarding to pager voicemail ($8.00 a month. 45 seconds)with just the times and it asks you to call back later if you want the review. so, if i'm on-line or on the phone, they still get the info with no busy signal.

Why buy an answering machine and/or pay for multiple phone lines? Just get a voicemail box with a published number. That's what we and several other theatres here in N. California use. You pay for one voice mail box, which runs about $20 per month. The great thing about most phone company voice mail systems is that they will answer multiple calls simultaneously. I'd seriously check it out with your phone company. Just remember to leave a few seconds of blank time at the end of your recording so people hang up before the beep. Otherwise every hang-up is a message and you have to go in and clear your voicemail box every couple of days. The phone company doesn't like it when boxes are constantly full - it takes up memory on the system - so just
empty it out regularly.

We had USWest voice mail and it sucked. It couldn't be set to OGM only and the mail box would fill up and shut down the whole system so people would call and get nothing. They also had a limited time on the recording and once even refused to record a new message! with the system i have now, you times on the greeting, #1 for review, and #2 for theater info. my spill-over recording is on an $8 a month voice mail that has just times. people commment all the time how well it works. both recordings can be changed from any phone so USWorst will have to come up with one helluva system before i ever go back.

Thank you all for your responses to my posting. I can't say that I haven't got choices. I think I'm leaning towards the digital answering machine since I have the extra phone lines. You all were a great help.

I have heard that my experience with voice mail is not unique. I have also heard from people who have none of the problems i do. it is certainly an option if it is up to speed in your area. Here in Oregon, things seems a little behind the rest of the country. So, my experince my not be typical.

We have threee lines and a ring-mate. Line one is completely dedicated to an ans machine and you can punch 3 to leave a message. The next line is another ans. machine and you have to call back to leave a message. The third line is for our owner operated pay phone in the lobby and the ring mate number so that when people want to actually call the theatre they get a human being. It is all a ferociuos pain in the butt. I'm looking at these voice mail options and will see if they are locally available.