ring to question!

[G+_David Keeler]

ring.to question!

 

Hya KitA's

 

I had ported my home phone number to a ring.to account and been using it for quite some time, and now they have announced that they are shutting down in March.

 

I would like to keep this number as a working (and free) 2nd means of contact for use at home (WiFi calling). Google Voice says it can't port the number directly in and some internet reading says all the other services require some form of paid subscription.

 

I don't mind a single porting fee, but would like to avoid any form of monthly payment.

 

Any clever ideas??

 

Dave

[G+_Jason Brown]

I use a free Google Voice number over an Obihai device. The device costs $50, no monthly fees. After that, you just connect it to your GV account. I do pay $25 per year for 911 capabilities through a third party. I only get five 911 calls each year, but that's plenty.

 

Call quality is spectacular.

[G+_Robert Gauld]

Could you transfer it to someother servuce that you could then transfer it to Google from?

[G+_Jason Brown]

Here she is. If you're feeling ambitious, you could plug it into an unused house line and wire the whole house. Just disconnect the Telco from the box outside. A long time ago they would send test signals and fry sip devices, even to homes with deactivated services. I'm not sure if they still do, but better safe than sorry.

[G+_Jason Brown]

Wow, I totally missed the word "can't"

 

Sorry about that, try magic jack. I think they do porting

[G+_Jason Brown]

Magic jack is dirt cheap, and the round robin approach could work as long as you can get Google to confirm it on their end

[G+_David Keeler]

Im not sure what is left of the wiring for the old landline. I had AT and T back in the day... then after a rainstorm the phone stopped working so I switched to cox digital telephone. I got rid of cable and cox as a cord cutter.

 

I now have Verizon Fios internet only.

 

Do you think I can port my ring.to number to magic jack? Then port it from magic jack to Google Vice?

[G+_David Keeler]

Jason Brown I didnt think of magic jack. How much is it?

[G+_David Keeler]

Robert Gauld Good question. Anyone recommend a service that I can bounce this number to?

[G+_Black Merc]

I had magic Jack back when... It was $10 a month. But, had to toss it, customer service sucks and it had a hard time getting through the many layers of NAT that I have. Oh, and the required pc(usb unit), had to be allways on and auto-log-in(powerfailures).

[G+_Ben Reese]

I've heard of people bouncing to a voice-only cell service (usually T-Mobile) and paying them for one month then porting to Google Voice from there. It's been a few years since I looked into it though, and haven't tried myself.

 

Your existing telco would have to mark the number available for transfer before T-Mobile can port it it. That can a couple days.

[G+_Rud Dog]

Is this meant to say my google voice phone number and OBi200 will be discontinued?

[G+_David Peach]

I use CallCentric (https://www.callcentric.com/) for my in-home SIP. Currently they are offering free number porting. Cost of service is like $2 a month plus the cost (per minute) of any calls I make. Though I use my cell phone as my primary phone, it is nice having a home phone number I can give out. My bill for the last 2 months total was $0.32 plus the $2 a month for usage.

 

You may check with GV and see if they will port from something like CallCentric. You can move to them and then move out from there.

 

What I actually do is have a GV number as the number I give out (I've had it for several years) and then have GV forward all calls into my CallCentric number. I don't even know my CallCentric number.

 

Though it isn't as convenient as GV in some of the features, it does most everything GV does. If I gave out my CallCentric number then I could have it forward calls to my cell phone.

 

I use a Grandstream box as my SIP adapter plugged into the phone input outside the house. That makes all the jacks in the house ring when a phone call comes in.

 

Been using this exact setup for 2 years 11 months. It has worked so well that, until this question came up, I realized that I haven't thought about my system for 2 years and 10 months.

callcentric.com - Callcentric - VoIP Internet phone service

[G+_David Keeler]

David Peach I am glad I can take you down memory lane :) I had not thought of turning my home number back into just that.. a HOME number. Another function is to act as a 'honey pot' for telemarketers etc as I would put this number down on forms, applications, etc and simply forward the voicemails to email for those that actually bother to leave a message

[G+_David Peach]

David Keeler CallCentric has telemarketer filters you can turn on and report back to. I don't really use them because I don't give out that number. I give out my GV number. And what I do on the CallCentric number is set it so that it dumps any phone calls directly to it. The only number that gets through is my GV number.

[G+_Scott Wilkinson]

Late to the thread, but Google Voice only ports numbers from cell carriers. So just port the number to the cheapest prepaid account you can get at Walmart, or what we did was reactivate an old phone on our Ting account, which only cost $6, then port to Google.

 

We have had 2 Google voice accounts with an Obihai 202 for many years now, and love it. I setup a client with a couple PhonePower accounts a couple years ago, for some more advanced options, and they have proven decent as well.