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Replacing Landline looking for consumer solution

2023-11-06 by: Tia Lobo
From: Tia Lobo 
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This is not Linux related but I know several people on the listserv
are active in the VOIP world.

My 78-year old mother is wanting to get rid of her landline but not
lose the phone number she's had for 25+ years. I've used OOMA in the
past as well as Google Voice. She primarily uses her iPhone connected
via Bluetooth to her hearing aids to place calls. Some options seems
to be:

1. Just port the landline number to her cell service.
2. Use OOMA to provide a voicemail box in the cloud with the option of
adding a physical line in the future.
3. Use Google Voice to provide a voicemail box in the cloud and the
ability to forward the number to her cell on demand.

Any other thoughts?
-=--=---=----=----=---=--=-=--=---=----=---=--=-=-
Erica Wolf (she/her)



=============================================================== From: Andrew Armstrong ------------------------------------------------------ I ported my land line # many years ago to a cheap VOIP service, Callcentric. It has advanced call forwarding features where I forward the calls from people who still use that number (which if I had to guess would be none at this point) to my cell phone and the rest I send to voicemail which gets emailed to me. At one time I had a phone connected to a voip ATA adapter from Grandstream but now I just have the number and no actual device connected to it. I think I pay a little less that $4 a month for the service. I could probably drop it but I still use that number for filling out stuff where I don't want people to call my cell but may have to occasionally get calls from them that I need. This may be a bit more than your mom can handle but it's an option if you wanted to set this up for her. -- Andrew Armstrong

=============================================================== From: Rip Linton ------------------------------------------------------ I have been using Ooma since March. The basic service, once you buy the VO= IP adapter, is free. You do pay the taxes and 911 fees, if they apply. That= service runs me about $7.25 a month for those fees. You can port a number to Ooma for a one-time fee of about $40 or for free i= f you subscribe to premier service for about $119 a year. I do subscribe to= premier because it gives you a second dedicated number, which I use for a = fax machine.=C2=A0 You can also put an app on your mobile phone that allows you to send and re= ceive calls for your Ooma number on your mobile, similar to Google Voice se= rvice but you can still make and receive calls through the Ooma VOIP adapte= r as well. My landline service was going up to about $70 per month, for 1 line, so I s= tarted looking at alternatives. I needed to keep a means of sending and rec= eiving faxes for the foreseeable future and Ooma was the only VOIP provider= that I found where that could be done. The VOIP adapter is often on sale f= or about $100. I have saved more than $350 already. BTW: the faxes work gre= at through the Ooma system, even in high resolution color. Rip Linton On Monday, November 6, 2023 at 11:10:08 AM EST, Andrew Armstrong wrote: =20 =20 =20 I ported my land line # many years ago to a cheap VOIP service,=20 Callcentric. It has advanced=C2=A0call forwarding features where I forward= =20 the calls from people who still use that number (which if I had to guess=20 would be none at this point) to my cell phone and the rest I send to=20 voicemail which gets emailed to me. At one time I had a phone connected=20 to a voip ATA adapter from Grandstream but now I just have the number=20 and no actual device connected to it. I think I pay a little less that=20 $4 a month for the service. I could probably drop it but I still use=20 that number for filling out stuff where I don't want people to call my=20 cell but may have to occasionally get calls from them that I need. This may be a bit more than your mom can handle but it's an option if=20 you wanted to set this up for her. --=20 Andrew Armstrong -=3D- =20