Telephone question

[Mike Henderson]

I'm moving and can't transfer my phone number to my new location so I'm looking for another way to achieve the same thing. I looked at MagicJack and if you set up call forwarding, it will forward calls made to your number (my old number) to my new number. So if I buy MagicJack and use my old number, it looks like I can get it to just route those calls to my new number.

Anyone have any experience doing this? If so, is it reliable and is the voice quality okay?

Or do you know of any other low cost service that will do the same thing (let me keep my old number but route calls to my new number)?

Mike

[Peter Stahl]

How are you going to keep your old number active? Don't you need a physical location for the old number in same area?

[Scott T Smith]

Mike, most phone companies have a service for "permanent call forwarding". My wife's business has been using it with ATT (formerly Bellsouth) for several years. I don't know if the residential services offer this, but the business side may.

Another option would be to port your existing number to an IP based phone service (such as Vonage).

[Mike Henderson]

How are you going to keep your old number active? Don't you need a physical location for the old number in same area?
If I sign up with a service such as MagicJack, the phone will be registered to my new residence and I could use it normally there - my new residence is in the same area as my old residence but is served by a different central office so the phone company can't move my existing number. But if there was a problem, I could transfer my number to MagicJack before I move and then just take the USB unit to my new house - the Internet only knows IP addresses and not physical locations. With something like MagicJack, you can take the USB unit with you when you travel and use your phone as if you were at home. The problem is 911 but I'll make 911 calls from my home, AT&T phone, and not from MagicJack.

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

Mike, most phone companies have a service for "permanent call forwarding". My wife's business has been using it with ATT (formerly Bellsouth) for several years. I don't know if the residential services offer this, but the business side may.

Another option would be to port your existing number to an IP based phone service (such as Vonage).

Thanks for the suggestion about "permanent call forwarding". I'll check into it.

I thought of Vonage but it's more expensive than MagicJack and I'll have a regular AT&T phone in my house. I just want to keep my old number for a couple of years until I'm sure everyone important to me has the new number.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

Does MagicJack participate in number portability? I know that Vonage does, but know little about MJ. You'll also want to be clear about what happens to your number if they go bust.

Another alternative is to move your soon-to-be-former home phone number to a wireless phone.

[Mike Henderson]

Does MagicJack participate in number portability? I know that Vonage does, but know little about MJ. You'll also want to be clear about what happens to your number if they go bust.

Another alternative is to move your soon-to-be-former home phone number to a wireless phone.
Good suggestion about moving it to a cellular phone. I already have a cellular number so I'd either have to get two cellular phones or then I'd be looking for a way to do this with my existing cellular number (if I only kept one cellular). And paying for a second cellular phone would be pretty expensive compared to MagicJack - which is about $40/yr.

I'm not sure what you mean by number portability but I've already checked and I can transfer my number to either Vonage or MagicJack. And if MagicJack (or Vonage) goes bust, I won't care a whole lot.

What I was asking in the OP was if anyone knew of any other ways of having a phone number but having all calls forwarded to an existing land line (other than MagicJack), or if anyone had already done the MagicJack thing and what their experience was. If anyone has any ideas (cheap ideas, that is:)), I'd appreciate hearing them. If I go ahead with MagicJack, I'll let the forum know how it works.

Mike

[Eric Franklin]

Google Voice might do what you want.

[Mike McCann]

the phone company will forward to your new number I have done this a few times, I believe it is for 6 months only however.

[Harry Hagan]

Mike,
Portability is the ability to retain your current phone number with your new service provider. I looked into magicJack a few years back when they were promising that number portability was coming within the next six months.

They’re STILL telling potential customers that portability is coming!

“WE ARE BETA TESTING NOW!
Click here (http://public.magicjack.com/public/public/action/index.html?act=PORTINTEST) to be added to our list and we will notify you as soon as porting becomes available.
There will be a nominal fee for number porting.”
You can’t port your current phone number to magicJack.

I've been on their "We'll notify you when it's available list" for years.

[Brian Kent]

Hey Mike, are you still going o be in So Cal?

[Mike Henderson]

Hey Mike, are you still going o be in So Cal?
Yep, in Villa Park. And I'll have a larger shop!

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

Google Voice might do what you want.
Good suggestion - I'll check it out.

I'll also check out the phone company forwarding - but I have my phone with Cox right now.

Mike

[Brian Kent]

Hey, that's great. You can practically wheel your tools down the street. You do amazing work in a micro-space. I'll bet it's going to be fun to breathe at the same time.

[Jim Becker]

It does appear that you cannot currently port your number to MagicJack based on their web site FAQ. Further, the service is dependent on your computer being on and running. One other thing...you have to "register" the number in order for 911 to work. That's not atypical for VoIP services, but many folks forget to deal with it.

GoogleVoice will not do what you want because you cannot transfer a number to the system.

Your local phone service provider will likely be very happy to set up a permanent call forward of the old number to your new residence, but the cost will likely not be pretty.

On the wireless phone suggestion, if you don't want to convert your existing phone to the old home number, turning your cell service into a "family plan" would generally allow you to add another line for about $10 a month (often with a free or nearly free phone). More than MagicJack, but less than Vonage. You could then set forwarding on that phone to ring your regular wireless number so you don't have to carry around two phones. Etc.

[Jerome Stanek]

Check with vonage

[Mike Henderson]

The AT&T rep came up with the best answer - transfer my old home phone number to my cell phone. I never thought of that.

Mike

[John Fabre]

The AT&T rep came up with the best answer - transfer my old home phone number to my cell phone. I never thought of that.

Mike


Another alternative is to move your soon-to-be-former home phone number to a wireless phone.
Is cell phones and wireless phones the same thing?

[Lee Schierer]

If you talk with Verizon, you can get your land line transeferred to a wireless. I think the fee is $20 per month unless you already have a Verizon wireless account then it is $9.99. They give you a black box with an antenna that you plug your phones into to make them wireless. If you go to Florida or other place in the winter you unplug your black box and take it with you. When you get where you are going you plug it back in and retain the same number just like a cell phone. You get unlimited long distance, but it uses your plan minutes. You get to keep your land line number. Our best friend and our church recently switched to these.

[Mike Henderson]

Is cell phones and wireless phones the same thing?

Could be. Depends on what people mean by the term "wireless phone". A cell phone is a battery operated phone that communicates via radio frequency with an antenna tower in the area where you are. Each tower only serves a limited area and when you move (as in a car) while using the phone you may cross from the area served by one tower to the area served by another tower. Logic in the system will detect that you are moving out of one tower area (or "cell" as it's called) and switch your call to another tower (or cell). Because of the limited area served by each tower, and the fact that each area is called a "cell", the phones are called cell phones.

A cordless phone is one that connects from a handset to a base set via radio frequency, but the range is severely limited, maybe to 100 feet, and is intended to be used as a non corded phone in a home. This may be what they mean, since the phone is "wireless" - not connected via a wire to the phone system.

Another "wireless phone" could be a satellite phone but those are fairly rare and only used where cell phones are not available or unreliable.

Context could provide clarity. For example, if there's a booth for cell phone providers and they use the term "wireless" you know they're talking about cell phones.

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

Does MagicJack participate in number portability? I know that Vonage does, but know little about MJ. You'll also want to be clear about what happens to your number if they go bust.

Another alternative is to move your soon-to-be-former home phone number to a wireless phone.

Oops, I see that Jim suggested I move my number to my cell phone. Sorry, Jim. It didn't connect with me until I heard it from the AT&T rep.

Mike

[John Fabre]

Could be. Depends on what people mean by the term "wireless phone". A cell phone is a battery operated phone that communicates via radio frequency with an antenna tower in the area where you are. Each tower only serves a limited area and when you move (as in a car) while using the phone you may cross from the area served by one tower to the area served by another tower. Logic in the system will detect that you are moving out of one tower area (or "cell" as it's called) and switch your call to another tower (or cell). Because of the limited area served by each tower, and the fact that each area is called a "cell", the phones are called cell phones.

A cordless phone is one that connects from a handset to a base set via radio frequency, but the range is severely limited, maybe to 100 feet, and is intended to be used as a non corded phone in a home. This may be what they mean, since the phone is "wireless" - not connected via a wire to the phone system.

Another "wireless phone" could be a satellite phone but those are fairly rare and only used where cell phones are not available or unreliable.

Mike

Maybe I was thinking car phones being the same as wireless phones. That's great AT&T is working it out, something to remember. Thanks.