# Important! Need to forward land line phone number.



## ageofknowledge (Feb 16, 2009)

I'm in a bind and have to move but have advertising out with my land line phone number. I need to park that number with some service that forwards all calls to that number to the new phone number I'll get when I move to my new place.

I'm going to get Magic Jack for my new place but they do not yet allow you to keep your old phone number. 

I checked with the phone company and they want to charge me a fortune to do it. There has to be a way and I bet the smart tech savy people here probably have affordable alternatives so I'm thanking you in advance for help. I'm open to all low cost and affordable ideas with the requirement that I have to maintain it so that people can call that old phone number and reach me at my new place.


----------



## bp936 (Oct 13, 2003)

I don't know where you live and if you can have call-forwarding there, but here in Canada I would keep my old phone number (for reasons you gave) and keep on paying the monthly rate with Call Forwarding to the new number,

Paying for 2 numbers is probably cheaper than any other way, unless you move to a long distance number.


----------



## ageofknowledge (Feb 16, 2009)

Yeah that option costs hundreds of dollars just for the phone company setup fee and host fee for the old number here in the USA where I live. Your option would run me over a thousand dollars. Not an option. Thanks but no thanks.

I need a low cost solution like I said and using the phone company to host the old number and forward calls simply isn't an option.


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

How about getting a different VoIP service that does allow number transfers? I use ViaTalk, and I know Vonage also will transfer your number.

You can connect your VoIP adapter to a broadband connection anywhere in the world and use that phone number.


----------



## Frank4d (Sep 10, 2006)

I don't know where you live or your phone company, but I paid ATT for years some monthly charge called "Number Portability Fee". When I cut them off and transferred my phone service to Time Warner it paid off and I simply kept my old land-line number. No extra charges.


----------



## ageofknowledge (Feb 16, 2009)

Those would certainly work! Thank you for them. I was thinking of going with Magic Jack though. My buddy purchased 1 year for $19.95 and then an additional 5 years for $59.95. He unplugged the RJ11 line from the phone company into his subscriber wiring and ran a phone card from that port to the magic jack device at his computer and all the phones in his house work off Magic Jack just like they used to with the phone company's land line. Pretty cool. But in order to do that I'd have to park the existing number somewhere and forward calls to Magic Jack number until Magic Jack allows you to port over existing numbers (something they are supposed to be working on but who knows when it will be available).

So are there places to park an existing number and just call forward for less than the cost of vonage and ViaTalk?


----------



## wacor (Feb 22, 2005)

I must be missing something. I have call forwarding on home and work lines. You just hit 72# and then dial the number you want the calls to be forwarded to???????


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

wacor said:


> I must be missing something. I have call forwarding on home and work lines. You just hit 72# and then dial the number you want the calls to be forwarded to???????


You're missing the fact that he wants to get rid of the phone service and move to another location!


----------



## ageofknowledge (Feb 16, 2009)

That's affirmative!


----------



## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Get an Ooma phone.

http://www.ooma.com/


----------



## ageofknowledge (Feb 16, 2009)

Interestingly I found ou that Voipo has a local forwarding service for $4.95 a month or $36 a year that gives you 300 minutes a month.


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Somehow, I don't know that limiting your business to 300 minutes/month is a particularly good idea.


----------



## ageofknowledge (Feb 16, 2009)

hewee said:


> Get an Ooma phone.
> 
> http://www.ooma.com/


Ooma looks interesting! Unfortunately, when you click on buy it looks like they are sold out of all units.


----------



## hewee (Oct 26, 2001)

Darn they sure are sold out.

Look here at Where to Buy
I got mine from Costco.
$229.99 after $100 OFF OOMA TELO VoIP Phone...

I got the Ooma Hub that came with the Ooma Scout

See the Compare for what each does and does not do.


----------



## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

I don't see where Ooma allows you to transfer your existing land line number to its service. That's what the OP needs to do.


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Yep, I'd stick with the traditional VoIP services which will allow you to use your number. ViaTalk is the one I use right now, and I moved the number I had on Vonage and before that the same number was moved from Verizon.


----------



## ageofknowledge (Feb 16, 2009)

Yes Ooma does allow most numbers where I live anyways (including mine) to port over. Here's the page: http://www3.ooma.com/phone_numbers.php

Looks like there's plenty of places to buy those Oomas as well! But other than allowing you to port your number over to Ooma how is Ooma superior to Magic Jack though? I mean one can spend $59.95 for 5 renewal years of Magic Jack after they pay the $19.95 for the first year.

FYI for those that already bought Magic Jack and still need to port over your old number there is Park My Phone (to Magic Jack): http://www.parkmyphone.com/forward-phone-calls-to-magicjack.php but it looks like $10.00 a month and I emailed them to see if that is a flat fee or just the beginning of an expensive call forwarding garage.


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Truthfully, Ooma sounds like any other VoIP service. I see nothing on their product page that I don't get with ViaTalk or Vonage. However, I got the ViaTalk VoIP adapter for $25 shipping, not $200!


----------



## ageofknowledge (Feb 16, 2009)

Oh and also here's some of the fine print for Oooma number porting:

Can I keep my current phone number?

"In most cases, yes, Ooma can transfer (port) your existing phone number to Ooma. Normally there is a one-time processing fee of $39.99, but if you sign-up for an annual subscription to Ooma Premier ($119.99/yr), we'll waive the porting fee. To confirm that your number can be transferred, please click here.

Please note that porting typically takes up to three weeks and you must keep your current phone service until the transfer is complete."

Yes but with ViaTalk you have to pay a $9.95 per month or $99 per year subscription rate as the lowest cost plan (residential plan) and with Ooma basic you do not. I'm still researching to see what Ooma includes/doesn't include as part of their basic service though. They have those nice wireless handsets now too.


----------



## ageofknowledge (Feb 16, 2009)

Via Talk it is. They have all the features including the call forwarding Ooma basic doesn't have for $99 a year.


----------



## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

So far, ViaTalk has worked well for me here, so I think it's a good choice.


----------

