Forwarding calls to the US
August 31, 2011 11:17 AM
What's the cheapest/easiest way to forward telephone calls from a Canadian number to a US number?
I recently moved to the US from Canada. I still have my Canadian number (Rogers), in addition to a new US number (AT&T). I want my family and friends to continue to be able to reach me at my Canadian number, so that they don't have to pay long distance fees or worry about international text message costs, but I'm using my American number when I'm here - so I'd like to setup forwarding, where I can pay for the long distance costs. Are there any services that do something like this? I found various services like RingCentral that seem to be focused on small-business toll-free numbers, but they're not quite what I want. I'm afraid what I want isn't common enough to be offered by anyone :(
I recently moved to the US from Canada. I still have my Canadian number (Rogers), in addition to a new US number (AT&T). I want my family and friends to continue to be able to reach me at my Canadian number, so that they don't have to pay long distance fees or worry about international text message costs, but I'm using my American number when I'm here - so I'd like to setup forwarding, where I can pay for the long distance costs. Are there any services that do something like this? I found various services like RingCentral that seem to be focused on small-business toll-free numbers, but they're not quite what I want. I'm afraid what I want isn't common enough to be offered by anyone :(
My parents have a Vonage phone in the U.S., with a Canadian phone number in close proximity to most of their friends, that automatically forwards -- I would assume that, since numbers are transferrable, you could transfer your Canadian number to Vonage, as long as it's in a supported area.
posted by liquado at 11:48 AM on August 31, 2011
posted by liquado at 11:48 AM on August 31, 2011
If you call my Skype number (the int'l rates are very reasonable) and we don't pick up on Skype, it rings the British cell phone my wife carries.
(protip: if you call my Google Voice number (US), it relays via Skype and does the same).
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 12:16 PM on August 31, 2011
(protip: if you call my Google Voice number (US), it relays via Skype and does the same).
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 12:16 PM on August 31, 2011
I do the reverse of this (US to Canada) with www.voip.ms. I pay $1.50 a month and about 1 cent per minute, and it forwards my calls from a US number to my new number in Canada. I was even able to transfer my old US cell number to voip.ms to be the forwarding number.
posted by sonofdust at 2:22 PM on August 31, 2011
posted by sonofdust at 2:22 PM on August 31, 2011
Just checked and it can forward FROM Canadian numbers too.
posted by sonofdust at 2:23 PM on August 31, 2011
posted by sonofdust at 2:23 PM on August 31, 2011
Callcentric (www.callcentric.com) allows this. You could sign up, transfer your Canadian cell number to it, and have it forward calls.
I use them as my primary VoIP line, and have for years; they're excellent. I've had both US and Canadian DIDs pointed at it with no problem whatsoever.
posted by criacow at 3:02 PM on August 31, 2011
I use them as my primary VoIP line, and have for years; they're excellent. I've had both US and Canadian DIDs pointed at it with no problem whatsoever.
posted by criacow at 3:02 PM on August 31, 2011
Thanks, I ended up checking out Callcentric, and it seems to work pretty well, after a few minor setup issues (offers DID numbers in my hometown, even!). I think the key was that I wanted to search for "voip providers" rather than "phone forwarding" - I didn't really realize that "VoIP" just generally implies bunch of features like forwarding (because it's easy to do).
posted by mrgavins at 9:31 AM on September 6, 2011
posted by mrgavins at 9:31 AM on September 6, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Whether this is available in Canada, I do not know, but it is in other countries.
posted by oxit at 11:46 AM on August 31, 2011