I need a place ... a place to put my number.

December 13, 2011 7:57 AM

Looking for a cheap (or free) alternative to Google Voice that will let me port in a 928-225-xxxx number and forward it to another number.

Family member is job hunting, has already sent out resumes with current phone number, but wants to cancel service on that line, and come onto my plan with a local number. (So porting the number to my plan is not a viable option.) Porting the number to Google Voice was my first, and obvious solution, but alas, GV doesn't port numbers from that area code/prefix.
Any current suggestions for a reputable GV-like service that will allow us to port the number and forward it without paying a small fortune? (Porting to a prepaid cell is another option, but kind of a pain.) I've seen some older threads on this topic, but a lot of them seem out of date and not exactly what we're looking for.

posted by jferg to computers & internet (5 answers total)

Vonage. ~$15US/mo
posted by unixrat at 8:41 AM on December 13, 2011

You can do this with voip.ms for $1/month plus $0.01/minute, plus a one-time $25 for porting the number. I used it to keep a phone number after canceling the associated cell phone plan.
posted by sonofdust at 8:59 AM on December 13, 2011

Just a word of caution on Vonage...great service, but a real pain to cancel.
posted by samsara at 8:09 AM on December 14, 2011

I'd also like to suggest Twilio - they allow you to port numbers in, but I'm not sure about that specific area code.

Twilio charges $1/month/phone number, $.01/minute for incoming calls, $.02/minute for outgoing calls and $.0025/minute for calls using a web or mobile app and porting a number is free.
posted by syzygy at 7:45 AM on December 15, 2011

Couple of follow-ups on Twilio:

1. They offer $30 of credit when you sign up
2. There is no contract - you can cancel the service at any time
3. They allow you to port your numbers away from Twilio if you want to move
4. You can send SMS from the number at $.01 per message
5. They'll port Google Voice numbers into their system

I've had a couple of Twilio numbers for a while, and we've set up a few customers with them. I've been pleased with the quality of the service, so far. If you want to get fancy, and you have a web server, you can install OpenVBX and do some pretty cool stuff with it.
posted by syzygy at 7:51 AM on December 15, 2011