Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with callforwarding

Park a number but forward calls?

glibhamdreck — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:04:54 -0800

What's the cheapest way for my dad drop a land-line (US) but keep the number permanently (Vonage?) solely to forward to cell phone of another number? Google Voice with number porting would be perfect, of course, but this has to happen soon.

New phoneline, no new phone

messylissa — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:06:08 -0800

Can I pay for just a phone number and forward the calls to my existing phone? I want to have a separate phone number for some business and have those calls come to my current phone (call forwarding, in other words). I don't, however, want to purchase any new equipment.

Bonus: Any way to return those calls with the new number displaying on the recipient's caller ID?

Need suggestions in finding call forwarding/virtual phone number service

DerekTheGeek — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:55:42 -0800

I am looking for a call forwarding service. I would like to have a single phone number that would not change. I would then like to forward any calls to this number to multiple phones simultaneously. No call screening needed, just have whichever phone picks up the call first take the call. I would also like the service I choose to handle voicemail so that I could deactivate voicemail on the “destination” phones and just have one voice-mail box. Perhaps explaining my situation might help …

I have a PDA phone that I like quite a bit (let’s call it phone A), however there is one problem. The cellular provider that Phone A is sold through does not have the best coverage in some of the areas that I travel to. There is another cellular provider that has better and more complete cellular coverage in my area; however it is impossible to use Phone A on this network. I would like to carry a second phone (let’s call it Phone B) that works on the network with more coverage for those times when I am going to be in areas where Phone A does not have coverage. By having a single number that rings through to both phones I can be pretty sure I won’t miss a call. I would only need to turn phone B on when Phone A is out of coverage (about 20% of the time).
There are many services out there. That’s why I was hoping to get some feedback from the “hive” and perhaps some suggestions. Here is some data about my usage that might help.

1. I receive anywhere between 500 to 700 minutes a month in calls.
2. I do not have the need to make or receive calls outside the United States.
3. I would like my phone number to also be able to receive faxes in addition to forwarding voice calls.
4. I need to have all “destination” phones ring at the same time. Not in sequence as the caller might hang up by the time it rings on the second “destination” phone.

Well I know that’s a lot of info to post, but I wanted to explain the context in which I would be using this solution. Here are some services I have looked at in case others are interested in the same thing.

1. RingCentral.com
2. MakeJustOneCall.com
3. My1Voice.com
4. GotVMail.com
5. InnoPort.com

I have also found that several of the VOIP providers (Vonage, ViaTalk, PhonePower, etc ...) offer these services as a package when someone installs a VOIP phone in their home; however, I am not sure if I could still use these services if I didn’t have a VOIP phone installed at my residence. I only use my cell phone and have no need for a VOIP phone at home. Thanks everyone!

Cheap call-forwarding or voice-mail-only or recorded-message-only services to point phone numbers to?

tunesmith — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:30:35 -0800

I'm thinking of switching phone services, as I often do. It's such a hassle to keep porting phone numbers (LNP), or, actually switching phone numbers. My particular situation is that I have two phone numbers of Vonage, and one on my iPhone - I want to keep the iPhone but dump Vonage while keeping the numbers - I want to try Skype, but they don't let you port phone numbers in. What's a cheap way to keep these phone numbers? More specifically, I'm curious about the following: a) A cheap/free service for forwarding a phone number. No phone line, no voice mail, no recorded message, it just forwards to another number. Especially if you can port an existing phone number to it. I tried signing up for Grand Central but they're not letting me in (rumor has it they will be supporting LNP in the future). (Does someone have an invite?)

b) A cheap/free service for porting it in and hooking it up to a voice mailbox. I've heard rumors of being able to do this with t-mobile somehow...??

c) A cheap/free service for porting it in and hooking it up to a recorded message (no voice mail) that will tell people what other phone number they should call.

d) Heck... possible to port multiple numbers to the same iPhone? Especially if I can tell which number was dialed.

Any creative ideas appreciated.

How can I get calls, yet protect my privacy for free?

abkadefgee — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:49:01 -0800

What free services are available that provide a real, anonymous US phone number for forwarding to a cell phone? I am in need of a service that can provide a free, disposable phone number for posting on flyers, so I can be reached on my cell.

Are there any free, anonymous phone forwarding services that provide a real US number besides numbr.com, jangl.com, freedigits.com, or call-safe.com? Numbr isn't giving new numbers, jangl requires the caller to sign up to get the number, freedigits.com seems to only forward to IP phones, and call-safe appears to give out non-US numbers. I already have a GrandCentral account, but need a separate, anonymous number and PrivatePhone discontinued service.

I'm having trouble finding any other alternatives that don't require me to sign up and pay for some extra service when all I want is a temporary number for two weeks.

I need to get a fake phone number that works right!

evariste — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:56:47 -0800

VOIPeurs, I need a SIP of your wisdom... So here's the situation. My cellphone is my primary phone. But I'm also paying for a Vonage line, so that a good friend can have a local phone number to call me on. The Vonage line has gone up from $25 to $33 a month with all kinds of new taxes over the past couple of years, and I don't even use it: I just use it to forward any calls to my cellphone.

I want to ditch the Vonage and get something else that lets me have a phone number in that area code, and just immediately passes on any phone calls to my cellphone. Call forwarding is the one and only feature that I need, so Vonage's offering is kind of overkill. But one nice thing about it was that the minutes were free.

I tried getting a Skype number + Skype Unlimited, but forwarding wouldn't work until I bought some Skype Credit. So Skype Unlimited...isn't really. And furthermore, once I did that and had someone call me and try it, I found out that the forwarded calls lose their caller ID information! I don't want to have it show up on my cellphone as Unknown. I want to know who's calling me. So Skype was a dud.

I've since done some Googling, and found something called GrandCentral. I'm not sure if it'll do what I want, but if someone here has it and you think it will work for what I want, I'll buy, borrow, beg, or steal an invite and sign up for it.

I also found some guy in a forum describing how he uses a combination of CallCentric, a "DID provider", and CallWithUs to get cellphone forwarding that keeps caller ID info intact. As I dimly understand it, a DID is nothing more than a phone number. Right? And what this guy is doing, seems to me analogous to buying your domain name from one company and your web hosting from another, rather than buying everything from one company and putting all your eggs in their basket. If my understanding of how it all works is mistaken, let me know.

Is this sort of setup way beyond an otherwise geeky, but in this particular regard fairly casual and disinterested user who just wants a simple thing like this to work? I don't want to own any exotic VOIP hardware, Asterisk or a PBX or God knows what. I don't even know what those words mean. I just want a phone number in a certain area code, that forwards calls to my cellphone and keeps the caller ID intact. Some kind of unlimited continental US minute plan would be nice, but if the minutes are cheap enough, it's not a dealbreaker.