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Searched and tried out a number of VOIP companies. Not looking for a huge bucket of minutes or anything overly cheap, but many products would work intermittently or not at all with my hardware/ firewall configuration (RT31P2 and WRTSL54; whether NAT or DMZ). No matter the configuration, something always seemed to be a problem. Tried localphone and found that it works across NAT or in the DMZ, doesn't matter. And I can buy as much or as little as I want. Currently using with GV and iNUM, and working fine. This is a second line to my POTS, used for roll-over and home office, but the reliability has been spot on. Update: January 2011: Continue to be satisfied with localphone, though they have now been relegated to second provider in our household. Have moved over to a more "full-service" provider, with IVR, failover choices, and porting. I did contact localphone about porting, and they do have some limited ability to do so, but could not do my Manhattan number. I still love the effortless aspects of localphone, working across firewalls, etc. and wish the other VOIP co's were as effortless, but my needs are becoming more sophisticated, and localphone's offerings are not. They are still super for quality and price, and if you just need an incoming line or a cheap outgoing line from your ATA, give them a go. My kids use this line all the time; it's hooked to their GV incoming number (via G5), and works like a charm. Wish we could set the outgoing CID to the GV rather than either blocked or the iNUM, but that is apparently not an option with localphone. Update March 2013 Localphone has now become our third-tier provider. I've tried two or three times to have them port a number from a major city in order to give them more business, and each time been turned away, because the number is not portable (seriously?). Subsequently ported to other providers. So we use them for cheap outgoing calls, where we transmit only the Localphone account number, so CID is sent, but it is meaningless. I tried an incoming number from them for a few months, but setting up another new number was a hassle, so we just ported elsewhere. Bottom line: still a solid provider, just not all that flexible. Update: March 2016 Using localphone's 0.5 cent per minute for much of our outgoing services. Very pleased with the quality for price and the fact that I can set the outgoing CID (as a commenter noted below). Update: July 2017 LP is still one of our primary outgoing services. Recently traveled abroad and tried to expand my use of LP services, by making use of the LP app, but the iPhone version won't allow for setting up a data-only SIM (requires a phone number to call or text in to), so I could not active the phone (and CS refused to activate it manually). The Android app is based on Linphone, which means it conflicted with another app installed on the phone and couldn't be used either. International texting (via the web portal) was also a failure, my messages were never received by the folks we were traveling to see. So LP had the chance to become more important to me and failed, so they will stay as a cheap outgoing call service and nothing more. This does not necessarily change my review rating, save perhaps technical support, which really should have a way to activate data-only services, and the failure of internal SMS. member for 21.6 years, 3498 visits, last login: a few hours ago updated 6.6 years ago
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