RevMortis
I Hear Dead Silicon
Premium
join:2005-05-10
Saint Paul, MN
 ·Qwest.net
| [General] Cheap DID recommendations
Been using P8 for over a year now, and I'm just about ready to actually port away from POTS.
However, I've become addicted to having a second "line" in the house for when I telecommute that will not ring every phone in the house. I'm frequently on-call and do work from home late into the night, early in the morning, and odd times over the weekend work. Often while other people in the house are sleeping.
When I port my current phone line, I want to get a second DID that will not ring every phone in the house. I also want the recurring fees for that DID to be as cheap as I can get it. I don't even really need it to be OUTBOUND capable.
Any Suggestions for how to accomplish this? A soft-phone solution is acceptable. |
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laserjobs
Premium
join:2004-05-02
Las Vegas, NV
 ·Cox HSI
 ·magicjack.com
 ·1and1
·Cox HSI
1 edit | Grand Central + Gizmo Project = FREE
Grand Central will give you a free phone number and you can forward it to Gizmo Project. Gizmo Project comes with a softphone.
PM me if you need more details.
You could also try OneSuite.com it worked well for me
They give you a phone number for $2.95/month
Unlimited incoming
Downloadable Softphone
Outgoing is $0.025/min to the US
No hidden charges
--
Vote for Ron Paul in the Republican Primaries |
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montano
join:2001-04-29
Central Cali | reply to RevMortis
Check Callcentric and see if they have a "Dirt Cheap DID" in your area code. It's $2.95/month for unlimited incoming. |
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caseydoug
join:2001-08-14
Seattle, WA
| reply to RevMortis
For inbound, you can get a free Washington state DID from IPKall, link it to a free FWD account, and then use either a free softphone or find a cheap adapter. For outbound, VoipCheap or another Betamax company will let you call anywhere in the U.S. and about 35 other countries free for 90 days/300 minutes per week, and 1.4 cents/minute thereafter until you use up your $10 credit; then you add another $10 and start the free 90 days again. If you want both inbound and outbound to use the same phone, get a free PBXes account and link them so that FWD is the inbound trunk and VoipCheap is the outbound trunk. PBXes gives you a lot of control and some features too. |
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DaveTap
join:2007-04-25
Orlando, FL
| reply to RevMortis
another free DID in Desmoines Iowa is SipNumber.com its easy to set up and works well with GrandCentral also.
GizmoProject mentioned earlier also provides an optional free CallWave DID (near Reno) and had DIDs as little as $24/year (33% off sale in October)
VoipCheap only gives 90 days free... VoipStunt, InternetCalls, and VoipBuster give 120 days for the same $10. If your are interested in using cellphone for calling overseas VoipBuster also has access numbers. |
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caseydoug
join:2001-08-14
Seattle, WA
| said by DaveTap  :another free DID in Desmoines Iowa is SipNumber.com its easy to set up and works well with GrandCentral also. GizmoProject mentioned earlier also provides an optional free CallWave DID (near Reno) and had DIDs as little as $24/year (33% off sale in October) VoipCheap only gives 90 days free... VoipStunt, InternetCalls, and VoipBuster give 120 days for the same $10. If your are interested in using cellphone for calling overseas VoipBuster also has access numbers. I realize we're talking "how much can you get for nothing" here, but the advantage I found with VoipCheap is that the rates, when you do pay them, are currently a bit better, at least to the places I call. For example, VoipCheap to the UK is free to landlines and 11.6 cents to mobile phones. France mobile is also 11.6 cents. Voipbuster charges 1.4 cents to UK landlines and 26.1 cents to UK mobile (20.3 cents to France mobile). The rate to UK mobile phones is important to me because my global SIM card has a UK mobile number.
VoipCheap does not have a US access number (it does have a Canadian access number), but I don't need it. I use two DIDs from IPKall: one is "inbound," i.e., directed via FWD, PBXes and VoipCheap to any number I choose, so that friends can reach me by calling a US number, even if I am out of the country on a cell phone; the other is "outbound," directed via PBXes Callthru feature to a dial tone from VoipCheap, which allows me to get VoipCheap's rates for the cost of a call to a US number. Since each of those DIDs uses its own FWD account, I can also access them as a local call from almost anywhere in the world using codes from SIP Broker. This enables me to use lower cost country-specific SIM cards to make international mobile phone calls for the cost of a local call.
Since I live in Washington, the IPKall numbers are local to me as well. All of this was a little complicated to set up, but I end up getting service that works for inbound and outbound, domestic and international, landline and cellular, all for very little money. The $10 lasts a long time.
Of course, if you count the time spent putting all this together, it's probably only a couple hundred dollars per minute. If most of us were honest with ourselves, however, we would have to admit: it's not the money, but the sport.  |
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DaveTap
join:2007-04-25
Orlando, FL
| said by caseydoug :I realize we're talking "how much can you get for nothing" here... Of course, if you count the time spent putting all this together, it's probably only a couple hundred dollars per minute. If most of us were honest with ourselves, however, we would have to admit: it's not the money, but the sport. Agreed... but it is fun!! |
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Cheapguy
| reply to RevMortis
Just like laserjobs...Onesuite SuiteAdvantage works well for me.
Only $2.95 monthly for DID (you can pick thru a list of area codes available or you can choose by state) with unlimited incoming calls. Outbound is pay as you go and you can use a softphone or an ATA device. |
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MisterBig
@arvig.net | reply to RevMortis
I heard you can get a Magicjack for as low as $19.95 or was it $29.95? I would either get that or a Onesuite account. Both very cheap to maintain, Onesuite has even low outgoing rates (long distance and international) |
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zxxxt
join:2007-09-07 | reply to RevMortis
Onesuite has been my long distance solution for awhile now and I am also using its voip service. Great for those who doesn't want to pay a specific number of minutes, its pay as you go with unlimited incoming for $2.95 monthly. |
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av8r
I'd Rather Be Flying
Premium
join:2002-06-14
Boca Raton, FL
clubs: | reply to RevMortis
Les.net offers DID's for $0.99 / month, with reasonable per minute charges. |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| reply to DaveTap
said by DaveTap :another free DID in Desmoines Iowa is SipNumber.com its easy to set up and works well with GrandCentral also. Have you tried the above combination as well as the combination of GC + GizmoProject and notice any differences? Currently, I am using the GC + GizmoProject approach and found out such a combination gives much less latency when compared to GC + IPKall + FWD. |
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caseydoug
join:2001-08-14
Seattle, WA
| said by mazilo :said by DaveTap :another free DID in Desmoines Iowa is SipNumber.com its easy to set up and works well with GrandCentral also. Have you tried the above combination as well as the combination of GC + GizmoProject and notice any differences? Currently, I am using the GC + GizmoProject approach and found out such a combination gives much less latency when compared to GC + IPKall + FWD. I also found a lot of latency with GC + IPKall + FWD. I was driven crazy by the GC "press 1" requirement. The call sometimes dropped by the time I could answer it. However, I've experienced good quality and very low latency with the combination IPKall + FWD + PBXes + VoipCheap.
Regarding SipNumber, I've had no problems when forwarding to another number, but it has not worked well when I tried to register it to PBXes as an incoming trunk. I can't recall whether I had a problem registering with SipNumber to ring on my ATA. I noticed just now when I tried to log into my SipNumber account, it forced me to a RingToNumber control panel. That control panel allows forwarding only to a PSTN number, not a SIP number. Fortunately, I was able to log in to Freedigits, which still allows forwarding to a SIP number. I currently have my SipNumber account forwarded to PBXes and use it to control remote call forwarding (i.e., call following) through PBXes. |
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erika
join:2007-10-17
Franklin Square, NY
| reply to zxxxt
said by zxxxt :Onesuite has been my long distance solution for awhile now and I am also using its voip service. Great for those who doesn't want to pay a specific number of minutes, its pay as you go with unlimited incoming for $2.95 monthly. +1
You took the words out of my mouth
Happy camper with Onesuite here. |
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