Re: [PLUG] VOIP choices

[Isaac Bennetch via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>]

Hi,

I’ve ported my home number to Google Voice a very long time ago so I’ll weigh in on that option.

I have it set to forward to my cell phone and that process is pretty flawless. Porting the number was easy. I can text from the app and get email of transcribed voicemail messages. 

The downside is that a few two factor authentication providers don’t recognize it as a valid number or accept it but silently fail. Calls don’t go to my junk list or anything like that, it just doesn’t work. It’s frustrating to hit “call me with a code” and nothing happens, but using another number like a cell phone is a work around that I tolerate.

The main reason I didn’t go with voip.ms or some other provider was because it wasn’t really worth the cost or hassle for me; I wanted something I could port my number to and never tinker with again. At the time, I didn’t have a VPS or stable home internet so didn’t want to self-host.

It costs me nothing and is zero ongoing hassle, it just quietly forwards my calls to my cell phone. If that meets your needs, it’s a pretty good solution. 

Isaac

On Mon, Oct 6, 2025 at 9:05 PM R Geoffrey Avery via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org> wrote:

It seems my parents will be moving, and just transferring their land line number of almost 40 years is not an option.  As that number is their "username" with many businesses by this point, I would rather it not get lost.

What are the better choices to move the number without much fuss?

I would prefer that it ring like a land line at the house, but they both have android phones now so an app solution can work too.

$8 - $15 / month and maybe $100 up front on hardware seems reasonable

I want to just set it and forget it and not need to provide support

The DuckDuckGo has not been as helpful as I had hoped.

In no particular order I have looked at

Google Voice

Voiply

Line2

Ooma

Vonage

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