News:

On Tuesday September 6th the forum will be down for maintenance from 9:30 PM to 11:59 PM PDT

Main Menu

Exploring Options Available to Canadians

Started by Lefty, September 14, 2018, 05:47:44 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Lefty

Hi all, just got a new Obi200 and now researching what the options are for a Canadian.

Assuming:
- I currently have a Bell number to port in
- I want to be able to make and receive calls using that number ported in
- I want to take advantage of additional features/functionality provided by VOIP that Bell and others can't offer


Here is what I think I know, having investigated Freephoneline and voip.ms, and having configured GoogleVoice already:

- GV lets me call out for free to north american numbers
- GV cannot be used to port my canadian number or to get a US number because I live in Canada and don't have a US-  address / phone for confirmation
- FPL would cost $90 + $25 for an unlock key and to port my number - then free after that for numbers in their cities list
- voip.ms would be ~$5-10/month plus $0.005/min for outgoing calls - incoming calls are free
- it appears that voip.ms might have more features in their platform than FPL does
- FPL charges $35 per E911 call, but it appears no cost otherwise unless you need to use it
- voip.ms charges $1.50/mo for E911
- voip.ms provides support, FPL support is via user forums

Questions:
- if I go with FPL, and I dial a non-free number, do they let you know with a recording or something? could I then just use a ** code on the Obi to switch to calling out with GV to make the call for free?
- is there as much a difference as there seems to be on available features between FPL and voip.ms?
- is there a way to define the CallerID that people see when I call them with GV? I think now it says "Private Caller"
- if I go with voip.ms, can I use it for free incoming calls on my ported number and use GV for free outgoing calls? (without having to ** code numbers before dialing?)
- while there are different services available that provide a soft phone to make/receive calls from, the only way to receive calls to a ported number is to pay some voip provider service and port the number to them, correct?

Thanks in advance, just want to make sure I understand the landscape before I choose options and pay for services.



SteveInWA

Hi, neighbor!

Nobody but you can do the math to analyze your planned/potential calling patterns, to determine whether or not FPL or voip.ms would be a lower-cost solution.  It sounds to me, based on the pricing you posted, that FPL is very expensive initially, but would pay for itself if, and only if, you use it for years and only call the numbers it supports.

Here's the great thing about using Internet Telephone Service Providers (ITSPs):  if you aren't happy with the one you're using, you can always switch to another one.  Personally, if I lived in Canada, I'd go with voip.ms, and use their E911 service.  Many of the regulars here use voip.ms and are very satisfied with it.  They've been around for a very long time, and are not a "fly by night" business.

Your observations about Google Voice are correct.  As a Canadian, you are not eligible for an inbound Google Voice telephone number, but you can make outbound calls the same way that US Google Voice users do, over Google's VoIP service, but no caller ID will display to the called party; you cannot insert a caller ID number into the calls.

So, if the cost savings of using GV for outbound calling outweighs the issue of your callers not knowing it's you calling, then you could easily configure your OBiTALK device, through the OBiTYALK portal, to use GV for outbound calls and use voip.ms for inbound calls.  This is a standard feature of the portal configuration website.  For example, the intuitive way to do this would be to provision SP1 with Google Voice, and provision SP2 with voip.ms (or FPL).  By default, when you place an outbound call, it will go out via SP1. 

Somebody who has some experience with FPL will have to answer your "comparison shopping" questions.

A_Friend

#2
Quote from: Lefty on September 14, 2018, 05:47:44 PM
Hi all, just got a new Obi200 and now researching what the options are for a Canadian.

Assuming:
- I currently have a Bell number to port in
- I want to be able to make and receive calls using that number ported in
- I want to take advantage of additional features/functionality provided by VOIP that Bell and others can't offer


Here is what I think I know, having investigated Freephoneline and voip.ms, and having configured GoogleVoice already:

As a long-time user of voip.ms, I think they're an excellent deal.  Service and tech support is first-rate.  Porting is inexpensive for Canadians (free for U.S. numbers).  The IVR, Ring Groups, Time Conditions, subaccounts (extensions), the free iNum DID, and the rest of their features are a great toolbox.  Even if you don't need any of them, you might find yourself playing with them just to see what you can use them for.  If you don't have a lot of incoming minutes, you can carry your DID for $.99/month and pay for minutes.

I also use Callcentric.com, which I've used for years.  A little more expensive, but they'll toss you an additional free (NY State based) DID if you've got a paid account.  They're also very good, with decent tech support, a decent toolkit.  Their "Call Treatments" feature is a little awkward, but very powerful.

And, you might want to look at Circlenet.biz.  $1.50 a month includes your DID and 911.  The per-minute rates are unbelievably low, porting is $10.  I'm using them now for all my international calls.  And for the simultaneous calling to my cell phone.  No features to speak of, but if you don't need them...

dboling

#3
Quote from: Lefty on September 14, 2018, 05:47:44 PM

- GV cannot be used to port my canadian number or to get a US number because I live in Canada and don't have a US-  address / phone for confirmation



I used my free New York phone number from callcentric to verify my 3rd GV account.

I activated voicemail to answer in 5 seconds on callcentric acct and had GV verifiy via a voice call. I then just played the voicemail for the verification code.

After GV verified the phone number, I added my OBI202 and OBI212 to GV acct, I then removed forwarding to the callcentric phone number.

This might enable you to get a GV number that supports incoming and outgoing calls in Canada, providing GV only determines your location by the phone number you verified with and not by IP of your OBI device.

Porting is another issue.


-Diane

SteveInWA

You cannot use a Callcentric number as eligibility to claim a Google Voice number.  It might have been possible years ago, but that hole was closed.

Lefty

Thanks for the info everyone.

For those using voip.ms, I just noticed that they have tiered pricing with Value Routing and Premium Routing.  Some features are not guaranteed if using Value Routing.  Are people mostly using Value Routing and is it fine?  Or do you find you need to use Premium Routing?

Thanks.


zapattack

The price differential between value and premium for local calls is not
significant unless you have a huge call volume.
Also you can easily switch by going to Account settings.
If cost is more important than features, many other providers have better rates,
such as CircleNet.