Heads up, GV-->CC users: From Callcentric on 12/10/2018
Quote
Valued Customer,
When we launched our FREE Phone Number Program almost 7 years ago, we knew supporting and maintaining this service would bring its own unique set of challenges; however we felt the value this service could provide our customers outweighed the negative.
Over the past several years significant changes in the regulatory environment, as well as an extreme uptick in fraud/abuse have caused this paradigm to shift. Despite these facts, we've continued to provide/support this product entirely free of charge.
In short, these changes have transformed what initially started as a value-added service for the BYOD Community into an untenable burden on our company's resources. As a result, we've been forced to make the difficult decision to discontinue our popular Free Phone Number Service on February 28, 2019.
We entirely understand that there will be a lot of questions/concerns related to this change and we want to assure you that we will work openly and diligently to address them all. Below is an overview of the basics, as well as some links with additional information:
Can I maintain my number(s)?
YES. We've created a new low-cost plan for $1 per DID/month that you can automatically transition your numbers to on 2/27/19. To opt-in to this plan, please click here
What does the new plan include?
For $1 per DID/month our Dollar Unlimited plan includes 2 Inbound Channels and UNLIMITED inbound usage
Do I have to do anything if I don't want to transition my numbers to the Dollar Unlimited Phone Number plan?
No. Any FREE Numbers that have not been converted to our new Dollar Unlimited plan will automatically be cancelled on 2/28/2019
I still have questions, where can I learn more?
We've added a detailed FAQ Section to our site to address concerns regarding our decision and to let you know exactly what to expect when we reach the deadline date. If you would like to learn more, please check our FAQ's
While the telecom industry is ever-changing, our commitment to providing innovative/affordable service solutions remains the same as it was when we started our company 15+ years ago.
We understand that when it comes to phone service you have a choice and we THANK YOU for choosing Callcentric.
Sincerely,
The Callcentric Management Team
Hi, Steve. Years ago when one of my family's account signed up for GV, we had a CallCentric free number as the only forwarding number. This was before the requirement of a landline/cell phone number. Do you know if a "legacy" GV account is required to have at least a verifiable number to work or can the incoming GV number (used with the OBi) continue to work despite not having a verified forwarding number?
- Google Voice requires that the potential user submit a linked/forwarding phone number as an "eligibility ticket", in order to claim one of their free inbound phone numbers. VoIP ITSP numbers aren't eligible, and the submitted number must not have been used before to claim another number. This is fraud-limitation measure.
- After the Google Voice number has been successfully acquired, the user can delete their linked phone number(s).
- However, if a Google Voice phone number is not used for some unspecified time interval (formerly 9 months, now undisclosed duration based on new algorithms), it will be reclaimed (taken back by Google). "used" means: make outbound calls or send text messages. Inbound doesn't count, as an abandoned number will still receive robocalls.
Thanks, Steve. A follow up question on the outbound texting--can it be a text with Hangouts linked to the GV number or does one have to actually use GV for the outbound text to count?
I got the same email from Callcentric. There goes my E911 service as well as my infrequent outbound faxing, and my incoming fax receipt.
Now the choice - do I spend $50 on a new OBi and continue with Google Voice, or do I find a email fax service and move to 100% cell phones, with the GV numbers forwarding to my cell?
I'm leaning towards the latter.
Quote from: Rick on December 11, 2018, 05:31:40 AM
I got the same email from Callcentric. There goes my E911 service as well as my infrequent outbound faxing, and my incoming fax receipt.
I'm curious what the email from Callcentric has to do with your E911 service? The free CC DID (soon to be $1/month) has nothing to do with your CC E911 service.
A post from DSLreports:
QuoteI've been using it for an incoming fax line only. At $12/year, it's still cheaper than eFax and other fax services.
Quote from: Taoman on December 11, 2018, 06:17:18 AM
Quote from: Rick on December 11, 2018, 05:31:40 AM
I got the same email from Callcentric. There goes my E911 service as well as my infrequent outbound faxing, and my incoming fax receipt.
I'm curious what the email from Callcentric has to do with your E911 service? The free CC DID (soon to be $1/month) has nothing to do with your CC E911 service.
Technically correct. I could give up my free DIDs at Callcentric, which is how I use my OBi with Google Voice (GV forwards to free Callcentric number which rings OBi), yet keep my E911 service. I'd have a totally useless physical home phone (wireless handsets) except for the ability to dial 911, and pay $18 a year for that.
Unlikely to do that though. We are empty nesters, never have a stranger in the home, and any guest knows where we live. And we've setup our Verizon cells with 911 address identification.
Quote from: Rick on December 11, 2018, 06:23:15 AM
I'd have a totally useless physical home phone (wireless handsets) except for the ability to dial 911, and pay $18 a year for that.
Ah, I see..........hence your question whether you should buy a new OBi or not. Makes sense.
Quote from: Rick on December 11, 2018, 06:23:15 AM
Quote from: Taoman on December 11, 2018, 06:17:18 AM
Quote from: Rick on December 11, 2018, 05:31:40 AM
I got the same email from Callcentric. There goes my E911 service as well as my infrequent outbound faxing, and my incoming fax receipt.
I'm curious what the email from Callcentric has to do with your E911 service? The free CC DID (soon to be $1/month) has nothing to do with your CC E911 service.
Technically correct.
Looks like I was wrong about this. If you opt out of paying the $1/month for the DID your 911 service will also be removed.
Quote
I activated 911 Service using the Free Phone Number plan. What happens if i Opt Out?
If you Opt-Out, your 911 Service will be REMOVED as well. To keep 911 Service active, you will need a paid Inbound/Outbound plan on file.
https://www.callcentric.com/faq/46#528 (https://www.callcentric.com/faq/46#528)
Quote from: Taoman on December 11, 2018, 07:56:12 AM
Looks like I was wrong about this. If you opt out of paying the $1/month for the DID your 911 service will also be removed.
I activated 911 Service using the Free Phone Number plan. What happens if i Opt Out?
If you Opt-Out, your 911 Service will be REMOVED as well. To keep 911 Service active, you will need a paid Inbound/Outbound plan on file.
https://www.callcentric.com/faq/46#528 (https://www.callcentric.com/faq/46#528)
You can use Pay per Call Outbound to keep E911 at $1.50/mo with no additional costs, other than when you need to make a 911 call.
What is my option if i have NO need for a Phone Number from Callcentric but require 911 Service?https://www.callcentric.com/faq/46/530
Still seems like CallCentric at dollar unlimited+E911 for $2.50/mo is the lowest option out there if you want a no-cost inbound plan. I've been looking at options that have unlimited inbound and Ooma basic was best alternate I found so but. But, it is still going to cost slightly more due to the taxes/fees (at least $3/mo). You also don't get CNAM with their basic plan (why I went with CallCentric free DID), and the Ooma Teleo is about $27 more upfront purchase than an OBi200.
Since I already have the OBi200, I think I'll move to dollar unlimited and stick it out with CallCentric until the next price increase comes down the pipe (which it will eventually).
Quote from: LTN1 on December 10, 2018, 05:53:15 PM
Thanks, Steve. A follow up question on the outbound texting--can it be a text with Hangouts linked to the GV number or does one have to actually use GV for the outbound text to count?
It has to be a SMS/MMS text to another real telephone number. Hangouts is not SMS.
Quote from: Rick on December 11, 2018, 05:31:40 AM
I got the same email from Callcentric. There goes my E911 service as well as my infrequent outbound faxing, and my incoming fax receipt.
Now the choice - do I spend $50 on a new OBi and continue with Google Voice, or do I find a email fax service and move to 100% cell phones, with the GV numbers forwarding to my cell?
I'm leaning towards the latter.
Keeping the DID is only one dollar per month. Surely you can afford that.
I had two free Callcentric phone numbers. One which i used for inbound faxes and the other for calls. I will keep the fax line and dump the other. It is only $1.00/month. BFD.
Quote from: dudly on December 11, 2018, 11:12:27 AM
I had two free Callcentric phone numbers. One which i used for inbound faxes and the other for calls. I will keep the fax line and dump the other. It is only $1.00/month. BFD.
You might be able to use the line for both with some type of call treatment. A recording asking to press 1 to connect with you, otherwise it times out to the fax service.
Quote from: SteveInWA on December 11, 2018, 10:26:43 AM
Quote from: Rick on December 11, 2018, 05:31:40 AM
I got the same email from Callcentric. There goes my E911 service as well as my infrequent outbound faxing, and my incoming fax receipt.
Now the choice - do I spend $50 on a new OBi and continue with Google Voice, or do I find a email fax service and move to 100% cell phones, with the GV numbers forwarding to my cell?
I'm leaning towards the latter.
Keeping the DID is only one dollar per month. Surely you can afford that.
It's not a matter of affording, it's whether it's worth any cost. I can afford to have Comcast give me everything, but I pay $20 for 25MBPS internet, and watch OTA TV and stream some things.
I have two phone lines and a fax line. All 3 would be $36 a year.
Or I could buy an OBi 200 when they go on sale for $40. But given that it's 6+ years old, I don't trust that it won't be discontinued in the next year or so.
I've got 2 1/2 months to decide.
Quote from: SteveInWA on December 11, 2018, 10:25:32 AM
Quote from: LTN1 on December 10, 2018, 05:53:15 PM
Thanks, Steve. A follow up question on the outbound texting--can it be a text with Hangouts linked to the GV number or does one have to actually use GV for the outbound text to count?
It has to be a SMS/MMS text to another real telephone number. Hangouts is not SMS.
Maybe I'm just not understanding it but are you saying that there is a difference when I use the GV app to text out to a real number versus using my Hangouts (linked to my GV number) to text out to that same number? (I would be not texting to a Hangouts number--I would be texting from my Hangouts linked GV account to an outside number.)
Hangouts can send and receive SMS at the moment, but I don't have any idea when it might be shut off. Hangouts is being split off into just two functions: Hangouts Meet (like multi-party video conferencing) and Hangouts Chat (like any traditional instant messaging service). The other functions have migrated to Google Voice, which can send and receive SMS/MMS and (for beta users at the moment, soon to be generally available) make and receive GV calls over VoIP.
So, don't use Hangouts any more. Just use GV.
Looking forward to using just the GV app when it allows VoIP calls. Thanks, Steve.
Quote from: Rick on December 11, 2018, 12:52:16 PM
Quote from: SteveInWA on December 11, 2018, 10:26:43 AM
Quote from: Rick on December 11, 2018, 05:31:40 AM
I got the same email from Callcentric. There goes my E911 service as well as my infrequent outbound faxing, and my incoming fax receipt.
Now the choice - do I spend $50 on a new OBi and continue with Google Voice, or do I find a email fax service and move to 100% cell phones, with the GV numbers forwarding to my cell?
I'm leaning towards the latter.
Keeping the DID is only one dollar per month. Surely you can afford that.
It's not a matter of affording, it's whether it's worth any cost. I can afford to have Comcast give me everything, but I pay $20 for 25MBPS internet, and watch OTA TV and stream some things.
I have two phone lines and a fax line. All 3 would be $36 a year.
Or I could buy an OBi 200 when they go on sale for $40. But given that it's 6+ years old, I don't trust that it won't be discontinued in the next year or so.
I've got 2 1/2 months to decide.
I am in a similar situation but am realizing that I probably don't need my free DID service from CallCentric. I initially signed up with CallCentric because I wanted E911 and caller ID, and so I followed the helpful tutorial here: https://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=11386.0;wap2
However, I just did an experiment where I disabled the forwarding of my CallCentric number to my GV and everything seems to work fine without it. At first, incoming calls wouldn't ring, so I deleted my Obi202 from my GV account and added it back again and that fixed things. So, what might work in your situation is to purchase one line for fax service and keep your E911 service. Or you may prefer to forego the DID service and signup the free pay-per-call outbound service so you can continue to use CallCentrics E911.
As of 12/14/2018 NewEgg has promo code EMCERET58 ($16.00 off) available for Obi200.
Quote from: Lavarock7 on December 11, 2018, 11:46:12 AM
Quote from: dudly on December 11, 2018, 11:12:27 AM
I had two free Callcentric phone numbers. One which i used for inbound faxes and the other for calls. I will keep the fax line and dump the other. It is only $1.00/month. BFD.
You might be able to use the line for both with some type of call treatment. A recording asking to press 1 to connect with you, otherwise it times out to the fax service.
Unless I misunderstood, it's $1/month for two incoming numbers.
What I'd like to understand is what other service providers offer the free inbound DID / VoIP service (if any)?
My "landline" usage is negligible, so paying for it at all is not something I want to do. Even the switch to a very low monthly fee from CC is not appealing.
There is no such thing as totally free phone service. Somebody has to pay for the infrastructure costs, business taxes, regulatory fees, etc.
It's one freakin' dollar. Tell me what you can buy for one dollar?
Quote from: SteveInWA on December 16, 2018, 11:51:54 AM
There is no such thing as totally free phone service. Somebody has to pay for the infrastructure costs, business taxes, regulatory fees, etc.
It's one freakin' dollar. Tell me what you can buy for one dollar?
Does that mean I can send you the bill? :)
I have multiple numbers that need to be supported. None of which get any substantial amount of use. If I'm going to have to start adding on costs, the benefits go out the window pretty quickly.
I don't want totally free "service", just the inbound portion. The outbound is handled by Google Voice. I can handle the inbound with them as well, I just have to sacrifice the SPAM filtering since it's required to have a forwarding number in place in order to filter the calls.
Quote from: SteveInWA on December 10, 2018, 05:34:48 PM
- However, if a Google Voice phone number is not used for some unspecified time interval (formerly 9 months, now undisclosed duration based on new algorithms), it will be reclaimed (taken back by Google). "used" means: make outbound calls or send text messages. Inbound doesn't count, as an abandoned number will still receive robocalls.
I would hope that doesn't apply to numbers that were ported into GV.
Quote from: scott818 on December 18, 2018, 06:56:19 AM
Quote from: SteveInWA on December 10, 2018, 05:34:48 PM
- However, if a Google Voice phone number is not used for some unspecified time interval (formerly 9 months, now undisclosed duration based on new algorithms), it will be reclaimed (taken back by Google). "used" means: make outbound calls or send text messages. Inbound doesn't count, as an abandoned number will still receive robocalls.
I would hope that doesn't apply to numbers that were ported into GV.
Why wouldn't it? You can maintain "control" over the number so long as you're showing that it's being used (meaning you could port it somewhere else if you wanted). But, the "owner" of the number is GV (or whomever). If you demonstrate that you've abandoned the number, they are not required to maintain it for you indefinitely.
If you stopped paying your phone bill, your telecom provider would have the right to reclaim your number and issue it to someone else. Since there's no actual payment here, the only way to prove you're still using the number is to actually use it.
Quote from: Ember1205 on December 18, 2018, 08:36:00 AM
Why wouldn't it? You can maintain "control" over the number so long as you're showing that it's being used (meaning you could port it somewhere else if you wanted). But, the "owner" of the number is GV (or whomever). If you demonstrate that you've abandoned the number, they are not required to maintain it for you indefinitely.
If you stopped paying your phone bill, your telecom provider would have the right to reclaim your number and issue it to someone else. Since there's no actual payment here, the only way to prove you're still using the number is to actually use it.
Well, considering it costs a whopping $20 to port a number into GV, I would hope they wouldn't be so stringent with the users who paid. A lot of people park their numbers with GV. I've never heard of any other provider charging a customer to port in a number. I am sure there are some but it's rare.
Quote from: scott818 on December 18, 2018, 09:18:10 AM
Quote from: Ember1205 on December 18, 2018, 08:36:00 AM
Why wouldn't it? You can maintain "control" over the number so long as you're showing that it's being used (meaning you could port it somewhere else if you wanted). But, the "owner" of the number is GV (or whomever). If you demonstrate that you've abandoned the number, they are not required to maintain it for you indefinitely.
If you stopped paying your phone bill, your telecom provider would have the right to reclaim your number and issue it to someone else. Since there's no actual payment here, the only way to prove you're still using the number is to actually use it.
What if you instead look at it as Google charges a one-time fee while every other vendor charges recurring fees for porting in that number? Any other provider charges you for service every month. Stop paying THAT bill, and your number will get "reclaimed" by the provider.
Well, considering it costs a whopping $20 to port a number into GV, I would hope they wouldn't be so stringent with the users who paid. A lot of people park their numbers with GV. I've never heard of any other provider charging a customer to port in a number. I am sure there are some but it's rare.
Quote from: scott818 on December 18, 2018, 06:56:19 AM
Quote from: SteveInWA on December 10, 2018, 05:34:48 PM
- However, if a Google Voice phone number is not used for some unspecified time interval (formerly 9 months, now undisclosed duration based on new algorithms), it will be reclaimed (taken back by Google). "used" means: make outbound calls or send text messages. Inbound doesn't count, as an abandoned number will still receive robocalls.
I would hope that doesn't apply to numbers that were ported into GV.
Ignore the answers from Ember1205.
The correct answer is: if you ported in the number, it will never be reclaimed, since it wasn't Google's carrier's number to begin with.
To make the lawyers happy, this disclaimer applies: you can continue to use Google Voice with that number, as long as you comply with Google Voice's Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy. If you violate those rules, your Google Voice service may be suspended at any time. You can appeal the suspension, but if your appeal is denied, then you can no longer use the service, and that phone number goes to purgatory. There is no way to port out a number after an account has been suspended. Technically, all US phone numbers are the property of the FCC-regulated Local Exchange Carriers to which those numbers were originally issued, according to the NANPA numbering plan. Customers do not own their numbers. Carriers permit their customers to use the carriers' numbers, as long as the customer complies with their terms of use. Customers have no legal control over the use of the number, beyond that.
Quote from: SteveInWA on December 18, 2018, 05:57:04 PM
Ignore the answers from Ember1205.
Apparently, I've somehow offended you somewhere... Your response could have simply started with something like "actually, there's more to the story" or "That isn't actually how Google has it set up to work."
I was merely discussing the topic and never said I knew the answer for certain.
For those of you that have been using Callcentric's free DIDs, you know that starting March 1st they go away, the new service is $1 per month (plus the $1.50 per month for E911).
I had no plans of continuing my service, my OBi 110 hasn't been real useful since GV stopped working on it. I did forward my GV numbers to Callcentric to ring my OBi, but couldn't make outgoing calls without using GV to ring my landline to make the call. So I decided that paying $30 a year for E911 plus two Callcentric numbers isn't worth doing, and I'll also save by removing a bunch of almost-never-used wireless phones throughout my house, going to 100% cellular (testing E911 via Verizon's Wi-Fi calling later today).
I never wanted to spend my time filling up my Callcentric account with funds, so I would regularly hit it with a refill. Last refill was done in mid-2017 with a gift card someone gave me, and that's been dwindling away, coincidentally running out at the same time as their free DIDS, with a small balance left. I inquired as to a refund, and learned that Callcentric has no plans to refund anything to anyone. They cite their policy of only provided refunds for balances paid within 90 days of cancelling service (even though THEY are doing the cancelling). They also pointed out that even if the balance had been paid within 90 days, they charge $0.70 to refund anything and you must have $2.10 or more in your account for a refund to be processed. No idea how many accounts are affected, but this change is clearly putting money into Callcentric's coffers.
They also did point out that I could maintain E911 without paying for any service, just paying $1.50 a month. Hadn't really thought along those lines, but I no longer see a need for E911 via Callcentric if my Verizon test works later today.