Callcentric 911 and 3-month timeout

[Mike_Austin74]

Hi,

I use the Obihai with GV and also setup call centric with the free number and $1.50/month 911 service as the 2nd provider.   

Apparently, if you don't make a call within 3 months using the Call centric free number, both the free number and the 911 service get cancelled, as I recently observed first hand.  Yes, of course, this is documented in the terms of call centric's service agreement (I admit to not reading the massive document). 

I have no intentions of using my free call centric number at all for anything, other than it being a vehicle to allow me to get to the $1.50/month call centric 911 service. 

A few questions:
1. do calls to the voicemail number "count" towards the requirement?
2. has anyone gotten around this somehow? 

Thanks!

-mike

[lhm.]

I switched to gv911.com at $12.00 a year and no ITSP required.

[Mike_Austin74]

I switched to gv911.com at $12.00 a year and no ITSP required.

Hi,
Thanks, sounds like a better mouse-trap. 

-Mike

[carl]

If you have the 911 service only WITHOUT the free NYC DID you should not have any problems at all. If you do have the NYC DID the only thing you have to do is a one call to that number longert than one minute. If you are alone or only with your dog or cat you call your number, pick up the other phone and talk to it somethingor let music runfor more than a minute. all set.
I do not use Callcentric much but it is a good thing to have it on my Obi 202, good service and features others do not have.

[lhm.]

GV911.com will allow for VSP failover via setup in Trunk Groups, (ie Sp1, Sp2, Vg1 etc. digitmap= <911:1424279xxxx>S0)  Callcentric or any other VSP that sends 911 will not.

Think about it.

[carl]

Thank you for reminding me of that. the problem is that with the callcentric woes of last year- DDoS attack plus Sandy in NYC I did not have 911 for a month and even very recently ATT had big problems with U-verse, no internet for several days thus no VOIP thus no 911. I feel like wasting money on this and with all limitations the wireless 911 may have I am seriously considering cancelling the e911 service all together.

[lhm.]

@Carl,

Do you have smart911.com available in your area? If so it makes a cell call to 911 a very good alternative.

[carl]

No we do not have smart 911, it's available across the peninsula an ai e-mailed them e request to expand their coverage, something they are apparently gradually doing anyway. thanks for the info.

[MikeHObi]

To clarify, the Callcentric Free NY DID only requires access of 1 minute once every 3 months, not a call out.

I have been using that Callcentric number for incoming calls to OBI for many months (except for during the denial of service issue, and then hurricane problem).  All outgoing go through the GV number and never through Callcentric, unless I were to dial 911, and then Callcentric would take over.

[ipse]

Dumb solution: I have a calendar reminder to make a call every 30 days (incoming -free- is fine too) to use this and IPKall

[BearJerCares]

Has this question been answered?  I simply signed up for the Callcentric "free" phone number that costs $1.50 per month for 911 service, but ALL my outgoing calls will go via Google Voice's phone number.  Why would Callcentric allow you to purchase that "free" number that they charge $1.50 on 911 service and cancel it after 3 months if you don't make at least one call out from the Callcentric phone number?  Doesn't make sense, but I don't think the question has been answered here - as far as I could tell.  Does anyone have a definitive answer?   Thanks, --Jerry in Michigan USA

[lhm.]

Simply stated, they rent that "free number" and draw revenue from inbound calls and make no money on the 911 revenue. No inbound calls, no revenue, number canceled and reissued to someone else.

[carl]

correct. Plus they make some money on outbound calls too because a lot of people use it for outbound calls albeit infrequently like when you need a three way call or to call an international number where they happen to have a better rate than others. But it also seems to have something to do with the regulations of the company which rents out the numbers.

[Wino]

Just to clairify...

If I am forwarding my calls from GV to the CC number to get CNAM then the incoming call with take care of the 90 day requirement?  Correct?

[lhm.]

Yes.

TOS: Each Free Phone Number must receive call(s) from the PSTN totaling at least one (1) completed minute of use every three (3) months or they may be removed from a Customers account without warning.

[Mike_Austin74]

Dumb solution: I have a calendar reminder to make a call every 30 days (incoming -free- is fine too) to use this and IPKall

Hi,

Does anyone know if calls to voicemail apply to the "1 minute" rule?  In other words, when I call my callcentric number, I get a voicemail always... it lasts maybe 20 seconds.  If I make 3 such calls (well, ok, 4 or 5 for good measure), does this count towards the 1 minute? 

Thanks.

[infin8loop]

Who knows what 1 minute completed call actually means? I took it to mean at least 1 minute in a single call. Once a month or so I call my free callcentric DID from my cell. My cell number is configured on the OBi to go to AA.  From AA I choose 2 to make a new call and dial 18004444444 which just echos back the callerid number for either my GV or landline depending on which route I choose to make that call through. By the time that all happens, at least 1 minute has elapsed.

Allowing callcentric voice mail to answer might not count because the call is not actually terminated outside the callcentric network if that happens. Or maybe it is or maybe it doesn't matter.

I repeat the procedure for a free Ipkall number. Ipkall requires a call once every 30 days. I must have missed this once because I lost the DID and had to get a new one. No big deal because I use both the callcentric and Ipkall freebies for experimental (the spouse would say "mental") purposes only.



   

[RFord]

The simple solution to all of this is to setup callecntric as one of your forwarding phones on Google Voice.  Set up one or maybe two contacts that call you on a regular basis to use the callcentric forwarding number for all incoming calls from those contacts.  You could of course have all contacts setup that way.

I also have Republic Wireless as my Mobile Carrier and they have a new feature where your home address is entered on their e911 screen (E911 Locations Manage your addresses for emergency service response.).  If I'm not mistaken, this address is invoke while on wi-fi calling, which should be the default (mobile phone synch with Wi-Fi) while at your home location.

[Lavarock7]

If you have the 911 service only WITHOUT the free NYC DID you should not have any problems at all. If you do have the NYC DID the only thing you have to do is a one call to that number longert than one minute. If you are alone or only with your dog or cat you call your number, pick up the other phone and talk to it somethingor let music runfor more than a minute. all set.
I do not use Callcentric much but it is a good thing to have it on my Obi 202, good service and features others do not have.

OK, so my *simple* solution is:

I have a free Callcentric number and a free number on the west coast. They both require a call to keep active.

I run FreePBX on a Raspberrypi. I configured an extension to dial the CallCentric number automatically via a Googlevoice number I have. Callcentric SIP URIs into the other number which connects to my PBX and that call is directed into voicemail.

So if I dial 799 manually, I complete a call through both free numbers and it answers automatically.

So I don't forget to call, I set up a reminder call (using the built in text to voice) to read a message which ends up in voicemail. That reminder call happens each month automatically and the whole call is disconencted when the text has been read.

Now if I had an automatic way to make sure the call happened on schedule.

No, none of this is using an Obi, was that a requirement? If so, I still have some UKDDI numbers that go into the Obi and could make this call go to London and back I guess, but why complicate matters :-)

By the way, the text is along the lines of "Testing testing testing. Betty Botter bought a bit of bitter butter, but she said this butter's bitter." well, you get the idea.