Fongo Community Forums

Hoping someone can help.
We've got our home phone line that we've had for years, and, realisitically, virtuall NOBODY of any importance calls us on the home phone anymore. Just on our cells. But, occasionally there's someone we had forgotten about, some relative that forgot, or didn't get the memo. Otherwise, it's just 3 calls a day for air duct cleaning.

My ideal solution is getting the number ported to some sort of VOIP service, and then, just have it go IMMEDIATELY to voicemail, and then do a voicemail to email and we can all get the voicemail immediately, and call them back if needed from our cells.

So was thinking, could I use freephoneline for this? I wouldn't even bother getting an ATA, as, I will just get rid of the home phone completely. I don't even want the phone to ring. So I wouldn't even buy an ATA, or don't even have a need for the SIP codes. Is this a possibility to just get the number from freephoneline and that's it???

Or am I missing something else we would need?

Thanks

You need to pay $25+tax to port the number into FPL. Otherwise, you will lose your FPL account due to inactivity because you're not making outgoing calls.

https://support.freephoneline.ca/hc/en- ... t-deleted-

The same holds true for Fongo Mobile.

https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/arti ... ion-Policy

If you’re not going to buy an ATA, IP Phone, or VoIP unlock key, it would make more sense to me to port the number into Fongo Mobile instead for $25+ tax since you can use the app to make and receive calls, if you wish, on a smartphone.

Yes, you can set Rings Before Voicemail to 1: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/arti ... voicemail- (Fongo Mobile).

https://support.freephoneline.ca/hc/en- ... l-settings (FPL)

Voicemails can be sent to email: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/arti ... -by-email- (Fongo Mobile)

https://support.freephoneline.ca/hc/en- ... o-my-email (FPL)

Thanks for the reply Liptonbrisk.

Yes, I did realize I would have to pay to port the phone number in, I did forget to mention that though, so thanks for the reminder.

If I don't buy an ATA or the IP Phone unlock codes, do I have to pay anything to keep my ported number alive, or in my possession? (I'm not against paying at all) I'm just worried that if I port the number over, but don't buy any services to attach to it, does it get lost due to inactivity? Or do I somehow lose the "ownership" of that number over time??

I had thought about going to the Fongo Mbile instead, but, not really interested in making or receiving calls on the ported number. I'm really only interested in using this as a way to catch people who still might legitimately use that "old" home phone number but we had forgotten to inform to use our cells instead.

ego1138 wrote:
If I don't buy an ATA or the IP Phone unlock codes, do I have to pay anything to keep my ported number alive, or in my possession?

No. Please visit these links and read:

1. https://support.freephoneline.ca/hc/en- ... t-deleted- (FPL)

2. https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/arti ... ion-Policy (Fongo Mobile)

If you pay $25+tax to port into FPL or Fongo Mobile from another (non-Fibernetics) carrier, you will not lose your number due to inactivity.
The parent company and CLEC for FPL and Fongo Mobile is Fibernetics.

I had thought about going to the Fongo Mbile instead, but, not really interested in making or receiving calls on the ported number.

The point is the option exists.

I would view your decision based on value and options--and not limiting them.

If you will never buy the $99+tax VoIP unlock key, then you can never use FPL on anything other than the Freephoneline desktop app, which has been, as far as I can tell, out of development since 2013 (for Windows).

If you use Fongo Mobile, you don't have to buy the VoIP unlock key to use the ported number on your cellphone (if you'd like to). Also, Fongo Mobile supports SMS texting (incoming texts are free; outgoing are not).
If you are interested in SMS, visit https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/arti ... ifications for caveats.
FPL does not support texting.

Both FPL and Fongo Mobile, unofficially support, incoming faxes. When the incoming fax call reaches the voicemail system, the fax is automatically converted to PDF file format, which can be emailed automatically to you. Fongo Mobile has the bonus of being able to view the fax directly in the app itself.

You can't send faxes without a VoIP unlock key and ATA that, preferably, supports T.38 fax protocol.

Freephoneline does not offer free technical support. Fongo Mobile does. Fongo Mobile support ticket requests will not be closed by default, automatically.

Support is offered via online tickets only: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new.
Support staff is not obliged to read or respond on the forums.
Due to the pandemic, ticket responses are delayed (sometimes up to a week): https://status.fongo.com/. If you do decide to port, that's a good site to bookmark to check if there are known issues with your service.

Fongo Mobile allows you to block unwanted callers: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/arti ... Fongo-3-7-.
Freephoneline does not (relies on the ATA, IP Phone, Phone itself, or app to block instead, and the blocked call drops to voicemail).

I'm really only interested in using this as a way to catch people who still might legitimately use that "old" home phone number but we had forgotten to inform to use our cells instead.

If you know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that you will never buy a VoIP unlock key, then Fongo Mobile makes a lot more sense to me, provided you have a smartphone that Fongo Mobile works on.

By the way, you can forward incoming calls to your cellular numbers, if you wish (instead of just dropping incoming calls to Fongo Mobile or FPL's voicemail system): https://www.fongo.com/blog/how-to-set-u ... ng-mobile/.
FPL's call forwarding is called "Follow Me": https://support.freephoneline.ca/hc/en- ... Follow-Me-.

By the way, if your number doesn't belong to one of these cities, you can't port into to Fongo Mobile or FPL: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/arti ... go-network.

Instructions for porting into Fongo Mobile are located at https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/arti ... e-accounts

FPL instructions can be found at https://support.freephoneline.ca/hc/en- ... r-porting-.

That's awesome information. Thanks for all that. Makes a lot of sense. Appreciate the feedback very much!!!

You're welcome! I'm going to move this thread to the General Discussions forum (and leave a shadow copy in place) because the information in here may help others that are trying to make the same decision.

Lastly, I recommend testing whichever service you choose, thoroughly, before porting.

Keep in mind that when porting takes place, routing updates need to occur. Some carriers take awhile to fully update routes, and random issues (number is not in service; not all carriers can ring your number), can occur.

Porting notifications go to NPAC (Number Portability Administration Centre) and once activated, the porting changes get broadcasted to CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier, such as Fibernetics), or, at least, that's my understanding. The updates are supposed to happen automatically, but for whatever reason, Fibernetics' (parent company of Freephoneline and Fongo) interval for updates seems to be a bit slower than with some other companies. I find these types of issues typically resolve within 24 to 48 hrs after you receive a notice that porting has been completed from Fongo.

I didn't experience any issue when porting, so problems don't always occur. They have occasionally based on user feedback on the forums. Again, waiting awhile usually addresses call routing problems, after porting, automatically.

Note that your SIP username for FPL will change once porting is completed. Login at https://www.freephoneline.ca/showSipSettings to check your SIP Username. It will need to be updated in your ATA once porting is completed if you buy a VoIP unlock key.

If the problem persists, submit a ticket to https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. Choose Freephoneline (Desktop app, unless you bought a VoIP unlock key)-->Port-In inquiry for the final issue type.
For Fongo Mobile, choose Fongo Mobile (app)-->Port-In inquiry for the issue type.

I am probably spewing the obvious, but you can do the same thing with the Fongo app. For most people, the Fongo app is more convenient, and it is better supported than FPL. The Fongo app even has a web based front end. The only real advantage of FPL is when you want to use the SIP settings to hook up to an ATA box. I do not believe you would need that, sip settings cost $100.

If you pay the $25 to port, you never have to worry about losing that number due to inactivity. You have the option to forward to email and/or to another number for free.

I can say voicemail to email is rather handy!

bridonca wrote:I am probably spewing the obvious, but you can do the same thing with the Fongo app. For most people, the Fongo app is more convenient

Yes

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=20333#p79634

Liptonbrisk wrote:
If you’re not going to buy an ATA, IP Phone, or VoIP unlock key, it would make more sense to me to port the number into Fongo Mobile instead for $25+ tax since you can use the app to make and receive calls, if you wish, on a smartphone.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=20333#p79636

Liptonbrisk wrote:If you know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that you will never buy a VoIP unlock key, then Fongo Mobile makes a lot more sense to me
.

Liptonbrisk wrote:
Freephoneline does not offer free technical support. Fongo Mobile does. Fongo Mobile support ticket requests will not be closed by default, automatically.