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Using a Fongo # solely to receive voicemail-to-email etc.

PostPosted: 11/25/2021
by CSL
Subject: Using a Fongo # solely to receive voicemail-to-email and text-to-email

.Hello Community Support : )

I'm researching the following possibilities about Fongo before I purchase.

Some background and my question / need:
I recently moved from BC to Central America and I'd like to retain my Canadian phone #.
My Canadian # is not very active, I only have occasional voicemails from banks or institutions, and a few texts.
I do not need to phone FROM my Fongo phone - I just need to maintain a phone "presence" in Canada... to receive my voicemails and texts via my email.
So far I've found that the only popular service that offers these two services is Fongo.

Can I use Fongo without buying the adapter? - It seems I wouldn't need one. If I do have to purchase the adapter, how would it help me, being outside of Canada?

One last question: Regarding banks etc. ability to text me for "one time password verifications" sent to my email address (text to email) - from reading some info from Fongo, it appears this would not work. Does anyone have any alternate suggestion or service that would solve this problem?

thanks in advance for anyone's time !
CSL

Re: Using a Fongo # solely to receive voicemail-to-email etc

PostPosted: 11/25/2021
by bridonca
You can certainly port a number to the Fongo app without the need of an adapter. A one time porting fee of $25 is required though, if you want to port over the number to Fongo. Once you pay the $25 to port the number over, you can leave your number inactive indefinitely. Inactive numbers being deleted only apply to the free numbers. I would forward voice mail to email.

Usually banks also offer the option of verification by email. Get them to do that instead. As good practive never have anything verify by text. It is a bad idea in so many levels.

Re: Using a Fongo # solely to receive voicemail-to-email etc

PostPosted: 11/25/2021
by CSL
Hi, Bridonica.

Many thanks for your quick reply !

Even without receiving those "one time password verifications" from institutions, the ability to send any Canadian voicemail and texts to my email would be great. We want to maintain a "presence" in Canada, even though we are living in Central America. So I'm seriously considering the $5 per month Fongo account. (The only company I can find that offers both voicemail and text-to-email... and inexpensively!)

My wife just convinced one of her Canadian banks to verify her access, by using her ProtonMail account... good news, there.
(You are so right about texts lacking security for this use... banks, etc should wake up.)

Again, how would purchasing the Fongo adapter help me - seeing as I am living outside of Canada now - what's the benefit? ... sorry if there's an obvious answer that I'm missing :)

best regards,
CSL

Re: Using a Fongo # solely to receive voicemail-to-email etc

PostPosted: 11/25/2021
by CSL
To isolate my last question from the above item...

How would purchasing the Fongo adapter help me - seeing as I am living outside of Canada now and I'm just using Fongo for voice-mail to email and text-to-email - what's the benefit? ... sorry if there's an obvious answer that I'm missing... : )

thanks,
CSL

Re: Using a Fongo # solely to receive voicemail-to-email etc

PostPosted: 11/26/2021
by bridonca
If you have decent internet in your area of Central America, you could hook up an old school telephone system to the Fongo adapter, and be able to make and receive phone calls in Central America with that phone system. It is not needed but nice to have. Probably not that practical for your purposes. If do do want to pay money, get the texting package for the app. In all honesty, I would not spend a cent on Fongo, until you are comfortable with the service. Download the app, and play with it! It is great with good internet, not so great if the internet is not so good. And sadly, Fongo has no control over that!

I do not believe you can forward texts to email. Just voice mail. That would be cool if you could though.

Re: Using a Fongo # solely to receive voicemail-to-email etc

PostPosted: 11/26/2021
by CSL
Thanks again, Bridonca

Internet is great quality here, better than my experience in Canada (incredibly cheaper, as well.)

It's the "Home Phone" package I'm interested in. It does actually have text-to-email capability, as well as voice-mail-to-email.

Again, my need is to have a Canadian phone number to "anchor" my residency in Canada, as I'm in Central America and I also travel often.
Call it a "home base" connection, for my Canadian banks and government institutions and perhaps some old acquaintances to voice-mail and text me. For the $5. per month it would serve me well. I don't need the phone call forwarded... I'll just respond with my current mobile phone in Central America.

re: my question about the Fongo adapter... I just wondered if I was missing out if I didn't purchase the adapter. (It would be difficult to ship to me anyway.)
By the looks of things, I wouldn't need it.

So, my question for you now - and thanks for your patience - can I subscribe to the Home Phone package, without buying the adapter? ... and set my account up to simply forward any voicemails and texts to my email address? Seems so... can you confirm somehow?

I will port my old Canadian # (currently with Freedom Mobile) to Fongo.
Side questions: do you know if I need to BE in Canada to be able to...
1) port my old number and
2) sign up for "Fongo Home"?

I maintain a Canadian street address (although it's only a mail box), if Fongo needs that.

Thanks for continuing to help, I really appreciate it : )
CSL

.........................

If you have decent internet in your area of Central America, you could hook up an old school telephone system to the Fongo adapter, and be able to make and receive phone calls in Central America with that phone system. It is not needed but nice to have. Probably not that practical for your purposes. If do do want to pay money, get the texting package for the app. In all honesty, I would not spend a cent on Fongo, until you are comfortable with the service. Download the app, and play with it! It is great with good internet, not so great if the internet is not so good. And sadly, Fongo has no control over that!

I do not believe you can forward texts to email. Just voice mail. That would be cool if you could though.

Re: Using a Fongo # solely to receive voicemail-to-email etc

PostPosted: 11/26/2021
by CSL
PS... you wrote in a previous answer that I COULD use Fongo Home Phone etc. for those needs - thanks. So just a final affirmation from you about this plan would be great... and those questions about if I need to be in Canada to sign up : )
thanks !

Out-of-Canada / Signing Up for Fongo Home Phone etc.

PostPosted: 11/27/2021
by CSL
Hello,

Some questions about signing up for a Fongo 'Home Phone' account from outside of Canada (Central America)...

1) Porting old phone #: I have a basic Freedom Mobile phone # in BC, Canada - would like to PORT my number to a Fongo Home Phone account.
Do I need to be in Canada to do this? (I have a Canadian postal address plus a Canadian bank and charge card.) I wonder if Fongo needs any more support documentation to purchase online from outside of Canada?

2) Just confirming this: Home Phone DOES include voicemail-to-email and text-to-email?

3) Confirming: I won't need the Fongo adapter to have a 'Home Phone' account, since I'm only using it to receive incoming voicemail and texts - is this correct?

Many thanks !
CSL

Re: Using a Fongo # solely to receive voicemail-to-email etc

PostPosted: 11/27/2021
by Liptonbrisk
Customer support staff is not obliged to read or respond to posts on forums. If you would like an official response, then submit a ticket:
https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

Fongo Home Phone requires a Canadian address. You are forced to buy Fongo Home Phone's Grandstream ATA if you want Fongo Home Phone, and the ATA is shipped to the Canadian address.
You can't make outbound calls using Fongo Home Phone without the ATA. You can forward incoming calls for free to another number provided that number is associated with a Canadian province.
If you don't forward incoming calls, you will need the ATA to receive incoming calls.

With respect to SMS short codes and verifications using Fongo Mobile, visit https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/arti ... ifications. You would need to buy Fongo (Mobile) World Edition instead if you want to use Fongo Mobile if you don't have access to a Canadian app store.

Fongo Home Phone offers text to email while Fongo Mobile does not at this time. They both support voicemail to email.

Fongo Mobile and Fongo Home Phone are treated as separate services and do not share the same phone numbers between accounts.

Lastly, you would be connecting to servers located in southern Ontario. The further the path between you and the servers, the greater the chance for a problem to develop along that path.
Increased pings and jitter make SIP services unreliable.

I suggest submitting all of your questions to Fongo Support staff directly: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

Re: Using a Fongo # solely to receive voicemail-to-email etc

PostPosted: 11/27/2021
by CSL
Thanks for all those answers, Liptonbrisk.
I have a few more questions, so I'll contact Fongo Support directly.
regards,
CSL

Re: Using a Fongo # solely to receive voicemail-to-email etc

PostPosted: 01/17/2022
by seh
Not sure if I'm missing something here, but why not just have a free Fongo mobile number, which does have a Canadian address associated with it and does have voicemail to email?