DID number for forwarding only
 

Daughter in UK with UK cell phone.

Want to forward her US Verizon number to another number, that in turn will forward to the UK cell number. This second number will be used only for forwarding, and will likely cancel after 3 months.

Suggestions for cheap/reasonable way to do this, OTHER THAN SKYPE?

TIA

(Why not just forward her Verizon number directly? Because Verizon doesn't allow/can't forward to international numbers :mad:)

I use an 800 number from kall8 for doing just that when I'm traveling, people call us on the toll free number and it forwards out.

It's something like $2 a month, and 7 cents a minute, plus another 40 cents a minute to send it to UK mobile numbers, so for somebody to call and reach her would cost you like 47 cents per minute (much cheaper if it was not a cell phone in Europe)

I've been using Flowroute for a while (www.flowroute.com) - works very well, and can do a lot of other things with it too if required. Rates are reasonable (~22 cents / min to a UK mobile)

Out of curiousity, why not Skype?

http://voip.ms

$1/month for the number, 1 cent/min for the incoming, and then 10-22 cents/min for the forward to a UK mobile.

I've used them extensively and highly recommend them.

Look into voicestick/myglobaltalk, kall8 as already suggested (forwarding rate to UK mobile is kind of high), les.net, etc.

I'd like to know this as well, especially since she could just get a Skype-enabled phone on the 3 network and have free incoming calls using a US number if she bought a Skype number.

Thanks for this suggestion. I'll look into this also. And thanks to others for their suggestions.

My daughter has Skype, but I have heard stories of difficult removal, proprietary protocols (I support openness here), super-node, etc., etc.

I use onesuite for this. You setup account, pre-pay, then sign up for their forwarding service (which runs 2.50$ a month) and you get a DID in a local area to your other forwarding number. Or, you can just give that number to anyone else.

Then, POINT that number to whatever number you like, change it at will. UK is .02, UK mobile is .175$

Haven't had any problems with it, other than about 1 in 20 calls to distant locations like Dubai, Moscow, Chungking (sp) I get an echo, but I just call back.

Nice thing about this is that you could also use the onesuite to easily reach her at whatever numbers she has from your mobile or home phone for cheap.

Indeed, for her, assuming she has a computer or maybe and iphone/ipod touch is to get on skype and get the monthly free unlimited calling for 2.95$ a month

Skype is now available via Portableapps.com, no install required, completely portable.

I do this quite often when traveling. The best option can only be selected based on the length of stay and the volume of calls. For a short stay and lower call volume, any of the suggestions in the thread are fine.

For a longer stay or heavy call volume, I would do the following:

I would sign up for a VOIP service with unlimited calling....I use Teleblend as they're the cheapest but Vonage has cheap intro-prices (for a few months) on their unlimited world-calling plans and you can pack the handy dongle to make 'local' calls while abroad. MagicJack's int'l rates are very uncompetitive, especially to mobile numbers in the UK. Just cancel Teleblend or Vonage after the trip if no longer needed.

Forward the Verizon number to the Teleblend or Vonage number, then forward the VOIP number to the UK cell - unlimited inbound calling for free (except UK mins used) and a Vonage dongle for making 'local' calls back to the US from your computer while traveling abroad.

I too am all for open source yadda yadda - but Skype is very cheap and quite easy to use. It's also reliable and quite easy to remove - you just choose Remove. Also, everything over the Skype network is thoroughly encrypted (I read a white paper once upon a time that praised their implementation of encryption).

And what's wrong with super nodes? It's just part of Skype's protocol.

I use Onesuite too but I didn't know they have forwarding services now. Looks like an inexpensive way of forwarding your call.

beta
 

I did a beta about a year ago of their forwarding service, I actually didn't get an official roll-out notification, but it did roll out about 4-5 months ago I believe. I have used it a couple of times since then, all with good success.

for me, having had a onesuite account about a decade now (actually, worldwide more like 10 accounts) I like that I already have the account, credits and setup and comfort with the vendor and can just click a button and turn on the forwrarding at will. It takes about 1 minute for the DID solution to be in the system and ready to port.

The last time I needed it, my PIL were in dubai. One of the sisters needed to contact them, but had no int'l plan on their home phone (and no solution to call other than direct dial) so I thought, well, I can certainly setup their home or mobile number in my lookup list, give them a phone number to dial, ADD the hotel in dubai to my addressbook, tell them the protocol for calling, hit #xyw, etc. But, in the end since I only had my ipad and I was sitting waiting in a movie theatre, I figured I would just turn on the forwarding and email them the DID. Took me all of five minutes to get into my account with the ipad, setup the DID in THEIR AREA CODE and email them the number. All was done and within about 10 minutes they were on the line to dubai.

:-)

Okay so you can change the destination number anytime you want? Also did you also change the forwarding number in your Onesuite account? Or just the destination number?