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Local Number Portability option for Canada & US numbers



 
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jsherk
MagicJack Expert


Joined: 08 Dec 2009
Posts: 79

PostPosted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:17 pm    Post subject: Local Number Portability option for Canada & US numbers Reply with quote

As of Feb 2010, mj is still promising that number porting (transferring your current number to mj, local number portablility, lnp or keep your number) is "Coming Soon". Since we don't actually know when that will be, I needed to find an inexpensive alternative so I can keep my old Canadian number.

There are a lot more options out there for US numbers, but I really had a hard time finding an inexpensive alternative for keeping a Canadian number, but I narrowed it down to CallCentric (they are US based but also have a lot of numbers available in Canda as well). You can scroll down to the bottom right corner of their main page to "Keep Your Number" and see if they can port over your Canadian or US number.
http://www.callcentric.com/?aid=112532

They have some really inexpensive incoming only plans, so if you don't need to use your current phone for outgoing calls, then this is an excellent solution. If you need outgoing calls, they have both a pay-as-you-go and an unlimited outgoing plans, which may or may not work for you.

You can use it either as a softphone (software running on your computer), or use your own ATA or VoIP phone that you purchase separately. You can also call forward it to your existing mj number BUT you will pay the per-minute rate for ALL forwarded calls regardless of which plan you are on.

The best part though, is that it is month to month with no contract, so if mj ever actually gets porting working, you can transfer your number over to them at anytime.

Personally, I am from Canada but now live and work in the US, and I still keep my old Canadian number for a few friends and family to call. I used to be with Vonage Canada, but $20 a month was a little steep when I was only getting about 2 or 3 incoming calls every month and was not making any outgoing calls on it.

Here are some costs:

Porting Fee:
$25 one-time (this seems to be what most company's charge)

Incoming only Pay-Per-Minute plan:
$1.95/mth + one-time setup fee of $3.95
Incoming calls are billed at 1.5 cents/minute.
This plan is good if you have less than 400 minutes of incoming calls per month OR if you are call forwarding your number to another number.

Incoming only Personal Unlimted
$5.95/mth + one-time setup fee of $5.95
Unlimited incoming calls.
This plan is good if you have more than 400 minutes of incoming calls per month. Don't use this plan if you plan on Call Forwarding your number though (use the one above instead) because you pay the per-minute rate for call forwarding regardless of the plan you are on.

Outgoing Pay-Per-Call
No monthly fee & No setup fee.
1.5 cents per minute for calls within Canada and US.
Only requirement is that you have to add funds to your account balance before you can use it... minimum amount to add is $5.00.

Outgoing North America Unlimited
$19.95 per month & No setup fee.
Unlimited calls to anywhere in Canada and US.

So if you are looking for an inexpensive place to keep your existing number and outgoing calls are not an issue, then I think $1.95/mth to $5.95/mth will be hard to beat! If you need outgoing calls though, this may or may not be the solution for you... but that's why you have a magicJack right!?!

You can visit their website here:
http://www.callcentric.com/?aid=112532
Remember to scroll down to the bottom of the page to check if they can port your current number over to them.

Or visit their signup page here:
https://www.callcentric.com/signup/?aid=112532

Hope this is helpful to you.
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0123456789
MagicJack Newbie


Joined: 12 Jun 2009
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 1:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi jsherk,

Am I correct that the URL you provided has an AgentID (?aid=112532) for an affiliate program with callcentric?

Are you making money off people who use your link to signup with callcentric? It seems you have posted this link on multiple forums across the internets.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.callcentric.com%2F%3Faid%3D112532

My question, do you really use the service and that is why you mention it or is it to make commissions on signups?

Thanks
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jsherk
MagicJack Expert


Joined: 08 Dec 2009
Posts: 79

PostPosted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 2:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

@0123456789
Yes I really do use CallCentric because they have great tech support. Even if you sign up for one of their free accounts, they will still help you get setup and running if you have problems. I had a free account for several months before I ported my Canadian number over to them, and they were great. Usually if I leave them a tech support email, I will get a response back from them within 20 minutes. Occaissionally it takes a little longer but most of the time they are very quick to respond.

I like magicjack because you can't beat the price of $20/year for unlimited US/Canada calling, but there tech support is terrible and they continually make promises they do not keep. Even when number porting becomes available (if ever), I will not port my number over to mj ... I will leave it with CallCentric even if it costs me a few extra bucks a month. MagicJack is good for one thing only... cheap calls! I would never rely on them for anything else because they just don't deliver. CallCentric has the tech support and features that we all wish mj had. They are also very competitive price wise compared to most other VoIP services.

I also have a business account with CallCentric that connects to an asterisk pbx server. CallCentric was excellent in helping set it properly. Whether you want to use a softphone, your own ATA or some kind of server, CallCentric has enough knowledgeable people to help you figure it out!

And yes I make a few bucks from the link but certainly not enough to live on (literally between $10 to $15 a month) but I don't feel bad about it because they offer excellent service and I don't think anybody is going to be disappointed with them.

Hope that answers your question!
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pacific101
MagicJack Newbie


Joined: 19 Sep 2010
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 9:54 pm    Post subject: Don't really Care if You Make a Buck Reply with quote

Blogs, forums, twitter and every other avenue on the world wide web that you can use to generate a buck or two is fine by me, I'm an entrepreneur and am not opposed to seeing someone else make a living if they have led me in a good direction.

I am, like many others anxious to cut the ties with the local phone company and start really enjoying the savings of my MagicJack and the now 6 years of advance service I have paid for with them. I want to keep my phone number, too many people use that number to get a hold of me and so the porting thing is kind of important and like others have said, MagicJack has apparently been saying soon since the 1st quarter of 2008.

They boxed themselves in this year with a commitment to roll it out by the first week of August 2010 and well it's now the 3rd week of September 2010 so we all know it's back to "soon" again.

From what I could gather I would pay callcentric a one time fee of 25.00 to port my phone number then pay the 5.95 a month ongoing for unlimited incoming and outgoing phone calls.

The bare bones phone company bill here is about 4 times that so this might very well be the best solution I have till MajicJack gets it together on the the whole porting thing.

I would prefer to be paying the 69.95 every 5 years and have it all which was my initial plan but if I can't then this is the second best option I have seen so far. My thoughts on the matter and no one needs to agree with me. I'm more than happy to listen to any other ideas.
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fujifilm99
MagicJack Contributor


Joined: 27 Jul 2010
Posts: 52
Location: Missouri, USA

PostPosted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 11:24 pm    Post subject: magicJack delivery dates Reply with quote

And Linux support is still scheduled for 1st quarter of 2010 in the FAQ.

They apparently learned all they know about promising dates, changing them, and still not hitting any of them - from Microsoft.
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jsherk
MagicJack Expert


Joined: 08 Dec 2009
Posts: 79

PostPosted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 9:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

@pacific101 ...
CallCentric's $5.95/mth is for unlimited INCOMING only. You have to setup separate plans for incoming and outgoing. Outgoing unlimited is $19.95/mth. So it is actually $25.90 per month for unlimited both ways. But you could setup unlimited one way and per minute the other or vice versa, so you can pick and choose how you want to put the plan together.

I personally use them for incoming only (kept my old number), and use my mj for outgoing, since I don't have a special requirement for what outgoing number appears on call display. The only "fine print" issue to be aware of, is that if you Call Forward your incoming phone number you get billed at the per minute rate even if you have the unlimited incoming plan. So if you plan to call forward your incoming line, then it's better just to have the per-minute billing plan because that's what you will get charged anyway.

Business wise I use them for both incoming and outgoing, but I use per minute plans on both since we are not a high volume user.

Hope this helps.
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dbrannon79
MagicJack Newbie


Joined: 02 Oct 2010
Posts: 1
Location: Texas

PostPosted: Sat Oct 02, 2010 10:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jsherk wrote:
@pacific101 ...
CallCentric's $5.95/mth is for unlimited INCOMING only. You have to setup separate plans for incoming and outgoing. Outgoing unlimited is $19.95/mth. So it is actually $25.90 per month for unlimited both ways. But you could setup unlimited one way and per minute the other or vice versa, so you can pick and choose how you want to put the plan together.

I personally use them for incoming only (kept my old number), and use my mj for outgoing, since I don't have a special requirement for what outgoing number appears on call display. The only "fine print" issue to be aware of, is that if you Call Forward your incoming phone number you get billed at the per minute rate even if you have the unlimited incoming plan. So if you plan to call forward your incoming line, then it's better just to have the per-minute billing plan because that's what you will get charged anyway.

Business wise I use them for both incoming and outgoing, but I use per minute plans on both since we are not a high volume user.

Hope this helps.




Well instead of paying them to forward the call, can't the computer automatically forward the call on the first ring? I think some software based answering machines have the ability to do that!
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