It’s a Number Frenzy
With the cancellation of Toktumi service, I was stuck with some issues. First, the Toll Free number was intended to work in Canada. And while it was not working on payphones, I would like to hope at least calls originating from Canada would have still work. So, now I had to address anyone that would call from Canada would now be stuck paying international rates to the US.
So, I now seek to make life a little easier. While waiting on Local Phone to provide a Canadian DID, and waiting too long, I have decided to look elsewhere. I found a number with Call Centric, and while the monthly fee is cheaper, the per minute rate on forwarding is more expensive then Local Phone (being almost twice as much). While there, I also came across a free +883 number which is a Universal Personal Number. Essentially, it is a non geographical International Number. The idea is to provide more reasonable rates than just calling countries. Oh faxing too. A dedicated number was acquired for that.
I remember when I called Canada thinking it was a US number, I paid 25¢ per minute. I will like to think that such calls from Canada to the US is about the same. I don’t have to worry so much now since all of my calls route through Google Voice, I never would have to worry about that again. However, it is not so with those in Canada.
While trying to get a local number for every area is too expensive, I do have one Domestic number in Canada. This is an Ottawa Local Number which means that Canadians would not have to pay International rates. For those that can call anywhere in Canada, or live in Ottawa, this would be a much easier option than calling the United States. Ottawa was chosen since it is the capital of Canada. Is it as good as a toll free number? Not at all, but better than not having an Ottawa number.
And as I said earlier in this post, I also got a Universal Personal Number. The idea is that the telecoms would charge to just make the connection of an international call rather than tariffs to a country. The number would ring either through a VOIP account provided by the company providing the number, or it would forward to a PSTN line where a small charge is on the owner. In a matter of fact, some VOIP providers supporting UPNs are not charging to make the international call, but just for a connection. The good thing is this is a look at things to come where global phone numbers would break down the boundaries and make global communications truly global. The bad is most telecoms don’t support it even though the number country code (+882, and +883) has been around for almost a decade.
Last but not least, there is a dedicated fax line. I pay about $3/month for the DID, but Call Centric handles the faxes, and sends them to me via email. Making outgoing faxes is probably not possible, or easier said than done, but that isn’t an issue for me. It would have been nice if I could have got a +1 412 number, but that would have been extra.
Now, if all of this seems like too many numbers, you can always go to http://phone.frankpilone.tel and find the number that best works for you. So call away, I’m lonely (just kidding). As for the voice numbers, all calls forwards to my Google Voice number. That service would compare all incoming numbers and send to the appropriate service.
