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What services offer long term phone numbers without be having to create new "lines" on my cellular plan? I currently use an app called "Hushed" but it is extre
by LeoPanthera 3y ago
What services offer long term phone numbers without be having to create new "lines" on my cellular plan?
I currently use an app called "Hushed" but it is extremely expensive, especially compared to how much raw providers like Twilio charge.
There seem to be plenty of "disposable" phone number apps but I just want cheap extra numbers, without having to write code.
- jki275 3y agoGoogle Voice...
- LeoPanthera 3y agoIs it not the case that Google Voice only lets you have one additional number? I need a few.
- jki275 3y agoI think you can have one per account. I'm not sure what their policies on that are, I know I've had many accounts over the years.
- pests 3y agoYou need to verify a real phone number with each additional account and those can't be virtual numbers.
- jki275 3y agoYeah, I vaguely remember they said that was a thing. I still have probably about ten google accounts and none of them are tied to a real phone number. It's been years since I set them all up, so I don't remember exactly how I got around that, but it seems like it wasn't terribly difficult. Maybe I used Skype?
- pests 3y agoThey only do the real number check when you are first creating the account right before number selection. They never ask you again to confirm or do any kind of verification with the real number. I've had to change my phone number a few times over the decade and my personal gvoice is verified with whatever number I had 10 years ago. I just don't set it as a callback or text receiver.
- simmons 3y agoAny VoIP provider, I suppose. I have a few phone numbers at voip.ms, have a VoIP phone on my desk, and selectively forward the numbers to my cell phone. Outbound calls from a cellphone using such a number is a bit more awkward, requiring either a SIP app or calling into the system before punching in the number to dial. (Maybe there are apps to simplify this by now?) SMS is even more awkward, though there are some APIs.
- LeoPanthera 3y agoI guess that would be OK except I primarily need SMS.
- radley 3y agoOpenPhone https://www.openphone.com/ https://www.openphone.com/
- callalex 3y agoWhat is preventing you from keeping a Twilio phone number long-term?
- LeoPanthera 3y agoI have no way to "use" the number - I need an app that lets me make phone calls and texts.
- fencepost 3y agoNumber Barn? You can park a number with them for $2/month and have SMS and a recorded voice greeting (but no call forwarding), or for $6/month you can have calls forwarded to you. You might be able to get something with a prepaid cell phone plan - at one point one of the carriers had something where purchased minutes didn't expire for a year after you'd passed a certain threshold, but no clue what it's like now - I haven't had a prepaid phone since the early days of analog to digital conversions. Some of the dirt cheap voip carriers like magicjack might also have options but no idea what they charge. Finally if you're on T-Mobile and don't have any free lines you might be able to add a line free, if not right now then when they do promotions somewhat regularly. The days of tons of free lines are gone, but if you have 2+ paid lines and no free ones they'll likely have a promo for you soon (it might actually reduce your bill because a free line still counts as a line for autopay discounts).
- LeoPanthera 3y agoThat's all really useful, thank you.