Forum Discussion

HotTubDave's avatar
HotTubDave
Contributor 2
2 months ago

Virtual phone numbers

When we first started up, I signed up for a virtual phone number through a service Calle Vumber.com.  It's worked fine for 9 years.

It suddenly occurred to me that I am totally **bleep** if Vumber.com decides to cease operations tomorrow.  I assume this could be a similar issue for anyone using a phone number from one of the hundreds of virtual calling companies in the market.

My options are: 1) continue as is and hope nothing goes wrong.  2) Port my phone number to Verizon, who charges almost 12 times as much (times 3 phone numbers) and have to deal with the lousy Verizon service, but at least know that my number will always be there.

Has anyone ever given this any thought?  Has anyone ever lost a number due to their virtual phone service shutting down?

  • We switched everything to Dialpad.com. It's been amazing!

    There is definitely a learning curve required.

  • Roger's avatar
    Roger
    Contributor 2

    Like any other service, phone lines can face interruptions. To stay connected, I’m using an additional line on my phone through Mingle Mobile:  https://www.minglemobile.com/pages/our-plans

    They offer eSIM options, so you can have two lines on the same phone. This lets you separate personal and business calls by labeling each line, and it works the same for texts—all on one device. No need to carry an extra phone!

    You can start with their 3-month option for the best plan, paid upfront at $27 total. Once it expires, you can downgrade to the $9/month plan, which is what I plan to do. The service is great—there are times I get a signal with Mingle Mobile in areas where Verizon doesn’t even show SOS coverage.

    If you’re already paying for a virtual line, consider Mingle Mobile as a second line for calls and texts. It’s reliable and works well where my primary service often struggles.

    1 Gig $9/mo

    • Unlimited talk & text
    • No contract (cancel anytime)
    • No hidden fees
    • All taxes & fees on us
    • Free easy-to-use mobile app
    • Free activation
    • Free number porting
    • Join the largest & fastest 5G network
  • As with any utility you may purchase, or for that matter things like your domain name, web hosting, etc. it really just gets down to how well you trust the provider. These are not the areas where you want to cut corners, but it's not necessarily hard to find providers who have a good reputation and which won't fold overnight. Two suggestions I would have for small business VoIP would be:

    - Google Voice
    - Grasshopper.com

    Either of these are going to work well with the primarily cell-phone driven situation and give you an app which will let you transparently make and receive calls and texts without exposing your personal cell number. And these are just the first two examples off the top of my head.

  • I use a virtual phone service as I didn't want to use my personal number. I imagine that if Hushd goes under that I would port my number to my cell provider. I am privacy focused and leery about using a Google or Meta service. I'm fairly sure that if you use an iPhone, you can run a  eSIM for a second number on the same hardware.

    • ryaantuttle's avatar
      ryaantuttle
      Jobber Ambassador

      Yes. You can certainly do that with T-mobile and/or Verizon, but they have been proven NOT to be very reliable from what I've read.

  • ryaantuttle's avatar
    ryaantuttle
    Jobber Ambassador

    We've utilized virtual offices, assistants and phone numbers since 2018. 
    If you need (1) extra phone number, use Google voice. It's free and you dont have to worry about them going anywhere. If you're looking for something with a bit more options, utilize Goconnect.