Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?

Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?
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JTS33 @ 6th Nov 09:41PM:
Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?

I had a free Sipgate One phone # I was using as a fax line. I didn't receive a fax for some time (perhaps 2 months), and upon logging in I discovered my phone # was gone. I could set up another phone #, but they already ran out of phone #s in my area code.

Does anyone know what activity keeps the phone # from being lost? (e.g. call/fax activity, logging into account, etc.)
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PX Eliezer @ 6th Nov 10:01PM:
Re: Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?

IIRC, receiving a call every 2 weeks is their latest pronouncement.

Just call yourself every few days. You probably have lots of extra cellphone minutes available.
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RockyBB @ 6th Nov 10:17PM:
Re: Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?

I don't know their specific criteria, but here are a few thoughts that would prevent your account from appearing as dormant: you could pay the E911 fee each month, or you could make calls to toll-free numbers, or if you're using GoogleVoice you could have the GV system call you back on the sipgate number (though I don't know if that could work for a "fax" line), or you could get a free box.net account and send yourself a free fax every Thursday night.
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PX Eliezer @ 6th Nov 10:22PM:
Re: Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?

said by RockyBB :

....get a free box.net account and send yourself a free fax every Thursday night.

Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day, but why is Thursday for faxing??
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f117b2 @ 6th Nov 10:53PM:
Re: Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?

Hi JTS33,

Here is what I am doing right now. Add the Sipgate # into my GV. When a call comes in, both my cell phone and the sipgate phone ring. When I am not home, I answer it by cell, answer it by sipgate when I am home. I have tons of activities everyday.

One thing I didn't figure out is, it doesn't work all the time. Don't know why. At least, you have activities.

Give a try.
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N9MD @ 7th Nov 03:57PM:
Re: Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?

said by PX Eliezer :

Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day...

Only in the North End of Boston where Anthony lives. :)
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burgerwars @ 7th Nov 07:53PM:
Re: Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?

It's not just Sipgate where you can lose numbers from not receiving incoming calls. IPKALL will also cut you off if you don't get calls for 30 days. In fact I've read in Skype's terms of service you can lose any online numbers you sign up for if they don't get incoming calls for a while. It's not Skype that will disconnect your number, but the providers they get the numbers from.

To prevent such adverse action, do what I do. I have all my various numbers right next to each other alphabetically in my cellphone contacts. Once a week I go down the line and dial them all.
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JTS33 @ 7th Nov 11:02PM:
Re: Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?

So for sipgate used as a fax line, all I have to do is call it once every 1 or 2 weeks, and the mere call (but no actual fax) will be good enough to keep it alive?
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RockyBB @ 8th Nov 12:36AM:
Re: Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?

said by JTS33 :

So for sipgate used as a fax line, all I have to do is call it once every 1 or 2 weeks, and the mere call (but no actual fax) will be good enough to keep it alive?

pardon my rudeness, but if you have no real need for it, why don't you just give it up? why would you want a for-profit enterprise to completely waste their resources on a continuing basis for no good reason for them or for you? Since you're not paying for it, they're well within rights to shut you off at any time with no notice, so it's not like you can publish the number. If somebody sometime in the future needs to send you a fax, go get a number at that time, or borrow from a friend. we all need to stop hoarding numbers.
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JTS33 @ 8th Nov 01:07AM:
Re: Sipgate - Lose phone # from inactivity?

said by RockyBB :

If somebody sometime in the future needs to send you a fax, go get a number at that time, or borrow from a friend.

I think we can all see the inconvenience in that vs. someone just sending a fax when they need to. It'll get used more when I switch my landline to voip.

With a free service, you can't just get a local number whenever you want. I had the right idea in getting a local number a couple months ago, as there are none now and I have to wait and see if one becomes available after losing the first number to inactivity.
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