Feature: How to have free phone numbers in 30 countries that people can use to call you on Skype
Feature: How to have free phone numbers in 30 countries that people can use to call you on Skype
by Ted Mc from BlindMind.net, 12 Apr 2010
Well, this has got to be one of the coolest things I've come across this year, and there have been many.
Ring2Skype (http://www.ring2skype.com) allows you to have a telephone number in as many as 30 countries where you want people to be able to call you in Skype from a landline for the cost of a local call...and without the need for Skype themselves. Oh, now don't roll your eyes and say "that is soooo 2009". It's not breaking news, but I can tell you that there are a limited number of people who have taken advantaqge of this excellent service so far, depending on the country where you sign up for the free service. We'll get to that in a bit. First I'll explain the concept.
So the good folks at Ring2Skype have provisioned virtual telephone numbers in 30 countries, as well as internet service and server co-location for the purpose of accepting incoming landline or mobile calls, then forwarding them via the internet in Skype to your PC or mobile device at the other end. There is no cost to the service, and it appears to be very reliable in the few days I've been testing it. It's also instantaneous from the time you set it up on their website, so that someone could use it to call you within about a minute afterwards by ringing the phone number provided.
Are they really giving me a free phone number?
Well, not really. It's clever marketing, though. The numbers are virtual numbers allocated to so many users in a geographical rea, so they have one number allocated per so many customers in L.A., then another number for so many more customers in L.A., so many numbers in N.Y., and so on. There were many many states in the U.S. that had their own phone numbers. The user is allocated a PIN number to give to the people who will call them on that phone number, which identifies them from the other hundreds of people allocated the same phone number.
How does it work?
You go and gister a free account at Ring2Skype, then go to 'add a number'. To do so, you enter your Skype username, the country you want the local phone number, then further localize it by choosing the geographic region. The website then gives you (and emails you) a phone number and 3-digit PIN code to give to the person who wishes to reach you in Skype. They call the number, and when prompted, enter your PIN #. A server then resolves the PIN # to the Skype username you entered when you set it up, checks to see if your username is online, and if so, connects the call over the internet to your mobile or PC running Skype! And without the need to have Skype themselves. To them, it's just a local call. Brilliant concept.
What's unclear is exactly how many customers are assigned to each virtual phone number. I signed up for a number in L.A., and was allocated a sequential 3-digit PIN number in the 500's range. I also chose both a London number (also in the 500's range PIN #), and one in Manchester in the UK, and was given a pin in the 100's range.
A few tips for getting the most out of the free service:
1. Your settings in Skype. Every time someone rings you using Ring2Skype, the username that shows it as being from in Skype on your end is "Ring2Skype.net". Most people have Skype set up to only allow calls from people in their contact list. So before you can receive a call from someone who has rung you via Ring2Skype, you will need to either temporarily change that setting to "allow anyone to call me", and while on the call, add the current caller to your contacts, then change the setting back to "only allow contacts to call me", or easier still, simply go into the "Directory", search for "Ring2Skype.net", and add it to your contacts before you give out the number to anyone to use. They have it set to automatically add new contacts to their Skype account periodically, so this should happen fairly soon after you send the contact request to that username, and you're good to go without having to change any of your other settings.
2. Your status in Skype. Be aware that your status in Skype must be either "Online" or "Away" for the system to put a call through to you. If you are "Invisible" or have status set to "Do not disturb", the service does not "try it anyway". It assumes you are not there or not available, tells the caller it cannot put the call through, and to try later. So you may need to get in the habit of pre-arranging times that the people you give out your Ring2Skype number will call you, and ensure you are online and have your status set correctly, or else just get used to always leaving your status as "online". Of course, that could be irritating if you leave your computer turned on and get a call at 4am from someone who hasn't bothered to take into account the time difference between you and them! Unfortunately, Ring2Skype can do nothing to improve the intelligence or thoughtfulness of people you decide to give the number out to! That part is up to you. However, I do believe in future they will be adding the functionality for the user to designate a schedule of time ranges that calls may be put through during. Good for businesses wanting to use the service, and only want calls during their regular business hours, or for individuals wanting to avoid that late-night unwanted wake-up call. However, if you are a business and wanting to provide local numbers for customers in other countries, there are better solutions available at a reasonable cost. Read on.
3. Choosing a geogrphic region wisely. In the testing I have done on this service over the last week, I noticed that the L.A. number I gave out to someone to try me on always seemed to give the caller a busy/engaged signal. The PIN they gave me was in the 500's range, which I assume means that at least 499 other people have the same number they're giving out to their friends & famil & business associates as well, if not more. Being a 3-digit number, it could mean that 1000 people have that number. It's unclear how many simultaneious calls can be taken on the same number at once. It may be 10, 20, or it may be just one. Because there are many states covered with virtual numbers, and because most landline & mobile services in the U.S. at least (as well as the UK I believe) can call nationally free of charge, or nearly free of charge, if the person you're giving the number to has a good deal on long distance in their own country, it makes sense to choose a geographic region that is smaller, rather than a metropolis. In other words, I initially chose L.A. bec ause that's where the person was that I wanted to be able to call me. Then I learned they could call anywhere in the U.S. on their landline or mobile at no additional charge. So choosing a virtual number in Oklahoma or the state of Maine is much less likely to give callers an engaged/busy signal than choosing one in a huge city like L.A. or N.Y.C. Funny, though, the number I signed up for in London gave me a PIN number in the same number range (500's) as the one in L.A., yet they can always get through on the first try. That may just mean that Californians talk too much, I guess. (says me, the ex-Californian)
What if I don't ever want callers to get an engaged tone/busy signal, or have to enter a PIN #?
Ahhh, well here's the much better option, then. The shared number is free. If you don't want to share, you can buy a virtual number of your own and have it configured to do the same thing in forwarding calls to Skype, for a low monthly cost. It varies depending on country. The country list is even longer, 39 countries. Average cost was about $5US/month to $10US/month. There were some exceptions to that rule, though, that went as high as $49/month. You can check out the country of your choice by logging into your free Ring2Skype account, going to the Control Panel, then clicking the "Buy Virtual Number" link. Or you can go directly to the website www.jetnumbers.com, which is where it links to. Not sure if it's owned by the same people, or if they are just partners of some sort.
Provisioning of a new virtual number takes 24-48 hours, and there is a two-month minimum, but no on-going contract, and no cancellation fee if cancelled after that 2-month minimum.
What I liked better also about the paid option was that you can choose several different ways to configure your virtual number. If you don't want Skype forwarding, you coudl set it up to be a virtual voicemail box in that country. Any time someone leaves you a voicemail message (they hear a greeting that you record), the message they leave is then emailed to you immediately in a WAV file.
There was also international call forwarding if you wanted someone to have a local phone number to ring in their own country, and then have the voice call forwarded to your international phone number. However, of course that incurs additional charges. You could also do the same thing with a toll-free number.
Kudos on the great service that Ring2Skype offers for free. I have to say that other than the L.A. number being busy all the time, the service has worked great. And I should get my paid-for virtual number emailed to me tomorrow to try out with no busy signals ever!
And hey, at least this way, your Mom or Grandmother doesn't have to try and learn how to use Skype! They just call a number and get you on your PC or mobile phone that's running Skype.
Posted by Ted Mc at 12 Apr 2010, 1:35 AM 
Categories: Technology, Tutorial - Internet, Feature, VOIP, Miscellaneous, Internet
Tags: Skype virtual number forwarding communication Internet Ring2Skype virtual phone number ring2skype.com VOIP
Categories: Technology, Tutorial - Internet, Feature, VOIP, Miscellaneous, Internet
Tags: Skype virtual number forwarding communication Internet Ring2Skype virtual phone number ring2skype.com VOIP
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