Project Fi/Google Voice Conundrum

[Loopy Leprechaun]

I was really excited when I first heard about Project Fi. It's very cheap and you get a subsidized Nexus device. Awesome! It sounded almost too good to be true, which unfortunately turns out to be true for me due to an odd situation I'm in with my apartment.

The door buzzer at the building I live in dials a phone number, but the catch is that it needs to have a local area code, which I unfortunately don't have. I set up a Google Voice number just for this purpose which calls my cell number and everything has been good. I only use that number for the door buzzer, and continue to use my cell phone number that I've had for the last 15 years for all calls. As I started the Fi signup process, I discovered that Google Voice can't forward to a Project Fi number, meaning that I can either (1) use my Google Voice number and port my cell number over to a forwarding service, or (2) port my cell number to Fi and find some other forwarding service that can give me a number with a local area code.

I'm partial to option 2 since I have no use for GV beyond the door buzzer, but all the options seem pretty expensive and have limitations around call minutes. Line2 is $100/year and RingCentral is quite a bit more.

Does anyone have suggestions that are free or very inexpensive and allow me to port my cell number to Project Fi?

Thanks for the help.

 

[itguyjax8430]

I was really excited when I first heard about Project Fi. It's very cheap and you get a subsidized Nexus device. Awesome! It sounded almost too good to be true, which unfortunately turns out to be true for me due to an odd situation I'm in with my apartment.

The door buzzer at the building I live in dials a phone number, but the catch is that it needs to have a local area code, which I unfortunately don't have. I set up a Google Voice number just for this purpose which calls my cell number and everything has been good. I only use that number for the door buzzer, and continue to use my cell phone number that I've had for the last 15 years for all calls. As I started the Fi signup process, I discovered that Google Voice can't forward to a Project Fi number, meaning that I can either (1) use my Google Voice number and port my cell number over to a forwarding service, or (2) port my cell number to Fi and find some other forwarding service that can give me a number with a local area code.

I'm partial to option 2 since I have no use for GV beyond the door buzzer, but all the options seem pretty expensive and have limitations around call minutes. Line2 is $100/year and RingCentral is quite a bit more.

Does anyone have suggestions that are free or very inexpensive and allow me to port my cell number to Project Fi?

Thanks for the help.

Welcome to Android Central!

Pick up a prepaid phone kit for T-Mobile, get a local number on there and refill the phone account when it is needed. Since it is your door buzzer you probably wouldn't have to refill it very often. Just make sure to find out when and if the minutes on the phone expire.

 

[Rukbat]

Port your 15-year-old number to Google Voice and have that forward to your local-area-code phone number. (Google Voice forwards, you don't need a 3rd party forwarding number in most places.) I moved to a different area code and kept my cell numbers (because everyone knew them), but some of the merchants here needed a local number, so the merchants call the GV number, my friends call my cell number and it all ends up on a cellphone. (Even texts to the GV number get forwarded.)