melonite@gmail.com wrote:

> You are correct in stating that providers such as Sipgate offer a
> "free" number when you sign up with them, but that number can only
> be terminated at your Sipgate account, not any other, so it means you
> have to remain with a Sipgate account in order to keep the same number,
> basically, leave sipgate and leave the number.

Not entirely true. We have limited number portability at the moment,
and I reckon 100% portability will be with us before long.

> Example: You have a "free" SIP account and PSTN number from
> "Snake Oil VoIP" and that ITSP goes down, you'd not be able to
> receive any calls on your inbound PSTN number because the provider is
> down. But if you had a number from us that was terminating at your sip
> address with "Snake Oil VoIP" you are able to login at our control
> panel and change the destination instantly (as changes are real time)
> of the number to another VoIP account to ensure your able to receive
> calls.

I'm still not getting it. What if your systems go down? What happens to
my calls then? How is being tied to you different to being tied to any
other provider?

alexd