Keep your number no matter what

Once you bank your number, you can play with a number of options. If you have other numbers, you can have calls to those forward to your banked number. Conversely, you can hand out just your banked number and have all calls to it forwarded to your mobile phone of a different number. The service has been planned for a while, but wasn’t slated to be rolled out until later this year or early next year. However, with the VoIP provider SunRocket going under, RNK saw the need to get this out to the public as quickly as possible.

“SunRocket’s sudden demise is a harsh reminder of the potential vulnerability facing VoIP customers, as we are all operating in an emerging market in which governing rules and regulations are still being defined,” said [Richard] Koch [president and CEO of RNK]. “There remain important distinctions between VoIP and traditional telephone service, including notice requirements prior to loss of service – often not mandated for VoIP providers. As a fully regulated telephone company, which offers both PSTN and VoIP service, RNK is in the unique position to offer a truly secure option for VoIP and traditional telephone subscribers to keep their telephone numbers for as long as they like. With PNB, your phone number belongs to you, and not the company providing the phone line.”

We definitely like the idea of owning things, and our phone number seems like something that should be ours, not the phone company’s. As long distance charges become a thing of the past, it’s becoming more and more reasonable for people to keep their numbers for life. The only problem we see is price. There’s a $30 activation fee, which covers the first month of service, and it is $10 per month thereafter. So basically you’re adding $10 to your phone bill. We suppose that could be worth it if you have multiple phone lines. But if you’re a cellphone only kinda person, it seems like a needless $10. P.S. Here’s a graph on the site. Can you pick out what’s wrong? Yeah, wethinks that the $10 should be on top of the $50, rather than next to it. Because if you sign up for this, you’re in it for $60 per month, not $10. Thanks for the bit of deception, though. [Phone Number Bank] via [TMCnet]]]>