Stewart says: "None of the major VOIP carriers offer a local number so it is of no use for incoming. As I already bundle my phone service and have unlimited dialing plus all the calling features plus have an international plan it makes no financial sense to me. Until a VOIP service offers local numbers I cannot look at any of them."
However with MagicJack you select the area code you want to use and the company then assigns you a number within that area code. If you choose, for example, 202, that's very local. You can travel with the MagicJack, and if you use it overseas, you still have the USA connection with (for example) the 202 area code. You can also change your phone number at the my.magicjack.com website. I believe changing it once is free, and there's a charge for changing it more than one time. I have done that once (no charge). (BTW, if most of your family is in CA you can choose a CA area code and then their calls to you will be local.) ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
