We have had a landline for decades. It basically only receives spam calls, so no one ever answers it. I’d like to get rid of it and stop paying Xfinity $50/month, but my wife prefers to keep it as the number we can give to potential spammers.
Everyone in the house already has a mobile. Is there a way to save the number? We’d basically only check voicemail and the rare call. I saw old Samsung Galaxy Tabs can act as a phone.
If you’ve an iPhone that can do dual sim, open an Xfinity Mobile account and sign it up for By the Gig ($15/mo) and keep the number with a second line.
If you want the ability to use the number, many current phones including iPhones allow for two eSIMs so you could make the number a second number for your cell. But you have to pay for the 2nd line.
I suspect the lowest cost way to keep it just in case is a service like this for $3 a month
Collect the phone number from a spammer. Return that number to all future spammers. No further need for land line number.
Old, defunct phone numbers also make great security passwords or basis for PINs.
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JJW
Port it to Google Voice?
You could transfer the number to a VOIP service. Or . . .
AFAIK that is possible with most US phone numbers.
I have a free Google Voice number than originally I got from Grand Central. It’s the number that I give to vendors like Comcast and Amazon, etc. and never answer. I get a text with a transcript of the message any time someone leaves a voice mail.
Just a caveat that I believe this may require porting to a mobile account as an intermediate before it can be ported to Google Voice.
Take a look at Ooma - a VOIP box. The base plan is just a few dollars a month. Port your number there.
In 2019 I ported my landline to a pay-as-you-go line from Tracfone. Then, ported it from Tracfone to a free Google Voice number. I think Google Voice only allows mobile numbers to be ported into Google Voice. The process took about a month but only due to waiting on the ports to take place.
I’ve used Number Barn. You can set it up as a voicemail box, a forwarder, or just a dead-end with an outgoing message telling people to call you on your other phone number - Call Forwarding for Toll Free & Local Phone Numbers from NumberBarn
+1 for Google Voice. Number was ported in minutes and works very well.