2nd phone line, different area code than where I live

Posts: 174 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Dec 06, 2006 Posts: 174

I experimented on my two Vonage lines to see what would happen if I used V-Access and here are the results that were visible on my Vonage Dashboard.

The calling number dashboard activity report:
The V-Access number appears and indicates a one minute call, then, immediately above it, the number to which the call was relayed was displayed.

The receiving number dashboard activity report:
Even though the V-Access number was utilized by the calling number, the dashboard displayed the originating telephone number in the receiving number activity.

This is based on the Vonage Dashboard reporting of one Vonage line calling another. Other services may display different data.

Posts: 350 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Dec 04, 2005 Posts: 350

That is because you called from a Vonage phone line. Hence why I said earlier in the thread "if you call a V-Access number from a non-Vonage phone, the caller (or their phone company, bill, etc) would not reflect the number ultimately connected to". If the call originates from a non Vonage phone, there is absolutely no way that the originating side will know the ultimate destination.

Posts: 174 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Dec 06, 2006 Posts: 174

OK, I got it.

This would still leave bimple with the other half of the problem for which he was seeking a solution, the displaying of a Westchester caller ID when he calls her on his Vonage line - or would the V-Access take care of that also if bimple used V-Access to call her?

Posts: 881 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Nov 05, 2005 Posts: 881

tophtml wrote:

OK, I got it.

This would still leave bimple with the other half of the problem for which he was seeking a solution, the displaying of a Westchester caller ID when he calls her on his Vonage line - or would the V-Access take care of that also if bimple used V-Access to call her?

The V-Access feature is for Vonage users to share with non-Vonage users. A Vonage subscriber would NOT and could NOT use a V-Access number to call a non-Vonage phone...it would NOT work. Also, bimple lives in Ann Arbor Michigan not WestChester.

As trekologer suggested he could get a virtual number with a WestChester area code and then when he calls her, her caller id will display an incoming local call even though he is in AA Michigan. If he wants to he could also change his current Vonage phone number to a WestChester New York phone number. If he chose this route, his calls to her will appear on her caller id as local and all calls she make to him would be local because he has a WestChester number. Keep in mind though anyone else calling him in Ann Arbor Michigan would be making a long distance call because they are now dialing a WestChester NY number.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 27, 2008 Posts: 4

thanks for all of the replies - I really appreciate your interest in this. Lots of great info. The main reason I want to have it appear as a NY phone number when I call her or she calls me is not to obfuscate the fact that I am calling her, as much as it is that I dont want her getting charged, because she has a crazy cell plan where she gets charged a lot of $ for just receiving long distance calls. We tried the v-access last night and she called me and it worked as advertised, however I was surprised by the fact that the caller ID on my phone showed her actual phone number and not the v-access number she was calling - it is no big deal to me - I have Vonage, and nobody here cares about getting long distance calls, but it just surprised me a bit to see her actual number pop up, and I just wanted to confirm that there would be no charges at all on her end due to her freaky cell plan. For now we can just deal with her calling me I suppose - we are always texting and msging each other as it is now, so it is nice to actually talk on the phone with no charge to her. I never really looked in to the v-access feature before, and I think it is awesome that Vonage has it available. I always assumed I would have to get a 2nd line or use a virtual phone number and am happy to know that is not the case.

Posts: 881 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Nov 05, 2005 Posts: 881

Even though she used the V-Access number to initiate her call to you, once the call is connected, her phone number will always display on your caller id, not the V-Access number. If the V-Access number appeared on your caller id, you wouldn't know who was calling you. You can share V-Access numbers if they are available to others who live outside of your area code. That way they too can call you for free.