Re: [Linphone-users] Recent Windows Refugee - To Zorin OS 16.3 Pro

[Jaroslaw Rafa]

Dnia 25.09.2023 o godz. 14:23:57 john.m.hopkins Hopkins pisze:
> 
> Currently residing in Poland.
> 
> Previous skype subscriber.
> 
> Primary functions:
> 
> 1) This is not for Business: strictly occasional one-on-one personal use.
> 
> 2) U.S. "landline" number for U.S. caller ID functionality. ("DID"?
> "SIP"???)…
> 
> This was a fee-based subscription.
[...]
> 5) I am currently subscribed to skype with the aforementioned "landline
> number" (area code 651-);
> 
> All microsoft-associated services will be terminated (i.e. skype).
[...]
> If the aforementioned "landline number" is "ported over", will I need to
> maintain my skype subscription to keep this number?
[...]
> IFAIK, a "softphone"  desktop interface is necessary.(??)

Was your landline number provided by Skype or some other phone provider?

How do you exactly plan to "port over" the number?

As far as I know, Skype (as a provider) does not use SIP on client side;
they have their own protocol that only Skype (as an application) uses. So
if the number stays with Skype (provider), you need to keep your Skype
account and your Skype application.

If you are able to transfer the number (via the administrative process) from
Skype (provider) to another phone provider that uses standard SIP - or if
your number is already handled by such a provider - you may use any
SIP-compatible softphone application (including Linphone, which this mailing
list is devoted to).

Whether video calling and/or SMS functionality will be possible, it depends
on the provider. Usually these functions are not available with calls
from/to regular phone network, but *may* be available with pure SIP-to-SIP
calls (depending also on application capabilities on both ends). Linphone
supports these features, but the application on the other end, or the
provider, might not support them.

I don't know if the administrative process I'm referring to does exist in
the US; in Poland, if you are a subscriber to any phone provider and have a
Polish phone number, you can request to have that number administratively
transferred to another Polish provider you choose; ie. you are changing a
provider while keeping your phone number.

As you are located in Poland, have you considered subscribing to a Polish
phone provider (for example https://www.ipfon.pl/ ) and obtaining a Polish
phone number instead the US number you use currently? Is it a viable option
for you?
-- 
Regards,
   Jaroslaw Rafa
   raj@rafa.eu.org
--
"In a million years, when kids go to school, they're gonna know: once there
was a Hushpuppy, and she lived with her daddy in the Bathtub."