First things first, F paypal.
And paypal can and does call you, to verify transactions. It’s likely the transaction would be reversed without a positive response.
Pirateship and others give the same discounts without the need for PP. If you sell on ebay it’s the same discounts as well when using their ship options.
I use PP shipping but there’s no need to now.
4 Likes
What is the big advantage of free outgoing calls through google voice when you normally get free outgoing calls as part of standard cell or voip telephone service? Just have your caller-id blocked automatically when making outgoing calls. I have t-mobile and that is how I have it set for outgoing calls. Everyone sees ‘private number’ or ‘unavailable’ unless I dial *82 to enable caller-id for that call only. (Note: if you call a toll-free number, this does not work, they see the ANI (billing telephone number), which is not the same as caller-id, and they are not allowed to sell numbers they identify using ANI, but for any non-toll-free number this works.)
Also, to avoid spam phone calls, I set up a virtual assistant-type screen for incoming calls ‘press something to continue’ when someone calls me, so robots (being robots, and AI is not yet sophisticated enough yet to understand instructions) just get disconnected or sent to voice mail.
Uh, I do not have cell or voip telephone service.
Well, it is an alternative I wanted to mention. I did not read all the way through the thread, so sorry if I missed something.
Also, the voip service I use can be connected to a standard wireline telephone, it just forwards the call if they pass through the screen I mentioned (dial some digits and optionally say your name) and you can choose to accept it or not. Takes care of 100% of spam calls, and can be forwarded to a landline, or to a cell phone, or to a softphone or to a voip phone, in sequence, or all at once, as you want to configure it. You can give out that number, and only those that pass the screening will make it through to your landline number that you can keep confidential. Also can forward text messages directly or to e-mail, if desired. Just a suggestion. But if you are determined to keep the landline (copper wire) you will likely get no additional features as the regional bell company (whichever it is) is likely doing all it can to drop that kind of service and get rid of the use of copper wire.
But you obviously have some dial tone service in your home. If you dont get free calling with that, your focus really should be on solving that waste of money.
I happen to LIKE my land line, cord-connected, telephone. And I’m not about to change. Period.
There is no bell company, of any sort or nature, anywhere near to where I live. I deal with a very small, rural, telephone company. They employ local, rural, people who have rural values. They do a truly excellent job taking care of my telephone needs and have done so for decades.
Not everyone lives in a city or suburb.
If you don’t want any advice on how to potentially alleviate spam calls, so be it. I was just trying to be helpful. None of this involved dropping your support of your mom-and-pop local telephone provider.
And I did not need, nor do I feel that I deserved, the geographical narcissism I perceived in the response.
Here endeth the lesson.
2 Likes
Apparently not, since you use Google Voice to make calls…
That’s pretty much the point - you may think you like your current landline service, and you may like the idea of the landline service, but you pretty clearly do not like your landline service all that much since you use a different service for one of the primary functions of that landline.
To each their own; I have preferences that I stick with despite there being better options, too. But when you’re making that decision, you’re accepting the hassles and incompatabilities that come with it. It’s not really any business’s fault, it’s mostly a consequence you’ve brought on yourself.
1 Like
Uh, another poster (jerosen) solved that issue for me up thread.
I apologize to jerosen for my failure earlier to say “thank you”. It got past me. But I thank you now. Your counsel was most helpful.
You know little to nothing about the peculiarities of my telephone needs and use patterns. And your assumptions are wildly wide of the mark. But it’s OK. If your presumptuous assertiveness bolsters your self esteem, a valid need has been fulfilled.
Typical city
I didnt make any assumptions, I read and responded to what you wrote.
Regardless, when amongst friends, there is no need to lash out with defensive insults. Nobody is trying to force, or even expects, you to change anything. Some outside perspective regarding decades-long preferences should be appreciated, even if it doesnt compel you to make any changes.
My own father has been very much like you regarding phone services (besides not using GV). After about 15 years of knowing about my cheap VOIP service but not even considering it, just this summer he finally asked for more details and decided it was a better, much cheaper option to give a try.
2 Likes
My interest is “Good-bye PayPal”.
In past years I have been using PayPal because of easy transactions in purchase of goods. When buying items across the country, using PP eliminated filling out your information. Just sign in, PP easily finished the operation and you’re on your way.
But reasonable people (myself) got caught in their scam. I made a purchase of “micro irrigation fitting barb couplings” $76.37. Should have been 4 bags @25 items per bag. I received 1 small bag with 4 items (couplings). Paid by PayPal. First of all I contacted my Citi DC card to complain. They immediately deducted the charge. About a month later Citi denied claim. Then I directed my claim against PayPal.
Getting ahold of PP is almost impossible. Finally I reached a jerk in India. A real scum-bag!! He tried every way to get my credit information. “He said, don’t worry, I‘ll see to it, you’ll get your $76.37”. Short story, I finally said forget it and hung up. He even called me several more times.
I lost my money and really no merchandise in hand. Lesson learned!! No more business with PayPal!! 
4 Likes
That really does seem suspicious. He had access to your PayPal account. What excuse did he give for wanting the credit information?
3 Likes
What do you use VOIP for? I’ve had only a cell phone for years.
Paypal is a bad company. When the stock market crashed I sold around 50k worth of gold coins in April 2020. They sat on my money for months making me provide receipts to prove where I bought the stuff from. Their slow payment ended up costing me thousands of dollars because the stock market went up rapidly while I was waiting to get the funds.
I ended up talking to a manager who finally gave me my money. It went like this: “I thought Paypal was designed to be a quick way to send money”? He replied “It is a fast way to send money!”… to which I replied, “Then why I am waiting 3 months to get the money that people sent me while you guys are goofing off and collecting interest with my money?”
6 Likes
Although I don’t ever like to see crooks win, and this ain’t much of a balm, losing $75 bucks to learn the paypal lesson is not the worst think that will happen to you this decade … and if it is, … put an extra large tip in the tray on Sunday. 
1 Like
I use VOIP for “land” line numbers. I don’t give my real cell number to many people. I save my google voice numbers for craigslist and facebook sales.