ZADARMA.com for DID (virtual numbers)?

[Sam Finkelstein]

Thanks everyone for your input.

In the end I decided to go with Callcentric. 2˘ per minute.

[ExGingi]

I was looking for an Israeli virtual number that is capable of receiving sms and found Zadarama.com

It is based in Bulgaria.

If you want to pay by CC, they ask you to upload scan of your ID. I didn't feel safe with that, so I paid by PayPal (minimum is $5 for either option).

However, it seems that in order to receive SMS, I still need to upload a copy of my ID. I am a little scared to do that. Any suggestions or experience?

With no setup fee and only $2/month for an Israeli number it sounds like a great deal. But ID safety would need to be addressed.

Various circumstances make it necessary for me to obtain an Israeli DID where I can receive SMS (and possibly calls). Since I'm doing this for a family member, and don't really fear identity theft, I decided to take the plunge, open it up under that family member's name, and provide a copy of the passport.

Firstly, in order to set up the account, one needs to enter an existing phone number. I tried entering numbers I had from Callcentric, and it didn't accept them, similar to GV not accepting them for verification upon setup of a new GV number.

I then uploaded a photo of the ID page of the passport. After about 36 hours, I got a response that they need a color scan of a full spread. Luckily I had that available too, but withing minutes of uploading that scan I received the following:

The documents you have uploaded cannot be accepted. It is necessary to upload a photo with double page spread of the passport in your hands. You should place the passport in front of a piece of paper with handwritten word Zadarma and today’s date, as shown in the example. Example - https://zadarma.com/downloads/verification_id.png

The actually want a photo of the person who's ID is being used, holding the ID in front of a paper that has the word Zadarma handwritten along with a current date!

This is becoming a major hassle, but I hope to overcome this hurdle too within the next couple of days. In the meantime, I have set up their PBX which allows me to route incoming calls to the virtual number I purchased to a SIP Phone (or the Zadarma app). I tested it, and it works quite well.

[ludmila]

Asking for all this verification document is very weird, I had had my own FCC telecom carrier since 1998 and provided all these services, prepaid phone cards, virtual numbers, DIDs etc and all we needed was a phone number. I'll check with one of our DID providers about costs .

[ExGingi]

Asking for all this verification document is very weird, I had had my own FCC telecom carrier since 1998 and provided all these services, prepaid phone cards, virtual numbers, DIDs etc and all we needed was a phone number. I'll check with one of our DID providers about costs .

I was able to get an Israeli DID right away, but they restrict it from incoming SMS until ID verification is done. There are certain countries that have restrictions on DIDs. I am also guessing that they want to protect themselves from illegal activities (after all they do offer very competitive rates and services in Russia, and other Eastern European countries that do have a reputation for being places where illegal scams and hacking might be centered).

I am able to get an Israeli DID with incoming SMS from DIDWW for a little more, but they require a $50 deposit IIRC, and I don't think they have the nice PBX features that Zadarma offers.

I'm sure that if Zadarma wouldn't have their ID requirements, and English customer service was more polished, their business would grow by leaps and bounds. They have a very competitive offering once you're able to get past the ID requirements.

Giving out one's ID isn't viewed so negatively in other countries as it is in the US. This is actually what made me decide to take the plunge and give Zadarma a try with a copy of the family member's ID, since I was already giving copies of this ID to various places in order to get things done in Israel, that I figured one more place with a copy of the ID, and not really much they can do with it, couldn't hurt too badly.

[ExGingi]

Asking for all this verification document is very weird, I had had my own FCC telecom carrier since 1998 and provided all these services, prepaid phone cards, virtual numbers, DIDs etc and all we needed was a phone number. I'll check with one of our DID providers about costs .

Well. Turns out that callcentric (which was providing a free NY DID for years and now charges $1/month) also is requesting copies of ID and CC now.

[talmid chuchem]

Well. Turns out that callcentric (which was providing a free NY DID for years and now charges $1/month) also is requesting copies of ID and CC now.

Just opened 2 new CC accounts, & it wasn't requested

[ExGingi]

I don't know why my account was flagged for fraud. I'ts been around for years. Might be because I didn't have my name on it, rather my company name. The new $1 plan says residential only. So I guess giving my company info wouldn't have served me good. Put personal info there now. This is a US company that's been around for a while and is based in NY. I have a lot more comfort giving them info than a company based on Bulgaria.

[ExGingi]

I finally managed to jump through all the hoops and get Zadarma.com to give me an Israeli virtual number that's enabled to receive SMS.

However, when I send an SMS to that number from my US Verizon phone, it doesn't show up. And more importantly, when I try to receive an SMS from Israeli websites for verification purposes (the reason I needed this), those also don't show up.

Their support is saying

SMS reception is guaranteed only from the mobile numbers of the same country as the country of your Zadarma virtual number. We do not guarantee SMS reception from other countries and internet services because not all of them support international SMS message delivery.

and

Our service does not provide numbers for registration or verification in Internet resources. Infromation about receiving SMS can be found there https://zadarma.com/en/services/sms/

I am chatting online now with DIDWW to find out if their Virtual Numbers will work, and am being told

what regarding SMS, you should know that DIDWW can guarantee only correct delivery for locally made SMS (from local operators)

Internationally made SMS or via Internet SMS can not be guaranteed because it depends from sending operator to correctly send SMS to DIDWW side

International sent SMS are going through many nodes where SMS can get stuck or did not delivered further, but at this point there is not much what can be done from DIDWW side and sending operator needs to check why SMS was not delivered

Any tips?

[Moe Ginsburg]

Any tips?

Test it with other US carriers (AT&T, Sprint) and with Israeli cellphones.