Okay, you do NOT have to have actual money in your Gizmo account BUT you do have to have a credit card on file with them ---AND--- you have to provide a valid PSTN phone that will dual ring with SIPPHONE/CALLWAVE or else your gizmo softphone will NOT RING when someone dials your Area775 number.

Without meeting the aforementioned requirements, all calls to your free Area775 number go straight to Gizmo/CallWave voicemail.

I personally see little distinction between giving Gizmo my credit card # and actually depositing $10 with them (with the exception that they could charge my credit card alot more than ten dollars if I am careless or ignorant about how I answer calls ringing in from free Area775). Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-Gizmo SIPPHONE, but I think it is kind of sleazy the way they are doing the free Area775 dual ring/call transfer. The number is free to obtain, but to make it useful you have to pay them, or gamble on the $2 per incoming call thingy. It is a gimmick..... you MUST give them a credit card or deposit funds in the account --AND-- give them your mobile or landline numbers to get the Area775 to "ring" anything. Gizmo is hoping you (or one of your family members) goofs up and answers the landline or mobile so Gizmo/CallWave can charge you credit card $2 for everytime that happens. You won't find out in many cases until you get you credit card statement weeks later. After you do that a few times you will probably smarten up and pay them $3.95 per month for basic Area775, or $7.95 per month for premium Area775, or $12 for a Gizmo Call-In PSTN number for 3 months (all of which aren't too bad a deal in reality). I guess I just feel Gizmo is pulling a fast one with the fine print about the $2 per incident charge if you mistakenly ( or a friend or family member ) answer the wrong "device" when the FREE NUMBER rings.

Gizmo mentions that "free" Area775 service will not work "with hardware". I am uncertain what they mean exactly because my hardware (my hardware IP phone) does ring when anyone calls my Area775 number. What I do not know is if I'd be charged $2 if I pick up the incoming call on my IP Phone ( a reprogrammed Sunrocket 6011S ).

I do not have a credit card on file with Gizmo. I did give them $10 back in August. I have two IPKall number which both ring my Gizmo SIP, which ring my Gizmo softphone on PCs and my N800 --AND-- my 6011S IP phone. The IPkall numbers are PSTN numbers and they are free (truly free). I also have a Grand Central number in MY area code which was also free (but there is that screening process with Grand Central). The Grand Central number rings my Gizmo also (on the softphone and N800 and 6011S IP phones). All in all it is pretty nice....that and Skype-In and Skype-Out and I have zero need for a landline service and all the taxes the US puts on POTS telephone service. I do pay heavy phone taxes in the form of mobile phone service for now, but that will change when I transition to T-Mobile to Go in a couple months.

BTW- if you want people to have a way to ring your GizmoProject softphone (or SIP hardware) from the POTS network, Gizmo (and FreeWorldDialup) provide 20 telephone numbers around the USA that your non-geeky friends can call, then they enter your Gizmo SIP number ( the 747 number ) and it will ring your Gizmo softphone or hardware. This is nice. It is a way for POTS users to ring your SIP with no cost to you (and no cost to them if the PSTN number they use is not a long distance call for them). Here is a link to the 20 access numbers:

http://www.gizmoproject.com/access-numbers.html

Gizmo has something they refer to as All Calls Free ( ACF ). There are things that must be met to get that to apply. I won't get into the details here. You can read about it here:

http://www.gizmoproject.com/learnmore-allcallsfree.html

Hope this helps.

M5