Porting number to Google Voice to scrap texting plan? Safe idea?

[antef]

Unless you have a data plan and smart phone, it isn't easy to make sure your calls all originate from your GV number.

Yes, I'd be using the GV app on Android.

 

[Thegonagle]

Unless you have a data plan and smart phone, it isn't easy to make sure your calls all originate from your GV number.

That's true. Anyone you call with your cell phone will pretty much have your real phone number, unless you use a GV app to place the call. And they'll add that number to their contacts and eventually just call and text you on your cell phone anyway, bypassing GV.

Get used to telling people, "Oh, I didn't get that text message because text is blocked on that number. You need to text this other number."

And get used to people thinking "how odd."

 

[antef]

That's true. Anyone you call with your cell phone will pretty much have your real phone number, unless you use a GV app to place the call. And they'll add that number to their contacts and eventually just call and text you on your cell phone anyway, bypassing GV.

Get used to telling people, "Oh, I didn't get that text message because text is blocked on that number. You need to text this other number."

And get used to people thinking "how odd."

There is an option in the GV app, "Use Google Voice to make all calls." I assumed that option would take care of always using GV and my GV number, even when I use the regular phone app. For texting, yes, I'd have to do it through the GV app, anything coming from the stock Messaging app would appear from my new AT&T-provided number.

 

[MrX8503]

I'm not sure what its like on the android side, but the gv app on the iphone isn't very reliable. Text and calls wouldn't come through on some occasions.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

I live gv. The only downside is if you have like free mobile to mobile minutes they won't be free anymore since your gv # is basically a land line.

Thanks for bringing that up. That's a huge deal breaker for me since 99% of my calls are mobile to mobile and that's how I get away with the lowest minute plan on my carrier.

If you dont care about losing caller id, you can basically get all calls free if your using your google voice number.

In your google voice settings, have it show your google voice number when people call. Then add your google voice number as one of your "5 favorites" (which i think ATT still does) All calls wont count against your mintues, you just wont have caller id anymore when forwarding to that phone.

Another option would be to install grooveip or something like it to make calls over wifi. Then when your home, or anywhere that has wifi, you can use that instead of wasting your minutes.

I use grooveip and google voice on my other android phone (captivate) and basically have a full featured phone as long as its connected to wifi.

I have set up friends who dont have cell phone with this setup, and they bascially pay nothing a month, but have cell phones as long as their on wifi.

I'm not sure what its like on the android side, but the gv app on the iphone isn't very reliable. Text and calls wouldn't come through on some occasions.

My biggest complaint is that they could make improvements to the app, which really hasnt changed at all for as long as ive used it.

Its pretty reliable for the most part. The only problem i have came across is sometimes when im going in and out of bad service areas, sometimes google voice doesnt pick up the connection, so i have to turn data on and off to get it working again. Doesnt happen too much, but its kinda annoying.

Havent had any probs with calls afaik. It would be nice if they updated the app, and started supporting mms, or at least mms to email.

 

[ponyo]

fav 5 trick doesn't work anymore with Google Voice. It's technically still possible but you have to use really old Google Voice apk. Newer update disabled that trick as the called landline number is random now.

GrooveIP is the way to go for free voice calls.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I considered this, but text message is my messaging of last resort. What I mean is, normal text messages can be sent and received at times when you can't get data and even phone calls won't go through.
Google voice means that you can only get text messages when you can get data.

this is exactly the problem.

if you want to do mass messaging, I suggest using a text replacement app, given that your friends are avid messagers. Most people who like to do a lot of mobile chatting have moved on to Whatsapp and other similar apps. However, if people are still stuck on SMS, then GVoice is certainly an option.

 

[Dari]

Why don't you just give people your GV number and have them call and text you there? And get a data plan so that you can send and receive texts from your email.

 

[kyrax12]

when you call someone using google voice.. it shows GV's number on their caller ID right?

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

when you call someone using google voice.. it shows GV's number on their caller ID right?

yes

fav 5 trick doesn't work anymore with Google Voice. It's technically still possible but you have to use really old Google Voice apk. Newer update disabled that trick as the called landline number is random now.

GrooveIP is the way to go for free voice calls.

Theres gotta be a way to get free calls, using the callback app or something like that. I never looked into it because i dont use anywhere close to my max.

But yea grooveip works great, and theres no delay either. If i have both my phones side by side, the phone without the sim and grooveip installed always rings first.

I've never tried to use it over 3g or edge, but id like to find out how it performs. Then, if its possible, i can just drop texts and minutes altogether and buy like a tablet-like plan for my phone.

Anyone have experience with this?

 

[antef]

Why don't you just give people your GV number and have them call and text you there? And get a data plan so that you can send and receive texts from your email.

I'm confused by your suggestion...that is exactly what this thread is about doing, only I mentioned PORTING my current number to GV and having that become my GV number, so my number doesn't change and people I talk to can use the same number they do today. I think Google lets you do this for a one-time $20 fee or something. A data plan is a given, but I wouldn't be doing any SMS from email except for from a PC.

But yea grooveip works great, and theres no delay either. If i have both my phones side by side, the phone without the sim and grooveip installed always rings first.

I've never tried to use it over 3g or edge, but id like to find out how it performs. Then, if its possible, i can just drop texts and minutes altogether and buy like a tablet-like plan for my phone.

Anyone have experience with this?

I considered this as well, problem though is that you won't get a subsidized phone with a tablet plan. So for example if a subsidized phone costs $200 and a full retail one is $550, that's $350 extra you're spending which works out to almost $15/mo over a 2 year contract. Considering tablet data plans are like $50/mo at least themselves, you're not really saving much.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

I've considered switching to GV for SMS, at least if I loose the $5/month 200 text plan I'm grandfathered into. Having to go to $30 unlimited is retarded when I send ~40 texts/month!

However, I've found that a few numbers are not able to call me on my GV number. Most notably from my work phone a get an error message. Because of this I really don't want to give out my GV number if I want someone to be able to contact me, since I can't be sure it will work! There are plenty of other people complaining about the same thing. As usual it's something they're "working on"... I'm not holding my breath for MMS either, since that's been "on the way" for years.

 

[abaez]

Theres gotta be a way to get free calls, using the callback app or something like that. I never looked into it because i dont use anywhere close to my max.

There is, you call your GV number, then 2* then the number you want to call. Then your phone rings with your GV number and you pick it up and the number you dialed will be ringing. It's weird and time consuming but it works.

But yea grooveip works great, and theres no delay either. If i have both my phones side by side, the phone without the sim and grooveip installed always rings first.

I've never tried to use it over 3g or edge, but id like to find out how it performs. Then, if its possible, i can just drop texts and minutes altogether and buy like a tablet-like plan for my phone.

Anyone have experience with this?

3G with VOIP still does not work well at all. Maybe 50% of the time. The rest of the time you sound weird or there are delays or whatever.

Wifi works great though.

 

[Dari]

I'm confused by your suggestion...that is exactly what this thread is about doing, only I mentioned PORTING my current number to GV and having that become my GV number, so my number doesn't change and people I talk to can use the same number they do today. I think Google lets you do this for a one-time $20 fee or something. A data plan is a given, but I wouldn't be doing any SMS from email except for from a PC.

What are you confused about? GV is free so you wouldn't lose anything by giving out your GV number and have people contact you that way. You would just have your calls forwarded to your cell number and your texts forwarded to your email address. When someone texts you and when you reply, as far as they are concerned, they are texting a number. I mentioned getting a data plan so you can get your emails. Or just use wifi if that is usually around.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

We just did the Google Voice switch for my wife for her first smart phone. We added a new line then paid the $20 to Google to take the number from our carrier.

We made the mistake of configuring GV to forward texts to her number, so we got hit by about 80 incoming texts that we have to pay for. Only the incoming texts were going through VZW, the GV app was sending the outgoing reply texts via GV.

Her brother-in-law walked her through the settings to change on the GV site as well as in her phone when I wasn't here, so I'm not sure all what she changed to make all texts only go through GV, but now VZW isn't registering any texts on the new line anymore so whatever he had her do did the trick.

 

[Reckoner]

Google voice sprint integration ftw

 

[antef]

What are you confused about? GV is free so you wouldn't lose anything by giving out your GV number and have people contact you that way. You would just have your calls forwarded to your cell number and your texts forwarded to your email address. When someone texts you and when you reply, as far as they are concerned, they are texting a number. I mentioned getting a data plan so you can get your emails. Or just use wifi if that is usually around.

What I'm saying is, I'm not sure why you're suggesting giving out people a new (GV) number. My plan is to port my current number to GV so that I don't have to give anyone a new number. As far as they're concerned nothing has changed, and then I will forward GV calls to my new cell number and text for free. There's no need to forward texts to email either since I can text using the GV app.

We just did the Google Voice switch for my wife for her first smart phone. We added a new line then paid the $20 to Google to take the number from our carrier.

We made the mistake of configuring GV to forward texts to her number, so we got hit by about 80 incoming texts that we have to pay for. Only the incoming texts were going through VZW, the GV app was sending the outgoing reply texts via GV.

Her brother-in-law walked her through the settings to change on the GV site as well as in her phone when I wasn't here, so I'm not sure all what she changed to make all texts only go through GV, but now VZW isn't registering any texts on the new line anymore so whatever he had her do did the trick.

Sounds good, I'd like to hear if this works out for her! This is my exact plan.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

It has worked well so far. Our VZW usage page shows no more texts going through the cell network.

The only problem is the data connection is sometimes intermittent for some reason. Since I don't have a smart phone yet, she uses Google Talk to message me at work, and yesterday she was in the grocery store messaging me on GTalk and I wasn't getting her messages. So she had to call me up to ask me the questions she needed answered. I have no idea if her messages would have gone through if she were using GV to actually text me.

But as far as simply using her old number through Google Voice, everybody is still using her old number and basically has no idea that they're getting forwarded through Google Voice.

 

[Dari]

What I'm saying is, I'm not sure why you're suggesting giving out people a new (GV) number. My plan is to port my current number to GV so that I don't have to give anyone a new number. As far as they're concerned nothing has changed, and then I will forward GV calls to my new cell number and text for free. There's no need to forward texts to email either since I can text using the GV app.



Sounds good, I'd like to hear if this works out for her! This is my exact plan.

I understand now. That should work. Good luck.

 

[TuxDave]

If you dont care about losing caller id, you can basically get all calls free if your using your google voice number.

In your google voice settings, have it show your google voice number when people call. Then add your google voice number as one of your "5 favorites" (which i think ATT still does) All calls wont count against your mintues, you just wont have caller id anymore when forwarding to that phone.

I didn't get the option for favorite 5. I'm a family plan with my wife and so calling within that family plan is unlimited. The hassle of getting us both to google voice isn't worth it.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

I didn't get the option for favorite 5. I'm a family plan with my wife and so calling within that family plan is unlimited. The hassle of getting us both to google voice isn't worth it.

I think most people move to GV for free texting (that doesn't require everyone you text to use some app). Not all carriers make you pay explicitly for a texting plan but on those carriers that do (VZW certainly does) then the "hassle" is worth saving $10 to $30 a month. Using the Fav 5 to then not go over your minutes is just a corollary part of making GV work.

If you're on a carrier that bundles texting for a cheap base price, then obviously the hassle would come down to other considerations (being able to change carriers on a whim without getting everyone to use a different number for you, is another one). Obviously, the GV option isn't the ideal solution for everyone. I don't think anybody has ever said it is.

 

[manly]

We just did the Google Voice switch for my wife for her first smart phone. We added a new line then paid the $20 to Google to take the number from our carrier.

We made the mistake of configuring GV to forward texts to her number, so we got hit by about 80 incoming texts that we have to pay for. Only the incoming texts were going through VZW, the GV app was sending the outgoing reply texts via GV.

Her brother-in-law walked her through the settings to change on the GV site as well as in her phone when I wasn't here, so I'm not sure all what she changed to make all texts only go through GV, but now VZW isn't registering any texts on the new line anymore so whatever he had her do did the trick.

It's just a simple checkbox in Google Voice settings.

Thegonagle has already stated what the problem is between juggling both a GV # and the real cellular #. If the mobile number leaks out, your contacts get confused and text you on either number or maybe even not at all.

 

[Hogan773]

It's just a simple checkbox in Google Voice settings.

Thegonagle has already stated what the problem is between juggling both a GV # and the real cellular #. If the mobile number leaks out, your contacts get confused and text you on either number or maybe even not at all.

I don't see the big deal here. I didn't bother porting my number to GV - I just signed up for a different number. For texts, I set it so that GV does the texting. When I text someone, they see my GV number. They can reply to that. I ask them to use that number if they text me. If you're really concerned that someone will get confused and start texting on your "real" phone number (and therefore incurring SMS charges) then you could request a SMS block on the phone.

I generally have the rest of GV set to be out of the way.....ie, "don't use GV to make any calls". However there are certain times that it is nice to have GV turned on, if you want anonymity when you're calling. So you can switch it on, and then the caller would see your GV number instead of your real number. That way you're protecting your "real" phone number.

In any case, it certainly beats paying real cash for friggin text messages. $20 or $30 "unlimited" plan is just ghey......

 

[LokutusofBorg]

If you're really concerned that someone will get confused and start texting on your "real" phone number (and therefore incurring SMS charges) then you could request a SMS block on the phone.

What would/does the sender get if you have an SMS block on your line? I'm considering doing this, as spam texts that I have to pay for piss me off to no end. I want to block the spams, but I'm curious what a real person would encounter trying to text me on the "wrong" number.

 

[palswim]

What would/does the sender get if you have an SMS block on your line? I'm considering doing this, as spam texts that I have to pay for piss me off to no end. I want to block the spams, but I'm curious what a real person would encounter trying to text me on the "wrong" number.

On T-Mobile, the people who texted my cell number (receives no SMS messages) received nothing indicating that I don't receive texts. One day, I went to work on a day that my boss had tried to communicate we had a holiday by text. Other than that, I haven't had too many problems.