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Google Voice - how reliable is it?
- Thread starter s1njin
- Start date
Hit google.com/voice on your PC. Check the ones you want to delete and hit the Delete button.
google.com/voice is a big plus IMO. I use it to SMS and to listen to voicemail (when the transcriptions fall short) all the time while at work. The IBM Model M keyboard beats anything else for typing IMO.
Answered above but: nope.
You're referring to SMS forwarding which is something else entirely.
Holy crap is this common? I haven't given anybody my GV number yet !
skipcooney
Newbie
I love my GV. One thing that is a big help is if you have a circle or top ten people (ie: favorites list) make the number your phone calls for outgoing GV calls one of them so you don't burn minutes. For Verizon that is the 1400 minute family share plan and up. Don't know what the individual plan threshhold is.
OK, so how do I find the number that my phone calls for outgoing google voice calls?
D
Deleted User
Guest
Watch the call screen when making the call, it will show the number briefly or I suppose you could check your bill if you made any in the past month for the outgoing number it called.
skilaufen
Android Enthusiast
That is exactly how to get the number. When you make a call using GV it will dial a local number. In my case it has always been the same. List that as a favorite and you are good to go. (I actually learned about it from here so I'm glad I can pay it forward).
I only wish I would get some invites to pass out to others (not sure how they choose to give invite ability).
skipcooney
Newbie
Does google voice use the same access number when you travel away from home?
D
Deleted User
Guest
Good question, haven't been away travelling to find out but I'd assume the access number that is used is based on the rate center of your google voice number so yeah, I'd think the access number will always be the same.
AndroidsOfTara
Android Enthusiast
Best keyboards ever made. I use them on all of my computers except for the MacBook and Droid (obviously).
Highland Ranger
Well-Known Member
I don't get how that happened. So GV recorded almost 24 hours of dead air?
Presume this happened when someone called your cell and not your GV number. But if your GV number was part of your Friends and Family the forward is free.
Please explain as I have the same setup and don't need a 24 hour call billed to my cell.
I got a answer to my own question the hard way. In short, I found the service to be punishingly buggy for voice calls (verified by the large amount of similar posts in the Google Voice problem solving forums) but remarkably steller for texting.
The below is a 2x post from another thread, but its related so I'll cut/paste:
**********************
Well, since you asked:
A. Calls would ring phones that were clearly not enabled. Enabling/disabling did not help. Removing them outright did.
B. Calling my house from my GV enabled cellphone would send me right to Google Voicemail, regardless if the house phone was enabled or not. *73 on my cell did not fix the problem, nor did completely disabling voicemail and detaching.
C. People calling my number would end up in Google VM instead of Verizon VM - which I explicitly did NOT want. Again, Google VM was disabled everywhere, *73s dialed, etc.
It was just punishingly buggy for me.
The text portion is fantastic though. I just know I won't be able to get my friends and family to remember to text to a diff't number - it just won't happen.
*******************
I ended up disabling all my phones on my GV, calling Verizon and changing my phone number, doing a factory reset of my phone, and essentially starting over clean. I'll miss the free texting (and am pissed I'm now paying for them), but at least I have no fear that when people call my phone it will actually ring or go to the right VM (the only VM now !!).
The below is a 2x post from another thread, but its related so I'll cut/paste:
**********************
Well, since you asked:
A. Calls would ring phones that were clearly not enabled. Enabling/disabling did not help. Removing them outright did.
B. Calling my house from my GV enabled cellphone would send me right to Google Voicemail, regardless if the house phone was enabled or not. *73 on my cell did not fix the problem, nor did completely disabling voicemail and detaching.
C. People calling my number would end up in Google VM instead of Verizon VM - which I explicitly did NOT want. Again, Google VM was disabled everywhere, *73s dialed, etc.
It was just punishingly buggy for me.
The text portion is fantastic though. I just know I won't be able to get my friends and family to remember to text to a diff't number - it just won't happen.
*******************
I ended up disabling all my phones on my GV, calling Verizon and changing my phone number, doing a factory reset of my phone, and essentially starting over clean. I'll miss the free texting (and am pissed I'm now paying for them), but at least I have no fear that when people call my phone it will actually ring or go to the right VM (the only VM now !!).
johnnybirdman
Android Enthusiast
I don't think this is common, no. I still use GV and like the service.
johnnybirdman
Android Enthusiast
I don't blame GV, I blame Verizon. No, there was not a 24 hour voicemail. From what I can tell I didn't answer the call and the person who called didn't leave a message. It just appears that something got stuck on Verizon and the call just kept going.
From the bill (you can see a cutout posted here Google Voice, Verizon and the 24 hour phone call. | KrotoBlog where I did a writeup) you can see the detail of the call which stats NoAnsBusyXfr which to me means the conditional transfer was applied to the call and it was sent to GV.
Regardless of who is to blame, once that call went through I don't think there would have been any way to stop it.
I was lucky and Verizon agreed to credit me the amount but I still had to pay the entire bill up front.
I still use GV and this won't stop me unless it happens again.
J.
johnnybirdman
Android Enthusiast
No offense but this doesn't sound like whomever posted this (you or someone else) knows or understands how to use GV.
Point 'C' makes that clear
If 'my number' is the GV number then there is no way a caller could/would ever get to your Verizon VM with the current GV systems way of operation. If 'my number' is your Verizon number then the problem of conditional forwarding taking over is a Verizon problem, not a GV problem.
Also, the problem of calls going straight to VM could be the settings in GV that allow you to send numbers, callers individually, and groups, straight to voicemail.
Sounds like you had a 'ruff go of it. Sorry to hear.
J.
AndroidsOfTara
Android Enthusiast
He posted the message you're referring to.
Based on that message and another he left on the topic, I'm inclined to agree on the lack of knowledge regarding how to use GV... or the possibility that he's got some other call forwarding going on on his land and cell lines that's causing issues with GV.
I've had my GV number since before Google bought what was then known as Grand Central, but I didn't start using it exclusively until early December when I got my Droid. I love the service, but will say that Google really needs to do some work on the GV website. The settings are a confusing mess and I can easily see how one can make configuration mistakes.
johnnybirdman
Android Enthusiast
N
noahas
Guest
I have been using GV since GrandCentral days as well. My favorite part is being able to use a desktop client to easily send and receive texts including to multiple participants, especially nice when on the computer all day at work:
GVNotifier : Dave Amenta .com
works great and developer is very responsive. Donationware.
It will be even better when you can send texts from the Gmail webpage using GV rather than some made up number using the Google Labs feature for your contacts.
GVNotifier : Dave Amenta .com
works great and developer is very responsive. Donationware.
It will be even better when you can send texts from the Gmail webpage using GV rather than some made up number using the Google Labs feature for your contacts.
D
Deleted User
Guest
If you use chrome there is a google voice extension that works great, notifies of new notifications and you can SMS directly from it.
somnambulus
Member
Does anybody know if mobile calls routed through GV still count as 'free mobile to mobile' calls from Sprint? I'd like to use my GV as my main number, but it would kind of suck if it drained my regular minutes.
D
Deleted User
Guest
If someone calls your google voice number from a mobile number and you have it configured to show the callers ID and not your GV caller ID, then it'll count as free mobile call.
Edit: I am on Sprint, and just looked at one of my bills and verified the above is correct.
Outgoing calls through GV that dial through the GV access number count against your minutes.
custangro
Member
Not sure for Sprint...
But for Verizon yes it uses the "regular" minutes...but there is a "trick".
With Verizon I have the 10 friends and family plan thing. So i added my GV number as one of the free ones.
Then in my GV settings I set it where it shows my GV number in the Caller ID ...then just use the web interface to make calls. And all incoming calls are free
Kinda of a hack but it makes all my calls with GV free
D
Deleted User
Guest
Not sure for Sprint...
But for Verizon yes it uses the "regular" minutes...but there is a "trick".
With Verizon I have the 10 friends and family plan thing. So i added my GV number as one of the free ones.
Then in my GV settings I set it where it shows my GV number in the Caller ID ...then just use the web interface to make calls. And all incoming calls are free
Kinda of a hack but it makes all my calls with GV free
Why not add the GV access number to your 10 friends and family, then you can directly do outbound calls through android for free?