Hi! Due to some discounts, etc., I find myself with an extra line on my cell phone account that I can’t cancel for two years. However, I could drop one of my other five lines and change the phone number for me or a family member.
It occurred to me that I could transfer the number of one of those lines to Google Voice and pretend it’s still my number.
So, any Voice users out there? If so, I have questions:
How transparent is it? Can I effectively give it out as my number?
What about texting/SMS? Can it work as the second factor for two-factor authorizations?
Does it use a lot of data?
When you call someone, does your Voice number show up or your real cell phone number?
Can you share your general impression of the convenience, transparency, advantages, and disadvantages? Thanks!
I’ve been using voice for over 10 years IIRC. I didn’t transfer to it, I abandoned my old number and got one provisioned through the app. The functionality of it is greatly reduced if you only use it for call forwarding.
For me, I give it as my only number.
I text and SMS through it exclusively. It has issues receiving certain iPhone specific address cards, and some images. I use it for the two factor.
I don’t notice a lot of data usage.
My voice number is the only thing that others see. I don’t even know the number from my carrier.
I really like it. I can text from computer too, it integrates automatically with phone. It transcribes voicemail, sends text for missed calls, and is really convenient.
One advantage to GV is that you can use it from a tablet or a phone with no dialing plan, as long as you have WiFi. For a while, I used an old iPod Touch instead of a phone.
Oh yeah, when I switch phones which I’ve done several times, having google voice is pretty awesome. I get the app, log in, and then all my phone stuff is automatically there. Combine that with Android’s integration with google, and switching phones takes about 1 minute of setup time.
Bone, what do you mean that the functionality is greatly reduced if you only use it for call forwarding? I mean, I don’t think that’s what I’m planning to do, but I may not understand what you’re saying.
Like, the voicemail transcription - can’t do that if you use the carrier number.
Voice has their own dedicated numbers. But you don’t have to use those. You can keep your carrier provided number and have those calls sent to voice. You use voice, but everyone will still use the old number. For me, that’s not that useful - portability, the web integration, voicemail, etc. are all not usable that way.
For other purposes I have set up a voice number purely for texts and you can do that too, but for a true calling/phone/everything environment, you need to use the voice number. It was difficult to switch way back when, but after that I’ve never switched again and even after changing phones and carriers many times it’s always seamless.
My understanding is that you can’t move your carrier number to GV. That may have changed, but that’s not how I understand GV to work. GV has their own numbers - they are all VOIP numbers so I’m not sure how a carrier number moving to GV would work.
I’ve had GV for nearly a decade. I primarily use it to forward to all my different phone lines. When I hear the “office” and home landline ringing at the same time, I know it’s someone I gave the GV number to. But it’s also really handy for use when I’m traveling internationally, and for doing SMS on the computer where I sit all day. My mobile is a bit of an afterthought, a FreedomPop plan that costs $3 per month.
As with all VOIP, there can be distracting latency when talking on it (though tonight I had terrible latency calling a neighbor’s mobile from my landline).
I do notice that sometimes 2FA and similar schemes won’t accept my GV number. Sometimes they won’t take the underlying FreedomPop number, either, so I have to put in my brother’s number and have him call me with the code.
I use only the voicemail functionality, but for that it’s great. The transcribing isn’t perfect and is sometimes amusing, but it’s more than enough to screen my calls, and it does a good job with numbers–so if someone leaves a voicemail with a phone number, code, date, etc., it’s really nice to just read that on the screen.
By the way, this isn’t true. You can just configure your normal phone plan to forward voicemails to the GV number. The app sets this up for you, though in the past I’ve had to enter some long code manually. In any case, once set up it’s totally seamless (at least with AT&T–I haven’t used other carriers).
