Help Google Voice Setup for Voicemail

[offanairplane]

Sorry if this is a dumb question but I can't find the answer.

I want to use Google Voice for my voicemail and that is all I want to use it for. On my HTC-Incredible when I set it up I got a message saying something on the lines of "your carrier is not set up for automatic configuration of voicemail settings, click here for help." But regardless of that warning, after I ran that setup all my voicemails got routed to Google Voice properly.

But on my TBolt the same thing happened with the error message, but some voicemails went to GVoice and some went to Verizon's voicemail system, and it was very random which ones went where.

Now I just tried to set up GVoice on my Gnex, and I got the same error message. Am I missing an important step in setting up GVoice for voicemail? If my carrier (i.e. Verizon Wireless) doesn't allow for automatic configuration of voicemail, then is there a manual way to do it?


Thanks!

 

[Jay3]

You can't set it up from just the phone.

The first thing you have to do is go to the Google Voice app on the web (on a computer) and "Add Mobile Phone." When you add it, it asks you if you want to get your voicemails on it. Say yes. It then issues you a long string of digits to dial on your phone. Through some magic, this provisions your phone and tells Verizon that the phone that just dialed that code gets the voicemails.

 

[chrisinsocalif]

Try this manually. See if it works.

Verizon (CDMA network): *71[GVnumber] AND *90[GVnumber] AND *92[GVnumber]

Deactivation codes:
Verizon (CDMA network): *73 AND *900 AND *920

The 3 configurations should be
* Busy Call Forwarding (Busy Call Transfer)
* No Answer Call Forwarding (No Reply Forwarding)
* Unreachable Call Forwarding (Phone Off Forwarding)

That is why some calls go to difference voicemails because only one was set up and calls were being directed differently. Hope this helps.

 

[offanairplane]

Try this manually. See if it works.

Verizon (CDMA network): *71[GVnumber] AND *90[GVnumber] AND *92[GVnumber]

Deactivation codes:
Verizon (CDMA network): *73 AND *900 AND *920

The 3 configurations should be
* Busy Call Forwarding (Busy Call Transfer)
* No Answer Call Forwarding (No Reply Forwarding)
* Unreachable Call Forwarding (Phone Off Forwarding)

That is why some calls go to difference voicemails because only one was set up and calls were being directed differently. Hope this helps.

When I did *71 and *92, I think it worked, but when I did *90 it told me the call could not be completed as dialed.


Thanks!

Any ideas why *90 didn't work?

 

[offanairplane]

You can't set it up from just the phone.

The first thing you have to do is go to the Google Voice app on the web (on a computer) and "Add Mobile Phone." When you add it, it asks you if you want to get your voicemails on it. Say yes. It then issues you a long string of digits to dial on your phone. Through some magic, this provisions your phone and tells Verizon that the phone that just dialed that code gets the voicemails.

It already shows my phone number there. Should I delete it and add it again?

 

[Jay3]

It already shows my phone number there. Should I delete it and add it again?

Does it say next to it "Deactivate Google Voicemail on this phone."

Or does it say "Activate Google Voicemail on this phone."

If you need to activate, do that. If it it says "Deactivate," then you already activated. I would deactivate, then re-activate. Something went fruity.

 

[Jay3]

Here's a portion of screenshot:

 

[offanairplane]

Does it say next to it "Deactivate Google Voicemail on this phone."

Or does it say "Activate Google Voicemail on this phone."

If you need to activate, do that. If it it says "Deactivate," then you already activated. I would deactivate, then re-activate. Something went fruity.

It said "deactivate" so I deactivated and then reactivated again.
It seems to be working now. I tried a couple of different calls from my work phone to my cell. The first time I just didn't answer it and let it go to voicemail, and it worked. The second time I actually declined the call, and it worked as well. The only thing I haven't tried is being on a call and someone calling in to see if that goes to GVoice. I'll try that later.


Thanks for the info!