How many people actually use their Google Voice number?

[atlga]

Was using it for everything but having problems the last few days with GV. Sometimes I can hear the other person, but they can't hear me. Other times, I try to call a number and the phone I am calling never rings. I call without GV and have no problems when that happens.

 

[FrayAdjacent]

I use my GV number on all of my accounts (bank, credit, mortgage) and I use it for outgoing when I have to call people and places that I do not want having my cell number.

I also use it for voicemail.

 

[Shadowtech]

No options in poll that fit my usage. I signed up for GV a few months after it came out.. thinking it would completely change the way I made calls. It didn't. About all I use it for now is giving it to people I don't talk to frequently. Primarily used for applications of any kind, or signing up for services.

I have tried to set it up with Gizmo5/SipSorcery/Sipdroid for free calls, but it still doesn't work that well. If they ever did get it to work at least 80% of the time I would probably use it more often. I do however have it pointing to a PC based landline with the same setup, except using the Gizmo5 PC app, and it works great as a free phone.

As for the voicemail function, I chose to go with YouMail over GV as it allows for seperate greetings based on who is calling. It is also free, and works great, especially the ditchmail greetings for nuisance callers.

 

[carmendiva]

I use it only when i go to a club and i dont want to give guys my real number so they get the google number haha

i dont like it.
seems like there is a delay in texts

 

[QrafTee]

I use it only when i go to a club and i dont want to give guys my real number so they get the google number haha

i dont like it.
seems like there is a delay in texts

Wouldn't it be more entertaining to give a random business number instead?

 

[AndroidsOfTara]

As for the voicemail function, I chose to go with YouMail over GV as it allows for seperate greetings based on who is calling. It is also free, and works great, especially the ditchmail greetings for nuisance callers.

GV also allows different greetings for different callers.

 

[AndroidsOfTara]

i dont like it.
seems like there is a delay in texts

There is a delay because GV does not instantly push SMS out to your phone. The GV app periodically (I have mine set to check every 5 minutes) polls the GV servers for new SMS or voicemail.

There are two ways to have GV SMS or voicemail show up instantly on your phone.

1. Via the GV website, have it forward SMS sent to your GV number to your real number. The SMS will show up instantly in whatever messaging client you use. This will unfortunately defeat the purpose of using GV for free SMS as you'll still be using your carrier's SMS plan.

2. The better option... Via the GV website again, have it forward SMS to your gmail account. The message will instantly be pushed to your phone. You can even reply directly in the Android gmail app or the gmail website.

While I would certainly like GV SMS to be instantly pushed to my phone, I just deal with the potential 5 minute delay.

 

[nycebo]

i only wanted it for the voice mail features, but a recent trip to canada showed me the great advantages, i switched off my wireless and only used my wifi and avoided ALL roaming charges, simply amazing, yea i needed to be on wifi but everywhere i went offered free wifi so i was amazed at the capability, i sent and received txts as well as phone calls, of course nothing while driving but that was ok.

You wanna tell me how you were able to make calls for free? From what I recall, GV does not have VOIP yet.

 

[BigMace23]

wow seems the results are pretty mixed... 37,37, and 17

 

[les017]

I use the GV number for everyone except a few VZW contacts (non sense making them pay for minutes.

Also, over time, I have gotten anyone who wants to send me pics to use email...I don't want crushed-rez pics anyway

 

[Grecho]

something interesting i just realized, maybe google isnt ready for mms, google talk doesnt support any kind of attachments also, maybe it has nothing to do with it, just a correlation i noticed

 

[DolphinDroid]

I use my GV Number for the following things so far...

1) Texting- eliminated my texting plan for my phone
2) Voice Mail- love the visual voice mail even though it does not translate it well (alot of fun reading, then listening to see how wrong it was... I have gotten so I can read it and know what was actually said because the same errors occur)
3) For anyone I know that is not on Verizon I give them my GV number to call and it rings my landline and cell phone at the same time.
4) I have different voice mail messages for my different contact groups.

 

[almahix]

You wanna tell me how you were able to make calls for free? From what I recall, GV does not have VOIP yet.

Yes, answer this quickly. I am about to leave the country for a business trip and would love to have telephone service.

 

[esocid]

Yes, answer this quickly. I am about to leave the country for a business trip and would love to have telephone service.

Not sure if it's what he's using, but I think GV + sipdroid + gizmo5 = calls over wifi.


I use it as my business number, on my resume, and if I ever have to give it out. My "real" number is for friends and family only. It's nice that the droid can blacklist numbers (only sends it straight to voicemail), but GV can block a number entirely, thus the beauty.

 

[Grecho]

Yes, answer this quickly. I am about to leave the country for a business trip and would love to have telephone service.

I can confirm that you can not place a call with wifi, if your usung a phone that can receive free incoming you could just add the number to your google voice and start the call via the web and forward it to the phone??? Otherwise I can't think of anything else.

 

[kokiangel]

I just got GV this past Sunday so I don't know much about how it works yet. I am curious though. I have sent/received only a few text messages this week as I am still getting my feet wet so to speak. I notice that Verizon has made note of them in my current usage though. Is that normal?

 

[Grecho]

do you have them forwarded as regular sms to your phone? im guessing this is what it is

 

[kokiangel]

I thought I did. I did the walk through set up on GV and thought it was all checked off right. I must have missed something though. Should I have my GV number forwarding to my regular number? That may be the problem.

Oh, I think I found it under Voicemail/SMS settings. Duh. I had it checked to send SMS to my phone for all voicemails. I am so dopey sometimes.

 

[brettlewis]

I use it as a business line.
It has great features for buisness since you can restrict what times calls are accepted and in off hours goes to my gvoice voicemail.

One of my freinds was using it exclusively on his droid till he got a N1. He is a developer and wanted to see if he could use his phone without paying a lot. It worked great for him

 

[Shadowtech]

To make free calls using GV, you need a Gizmo5/SipGate/any other SIP account, and the Sipdroid app on your phone. While it's not fully reliable yet, it does work every now n then. You can also set up a SipSorcery account and with the right scripting, can dial directly from your phone without having to initiate through the GV website.

It works over WiFi as well as 3G.. but as I said.. it's not very reliable atm.
Here's a full tutorial on the matter:
Unlimited Free Calling with Google Voice - Google Docs

As for GV doing voicemail greetings like Youmail... Youmail does it for EVERY contact.. not groups. It even greets them by name according to your contact entry. If I actually used my GV number most of the time I might try it's VM, however since I still use my verizon number.. it was easier to just have it forward to youmail. It even has a free visual voicemail styled app for the phone, whereas I don't believe GV does. I could be wrong though, but I didn't see one when I last messed with it.

 

[Britney]

A mundane question, but nevertheless...How did you switch off wireless and used only wifi?.

i only wanted it for the voice mail features, but a recent trip to canada showed me the great advantages, i switched off my wireless and only used my wifi and avoided ALL roaming charges, simply amazing, yea i needed to be on wifi but everywhere i went offered free wifi so i was amazed at the capability, i sent and received txts as well as phone calls, of course nothing while driving but that was ok.

 

[gruss]

The only real point I see is giving it out for emergency. Such as having this number allows you to reach my phone, my wifes phone, mothers phone, fathers phone, or my house phone.

A just in case so to speak.

This is how I use one of the GV numbers I have, we give it to schools etc for an emergency number as it rings all of out phones.
We also started giving it out if there is a chance of telemarketer calling later or say if we are craigslisting something so our cells dont get exploded.

I have had another I got a long time ago that I set up in the area where I grew up so all my relatives and old friends could call me toll free, that one gets used a lot, also use the VM for work so VV from my cell and desk phones in the same place.

Dont want the "one number for life" thing that grand central spoke of, i use it however it suits me.

 

[QrafTee]

Wow thankfully I gave that Swivel Sweeper company my GV number. They were spamming me with telemarketers, so I just went on GV, blocked them, and now I'm done.

 

[takeshi]

I use it all the time. Coverage is hit-and-miss at work (in a skyscaper) so the GV number rings the office number as well.

Switching carriers was easy and number porting wasn't needed at all. In fact, I didn't want anyone to have the new number.

Call transfer is handy for ducking out during teleconferences.

Blocking unwanted callers is very helpful.

I don't MMS so the lack of it doesn't matter to me. If you want to send me a photo then email it.

Sending SMS via a PC (http://www.google.com/voice) has been handy too. My IBM Model M beats any mobile device's input method.

Voicemail transcription is hit-and-miss but generally good enough that I don't have to listen to the message. If I need to, the GV app is great for playing them or I can listen on a PC.

 

[Grecho]

A mundane question, but nevertheless...How did you switch off wireless and used only wifi?.

Not at all, I switched to airplane mode and turned on the wifi