Google Voice with Droid Question

[FrayAdjacent]

SO IN SUMMARY - it seems like setting up Google Voice with a 'non-Google Number' simply configures your Google Voice account to act like a voicemail service. I would suppose you would have to have your cell set up to use it as voicemail, which you configure in Google Voice.




Oh, and as far as switching, I guess that if you set up your account one way, you can't switch it later. I think you could always open another GV account, then switch email addresses associated with it.

 

[BottledHate]

SO IN SUMMARY - it seems like setting up Google Voice with a 'non-Google Number' simply configures your Google Voice account to act like a voicemail service. I would suppose you would have to have your cell set up to use it as voicemail, which you configure in Google Voice.




Oh, and as far as switching, I guess that if you set up your account one way, you can't switch it later. I think you could always open another GV account, then switch email addresses associated with it.

sounds good to me!!

 

[FrayAdjacent]

Good... I think we both learned something about Google Voice today. I didn't know it would do the 'non-Google number' thing.

IMHO, it does preclude a lot of the cool stuff it can do.

 

[benna12]

So, I could sign up for a Google Voice number, but only use it when I want, I do not have to give it out to anyone. By not using it, I can still use my regular cell number as always, correct?

I guess what I am asking is that wen I get my GV number assigned, I can still use my cell number.

 

[BottledHate]

So, I could sign up for a Google Voice number, but only use it when I want, I do not have to give it out to anyone. By not using it, I can still use my regular cell number as always, correct?

yes

I guess what I am asking is that wen I get my GV number assigned, I can still use my cell number.

yes.


there is some good info here Using a Google number vs. a non-Google number : Basics - Google Voice Help

also check out the vids posted in this earlier in this thread!

 

[Barbara]

So, I could sign up for a Google Voice number, but only use it when I want, I do not have to give it out to anyone. By not using it, I can still use my regular cell number as always, correct?

I guess what I am asking is that wen I get my GV number assigned, I can still use my cell number.

You get your google voice number and you never have to use it. But it's nice to have if you every want to. I got one that is almost the same as the last four digits of my cell phone. The numbers for my GV number are actually easier to remember but I've only used it for places that I have ordered from.

 

[AzJazz]

Sigh.

I'm not sure I'm going to get an answer to my question. Everything that's been described in this thread is stuff I knew before I started the post.

I don't know how to say it so that I am understood better.

 

[AzJazz]

Sigh.

I'm not sure I'm going to get an answer to my question. Everything that's been described in this thread is stuff I knew before I started the post.

I don't know how to say it so that I am understood better.

 

[colnago]

...Thus, I was wondering if I was crippling myself (with GV features on my mobile number) if I went with the GV-assigned number vs. the using my mobile number on GV.

If that clarifies things, maybe this is the question I should have asked in the first place:

If I sign up for a GV-assigned number and never use the GV-assigned number for anything, are there GV features for my mobile phone that I won't have access to that I would have had if I signed up with GV only using my non GV-assigned mobile number?

Whew. That was a mouthful. (Fingerfull?)

Cheers!

AzJazz

Here's a chart...obviously there is more you can do with the Google assigned number than using your existing number. You have to decide for yourself if you'll be crippled.

Using a Google number vs. a non-Google number : Basics - Google Voice Help

 

[BottledHate]

If I sign up for a GV-assigned number and never use the GV-assigned number for anything, are there GV features for my mobile phone that I won't have access to that I would have had if I signed up with GV only using my non GV-assigned mobile number?

by GV-assigned i assume you mean a google number seperate from your mobile number. or "Using a Google number"

by "GV only using my non GV-assigned mobile number" i assume you mean using your exeisting phone number with googles service or "Using a non-Google number"

If i'm right so far the answer is no. you get the most features if you "Use a Google Number". There are no features offered for "non-Google numbers" that the latter doesn't.

Beyond this... I'm confused as to what you want to know.

 

[colnago]

...That said, has anyone been able to get Google Voice to piggy back off of a Vonage account, and not use VZ minutes? I don't think it will work unless a SIP client is used.

It'd be nice to get the free international calls Vonage offers. I thinking it might work if GVoice and/or Vonage number were in "Friends and Family", and in a pinch, Vonage could be set to "forward all" to the international number...I guess that would be a workaround, but I can't test as I'm sans Droid.

NM, looks like having Vonage # in F and F, and using web or voice mail access will do the job.

 

[dmodert66]

I have a google voice number, and the way I do it is send any new friends/coworkers/etc my google number. Eventually, if most of my friends/contacts are using my GV #, I will send out an email/phone call to say that I have changed numbers (even though I haven't) and give them my GV number...That is my plan as of now anyway...

 

[AzJazz]

Beyond this... I'm confused as to what you want to know.

Me, too.

OK. Ignore the second column it the comparison table for now. I've seen it plenty of times, but it isn't the main crux of my question.

How about this: I sign up for my new GV account "Using a Google Number". I sign up for all the GV features that I can use GV for with my mobile phone. Then, minutes after after I have signed up for those features, I lose the slip of paper that has the Google Number on it. And, due to the stress and emotional trauma of losing the slip of paper, I have selective amnesia, and forget that I even signed up for "Using a Google Number", and just thought that I had some sort of GV features, but I don't know what they are. And, I will never find that slip of paper and never, ever give my GV Google Number to anyone. My friends and family will only call me on my regular mobile number, just like they have for years.

I can log into my GV account using a previously stored password, just to get to all the GV sweetness that is provided by Google - if there is anything.

Given that extreme scenario: What GV features will I then have available to me via my mobile phone number/GV web account? And how do those features differ from the features I will get if I signed up for the "Using a non-Google number" account?

Please understand that this is not the same question that everyone has been responding back with the list of features I would get if I just signed up for a "Using a non-Google number" account. I'm very familiar with that list, but that isn't what I'm asking for. I'm also not interested in the first column. That is also not what I am looking for.

I'm looking for the delta given my scenario - would I be getting more GV features than the "Using a non-Google number" account, less features, or - eek! - no features at all?

 

[BottledHate]

Me, too.

OK. Ignore the second column it the comparison table for now. I've seen it plenty of times, but it isn't the main crux of my question.

How about this: I sign up for my new GV account "Using a Google Number". I sign up for all the GV features that I can use GV for with my mobile phone. Then, minutes after after I have signed up for those features, I lose the slip of paper that has the Google Number on it. And, due to the stress and emotional trauma of losing the slip of paper, I have selective amnesia, and forget that I even signed up for "Using a Google Number", and just thought that I had some sort of GV features, but I don't know what they are. And, I will never find that slip of paper and never, ever give my GV Google Number to anyone. My friends and family will only call me on my regular mobile number, just like they have for years.

I can log into my GV account using a previously stored password, just to get to all the GV sweetness that is provided by Google - if there is anything.

Given that scenario: What GV features will I then have available to me via my mobile phone number/GV web account? And how do those features differ from the features I will get if I signed up for the "Using a non-Google number" account?

Please understand that this is not the same question that everyone has been responding back with the list of features I would get if I just signed up for a "Using a non-Google number" account. I'm very familiar with that list.

I'm looking for the delta - would I be getting more features, less features, or - eek! - no features at all?

my google voice account is tied to my main google login for everything... gmail, mymaps, docs, picasa, voice, talk.......

you would also want to install the google voice app which remembers your login info and provides a lot of these extra features.

i'll post more answers as i decipher your questions... perhaps rot13?

 

[colnago]

Your scenario is convoluted. There are many "features" that are configurable including what number that GVoice will forward its calls to, if at all.

You "can't" dismiss the chart because those are the "features" you get by either:

1. Having google assign a brand new number.

or

2. Using your Droid's phone number (or whatever existing number) as the GVoice number.

What you need to "accept" is that not all the features on the list are active on by default. They have to be individually configured.


Think of it this way,

IF YOU CHOOSE A NEW NUMBER ASSIGNED BY GOOGLE:

- You are the owner of a company, with a sexy secretary, with you, and secretary the only (2) people with phones.

- Your Google Voice number is your company's main number, the one published in all the ads.

- People call your "Company" (your Google voice number) and reach your secretary "first"...OR you can have it such that when people call your "Company", it rings your secretary's phone AND your DROID (or whatever) at the same time.

- Beyond the initial feature of having a "Secretary" being the first person to take a call, you can configure many feautures depending on what you want to do with the call (refer again to the chart). Secretary can check to see who's calling, based on that info, can forward the call to your office, forward to voice mail, tell caller you're "in a meeting", etc, etc.


IF YOU USE AN EXISTING NUMBER (e.g. your Droid's number, or home number), and not get a new GVoice number, then you don't get the setup as stated above. You basically get voice mail, and get to make calls at GVoice's rates.

If you can't make the correlation between my analogy and what GVoice can offer for you, then you should not use GVoice.

You just have to look at GVoice as a call router system. If you pick a new number, and people call it first, you do many magical things with that call, before it ultimately reaches you, if at all.

If you use an existing number, you have no way of making the call do all those magic things, because its just going to ring your current number when people call.

 

[BottledHate]

Given that scenario: What GV features will I then have available to me via my mobile phone number/GV web account? And how do those features differ from the features I will get if I signed up for the "Using a non-Google number" account?

you can make calls, check voicemail, sms, recorded calls, check call history, and a number of other things from the web interface using a 'google number'. With a 'non google number' and the web interface you will only be able to check voice mail and call history.

What GV features will I then have available to me via my mobile phone number/GV web account?

diving in deeper on this one: Do you mean your number provided by your carrier? the only options in google voice for your 'mobile phone number' are to forward calls to it, or set up voice mail. the features come through your 'google number'..... which integrates into your phone via the google voice app.



honestly.. just take the plunge. get a 'google number' with all the features. play with them. you won't be sorry.

 

[BottledHate]

Spoiler

Your scenario is convoluted. There are many "features" that are configurable including what number that GVoice will forward its calls to, if at all.

You "can't" dismiss the chart because those are the "features" you get by either:

1. Having google assign a brand new number.

or

2. Using your Droid's phone number (or whatever existing number) as the GVoice number.

What you need to "accept" is that not all the features on the list are on by default.


Think of it this way,

IF YOU CHOOSE A NEW NUMBER ASSIGNED BY GOOGLE:

- You are the owner of a company, with a sexy secretary, and you, as the only (2) people with phones.

- Your Google Voice number is your company's main number, the one published in all the ads.

- People call your "Company" (your Google voice number) and reach your secretary "first"...OR you can have it such that when people call your "Company", it rings your secretary's phone AND your DROID (or whatever) at the same time.

- Beyond the initial feature of having a "Secretary" being the first person to take a call, you can configure many feautures depending on what you want to do with the call (refer again to the chart)


IF YOU USE AN EXISTING NUMBER (e.g. your Droid's number, or home number), and not get a new GVoice number, then you don't get the setup as stated above. You basically get voice mail, and get to make calls at GVoice's rates.

If you can't make the correlation between my analogy and what GVoice can offer for you, then you should not use GVoice.

You just have to look at GVoice as a call router system. If you pick a new number, and people call it first, you do many magical things with that call, before it ultimately reaches you, if at all.

If you use an existing number, you have no way of making the call do all those magic things, because its just going to ring your current number when people call.

yeah!

 

[AzJazz]

i'll post more answers as i decipher your questions... perhaps rot13?

Thanks, BH ... Hint: You'll probably get better results with a Rossler equation.

OK - After I posted this, I saw colnago's response. And, that is the information I was looking for. If I go the "Use a Google Number" route, I will not get any GV features available to me if anyone calls my regular number. That is what I was beginning to suspect, but wasn't entirely sure.

It is a shame, since anyone I know will never call the GV number - they'll only call my direct mobile number (I've had it for over 15 years, and it is incredibly easy to remember ... Most of my friends say it is the only number they can call direct without looking it up or using the memory in their phones..)

I was hoping that I would at least be able to get the minimal features offered by the "Using a non-Google Number" in my scenario, but I guess not.

This means I'm stuck with going the "Using a non-Google Number", and never finding out what GV has to offer.

And, that sux.

 

[colnago]

Thanks, BH ... Hint: You'll probably get better results with a Rossler equation.

As I mentioned a few times now, if I do sign up for a "Using a Google Number" account, I really don't ever plan on giving anybody that Google Number - so what GV features would I have available to me on my mobile phone? I understand that I will be attaching my mobile phone number to the Google Number account, so I think I may have some GV features when somebody calls my mobile number, but maybe not.

If you get a newly assigned Google number, and never give it out, then you get voice mail, and get to make calls thru GVoice (if you use it) at GVoice rates.

That's basically all. (again, refer to the chart)

In that scenario, GVoice offers very little, if anything at all.

Does that answer your question?

 

[BottledHate]

If you get a newly assigned Google number, and never give it out, then you get voice mail, and get to make calls thru GVoice (if you use it) at GVoice rates.

That's basically all. (again, refer to the chart)

In that scenario, GVoice offers very little, if anything at all.

Does that answer your question?

omg shoot me!

 

[BottledHate]

Thanks, BH ... Hint: You'll probably get better results with a Rossler equation.

OK - After I posted this, I saw colnago's response. And, that is what I was looking for. If I go the "Use a Google Number" route, I will not get any GV features available to me if anyone calls my regular number. That is what I was beginning to suspect.

no matter what the EXTRA features beyond voicemail will NOT be availible to your [[('moblile phone number'/'nongoogle number')]].


EDIT: you get all the features if someone calls you on a 'google number' which can forward to any number you want...... or multiple numbers......even based on caller!

 

[colnago]

....OK - After I posted this, I saw colnago's response. And, that is the information I was looking for. If I go the "Use a Google Number" route, I will not get any GV features available to me if anyone calls my regular number. That is what I was beginning to suspect, but wasn't entirely sure.

It is a shame, since anyone I know will never call the GV number - they'll only call my direct mobile number (I've had it for over 15 years, and it is incredibly easy to remember ... Most of my friends say it is the only number they can call direct without looking it up or using the memory in their phones..)

I was hoping that I would at least be able to get the minimal features offered by the "Using a non-Google Number" in my scenario, but I guess not.

This means I'm stuck with going the "Using a non-Google Number", and never finding out what GV has to offer.

And, that sux.

Google Voice is just a "call management tool", which also adds voice mail, and discounted calling, using existing phone service (be it cellular or home). Its meant to be "first line of defense" when screening/managing your calls.

If everyone is going to call your existing number, then just "port it to GVoice". All calls will "funnel thru GVoice" and you get all the features.

Get a new number assigned to your cell. It won't matter what it is, because it will be hidden from everyone. When you make calls via GVoice, from the new number, it will look like you're calling from your "easy to remember number".

 

[BottledHate]

It is a shame, since anyone I know will never call the GV number - they'll only call my direct mobile number (I've had it for over 15 years, and it is incredibly easy to remember ... Most of my friends say it is the only number they can call direct without looking it up or using the memory in their phones..)

I was hoping that I would at least be able to get the minimal features offered by the "Using a non-Google Number" in my scenario, but I guess not.

This means I'm stuck with going the "Using a non-Google Number", and never finding out what GV has to offer.

And, that sux.

get the full number... and you can still use voice mail features for your regular number (THE ONLY THING NON GOOGLE NUMBER DOES). As well you will have a second number that someday might be more useful... ie: giving to businesses.. when u order online........... those calls can be forwarded to office, home, strait to voice mail, wherever!

DON"T DO NON GOOGLE NUMBER! i know you will be disappointed in the long run.

 

[colnago]

get the full number... and you can still use voice mail features for your regular number (THE ONLY THING NON GOOGLE NUMBER DOES). As well you will have a second number that someday might be more useful... ie: giving to businesses.. when u order online........... those calls can be forwarded to office, home, strait to voice mail, wherever!

DON"T DO NON GOOGLE NUMBER! i know you will be disappointed in the long run.

Just when we had everything all straightened out, here you go making it all complicated again by offering options.

 

[AzJazz]

If you get a newly assigned Google number, and never give it out, then you get voice mail, and get to make calls thru GVoice (if you use it) at GVoice rates.

That's basically all. (again, refer to the chart)

In that scenario, GVoice offers very little, if anything at all.

Does that answer your question?

Thanks, colnago - I DO appreciate your responses. They have been the most informative.

What you mentioned in this and your previous response indicates that "referring to the chart" would not have given me the answer I was looking for. Your responses have indicated that I would only get 2 of the 5 features available to me if I signed up for a "Using a non-Google Number" account. If I would have had all 5 features of the "Using a non-Google Number" available to me when I signed up for a "Using a Google Number" account, I would just have signed up for the "Using a Google Number" account, with no harm.

However, you have indicated that I would lose functionality by going that route - and that is precisely the information I am looking for. The numerous references to "look at the charts" was useless to me, since by looking at the very titles in the charts, they didn't describe the scenario that I was going to use.

Thus, this was not a stupid question at all ... but looking for valuable information. If I went the "Using a Google Number" route, I would get less functionality from GV ... and thus, the wrong direction for my situation.