Help Google Voice - Voicemail Does and Doesn't work with Virgin Mobile / Optimus V

FuzyBaffy · Feb 8, 2011

I had setup Google Voice w/ voicemail on my old Droid. And was a little bit dismayed to find it wouldn't allow me to use GV Voicemail when I setup GV on my Optimus V on VM. And everywhere I looked online it said GV Voicemail wasn't supported by VM. But I saw the normal GV Voicemail actually worked sometimes....

If you have under accessibility -> power button ends call (an option I loved with my droid), and you press the ridiculously touchy power button it will go to Virgin Mobile Voicemail. I was expecting an important call and I sent the person to VM 3 times in a row with that power button setting enabled, even though I was trying not to touch it with the phone in my pocket. With the fully supported GV voicemail on Verizon it would just silence the ringer, allowing you to actually pickup the call. Maybe it was something different setup in the hacked rom I was using I don't know.

If you Reject the call using the onscreen slider it will go to Virgin Mobile Voicemail.

However you press the volume toggle to silence the call's ringer like I need to at work, even before I decide whether I want to take the call, or just leave the phone ring it will always go to Google voice.

digitaljeannie · Feb 9, 2011

In your Google Voice settings for your mobile number, under "Voicemail" make sure you select "No" under "Direct access to voicemail" option. and make sure "Ring other phones" at the bottom is also selected.

I have mine set to forward to my cell and my Gizmo5 number with the above settings for my mobile set. With that setup, even when I select the "end" option to send it directly to voicemail it goes directly to my Google Voicemail.

lizm · Feb 9, 2011

I'd love to know if your issue was resolved by the above as I use GV as my voicemail with Verizon on my Dinc and am switching to VM/Optimus V soon, I think....

FuzyBaffy · Feb 9, 2011

digitaljeannie said:
In your Google Voice settings for your mobile number, under "Voicemail" make sure you select "No" under "Direct access to voicemail" option. and make sure "Ring other phones" at the bottom is also selected.

I have mine set to forward to my cell and my Gizmo5 number with the above settings for my mobile set. With that setup, even when I select the "end" option to send it directly to voicemail it goes directly to my Google Voicemail.

Can't get it to work completely as you can if I reject call it still goes to Virgin Mobile VM. Here are my advanced phone settings I put an asterisk next to the items actually checked as it wouldn't come out properly. Not a huge deal like I said you can turn off the ringer by pressing volume then Google Voice will get the VM. But I wouldn't mind getting everything working. Maybe Gizmo5 has something to do with it. I just have other landlines it rings other than my mobile.

Voicemail Access:

Direct access to voicemail when calling your Google number from this phone?
Yes (default for mobile phones) PIN required (for added safety)
PIN not required (for added convenience)
* No (requires pressing star during greetings -- default for non-mobile phones)

Ring Schedule:

Weekdays
* Always ring on weekdays
Never ring on weekdays
Use custom schedule
Weekends
* Always ring on weekends
Never ring on weekends
Use custom schedule

Forwarding Options:

Activate

digitaljeannie · Feb 10, 2011

Perhaps it does have something to do with the Gizmo5 number.
If you don't already have a Gizmo5 account, you can purchase one on eBay fairly inexpensively (that's how I got mine). It definitely works with the setup I have so that may be the key to making it work.

digitaljeannie · Feb 10, 2011

My solution seems to have ceased working for me so I am going to have them disable the VM voicemail on my account and see if it will go to GV voicemail after that is completed.

Right now seems the only option is to silence the ringer & let it go to voicemail on its own rather than ending the cal. If it goes to voicemail on its own it will reach the GV voicemail.

liebezeit · Feb 21, 2011

digitaljeannie said:
My solution seems to have ceased working for me so I am going to have them disable the VM voicemail on my account and see if it will go to GV voicemail after that is completed.

Right now seems the only option is to silence the ringer & let it go to voicemail on its own rather than ending the cal. If it goes to voicemail on its own it will reach the GV voicemail.

Tried it--it doesn't work. You will only substitute your personal greeting with a "mailbox not found" message that includes a recitation of your Virgin number, which will only confuse them and make them believe they've dialed a wrong number. It will not go to Google Voice.

If this is a rare case (in my case, only when I explicitly reject a call), it would be better to keep Virgin voice mail and leave a (hopefully) tactful message about an "unused voice mailbox" and a plea for them to not to leave a message. And then try your best to not reject calls. If it rings long enough it goes to Google Voice.

I've also spent a good 45 minutes getting to Virgin tech support and urging them to support something like Sprint's *28 call forwarding. For what that's worth. Maybe we could all do the same and someone upstairs might get the message, so to speak.

digitaljeannie · Feb 22, 2011

Yeah. Now I just hit the volume down button once to silence the ringer & let it roll to GVoicemail on its own

telepheedian · Feb 22, 2011

If you call Virgin, you can have Virgin's voicemail disabled and incoming calls to a Google Voice number will direct properly to GV voicemail.

satguyjim · Feb 23, 2011

anyone notice that when dialing using GV that you use minutes from your VM account and not data??? Why?

imanjunk1963 · Feb 23, 2011

Install Sipdroid and follow the link instructions button at the bottom. Bes sure you have your google voice setup first with the GOOGLE CHAT forwarded checked. Works great. I can perform all calls free using WiFi when home and 3G on the road if I choose not to use my minutes. Otherwise using Google voice will cause I noticed 2 min to be charged for each call. What is the point then. Also when you dial with sipdroid installed, you can set up settings to always ask you what method...sipdroid or googlevoice. Sipdroid has a slide feature to know the difference when sending and receiving calls when hanging up and such. But I too have not figured out how to forward VM voice messaging to google voice as VM does not support the *28 as noted in a reply. But the idea of shutting off the VM voice mail all together is an interesting idea and not sure that when someone calls my VM number, gv mail will not still be able to redirect and use its voice mail. When you activate redirect voice mail on GV on your GV web account, it indicates to enter codes into your cell that tells it to do something which I think is just MAIL VOICE setting maybe to be set to google voice phone id. The question is how can we set that android setting on your cell as it is not obvious in the base cell settings....VM prevents entering the code as I said. If someone knows a work around to forcing VM phone mail forward to be set somehow please reply.

csx321 · Feb 23, 2011

liebezeit said:
I've also spent a good 45 minutes getting to Virgin tech support and urging them to support something like Sprint's *28 call forwarding. For what that's worth. Maybe we could all do the same and someone upstairs might get the message, so to speak.

We all need to saturate them with requests for this. It doesn't seem like it would really cost them anything, especially if it still used voice minutes, which I would be fine with.

I've been trying to find as much contact info as possible. So far all I have is:

Virgin Mobile USA
10 Independence Boulevard
Warren, NJ 07059
908-607-4000

https://www1.virginmobileusa.com/about/prepareEmailUs.do

Chief Operating Officer (I think he still is)
Jonathan Marchbank
And this appears to be his Twitter account: Jonathan Marchbank (JonnyJersey) on Twitter

If I find more info, I'll update.

heimskringla · Aug 5, 2011

There is no technical limitation preventing VM USA from supporting *28. They do it so that people who want the service will get a Sprint post-paid plan.

I'm in the process of switching from Sprint to Virgin Mobile, and this was one of the first things I checked. VM won't be supporting *28 for the foreseeable future.

imanjunk1963 · Aug 5, 2011

I never got it to work. VM does not support allowing transfer of their messaging system to GVOICE. And yes I believe you get charged minutes when you check your VM messages from your phone. So I simply put a message on my VM messaging asking they call my GVoice number which of course they can then leave the message. Obviously VM wants you to use up your minutes and spend more. I believe SPRINT recently supports GVOICE messaging thru their service but even though they own VM, VM has not done so yet. I wish they would.

MacFett · Aug 5, 2011

I need to start giving out my GV as my cell number. Right now, my Vonage home phone simulrings my GV number which rings my cell. As long as no one calls my cell I never get voice mail through VM.

How does texting work with GV and VM? If someone texts your GV number does it go to the Voice app? Or to your SMS app?

Whyzor · Aug 6, 2011

It goes to the GV voice app, pushed if you have 'sync' setting turned on. otherwise refreshing manually on the phone, or on your GV webpage. If you turn on the "enable txt forwarding" on the phone, then it'll show up as a regular SMS, but from a GV assigned number, but it begins with your contact's name (which also uses up some of the 160 char limit). I use this setting so that I can turn off 3G data most of the time & still get timely SMS thru.

ramster · Aug 8, 2011

csx321 said:
We all need to saturate them with requests for this. It doesn't seem like it would really cost them anything, especially if it still used voice minutes, which I would be fine with.

I've been trying to find as much contact info as possible. So far all I have is:

Virgin Mobile USA
10 Independence Boulevard
Warren, NJ 07059
908-607-4000

https://www1.virginmobileusa.com/about/prepareEmailUs.do

Chief Operating Officer (I think he still is)
Jonathan Marchbank
And this appears to be his Twitter account: Jonathan Marchbank (JonnyJersey) on Twitter

If I find more info, I'll update.

I will contact whomever I can, I have called VM several times, they do answer the phone but so far everyone their has no common sense and do not know chit! I did not know I could ask them to turn off my voice mail, not the best way to go but at least it would stop unwanted notifications that I have a VM.

imanjunk1963 · Aug 8, 2011

I am not sure why it would cost minutes if they did support forwarding it. In fact they probably would lose the minutes people now use to call for their voicemail to VM from their phone. And their still are some ignorant people out there like my eye doctor office who still leaves a msg when I asked them not too. I was not aware that VM would honor shutting it off. Maybe time to try that.

Help Google Voice - Voicemail Does and Doesn't work with Virgin Mobile / Optimus V

Newbie

Well-Known Member

Android Enthusiast

Newbie

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Lurker

Well-Known Member

Newbie

Newbie

Newbie

Newbie

Lurker

Newbie

Android Expert

Android Expert

Newbie

Newbie

BEST TECH IN 2023

Smartphones

Best Android Phones

Upcoming

Best iPhones

Upcoming

Tablets

Best Tablets

Upcoming

Laptops

Best Laptops

Upcoming

Televisions

Best TVs

Upcoming

Game Consoles

Best Game Consoles

Upcoming

Wearables

Best Wearables

Upcoming

Smart Home

Smart Home Tech

Upcoming

Similar threads