Google Voice Applications

T-Mobile has Wi-Fi calling without Google Voice:
Wi-Fi Calling | Phone Calls Over Wireless Broadband | T-Mobile

I'm not sure if that's available on your phone or not, but it's worth looking into.

Because Google Voice is a phone routing, texting, and transcription service. It is not a traditional VOIP service.

Yes, you can set it up so all calls go through Google Voice and that any text messages you send will go through Google Voice (if people keep sending messages to you to your regular T-Mobile phone number, those won't go to Google Voice). But, as I said before, Google Voice is not a substitute for an actual phone line. A phone call going "through" Google Voice is still going through your T-Mobile phone and still uses your T-Mobile minutes. It is no Wi-Fi calling. It is not VOIP.

There is nothing that shows up on the receiving end that says Warning: This is not a regular T-Mobile number! This is a Google Voice number!. There may be ways for people to look up that your phone number is a GV number somewhere on a website. It will usually just display the Google Voice number as the incoming number, though.

 

Also see discussions of this on other androidforums forums for prepaid phones, e.g. the Virgin Mobile forum.

As a prepaid user it is a lot easier for you to adopt Google Voice than for most users with contracts.

 

I have a contract on Verizon, and before that I had a contract on T-Mobile. No problems adopting Google Voice whatsoever. How is it easier for prepaid users? Do they just give you a Google Voice number instead of a regular one?

 

Google Voice in conjunction with GrooveIP should give you what you need.

You noted GrooveIP is $5/mo in your OP. It's about $5 one time. No monthly charge.

If you make/receive your calls through GrooveIP using your Google Voice number, that will go over wifi and you'll get better quality than your poor signal home and won't use cell minutes.

 

Nope. You use minutes for both T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling and Google Voice (sans GrooVe IP or something like it).

Probably the fact that it's actually a phone routing service and not VOIP when it's on your phone. The only exception I know of is calling straight from your Gmail account, but I think they may start charging for even that once 2012 is over.

Well, the nice thing about Google Voice is that you can still use it with your landline. So let's say 212-555-5555 is your T-Mobile number, 464-555-5555 is your landline, and 413-555-5555 is your Google Voice number. What you can do is give your Google Voice number to your friends (not co-workers) and then call using Google Voice on your mobile phone to your friends, and then also call using Google Voice through your landline to your friends when you're calling from home. That way when you call your friends, you will always have the same phone number show up for them in the caller ID. In fact, at least through the end of 2012, you can even have that same phone number show up if you call from Gmail (which is true VOIP, not just routing). Just an idea. It may not fit with your situation.

 

Aysiu,

No, tmo wifi calling does not use minutes. You have to be provisioned for that, i think, but the feature is free.

 

From the T-Mobile website:

So it looks as if you have to add the Free Wi-Fi Calling feature to your plan... not sure if that costs more. When I was on T-Mobile, I didn't have an Even More or Even More Plus plan.

 

I believe it's free except for pre-paid customers, just has to be activated. Never used it so don't hold me to that. The WiFi calling software is pre-installed on newer phones.

Plans are no longer called 'Even More' or 'Even More Plus'. Now they're called 'Value' or 'Classic'.