Mr. Doe,
So what you're saying is if you're working with a Data-only iphone plan, the only way to receive calls is through an application like groundwire, even though you have GV Phone Extension?
Right you need a VOIP app to receive the calls. Talkatone is always improving and it is actually pretty good right now. That being said, it does not integrate with the GV Phone Extension tweak. If you use groundwire, you need to have it running in the background or set to receive push notifications. That will integrate with the GV Phone Extension.
Do you have to be in the Groundwire app to receive calls? or can you push it? and then if you want to make an outgoing call, you can still use the native phone app with GV Phone extension, right?
You don't need to be in the app but it needs to be running in the background or set to receive push, both of which it can do. And yes, you can use the native phone app with the GV Phone Extension, it will ring it through to your groundwire app which you will need to answer to connect the call.
And how exactly do you "use the native phone client to cause the call to be received through the VOIP client (groundwire)"? What do you mean by that?
Once you've configured the GV Phone Extension (and now you need to use the number on your Google Voice account that will be receiving the calls and that is configured to receive the calls in your VOIP app, say groundwire; do not use the data plan number in the GV Phone Extension tweak, that will not work) then you can use the Phone app provided by Apple to place your calls. As I said earlier, it will ring your VOIP client and then, once you answer, the call will connect to the number you are trying to reach. By the way, if Talkatone keeps improving, that might be the best route to go.
And while I'm here, and since you seem like you know what you're talking about, if you have a Sipgate account (or DID number), and have the data-only setup as described above, can you receive incoming calls by forwarding your GV number to that DID number?
Yes you can.
( <--this is where I think I'm confused on the whole concept) If so, how do you connect your DID number to your iphone to be able to answer the call through the native phone client? ... I'm sure I'm asking the same question over again, but I really want to learn how this all works. Thanks so much for you help.
If you want to use Sipgate, you need to do a few things: 1) configure sipgate in your voip app, say groundwire. 2) configure Sipgate in your Google Voice settings. Have Google Voice ring that phone. Now, when you answer the call, you'll be answering it in the groundwire app, not the native phone client, but that doesn't matter since you are effectively just saying "answer the call" as you would if you were answering it in the native client, so for receiving calls it makes no difference in terms of usability and convenience. The only time the GV Phone Extension is convenient is for placing calls since it uses the native client and the native address book.
I hope that clarifies things. I can get into more details if you like.
