How does Google voice help iphone 4?

[frunkis54]

Not true if you call your google voice number to initiate your calls. Your phone will think it is connected to your google voice number as the service connects to whatever number you input on the keypad.

mine doesn't. it says calling GV and displays some weird number then dials the number i ask it.

edit: ok i just downloaded GV for my iphone all i have to say is wow it stinks. you are correct it make the call hang up it then dials the number you want

i also have a droid and GV is 100 times better when you have GV on you driod all you do is choose if you want all calls going through GV or you want to choose each time. you go to your phone dialer and dial your call and GV shows on you id of the person you call that simple.

 

[Savor]

I got an invite to set-up a Google Voice account a few months ago and forgot to set one up.

I was wondering, could GV work with a T-Mobile or AT&T prepaid plan? I want to get an Android smartphone unlocked, but would like to put on prepaid. Could I send and receive text messages using GV without affecting my balance?

 

[rrandyy]

edit: ok i just downloaded GV for my iphone all i have to say is wow it stinks. you are correct it make the call hang up it then dials the number you want

No you didn't. What you downloaded was a non-google application (GV mobile, GV connect, etc). Lets wait and see how google's own application will work. That being said, I doubt it will be as nicely integrated as on an android phone.

It sure would be nice to save $15 a month on a texting plan...

 

[frunkis54]

No you didn't. What you downloaded was a non-google application (GV mobile, GV connect, etc). Lets wait and see how google's own application will work. That being said, I doubt it will be as nicely integrated as on an android phone.

It sure would be nice to save $15 a month on a texting plan...

That is true. we will have to wait and see how much better googles own app is.

 

[gks]

There is some seriously terrible information in this thread.

If you don't actually understand what Google Voice is I suggest you LOOK IT UP before you comment. Otherwise you're just going to confuse people who are reading this thread giving them the wrong information.

Google Voice gives you a phone number. That number is independent of any other phone number you have. On the site you can have that number ring all of your phones if you want. During certain times of the day it can ring just one of those or even go straight to voicemail. You can block callers, you can leave personalized voice mail greetings per person, you can even have one person ring your cell phone all the time, while everyone else goes to your home number. It's very versatile.

It does let you call out from your GV number. You can dial your GV number and it gives you a menu system, one of which is place a call, type in the number and it'll ring the number you dialed. It shows up on their caller id as your GV number.

Note: if this doesn't happen then you haven't added your number to the list of your phones. It prompts you with the menu only if your cell # (or whatever number you're calling from) is linked to your account. How else is it going to know you are you?

You can also ring a number through the webapp, even from your computer on the GV site if you want and it'll ring your phones as well.

In terms of texting. It is text only, no MMS. There are tons of ways around "opening" another app. I get all my texts through my IM client. Which works extraordinarily well. I just tell people I text frequently to use my GV number for texts. If they need to send a picture I have the $5/mo 200 txt plan for such cases. People figure it out, it isn't a big deal. If your friends can't figure it out, time to get new friends because they're dumb as crap. Just tell them to add your GV number as a Pager in their address book, and your cell # as Mobile. Pager for texts, Mobile for calls. Like I said, if they can't figure it out, they're dumb.

Voice Mail transcriptions are fun too.

Now in terms of calling. GV is NOT VOIP UNLESS YOU USE THE WEBAPP. If it rings your phone(s) it is using your minutes. If you dial from your phone it uses minutes. Only through Gmail or GV website while talking THROUGH your computer is it not costing you minutes.

Think of GV as a call forwarding service primarily with the addition of some awesome extras like texting and voicemail transcriptions.

 

[Savor]

There is some seriously terrible information in this thread.

If you don't actually understand what Google Voice is I suggest you LOOK IT UP before you comment. Otherwise you're just going to confuse people who are reading this thread giving them the wrong information.

Google Voice gives you a phone number. That number is independent of any other phone number you have. On the site you can have that number ring all of your phones if you want. During certain times of the day it can ring just one of those or even go straight to voicemail. You can block callers, you can leave personalized voice mail greetings per person, you can even have one person ring your cell phone all the time, while everyone else goes to your home number. It's very versatile.

It does let you call out from your GV number. You can dial your GV number and it gives you a menu system, one of which is place a call, type in the number and it'll ring the number you dialed. It shows up on their caller id as your GV number.

Note: if this doesn't happen then you haven't added your number to the list of your phones. It prompts you with the menu only if your cell # (or whatever number you're calling from) is linked to your account. How else is it going to know you are you?

You can also ring a number through the webapp, even from your computer on the GV site if you want and it'll ring your phones as well.

In terms of texting. It is text only, no MMS. There are tons of ways around "opening" another app. I get all my texts through my IM client. Which works extraordinarily well. I just tell people I text frequently to use my GV number for texts. If they need to send a picture I have the $5/mo 200 txt plan for such cases. People figure it out, it isn't a big deal. If your friends can't figure it out, time to get new friends because they're dumb as crap. Just tell them to add your GV number as a Pager in their address book, and your cell # as Mobile. Pager for texts, Mobile for calls. Like I said, if they can't figure it out, they're dumb.

Voice Mail transcriptions are fun too.

Now in terms of calling. GV is NOT VOIP UNLESS YOU USE THE WEBAPP. If it rings your phone(s) it is using your minutes. If you dial from your phone it uses minutes. Only through Gmail or GV website while talking THROUGH your computer is it not costing you minutes.

Think of GV as a call forwarding service primarily with the addition of some awesome extras like texting and voicemail transcriptions.

Thanks! Great info.

I just set up my account and enjoying it so far. TEXTING is all I need from it. MMS is no big deal. E-MAIL is a work-around.

I like that you can block and screen calls from it too and keeps the entire text history log under my GV account. Having my email converted to text is great too. Looks like I am getting an unlocked Android phone since it implements it better. All I need is some FREE texting like that TEXT FREE UNLIMITED app, but with alot more cool features. My Android phone will be a back-up phone to text my booty calls.

http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html#

 

[gks]

Thanks! Great info.

I just set up my account and enjoying it so far. TEXTING is all I need from it. MMS is no big deal. E-MAIL is a work-around.

I like that you can block and screen calls from it too and keeps the entire text history log under my GV account. Having my email converted to text is great too. Looks like I am getting an unlocked Android phone since it implements it better. All I need is some FREE texting like that TEXT FREE UNLIMITED app, but with alot more cool features. My Android phone will be a back-up phone to text my booty calls.

http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html#

I had a nexus one.. sold it... bought an iPhone 4. Good luck to you. It's not greener on the other side I'm afraid. Personal choice and preference but I was not happy with what I seen.

 

[frunkis54]

I Didn't want to quote that long post but that was a great write up gks.

I use Google voice everyday it is a great service....

i don't have a landline but i set up different groups with different settings and works great. the one thing i would like that you can't do is have it call a phone number with a extension.

 

[Small White Car]

If your friends can't figure it out, time to get new friends because they're dumb as crap.

So if I want to call you, text-you, or photo-text you I have to stop and think about which number to use each time?

I thought GV was supposed to make things easier...not more complicated. This seems backwards.

 

[gks]

So if I want to call you, text-you, or photo-text you I have to stop and think about which number to use each time?

I thought GV was supposed to make things easier...not more complicated. This seems backwards.

Nope, it's pretty straight forward. Any modern phone supports some form of threading for SMS. Start a conversation and keep it going on that thread. that one happens to goto my google voice number. you want to call? just use the default mobile number stored in your address book.

If you want to picture message me, then you may have to think about it for a second.

It isn't difficult, you just want to make a big stink about it because it may not be useful to you. It does however save me $15/mo which is $180/yr.

 

[Shockwave78]

used it for the day today and was disapointed.

Why were all my text that i sent with GV mobile replied back to both my regular cell number and the GV number??

Major delays when sending and receiving text, sometimes i did not even know they went through until 5-10 minutes later when they finally showed up the screen in the conversations.

 

[gks]

used it for the day today and was disapointed.

Why were all my text that i sent with GV mobile replied back to both my regular cell number and the GV number??

Major delays when sending and receiving text, sometimes i did not even know they went through until 5-10 minutes later when they finally showed up the screen in the conversations.

i haven't had any of those issues.

As for the texts also going to your cell you have the sms forwarding option on. turn it off and it won't goto your cell phone #.

 

[Vesian]

Question regarding google voice:

I have a person in Canada that I make frequent phone calls to. This is costing me international minutes on my plan.

If I were to add my Google Voice Phone number to my A-list (free calls to/from that number), and then use google voice to place calls to Canada, would they be free/count as normal minutes?

 

[Vesian]

anyone? :-(

 

[Tarzanman]

First off:

Google Voice will only let you make free calls to the USA. International calls cost money.


Second,
Your trick with adding your GV number to your 'friends' list for unlimited calls has been tried with much success on T-mobile.... however AT&T seems to have a hard-on for messing with google, so it is uncertain whether it would work.

Technically, it should... but don't underestimate AT&T's prowess in making sure you don't get more than you pay for.

 

[Vesian]

Indeed, international calls cost money, but to Canada specifically, it costs $0.00 according to google, so free

Anyone else have any experience with this?

 

[gtmac]

anyone? :-(

You can't put it on your a-list but it would only count as normal minutes. Keep in mind free today doesn't mean free tomorrow.

 

[bern43]

If you set up notifo you can get notifications of your texts from Google Voice. I give my google voice number to people I text a lot. Allows me to stay on the 200 per month text plan.