Thread: Can someone explain how googlevoice works?

Originally Posted by boogeeman69

ealvnv is right, I didn't think about that part, the incoming sms. Yes, it delivers to your verizon sms if you don't tell it to go to email.

Good catch!

The free calls thing is absoutely true with friends and family. If you are a big phone talker, this is a must have before VZW figures out how to stop it.

But do you see that "deliver sms" option?


I also see this, but not sure if anyone has unchecked the "receive sms on this phone" option.


Mobile
(818) 555-1234

Name: Number: Phone Type: MobileWorkHomeGizmo SMS Settings: Receive SMS on this phone (mobile phones only)

this is what im talking about, that will allow you to get your sms as email, where is say if you want your voice mail delivered as text your do not select any number and enable forwarding voicemail as email there is where some people get confused....

Originally Posted by boogeeman69

ealvnv is right, I didn't think about that part, the incoming sms. Yes, it delivers to your verizon sms if you don't tell it to go to email.

Good catch!

The free calls thing is absoutely true with friends and family. If you are a big phone talker, this is a must have before VZW figures out how to stop it.

lol yea but most people looking for free calling are on the low min like the OP is and that does him no good.. with VZW if you drop your voice its still 49.99 just for unlimited data

Ah ok, thats what I have and I tried that email forwarding plus I unchecked receive sms on my phone and tested with a friend.

Its working, I can reply by email but it turns out my number sends one text and my email sends a duplicate lol. Not sure if its because I'm replying to the email, maybe I should reply from the googlevoice app?

Originally Posted by OcaNyc

Ah ok, thats what I have and I tried that email forwarding plus I unchecked receive sms on my phone and tested with a friend.

Its working, I can reply by email but it turns out my number sends one text and my email sends a duplicate lol. Not sure if its because I'm replying to the email, maybe I should reply from the googlevoice app?

right dont do it from email log in to GV app on phone to reply

Originally Posted by jnepsa

lol yea but most people looking for free calling are on the low min like the OP is and that does him no good.. with VZW if you drop your voice its still 49.99 just for unlimited data

And that still would be cheaper than what I'm paying now


But i guess I'm not that popular and dont need a whole lot of minutes in this 4th quarter

Originally Posted by boogeeman69

The free calls thing is absoutely true with friends and family. If you are a big phone talker, this is a must have before VZW figures out how to stop it.

Verizon is planning on launching the android handsets with this feature. They want you to use things like this, to take the load off the voice network, because data is cheaper for them.

Any other GV user notice that the dialer uses a different number, an access number, to call with. You will need to add this number to your F&F too.

Also to reiterate, if you check the box for email, you will still receive a sms message, counting toward your out of network usage.

And as far as minutes, you have to have F&F, 1400 or 900 minutes respectively, to have the "unlimited minutes." still not unlimited though. The call is still using the voice network, so if you were to go data only, you would be charged $.25 a minute.

GV is mainly used as a forwarding service, and as an advanced VM box. It was not intended to replace your airtime usage in its design, just add options that you have to pay for or are not available through carriers now.

I only draw caution to this because a small misunderstanding can cost you a lot of money on a cell phone bill.

I just started with GV today. I'm really liking it in conjunction with Gizmo5.

the big question is most people dont have unlimited txt and data plans?

i would have thought most everyone that has a berry has unlimited txting plan

i love the google voice for i dont have to give out my real number to people i dont want to have my real number and it forwards to my phone

how easy is it to setup gizmo5 with gv on your blackberry? i assume u need a wifi BB?

Originally Posted by newberry

how easy is it to setup gizmo5 with gv on your blackberry? i assume u need a wifi BB?

I haven't tried Gizmo5 on my BB yet. I was more interested in using GV with my computer.

Originally Posted by newberry

the big question is most people dont have unlimited txt and data plans? i would have thought most everyone that has a berry has unlimited txting plan)

Some people are having to pinch pennies wherever possible.

I don't use anywhere near all my airtime because everyone I know either has VZW, Alltell or is my dad with freaking T-Mobile, and I got him on F&F, along with the IRS (but thats a different forum).

I use for VM, more than anything. The transcription for VM is a life saver for me. I hate listening to VM messages, and I got annoyed with youmail, and don't want to pay for VisualVM on big red.

I think it's worth it just to play around and see what features can make you BB experience even better.

Wirelessly posted

Okay so hold on... If you have a BBthen you must have unlimited data/SMS. And that is 30$ for most people unless you have a corporate account (BES). Then its 50$.
You can't add Friends and Family with the lowest min plan. Has to be at least 900 min plan.

Originally Posted by TommyGrubz

Wirelessly posted

Okay so hold on... If you have a BBthen you must have unlimited data/SMS. And that is 30$ for most people unless you have a corporate account (BES). Then its 50$.
You can't add Friends and Family with the lowest min plan. Has to be at least 900 min plan.

sorry tommy but the 30 dollars a month is only unlimited data... does not include SMS... back to your regularly scheduled program

Originally Posted by FuzzieBalzonya

Any other GV user notice that the dialer uses a different number, an access number, to call with. You will need to add this number to your F&F too.

Also to reiterate, if you check the box for email, you will still receive a sms message, counting toward your out of network usage.

And as far as minutes, you have to have F&F, 1400 or 900 minutes respectively, to have the "unlimited minutes." still not unlimited though. The call is still using the voice network, so if you were to go data only, you would be charged $.25 a minute.

GV is mainly used as a forwarding service, and as an advanced VM box. It was not intended to replace your airtime usage in its design, just add options that you have to pay for or are not available through carriers now.

I only draw caution to this because a small misunderstanding can cost you a lot of money on a cell phone bill.

I heard that the dialer chooses a different number randomly so it makes it harder to keep adding these numbers to friends and family.

You mention that if you use the forwarding email option, you still get an sms sent to your phone but there is also another option preventing gv from sending sms to your phone. Basically, just forwards emails. So when I unchecked this box, I only received emails and no sms:

SMS Settings: [unchecked] Receive SMS on this phone (mobile phones only)

Google voice uses one number for outgoing calls and one for incoming calls, they don't use random numbers, at least not for me, the most powerful feature for me is the international calls rates and quality.
Posted via BlackBerry device

OcaNyc: That check mark only applies to vm notification. SMS sent from your google voice account or the app, would have any reply sent back to you handset either way.

ealvnv: My understanding is the same, on # for out, but when I dial from the app on my handset it uses another number, but the same access number each time. So only two numbers I have found so far.

When receiving a call on your google # it shows the persons contact info, but the billing system sees it as your GV # and thats where the F&F comes in. (or a list, fav 5 etc.)
if that number is on your list all out bound and inbound are considered part of mobile-to-mobile calling. I think all the carriers are similar in the way that this werks.

I did notice the number that the text messages i sent and received show the same number as well, but an all together different from my calls. So i believe that this number is the only one that would have no effect if added to you F&F, as these are for calls only.

Originally Posted by FuzzieBalzonya

OcaNyc: That check mark only applies to vm notification. SMS sent from your google voice account or the app, would have any reply sent back to you handset either way.

ealvnv: My understanding is the same, on # for out, but when I dial from the app on my handset it uses another number, but the same access number each time. So only two numbers I have found so far.

When receiving a call on your google # it shows the persons contact info, but the billing system sees it as your GV # and thats where the F&F comes in. (or a list, fav 5 etc.)
if that number is on your list all out bound and inbound are considered part of mobile-to-mobile calling. I think all the carriers are similar in the way that this werks.

I did notice the number that the text messages i sent and received show the same number as well, but an all together different from my calls. So i believe that this number is the only one that would have no effect if added to you F&F, as these are for calls only.

I haven't received any reply txts to my handset with the options I'm using, only emails. And I've been checking my txt usage and doesn't record any incoming txt messages when I use gv.

Originally Posted by OcaNyc

I haven't received any reply txts to my handset with the options I'm using, only emails. And I've been checking my txt usage and doesn't record any incoming txt messages when I use gv.

Same here I got up to 2k texts monthly and never had to pay for them since I'm using GV, I'm paying for the 400 SMS text plan because of family only, but 4.99 is better then 14.99 for unlimited
Posted via BlackBerry device