I was helping someone get started with Google Voice in a thread, and thought a little tutorial might help people out, so I wrote one. I'd like input if you guys think I got something wrong, or left something out. I hope this can help someone.
The pdf has been updated as of 2/16/2010 with more info:
http://i0v.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Google-Voice-for-Noobs.pdf
But I figured some people might like plain text, so I'll paste it too.
I probably won't update the plain text here because it will just be getting longer and longer
(that is, unless someone requests it)
Google Voice for Noobs
Transitioning to Google Voice, on a Sprint HTC Hero
First Revision 2/14/10
What Is Google Voice?
First off, I think it helps to think of Google Voice like a switch box of some sort. You can feed telephone calls in and feed them back out, in whatever direction you’d like. The original intended functionality of GV was to allow you give people one number (your GV number) and then it would ring all of your phones when someone calls that number.
Now this might be helpful for some people, but I know the majority of people here probably don’t have more than one phone. But this setup can still be useful for people who want to use their Google Voice number as the number they give out to people. This setup is really the easiest, because once you’ve entered your cell phone in Google Voice under Settings > Phones, you’re pretty much done. The other advantage to this route is that you can have GV ask callers for their name before it rings your phone (call screening), and some other cool features. If you still want to use your Sprint phone number and just use GV for voicemail, see the next section.
Note: Now when you now first set up Google Voice, it asks if you want to set it up as strictly voicemail and then steps you through steps similar to the following section. It then gives you a more limited feature set for just the options that apply to when you’re using it as voicemail. If that’s all you want to do, then that might be the route to go. If at some point, you want to use a scenario similar to the one above Go to Settings >’Phones’ tab > Get a Google number (thanks to Jon at Hebb Networks for clarifying this)
Google Voice as Voicemail
(This is basically an explanation of what Google walks you through when you go to Settings > “Activate Google voicemail for this phone” on the GV website)
Note that sometime around November 2009, Sprint decided to make CONDITIONAL call forwarding free, so we’re going to configure it like this:
In this situation what you’ll do is dial *285555555555 (replace the 5’s with your GV number) and then press talk. You should hear some beeps to let you know everything is working alright. Then you can hang up. (To undo this feature dial *38)
Next, you want to let GV know that these calls that are being forwarded should go to voicemail. You can do this by going into your settings page in Google Voice on your computer, and clicking “Activate Google voicemail for this phone”
Another thing to note, is that there is a big difference between CONDITIONAL and UNCONDITIONAL call forwarding. CONDITIONAL forwards a call after some (you guessed it) conditions are met - i.e. Busy, or no answer. You can read more about CONDITIONAL call forwarding here: http://bit.ly/9KvT2L
On the other hand, UNCONDITIONAL call forwarding takes all calls to your sprint number, and forwards them ALL to a different number without ever ringing your cell phone. This is not typically an option that anyone would want to use, and Sprint still charges 20 cents/minute for every call that uses this. Read more here: http://bit.ly/apyfAs
Accessing Google Voice from your Hero
Now on your CDMA Hero, you’re definitely going to want to download the Google Voice app from the Market. This will currently do two functions.
1. Allow you to see and play all of your voicemail.
2. Route your outgoing calls back through Google Voice, if you want to. (This makes more sense, I think, if you’re giving out your Google Voice number to people, because then your calls will be all forwarded through GV, both incoming and outgoing. I don’t give out my GV number, so I have mine set to only make outgoing calls through GV for international calls.)
Another option is to call Google Voice from your cell phone, just like the old days with Sprint Voicemail. Be sure to go Settings > Call Settings > Voicemail and then type in your GV number. Then when you hold 1 from the dial pad, you’ll call GV and be able to access it that way too.
Yet another option is to just visit the Google Voice Mobile Page in the browser.
Notification Options
With a fresh setup of Google Voice Voicemail, you’ll probably quickly notice that you’ll bombarded with email and SMS notifications about a new message. You can turn these off, and if you’re using the Android app, you’ll probably want to. On the Google Voice site, visit Settings > Voicemail & SMS > Voicemail Notifications to turn these on or off.
I have one question about using GV. I have free mobile to mobile calling. When someone calls my GV number, which is then forwarded to my cell phone, is this still a mobile to mobile call, or will I be charged?
wjtrawick said:
I have one question about using GV. I have free mobile to mobile calling. When someone calls my GV number, which is then forwarded to my cell phone, is this still a mobile to mobile call, or will I be charged?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did a reverse telephone lookup, and it lists my google voice number type as a landline. So, no, I don't believe it counts as a mobile number.
Edit: Just checked my Sprint bill. I've got Any Mobile, Anytime. It is charged as a land line.
(On a side note, we just switched to the free mobile to mobile a few months ago, damn I love it: "Your account used 9,346 minutes of Any Mobile, Anytime(sm) calling last month.")
According to GV surport forum. If somebody(cellphone) calls ur GV number and transfer to ur sprint number. It should be counted as Mobile to Mobile. However, if you called somebody else through ur GV number, it will be conted as you call a landline.
link is here.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/voice/thread?tid=75630cc990ea5c98&hl=en
laufine said:
According to GV surport forum. If somebody(cellphone) calls ur GV number and transfer to ur sprint number. It should be counted as Mobile to Mobile. However, if you called somebody else through ur GV number, it will be conted as you call a landline.
link is here.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/voice/thread?tid=75630cc990ea5c98&hl=en
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yupp, thats how it is, I have the bills to prove it. Also, for the person calling you it counts as a landline call for them, so if they are on Sprint it is not using mobile2mobile.
If there was a way to convince google to have gvoice lines as mobile lines it would be set....to bad...
Interestingly, the Voice app for Android doesn't do push notifications of new VMs. I get my email notifications long before the Voice app picks the VMs up. (I think it's set to check every 5 minutes?)
Any ideas on that one?
Is_907 said:
Interestingly, the Voice app for Android doesn't do push notifications of new VMs. I get my email notifications long before the Voice app picks the VMs up. (I think it's set to check every 5 minutes?)
Any ideas on that one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I go to settings > refresh and notification > refresh inbox,, and there are options there for refresh rate. 5 minutes is the lowest setting. I heard somewhere that there is a 3rd party app that checks more frequently, but I haven't tried it. I wouldn't want to drain my battery with an interval shorter than 5 minutes. Maybe you'd be better off making a gmail label to sort the notifications if the delay is a problem.
I've just been setting GV to send me SMS notifications, and then when I have a VM, I just hit refresh, and look at it. I don't want it constantly refreshing because I hardly get VM's.
Is_907 said:
Interestingly, the Voice app for Android doesn't do push notifications of new VMs. I get my email notifications long before the Voice app picks the VMs up. (I think it's set to check every 5 minutes?)
Any ideas on that one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the one thing that keeps me from becoming a heavy Google Voice user. I read on the Google support forums that they're working on push notifications but they said it was difficult and didn't have an ETA.
I don't know how it would be more difficult than Gmail.
Hey, thanks a lot for this guide! I've had "setting up google voicemail" on my to-do list for a while now, and your easy to understand guide motivated me to get it set up. Thanks a lot!
Just wanted to add a little something (feel free to put it in your guide if you want, to avoid questions in the forum later) for people who are on Cricket Wireless...
If you try to set this up for Cricket, the code you dial to activate Google Voicemail is slightly different.
For Cricket, dial *74xxxxxxx.
If you get an error after dialing it, something like "Cricket does not currently offer this service", then the problem isn't that Cricket doesn't offer it, but that your account does not have Call Forwarding enabled.
So, if you use Cricket and you get an error after dialing the code, go to your My Account on the Cricket Website and double check/add the Call Forwarding feature to your account. Once you do this, the code will work and GVoicemail can be activated.
Thanks again!
raynda said:
Hey, thanks a lot for this guide! I've had "setting up google voicemail" on my to-do list for a while now, and your easy to understand guide motivated me to get it set up. Thanks a lot!
Just wanted to add a little something (feel free to put it in your guide if you want, to avoid questions in the forum later) for people who are on Cricket Wireless...
If you try to set this up for Cricket, the code you dial to activate Google Voicemail is slightly different.
For Cricket, dial *74xxxxxxx.
If you get an error after dialing it, something like "Cricket does not currently offer this service", then the problem isn't that Cricket doesn't offer it, but that your account does not have Call Forwarding enabled.
So, if you use Cricket and you get an error after dialing the code, go to your My Account on the Cricket Website and double check/add the Call Forwarding feature to your account. Once you do this, the code will work and GVoicemail can be activated.
Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent, and thanks; I'm glad this is being helpful to some people. I will definitely add that to at least the PDF guide today after I finish some school work. I look at this guide as a work in progress, and I'd like to eventually make it a fairly comprehensive users-guide to GV.
My one comment is:
*28 on Sprint forwards BOTH busy line, and no answer. From reading the cricket site, it seems that you'd both need to do *73 and *74 codes, so that when you're busy, it also sends calls to GV. On sprint you can do this too, as it would be the same as doing *28. Actually when I first activated mine, I had to do it that way because the exchange I was using was having some problems with the *28. Basically *28 is just a shortcut (on sprint, not cricket) for forwarding both.
So I'll add this explanation to the guide too. (along with undo codes) I totally forgot I had that problem. But I'm pretty sure you want to also do *73.
--------------------
To the people with billing comments:
So basicially everyone is saying:
1) All GV calls out are charged as calls to a land line. (which I have experienced too)
2) All GV incoming calls are charged as if you were receiving the call directly. (i.e. [Mobile call -> GV -> your phone] is charged as mobile... OR ... [landline call -> GV -> your phone] is charged as landline]
Am I right here? If so, I'll add this in today, too.
what am i missing?
* I have google voice setup correctly
* I have the application from the market installed
* I am receiving notifications in the form of text, and through the notification bar in android.
What I cannot figure out is how to opened the darn program when i want to get back into google voice to look at the messages in the inbox. i can get in when a message icon is in the tray (i just click on it and google voice comes up), but later on when i think "what was that message again?" and I go to go back to the program I cannot find a way to get in.
* There is no program in the "all programs" page (accessed by the arrow)
* There is no widget (other than the one to change how i want google voice to make calls for me)
What am I missing? I cannot figure out how to get into the program.
I could go to the mobile site, but that just seems silly when i know that the program is on my phone. I just can't find an icon to access it.
Please tell me I'm blind, and missing something obvious.
-AndyS-
realmrealm said:
* I have google voice setup correctly
* I have the application from the market installed
* I am receiving notifications in the form of text, and through the notification bar in android.
What I cannot figure out is how to opened the darn program when i want to get back into google voice to look at the messages in the inbox. i can get in when a message icon is in the tray (i just click on it and google voice comes up), but later on when i think "what was that message again?" and I go to go back to the program I cannot find a way to get in.
* There is no program in the "all programs" page (accessed by the arrow)
* There is no widget (other than the one to change how i want google voice to make calls for me)
What am I missing? I cannot figure out how to get into the program.
I could go to the mobile site, but that just seems silly when i know that the program is on my phone. I just can't find an icon to access it.
Please tell me I'm blind, and missing something obvious.
-AndyS-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can only guess that you're looking for an icon that says "Google Voice" when actually the icon just says "Voice"
yikes!
@thematrixkid17 - see, I asked for something obvious and you gave it to me
I'm really pretty embarrassed considering the time that I was trying to figure this out, and that it was in front of me the whole time.
Thanks for the quick reply.
-AndyS-
laufine said:
According to GV surport forum. If somebody(cellphone) calls ur GV number and transfer to ur sprint number. It should be counted as Mobile to Mobile. However, if you called somebody else through ur GV number, it will be conted as you call a landline.
link is here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint has a feature called "Sprint to Home" for $5 /month. If you add that to your plan ALL calls going to and from google voice are free. I use my phone ALL the time and only manage to rack up a 20-30 minutes a month .
realmrealm said:
@thematrixkid17 - see, I asked for something obvious and you gave it to me
I'm really pretty embarrassed considering the time that I was trying to figure this out, and that it was in front of me the whole time.
Thanks for the quick reply.
-AndyS-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. I knew that was probably your problem, because I had to do a double-take the first time I installed it too. Voice sounds really generic and has a pretty generic looking icon, so its not hard to overlook. I should add a picture of the icon to my guide
biggoan said:
Sprint has a feature called "Sprint to Home" for $5 /month. If you add that to your plan ALL calls going to and from google voice are free. I use my phone ALL the time and only manage to rack up a 20-30 minutes a month .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've heard about that. So you use google voice to dial to everybody? Cause I have 300 mins/month(Family plan,1500mins, 5ppl), if next month I use more than 300 mins, I'll call sprint to add this service.
anyone happen to happen an invite
[email protected]
so could i use this as my primary voicemail with my sprint number or would i have use the gv one? which i would see no point in if you don't use the gv number? thanks to whoever can clear this up for me
ko0pa11 said:
anyone happen to happen an invite
[email protected]
so could i use this as my primary voicemail with my sprint number or would i have use the gv one? which i would see no point in if you don't use the gv number? thanks to whoever can clear this up for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can use it as primary voicemail, while still using your Sprint number. That's how I primarily use mine, since I'm on a 1500 minute 5 line family plan with free mobile to mobile any network, and we barely use 200 anytime minutes COMBINED. So it doesn't make sense for me to use GV for calls, when everyone already has my Sprint number. just follow the section in the guide "google voice as voicemail" or the setup instructions on GV.
What is nice about GV for voicemail is that you get visual voicemail via the GV android app, access to voicemail on your pc, its easy to archive messages, custom greetings for different groups of callers, and a bunch of other stuff. Voicemail transcription isn't great yet, but makes it nice to get an idea of what callers are saying if you can't listen (class, meeting, etc)
Invites are pretty sparse. I only ever got three, which I've used for my close friends, or i'd hand them out.
Again, i'll be updating the guide semi-daily based on questions in this thread
laufine said:
I've heard about that. So you use google voice to dial to everybody? Cause I have 300 mins/month(Family plan,1500mins, 5ppl), if next month I use more than 300 mins, I'll call sprint to add this service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lot of the family plans now have the free mobile to mobile any network, so if you mainly make mobile calls, you might take a look at that as an option too. (sorry if I keep bringing this up, but it did really do a killing on my plan; my sister used almost 9000 free minutes last month because of this)
Searched and had no luck
Does anyone know how to setup google voice to work with your ATT # not just your google voice #
Did you try installing the Voice app to your phone?
Upon initial launch of the app, the user is walked through the setup, including whether or not you want to use Google Voice to make/receive calls and if you want to use it for your voicemail. It even takes you to the screen on your phone to change the preference from carrier to Google Voice and provides you with the number to use.
How to you reduce the number of rings before going to Voice's voicemail?
JOe K.
ekasey said:
Searched and had no luck
Does anyone know how to setup google voice to work with your ATT # not just your google voice #
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Visual Voicemail works by forwarding calls from your phone to your GV number. There is no other option. The forwarding settings are on your phone - so your phone knows to forward calls if you don't answer, the phone is off, or you push reject button.
Install GV on your phone
Login to your GV account with GV phone app
I have not had any luck getting the app to configure my phone, so i go to the settings page of GV in my desktop browser, set up my mobile there - it gives you the dial code to put in your phone to configure forwarding.
JOe K. said:
How to you reduce the number of rings before going to Voice's voicemail?
JOe K.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a carrier setting, I can't remember if you have to call or if you can change this from your phone - i think you have to go to AT&T online or on the phone and have them change it.
alphadog00 said:
It is a carrier setting, I can't remember if you have to call or if you can change this from your phone - i think you have to go to AT&T online or on the phone and have them change it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you have to call customer care.
alphadog00 said:
Visual Voicemail works by forwarding calls from your phone to your GV number. There is no other option. The forwarding settings are on your phone - so your phone knows to forward calls if you don't answer, the phone is off, or you push reject button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google Voice voice mail does not require a GV number. You only need GV number if you want to use the free SMS feature of GV.
The first time you install and launch GV app on your phone, it will walk you through the steps to set up the proper voice mail settings on your phone. I remember I have to punch in some numbers manually by the prompt of GV.
The free SMS texting saves me $$ but you need to be aware of the fact that GV SMS does not support short codes. So it won't work if you want to vote on American Idol etc.
Also, you have to go into google voice on your computer and there's a number you have to dial on your phone to tell your carrier to forward unanswered calls to google's service. I forget where it's located on the google voice website.
You can dial that number and enter the codes and it will use google voice for voice mail even if you have or have not installed google voice app on the phone.
Call customer service? Go to the ATT website? What? You don't have to do any of that junk.
It couldn't be simpler. Go to the following website:
https://www.google.com/voice
You have to click on "Activate Voicemail" in settings. It tells you what to do.
Install the app on your phone. Follow the instructions.
Choose "Don't Make Calls Using Google Voice" and you can continue using your ATT number.
MikeyMike01 said:
Call customer service? Go to the ATT website? What? You don't have to do any of that junk.
It couldn't be simpler. Go to the following website:
https://www.google.com/voice
You have to click on "Activate Voicemail" in settings. It tells you what to do.
Install the app on your phone. Follow the instructions.
Choose "Don't Make Calls Using Google Voice" and you can continue using your ATT number.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You didn't read the question that was being answered. Another poster asked how to get VM to pickup with less rings - the answer is NOT google.
foxbat121 said:
Google Voice voice mail does not require a GV number. You only need GV number if you want to use the free SMS feature of GV.
The first time you install and launch GV app on your phone, it will walk you through the steps to set up the proper voice mail settings on your phone. I remember I have to punch in some numbers manually by the prompt of GV.
The free SMS texting saves me $$ but you need to be aware of the fact that GV SMS does not support short codes. So it won't work if you want to vote on American Idol etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Signing up for GV gives you a GV number even if you never use it. All those numbers you punched in - they were forwarding your calls to your GV number and the only thing the GV number does is answer and record voicemail.
If you go to your phone settings (on your phone) you will see that unanswered calls and rejected calls are forwarded to a phone number - that is your GV number.
More than one person asked how to set up Visual Voicemail, or expressed their inability to get it working.
No one posted clear instructions on how to set it up.
So I did.
Please don't tell me what I did and didn't read. Thanks.
MikeyMike01 said:
More than one person asked how to set up Visual Voicemail, or expressed their inability to get it working.
No one posted clear instructions on how to set it up.
So I did.
Please don't tell me what I did and didn't read. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Joe K. Asked:
How to you reduce the number of rings before going to Voice's voicemail?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I and others told him to call customer service or go to AT&T website....
You started your comment with:
Call customer service? Go to the ATT website? What? You don't have to do any of that junk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As you can see (maybe not) references to AT&T and customer service had nothing to do with setting up Google voice - no one ever said they did. But your response connects the two together.
So if you had read the original question from Joe K. you would realize that no one was telling anyone to call or go to AT&T to set up Google Voice.
I agree it has little to do with the original question.
JOe K. said:
How to you reduce the number of rings before going to Voice's voicemail?
JOe K.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. On your phone, dial *#61# and click Send.
2. Some information should be displayed: number that the calls are being forwarded to and the delay before the forwarding engages.
3. Write down the number (including +1)
4. Dial **61*+1xxxyyyzzzz*11*30# and hit Send. +1xxxyyyzzzz is the number you wrote down previously, 30 is the delay in seconds. The delay can be set in 5 second increments, 30 is maximum
5. Dial *#61# to verify that the new settings are active.
Thanks guys sometimes i'm an idiot.
Does anyone know of a good way to have your Google phone number show in caller ID by default?
Without porting your google number to your phone carrier...
I know if I go through the google voice app and call from there it will show my Google phone number in caller ID, but it's kind of clumsy. I have to have the number saved as a contact first, there's no number pad to just make a call, etc.
Thanks
.jond said:
Does anyone know of a good way to have your Google phone number show in caller ID by default?
Without porting your google number to your phone carrier...
I know if I go through the google voice app and call from there it will show my Google phone number in caller ID, but it's kind of clumsy. I have to have the number saved as a contact first, there's no number pad to just make a call, etc.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In google voice, go to settings, and change "Making calls" setting.to always use google voice to make calls
Any call you make from now on will show your google voice number. (You can also put the google voice widget on your home screen to toggle between the various settings for GV (always use your phone#, always use GV#, always ask, use only for international calls)
jj14 said:
In google voice, go to settings, and change "Making calls" setting.to always use google voice to make calls
Any call you make from now on will show your google voice number. (You can also put the google voice widget on your home screen to toggle between the various settings for GV (always use your phone#, always use GV#, always ask, use only for international calls)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what this guys said, you can have it ask every time you make a phone call to choose what number to call fom, or you can set it to which ever you want to use. Its in the 1st setup of google voice after installing. or in the GV settings..
Thanks, I got it.
In addition to above, it seems like it you have to use the area code(even for local calls) when dialing out for it to work.
Just something to note for anyone searching for a solution.