Problem: going to Germany and Switzerland in two weeks
Goal: allow family to call/txt my vzw cell as usual without international fees, make calls without international fees etc.
solution?:
can I get a prepaid sim when I land, forward my vzw number to gtalk and use a dialer app to make outgoing calls back home?
There are some apps to let you make free calls, but you should have the Wi-Fi or 3G or 4G connectivity at first.
Will you have access to Wifi? If so then I recommend using Google Voice. The app itself will provide for the text messaging but you'll need another app to provide for the VOIP calling via Google Talk. I recommend Groove IP for that.
Related
google voice app offers free VoIP, but what about ToIP lol if there is such a thing (text over ip haha). is texting free over google voice? and can it be done with your carrier number, or does it have to be done with your google voice number?
texting works
Texting with voice works great. I do with my tablet and the PC. I like to use a full keyboard. So I prefer the PC when I am home. My mom has text plus on her ipad and I text to her with gvoice. If you use gvnotifier it will work in your tray. Good luck
Mellowmark
---------- Post added at 07:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 PM ----------
Oh yeah I don't even have a carrier number. Or a phone ..just the hptouchpad
but does it count for your minutes? i like google voice, because voip doesnt use any of your minutes, does it do the same for texts?
It counts as data in your plan but not towards your text plan
I think you got some misunderstand here.
Google voice is not VOIP, it is a forwarding service that provide you with a number to use for any phone you have. When you call someone with GV, Google server call you and that person at the same time, then connect you two, which mean you are using your minutes plan. But if you have access to a web browser on a computer, you can use Gmail to call phone or other Gmail user - that is VOIP (it is free for now, but they will start to charge for the service)
But texting with Google voice is free as long as you have internet access (wifi or data plan). The person who receive it with a normal phone number would have to pay for text plan however
Groove IP
Don't forget groove IP. with the voice app , it will use the data connection.. wifi preferred text and with groove ip you can make phone calls using data voip no phone minutes.
Hey guys I was wondering if groove ip with GV is worth setting up since I have heard that the call quality is bad. Is it actually bad?
Vadaxkicker said:
Hey guys I was wondering if groove ip with GV is worth setting up since I have heard that the call quality is bad. Is it actually bad?
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It's going to depend on your connection and settings.
You can download the free version and just try it out - you don't have to commit to it.
I really need GV
I feel like I'm missing out on Google Voice. It makes sense to use since I'm on unlimited data, but the day I'm off it...I'll probably curse it.
How much data do you all usually use per month with doing texting/voice?
Google Voice
soraxd said:
google voice app offers free VoIP, but what about ToIP lol if there is such a thing (text over ip haha). is texting free over google voice? and can it be done with your carrier number, or does it have to be done with your google voice number?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is done from the GV number. and only uses your data if you are using a GV app or your pc
groove ip and GV question
(need info since I don't know much about this)
so i currently have an at&t prepaid number and I have ordered a new t-mobile prepaid sim. If I i port the google voice to my current at&t number but replace the sim with the new t-mobile sim and leave this number as it is, will I still be able to make calls over GV with my at&t number (using the new sim) or will this not work at all?
Nexus4
Texting via GVoice is free, however media messages such as pictures won't work.
Vadaxkicker said:
(need info since I don't know much about this)
so i currently have an at&t prepaid number and I have ordered a new t-mobile prepaid sim. If I i port the google voice to my current at&t number but replace the sim with the new t-mobile sim and leave this number as it is, will I still be able to make calls over GV with my at&t number (using the new sim) or will this not work at all?
Nexus4
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bump
gamerzworld said:
Texting via GVoice is free, however media messages such as pictures won't work.
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Click to collapse
Short codes can be hit or miss, too.
This has been a work in progress over on the N4 forums, with little progress. I have zero cell reception in certain parts of my home with T-Mobile USA. What can I use as an alternative? Without using a different phone number (i.e Google Voice). Does Hangouts send SMS over Wifi or Cellular? What are you guys using?
Have you ever called tmobile about this. They have given people cell boosters for similar problems
Sent from my GT-N5110 using xda app-developers app
I'm having the same issue with T-Mobile. I have full LTE signal all around my city but the second I walk into my apartment I have absolutely no service. It's quite frustrating and I'm trying to find an alternative. I tried calling T-Mobile about it but they said their cell boosters are "only for stand alone homes and won't work in an apartment complex", which seems ridiculous but whatever.
I'd be willing to switch to Google Voice but I haven't been able to confirm whether or not Google Voice makes/receives calls and texts via Wifi, or if I'll need a separate app to make it work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The typical method these days is Google Voice (since that's not specifically an SIP/VoIP thing itself) + either GrooveIP or Talkatone (which ARE those things) and you can then do SIP/VoIP calling from the Google Voice number, but as noted in the T-Mobile $30 plan thread multiple times (and other places as well) Google is removing the ability for third party apps to interact with GV at the end of April 2014 so that's when we (people that GV + third-party apps) will be forced to find other solutions to make SIP/VoIP calls).
And the other thing is that T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling setup uses minutes from your service plan - most people don't know this and it's not a big hassle on a 1500 minute or unlimited calling plan, but for those of us with the $30 plan it's basically pointless to use it when other alternatives (such as those I just described, at least for another 5 months or so) exist.
Skype is another option but you could be looking at some money involved based on what/who/where you're calling, and then there's stuff like Vonage if you use that service but that's an expenditure as well.
Google Voice for the Home via ObiTalk
sn0warmy said:
I'm having the same issue with T-Mobile. I have full LTE signal all around my city but the second I walk into my apartment I have absolutely no service. It's quite frustrating and I'm trying to find an alternative. I tried calling T-Mobile about it but they said their cell boosters are "only for stand alone homes and won't work in an apartment complex", which seems ridiculous but whatever.
I'd be willing to switch to Google Voice but I haven't been able to confirm whether or not Google Voice makes/receives calls and texts via Wifi, or if I'll need a separate app to make it work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just FYI; I told AT&T to go fly a kite about 8 months ago for my home phone and have been using Google Voice on my home line as well as my cell phone for FREE. Yes; that's FREE incoming and outgoing calls.
I am using a small VoIP phone adapter found on Amazon called OBi202 from ObiTalk.com
Costs about $80 bucks and there is even a wifi adapter for $25 if you can't plug it in via Cat5 to your internet connection at home.
Anyway; you configure the phone adapter to use Google Voice and voila! You can connect 2 separate lines. I have mine and my wife's hooked up to cordless phones so I now have free home phone service.
Down side? The caller ID is a numer and not a name. I read about services available for a subscription that will give you the Name on Caller ID but if this is so important to you I guess you are OK with paying $60+ for phone service. (Yea right)
When you get a call it will ring simultaneously on your home phone and your mobile.
Free service; I LIKE THAT. And if you get bad reception at home from your mobile the nice part is that this could solve your issue because you give out your Google Voice number out and the phone will automatically start be ringing on your cordless when you are home.
Hope this helps you!!:good:
---------- Post added at 08:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:50 PM ----------
sn0warmy said:
I'm having the same issue with T-Mobile. I have full LTE signal all around my city but the second I walk into my apartment I have absolutely no service. It's quite frustrating and I'm trying to find an alternative. I tried calling T-Mobile about it but they said their cell boosters are "only for stand alone homes and won't work in an apartment complex", which seems ridiculous but whatever.
I'd be willing to switch to Google Voice but I haven't been able to confirm whether or not Google Voice makes/receives calls and texts via Wifi, or if I'll need a separate app to make it work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Click to collapse
Oh; to answer your question I sent myself and back texts using Google Voice over Wifi only and it worked. I have called with it via Wifi also when traveling.
So it does.
You can use MagicJack. They also have a android app. I heard it pretty good, however to use the android app, you need to register your phone. Once you register your phone, you can't unregister it. This is info I pulled about a year ago. Look into it though.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Port your number to Google Voice.
Get a VoIP account at a provider that has good latency for your location (I use voip.ms, costs $0.014/min outgoing, ~$0.01/min incoming).
Set up CSIPSimple on your phone (use g729a for good quality on slower connections, PCMU on faster connections; be prepared to fiddle with settings to get it down right)
Make calls using CSIPSimple from your voip.ms account
Set up Google Voice to ring both your voip.ms number when you receive calls, as well as your T-Mobile number (in case you don't have WiFi or data when the call comes through).
I visit the US regularly and always pop my trusty TMO SIM into my current phone and take advantage of the data plan to make SIP calls and get over the 100 minutes limit.
I might use one of Vonage, Google Voice Callback (with a Callcentric SIP account as the callback number) Localphone or GrooveIP.
This worked fine on my last trip in August last year on my GN.
This time I found I could not make any SIP calls over the 3G network (no LTE because my phone is the international version of the N5). Calls would be placed only to be greeted with silence and GV callback would never call me back. The only method that worked was GrooveIP but apparently that's going to stop soon because of the way Google manages some API with Google Voice.
All the processes worked fine over WiFi.
Just to check I tried my daughter's N4 on the same plan and she could make all those calls without any problem.
I see TMO has blocked tethering on the N5 which can be overcome through Root and modifying some file but does anybody know if TMO has also blocked SIP calls on the N5 also?
Might have to take my GN with me next time as my US phone and keep the N5 with the home SIM card in it.
Thanks
lchiu7 said:
I visit the US regularly and always pop my trusty TMO SIM into my current phone and take advantage of the data plan to make SIP calls and get over the 100 minutes limit.
I might use one of Vonage, Google Voice Callback (with a Callcentric SIP account as the callback number) Localphone or GrooveIP.
This worked fine on my last trip in August last year on my GN.
This time I found I could not make any SIP calls over the 3G network (no LTE because my phone is the international version of the N5). Calls would be placed only to be greeted with silence and GV callback would never call me back. The only method that worked was GrooveIP but apparently that's going to stop soon because of the way Google manages some API with Google Voice.
All the processes worked fine over WiFi.
Just to check I tried my daughter's N4 on the same plan and she could make all those calls without any problem.
I see TMO has blocked tethering on the N5 which can be overcome through Root and modifying some file but does anybody know if TMO has also blocked SIP calls on the N5 also?
Might have to take my GN with me next time as my US phone and keep the N5 with the home SIM card in it.
Thanks
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Click to collapse
tmobile didnt block tethering on the n5, i tether my other devices and tablet to it frequently. but tethering is a paid service with tmobile(free unlimited on all plans except the completely unlimited high speed data plan, 2.5gb of tethering comes with that plan). but tmobile wifi calling does not work on the n5.
ok, so im getting the 100 minute, unlimited data 30$ tmobile plan on my sprint nexus 5 cause sprint totally sucks.
i have a google voice number and i was just wondering, now that hangouts has calling integrated, can i just use google voice number to make and receive calls over data?
im reading conflicting things, like some people want call forwarding from tmobile (im thinking they want their cell number forwarded to google voice) which 1)isnt an option and 2) not really needed since people will be calling my seperate google voice number
also reading that tmobile blocks google voice on their prepaid plans for some folks
is anyone using the 30 month 100 minute unlimited tmobile data plan and making and receiving calls using a seperate google voice number?
It's working for me. Just make sure you check the option in hangouts settings to receive calls on the device, as well. Now trying to forward phone calls made to my T-Mobile number to my GV Voice Mail doesn't work since it's prepaid. At least, last time I tried it didn't.
As long as you have good service it works fine. Tried it over edge and kept falling to place calls. Where as edge works fine to place calls over normal cell network not using data.
Google confirmed calls to and from your Google voice number that you answer through the hangouts app are 100% data usage.
For any of you who have merged hangouts with Google Voice, is sending SMS *incredibly* slow?
Even when the keyboard doesn't freeze, a fast text message takes about 5-10 seconds to send.
App loading and navigation is also laggy. I wonder if it has to do with the mmssms database merged and having to load it.
First, you sure can just use Google Voice number to make and receive calls over data. In fact, Hangouts only use data, not voice/talk minute at all.
Second, prepaid mobile phone plans do not have conditional forwarding which is required to forward incoming calls to mobile DID (Direct Inward Dialing -- telephone number) to Google Voice DID. Therefore, you are correct. It is not an option. Moreover, you are also correct as to there is no such need to forward calls from mobile DID to Google Voice DID due to people will be using separate Google Voice DID. I would suggest you port Sprint mobile DID to Ring.to and have Ring.to forward all incoming calls and texts to your Google Voice DID. Consequently, people have been using your current Sprint mobile DID will continue be able to contact you without changing your DID. You just get a new DID from T-Mobile when you sign up for $30 prepaid plan for 100 minutes talk, unlimited text and data with first 5 GB up to LTE speeds.
Third, I am using $30 prepaid plan for 100 minutes talk, unlimited text and data with first 5 GB up to LTE speeds and using Hangouts for outgoing calls. It just work flawlessly! I use Voxox for incoming calls and do not use mobile DID came with T-Mobile $30 plan at all.
Am a small business owner and need to be able to access incoming and outgoing texts while on a cruise.on at&t.
WhatsApp seems to require the other party to be signed up which is not always the case. Is there another way around this besides buying the high-priced cellular plan? For example can I forward my phone to Google Voice and receive messages this way over WiFi?