Phone: Motorola Atrix 4g
Carrier: AT&T
OS: Android 2.2 (soon to be 2.3!)
Problem: Can't use all Google Voice Features with Cell Number
I recently purchased the Motorola Atrix and so far I am very impressed with this phone. My friend has an Android phone with Sprint and he told me about Google Voice and how great it was for his phone. I short I WANT that with my phone. I understand the basic concept of how GV works and how Sprint has a "special" relationship with this service, but I still would like to try and make it work with my phone in a similar way.
Notes:
I do not have a separate GV Number.
I have installed the GV app and the voicemail functions work but SMS and call forwarding do not work.
My Questions:
1) If I port my cell number over to GV will everything work correctly (like Sprint...including SMS and Call Forwarding features)
2) If I do port my number over...how are my outgoing and incoming calls (that go to my cell phone) billed on ATT. Because calls get routed through Google do they still appear as Mobile to Mobile Calls? Are they all Land line calls from GV? Does the forwarding of the correct "Caller ID" information solve all of these problems?
3) Ideally I would like to avoid porting my number to Google, and work with settings on my phone or with ATT technicians to make my phone work like it would on the Sprint System. Basically I want to use all of the GV benefits without getting a separate GV number and without porting my Cell number to GV. Is this Possible? Has anyone done it?
Thanks to anyone who read this and has any information for me.
Cheers,
BW
The google voice app has never worked on my phone, always giving me some message about it being for US only.
But today i tried it from my phone and it actually allowed me to set up an account. It stopped at the screen where i was setting up my voicemail pin and said "We have a problem. Your phone number could not be verified. Please try again.". So far i havent been able to get past that screen.
I was able to make google voice calls on my laptop today so it seems like they are allowing use in Canada finally. Does anyone know if its possible to use google voice on mobilicity or wind?
I am curious because mobilicity has a new plan with unlimited calls texts and data for 25 a month, but no voicemail. If i can use google voice as my voicemail then obviously that wont be a problem.
don't know if you checked this out already, but read the post below...I think it should explain what you're looking for....
http://community.windmobile.ca/windmobile/topics/using_google_voice_on_your_phone?from_gsfn=true
Thanks, its too bad that the workarounds discussed in that post still dont offer a solution for voicemail, but that will probably be useful information for future reference.
I did find a solution to this problem without using google voice if anyone is interested. I may as well share it.
To those who are interested in this plan but wont sign up without voicemail:
- You can get a free phone number and a customizable answering machine from http://www.freephoneline.ca/ (if you cant get a toronto number you can use thornhill, richmond hill, etc to avoid forwarding to a long distance number)
- Then set your phone to forward your unanswered, busy, and unavailable incoming calls to your freephoneline number.
- Then set your voicemail access number to the corresponding number on this list http://www.freephoneline.ca/vmAccessNumbers
- Also make sure to set your freephoneline to only ring once before going to voicemail, you can do this by logging into your account on their website and going to your settings
- You now have $25 BTS + Voicemail! When people call your regular phone number and you dont answer, it will forward them to your voicemail on your freephoneline number, and you can check your voicemail from your cell phone the same way you always would.
I believe they also provide the option to automatically transcribe your voicemails and email them to you in text form.
EDIT: Apparantly call forwarding is $5 more, if thats true this wouldnt work. Another option would be using Dell Voice on the android market.
Its an app gives you a canadian number with the area code of your choice and can be used to make and receive calls anywhere in canada and US for free, and customizable voicemail. It uses your carrier data to do this, but since this plan has unlimited data that shouldnt be a problem. The only problem is you would have to get used to making and receiving all your calls through an app, and using your dell voice number as your primary number.
Might be worth the extra $5 to get call features and add the freephoneline voicemail via the method above, the $5 call features addon on the mobilicity website includes Call Waiting, Call Forwarding and 3-Way Calling, (plus voicemail via fpl). Thats basically $30 for the $29 plan i currently have with wind except that it doesnt expire in a year and go up to $45 =/
I have my personal phone, Samsung Focus, and my work phone, iPhone 3GS, and I'd honestly like to only have to carry 1 with me, the Focus.
What I need:
Receive phone calls [Done]
Receive text messages
Receive Email [Done]
How can I have my iPhone forward text messages? Or is there a service similar to AT&T Messages I can use on my Focus to get my text messages on my iPhone?
well than try to change the number from the iphone to the focus and call it a day. I am not aware of any service that you are talking about than can forward messages from one phone to another.
I think that I might do is put the iPhone SIM Card into an old Android phone and use an SMS Relay app to forward the text messages.
You could check for a GSM shortcode that will handle SMS forwarding. I know there's one for call forwardign (you're probably already using it).
Alternatively, even if there's not an app for SMS forwarding in Apple's store, you may be able to find one on Cydia (requires jailbreaking though, which might not be OK on a "work phone").
Can you use google voice and install something like govoice on your samsung?
Just a thought.
Work provided me with an iPhone 4S and pays the bill. So, I ported my personal number for my LG Quantum to Google Voice. It made it so that I did not need to tell anyone a new number.
The official Google Voice app is not as good as some of the pay ones. I now use GV Mobile+. Also Talkatone is a google voice app that lets you talk using wifi (if connected such as at home) or data.
GV Mobile+ also supports sending pictures in text messages, unlike the official Google Voice app.
In any case, you will want to port you personal number to Google Voice.
After that, you can also take the SIM out of the iPhone and put it in a different phone. In my case, I cannot, since the iPhone 4S uses a Micro SIM, so I would need a Micro SIM to SIM adaptor.
There are Google Voice apps for Windows Phone as well.
Either way you go, the first step is porting your personal number to Google Voice.
Other advantages:
Can configure it to ring your work cell, office phone, and home phone all at the same time.
Can switch the conversation to any number you have configured by pressing * during the call.
Can easily record the conversation if you desire.
Text messages that are sent and recieved over data, so work will not notice or care.
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Perhaps google voice could help or some auto SMS forwarding app on your 2nd phone
Hi there, everyone! I'm a long time reader but never really get to post anything. Before I start, I hope this is the right forum and did some searching around my question and haven't found a solution - both on XDA and just searching Google itself.
I rely on Google Voice for all my voice and text needs and have multiple phones. I used and kept an old Google Voice official APK (something like 0.26 I believe) which allowed all my outgoing calls to route through the same outbound number. This number was some random phone number that wasn't my Google Voice number but required a little bit of data prior to connecting the call to tell Google "Hey, I'm about to make an outgoing call, this is the number I'm making it to" to route the call correctly. The newer versions of the Google Voice app use a different "shadow" number for each contact so no data is required. This old option was extremely important to me because I have a limited voice plan and took advantage of my carrier's unlimited calling to your favourite number option to make my calls free. That specific version of the Google Voice app doesn't work with ICS or Jellybean and I no longer have a Gingerbread phone.
Is there a third-party app that would help me dial a phone number or tap on "call" within a contact and have it route through that same Google Voice "shadow" number every time? If not, would someone consider writing up one for a bounty?
There's actually a Windows Phone 7 app called GoVoice that actually lets users choose which option they prefer. To dial all outgoing calls with the same number, small amount of data required; to assign a different shadow number to each call, no data required; or to have Google Voice phone your mobile back directly, perfect for those on legacy Free Incoming Call plans.
Your help and suggestions would be much appreciated!
Best,
Manny
Is anybody here using Google Voice on their Flex 2? I have this issue where outgoing calls made through Google Voice are recorded in the stock phone app's call log as some random number, not the number I just dialed. I did a little a little research, and Google Voice apparently routes all outgoing voice calls through a "gateway" or "access" number. That must be the random number that's showing in my call log. But this was never a problem on all the Android phones I've owned (and I've had many) and all the different ROMs I've flashed over the years. For example, Google Voice shows the actual numbers I dialed on my previous LG G2, Samsung Galaxy S4, LG G Pro, Nexus 4, etc.
If anyone can confirm this is also happening on their LG Flex 2, then I'll know it's not just me.
Mine showed the corrected # on both side. I'm on H950 5.1.1. Maybe you can update your google voice app.
That's the way it works on iPhones. I've never seen the Google Voice "hidden routing" number show up in the native call log on any android phone I've used. (That hidden routing number in Google Voice parlance is sometimes referenced as the "grandcentral" number which was the company that Google Voice bought when it started). If you notice, your "grandcentral" number actually shows up in the background (you can of see it in small numbers in your Google Voice app for a half second) when dialing a call from your Google Voice App.
Is it happening for calls you're making from even your Contacts, or just unknown numbers that you dial manually? (Not that I'd have anything to add or offer, but I"m just curious). Are you running stock, or are you modded in any way? (Again, I'm just curious).
I actually prefer the way Apple does it so you can see the number in your call log. It's handy to have. It's a static number that doesn't change for your Google contact. You can save it and dial it directly from any phone -- even without data or making a landline call -- and the call shows up on the other end that you're calling from your Google Voice number.
epofhouston said:
Mine showed the corrected # on both side. I'm on H950 5.1.1. Maybe you can update your google voice app.
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Click to collapse
I'm already on the newest version of the Google Voice app. I'm on a LS996 running 5.1.1, but I'm firmware version ZV6. I believe the newest 5.1.1 stock firmware is ZV9. I wonder if upgrading to ZV9 will fix the problem What 5.1.1 firmware version are you on?
I'm on 11x.
jgolf said:
That's the way it works on iPhones. I've never seen the Google Voice "hidden routing" number show up in the native call log on any android phone I've used. (That hidden routing number in Google Voice parlance is sometimes referenced as the "grandcentral" number which was the company that Google Voice bought when it started). If you notice, your "grandcentral" number actually shows up in the background (you can of see it in small numbers in your Google Voice app for a half second) when dialing a call from your Google Voice App.
Is it happening for calls you're making from even your Contacts, or just unknown numbers that you dial manually? (Not that I'd have anything to add or offer, but I"m just curious). Are you running stock, or are you modded in any way? (Again, I'm just curious).
I actually prefer the way Apple does it so you can see the number in your call log. It's handy to have. It's a static number that doesn't change for your Google contact. You can save it and dial it directly from any phone -- even without data or making a landline call -- and the call shows up on the other end that you're calling from your Google Voice number.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see the Google routing phone number in my call log for all the outgoing calls I make. It doesn't matter if I dial someone from my Contacts or I manually dial the number. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "dialing a call from your Google Voice App". I'm dialing by tapping on names in my Contacts app, or by tapping out numbers in the stock Phone app. I only open the Google Voice app to look at text messages or listen to recorded voicemail messages.
I'm using a Sprint LS996 and running the stock 5.1.1 firmware version ZV6. No mods. If Google Voice is working on your Flex 2 and showing the real outgoing numbers in your call log, may I ask if you're running a Sprint LS996 or an AT&T H950? Maybe it's just an issue in the stock LS996 ROM. Like I said, I never had this issue in any of the other Android phones I've owned.
I'm not sure why you say it's preferable that Apple shows the Google routing number instead of the actual number dialed. Why would you want to see phone numbers you don't recognize in your call history log? Why would you want or need to save that routing number and dial it directly? If you already have that person's real phone number, what is the advantage of having another strange number for that same person?
Oh yeah, I messed up on the part of "dialing from my GV App." Sorry about that. I was confused about where I see that grandcentral number when I make a phone call. I thought I only saw it if I initiated a call from the GV app, and even when I do that it just goes to the native dialer and I see it every time.
This is what I meant: On my phone, when I make a call, whether from contacts are just using the regular dialer, the top line shows my contact and/or the number I'm calling; the second line reads "call forwarding is enabled" the third line in blue reads "CALLING VIA GOOGLE VOICE" (that line is capped on my phone) and then the grandcentral number.
I'm using the AT&T H950. Did you by chance disable call forwarding? I remember when I had sprint it didn't play nice with Google Voice. Integrating voice mail (I can't remember exactly what the problem) but it was something like call forwarding didn't work very well with Sprint (and its MVNO's) and Google Voice.
As to your last question why I prefer seeing the grandcentral number in the call log is for personal and nostalgic reasons, and I probably shouldn't have even mentioned it because the whole thing is pretty much moot and pointless now, but I might as well briefly explain. In the early days of Google Voice, which wasn't that long ago, smartphones and cheap data weren't ubiquitous and a lot of us were using dumb phones. It wasn't easy using dumb phones with Google Voice, especially texting, because that unknown number or the grandcentral number was confusing as heck to both you and the person you were texting. If you could find out what number Google Voice was routing to your contact (without using the GV app like on a dumb phone) then it made texting easier.
Now someone is probably going to jump in, or they are thinking, it was easy to text with Google Voice on a dumb phone, because there were easy workarounds like just starting the text from your computer. True, but if you wanted to initiate the text, and you didn't have access to a computer or data, it was convenient to have that grandcentral number saved in your contacts. It was always kind of hard finding that grandcentral number. Even on Android phones you have to take a screenshot, so I kind of liked having that number in the call log and being able to see it. In a way, that's really the number your calling anyway, at least that's the way I look at it.
Anyway, it doesn't really matter now since we use smartphones and have near universal cell and cheap data plans.
---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:51 PM ----------
wtang said:
It doesn't matter if I dial someone from my Contacts or I manually dial the number.
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I should just explain why I asked that question too. I was just curious to know if there was any differentiation between unknown manually dialed numbers and saved contact numbers. I wouldn't have been able to offer any insight if in fact there was a difference between the two. I was simply curious. In my experience the Google Voice App, and routing calls through Google Voice on a mobile device, always works better for numbers you've called before with that device. I think the info gets cached in the phone's Google Voice app once used.
if your going to use google voice you should use hangouts it's a much better experience You can make and receive calls, send and receive text messages,MMS and listen to your voicemails even if you don't have a active phone service all just using WIFI download the hangout dialer from the playstore If you want to use the stock dialer app on your device but have your Google Voice number appear on caller ID, keep the original Google Voice app and select the use Google Voice to make all calls in the settings Additionally, you set the Hangouts Dialer app as your default dialer, which will display your Google Voice number on Caller ID.
Google is removing texts feature from Hangouts soon
I've been using hangouts since being integrated with Google Voice that's just a rumor going around since november that they would drop SMS features but I doubt it I'm in the latest version 7.0 i still send and receive text messages just fine
Just an update for everyone. I flashed back to unrooted stock ZV6, then I applied the ZV7, ZV8, and ZV9 OTA updates. Now that I'm on ZV9, which is the latest stock Sprint ROM, I decided to test Google Voice again. Well, the call history log in the stock phone dialer still shows the Google Voice routing number, not the actual number I dialed. I guess something is different (better) in the AT&T firmware that fixes this Google Voice issue because folks here using the AT&T H950 don't have the issue.