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Anyone port their number to Google Voice yet? I kicked it off last night.

lokiju

lokiju

Lifer
Has anyone else ported their number to Google Voice yet? I kicked off the process last night. I'm a bit surprised the port hasn't actually happened yet. But it does say it'll take up to 24 hours. That's always what the cell companies also state but it's almost always within an hour or less that it happens.

It's also saying that the porting of the text message can take as long as 3 days. Which isn't the end of the world.

Has anyone else here ported their number to Google Voice and had it go through yet?
 
Anubis said:
also did you have to eat the ETF from your provider to get a new number for your phone ?
Click to expand...

you only pay ETF if u have a contract. I haven't have a cell phone contract since 2007. how can anyone sign that piece of sh1t contract is beyond me.

<---happy on prepaid here
 
DaWhim said:
you only pay ETF if u have a contract. I haven't have a cell phone contract since 2007. how can anyone sign that piece of sh1t contract is beyond me.

<---happy on prepaid here
Click to expand...

thanks for not answering the question asked
 
Anubis said:
also did you have to eat the ETF from your provider to get a new number for your phone ?
Click to expand...

First just log into your voice account via www.google.com/voice then click on settings and click on voice settings.

Then there's a "change number or port number" option near the top of that new page. Just click on the port number option, enter in the number you want to port check off the 10 or so questions they have you say yes to. Then it'll require $20 which is paid via Google Checkout. Once that's paid you have to provide your phone numbers account information. It was able to detect that my phone number was with Verizon Wireless automatically just by giving my phone number. It shows you some screen shots on where to find the account number for that phone number from your Verizon account online. You have to provide the current billing name, address, last 4 of social and PIN number (at last in the case of Verizon Wireless).

If I were still under contract, yes I would have to pay a early term fee to Verizon, but I just so happen to not be under contract currently and porting my number to Google Voice is something I've wanted to do for years.

I did call Verizon and ask them if I could just port the number I wanted in Google Voice out and have them generate me a new phone number to be tied to my Droid without closing my account or causing a new contract but the person I spoke with said it wasn't possible. She said once the number ports out it closes out my account for that phone number automatically.

I have to think there isn't a lot of technical reason they couldn't do what I asked for, and if they could have, I'd have remained a Verizon customer for awhile at least.

But, since I have a company paid for iPhone anyway, I'm going to just have my number point to that once the port completes.

I just wish the port had finished already though. I'd love to hear from others here that have also done this and have had their port complete just so I can hear a success story...
 
lokiju said:
If I were still under contract, yes I would have to pay a early term fee to Verizon, but I just so happen to not be under contract currently and porting my number to Google Voice is something I've wanted to do for years.

I did call Verizon and ask them if I could just port the number I wanted in Google Voice out and have them generate me a new phone number to be tied to my Droid without closing my account or causing a new contract but the person I spoke with said it wasn't possible. She said once the number ports out it closes out my account for that phone number automatically.

I have to think there isn't a lot of technical reason they couldn't do what I asked for, and if they could have, I'd have remained a Verizon customer for awhile at least.
Click to expand...

You could not do something like add a second line, make the second line the primary one, and then close the secondary line after porting the number? It seems like they could do that. Hell they had no problem merging my account with my dad's account (he gets a 22&#37; discount on plans).
 
I know I'm probably being really dense, but why did you do this? I'm not being a sarcastic ass, I really want to know. I have researched Google Voice a little bit in the past and I don't understand what it would do for me.

I think I'm getting into "that" age group.
 
boomerang said:
I know I'm probably being really dense, but why did you do this? I'm not being a sarcastic ass, I really want to know. I have researched Google Voice a little bit in the past and I don't understand what it would do for me.

I think I'm getting into "that" age group.
Click to expand...

You have one number to give everyone, but you can change the back end number as much as you want. Like you could set it to your cell phone during the day and your home phone at night.

Edit - It basically could the single number that can always reach you because you always have it pointed to the phone that could reach you.
 
Last edited:
Hey im a bit confused also. If you close your account with your phone company then how will you receive phone calls when not using wifi?

I guess I could see this working if someone ports their old number over and then signs up for a new number from the wireless company.
 
mcmilljb said:
You could not do something like add a second line, make the second line the primary one, and then close the secondary line after porting the number? It seems like they could do that. Hell they had no problem merging my account with my dad's account (he gets a 22% discount on plans).
Click to expand...

Not without it causing another contract, which I did not want.

Now I'm out of contract and once the port is done my account is closed and I'll probably just run with my work paid for 3G iPhone at least until the iPhone 5 comes out later this summer.

I've really gotten to the point that I hate contracts though. I'd probably buy any phone going forward at full price just to avoid it.
 
Asshat friend called me on Google;There was crazy packet loss...
Then I called him on his cell phone and told him to turn fucking uTorrent off.
He said "oh".
 
boomerang said:
I know I'm probably being really dense, but why did you do this? I'm not being a sarcastic ass, I really want to know. I have researched Google Voice a little bit in the past and I don't understand what it would do for me.

I think I'm getting into "that" age group.
Click to expand...

Number 1 reason for me is to be able to have the flexibility to use any phone from any carrier with any number I want and not have to tell everyone I know that's known my current cell phone number for 6 or so years to learn a new one.

I have friends from different countries and states that know my current number and it'd just be a pain in the ass to get everyone using a new number.

I don't see a lot of reason currently to keep my Verizon account active since I'm out of contract, my phone is old enough that I'd like something different in the not so distant future and have a free iPhone from work anyway.

Saves money, don't have to tell anyone a new number and offers a hell of a lot of flexibility.

Beyond those reasons Google Voice has a number of great features that just do not exist with carriers.

I can have specific numbers right at my work desk phone, my work cell phone, my google voice client on my computer, send me a text, all at the same time for someone like my wife. Then on the flip side, when that 800 number that everyone has from time to time call them and then never say anything or answer when you pick up, I can have that automatically go to a special message I set for things like that without ringing my cell at all and have it play a recording like "we're sorry, this number is no longer available" or whatever I want it to play them.

I can allow callers in my address book ring right through while requiring unknown numbers require stating their name and then giving me the option of answering them or sending them straight to voicemail.

When someone leaves mea voicemail it can transcode that into text and email and or text me that in text form so I can just look it over and see if it's something worthing listening to closer or bothering calling back.

Someone saying something like "I tried calling you!!" but your phone never actually rang is a thing of the past in that if this happens, I can set it to email me or text me whenever I have a missed/unanswered call and know that happened and who it was from.

There's just so many reason IMO that having my number I actually want to use and keep tied to all those features.
 
mcmilljb said:
You have one number to give everyone, but you can change the back end number as much as you want. Like you could set it to your cell phone during the day and your home phone at night.

Edit - It basically could the single number that can always reach you because you always have it pointed to the phone that could reach you.
Click to expand...
And I could kill the Google number whenever I wished right?

This sounds handy for a business start-up.
 
DixyCrat said:
Asshat friend called me on Google;There was crazy packet loss...
Then I called him on his cell phone and told him to turn fucking uTorrent off.
He said "oh".
Click to expand...

That's totally different there. That's doing the VOIP calling feature of Google Voice. That is not what I'm talking about here. I'm using real cell connections or land lines with what I'm doing.

What your friend did was a VOIP call that can have the same issues with any VOIP service. Google Voice in of itself is not just a VOIP service, it's just one of it's options if you want to use it.
 
jacc1234 said:
Hey im a bit confused also. If you close your account with your phone company then how will you receive phone calls when not using wifi?

I guess I could see this working if someone ports their old number over and then signs up for a new number from the wireless company.
Click to expand...

I answered this already but I will just point my verizon number (once ported to google voice) to my AT&T iPhone that I already also have.

For others that do not have another cell phone, they'd have to sign up for a new phone number with whatever provider they wanted and then point their google voice number to that new cell number, but not have to tell anyone that new number.
 
boomerang said:
And I could kill the Google number whenever I wished right?

This sounds handy for a business start-up.
Click to expand...

I don't know what you mean by kill, but you can have it point to no number which automatically goes to voicemail. Also I assume you could reclaim it to another phone if you decide you want the number back.

I guess you could use it for a business. I always thought it would be good for dating. You can then avoid people by adding their number to your personal black list. You can make lists that automatically go to voice mail or screened out.
 
lokiju said:
Number 1 reason for me is to be able to have the flexibility to use any phone from any carrier with any number I want and not have to tell everyone I know that's known my current cell phone number for 6 or so years to learn a new one.
Click to expand...

You can currently do that with any phone company? My phone number I ported from Sprint to Verizon. I have a Google number that forwards to my phone, so I have two numbers. One that all my friends and family has and another that I can give to people that I don't want to have my real number. It has all of the features you were talking about.

I save nothing giving Google my real number and letting them control it. I see no advantages of porting totally to Google.
 
LikeLinus said:
You can currently do that with any phone company? My phone number I ported from Sprint to Verizon. I have a Google number that forwards to my phone, so I have two numbers. One that all my friends and family has and another that I can give to people that I don't want to have my real number. It has all of the features you were talking about.

I save nothing giving Google my real number and letting them control it. I see no advantages of porting totally to Google.
Click to expand...

I'm not seeing your point other than you seem to be against Google.

Thanks for sharing though.
 
i used to want this badly... but it's not really needed anymore imho...

if you use GV as your voicemail for your cell, it works something like this:
-someone calls you
-your cellphone rings 4-5times (can't remember exactly how long)
-after that, it rings 2-3 times on your connected phone numbers that you setup in GV, just as if someone called your GV number
-goes to GV voicemail

So it pretty much does the samething in the end... maybe i just don't use all the features

if I had a work phone like the OP, then I probably would do it
 
lokiju said:
I'm not seeing your point other than you seem to be against Google.

Thanks for sharing though.
Click to expand...

I just told you I use Google Voice. Yeah, I'm totally against Google.

My point is, a lot of people have been doing this a long time before Google allowed you to Port. I'm not sure why I'd move everything over to Google instead of allowing Verizon to keep my number until I move again (if I ever did).
 
What exactly is porting your number, that you guys are talking about? Taking your phone number that wasn't issued through google voice and making THAT your google voice #?
 
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