Google Voice phone number...

[inhaliburton]

Hi there,

I am part way through the process. I used a USA phone no. of a friend living in the States.

I'm at the point where I need need to choose a) a new number, or b) use my cell number.

If I choose "cell," I live in the 705 exchange. Will it work if I choose Cell?

I've tried choosing a phone number in 613 and 416. I get this response when I picked this particular number:

Sorry, no results for 7161900 in 613 area code

Can anyone help me out with some info on this?

Thank you in advance.

[b166er1337]

Hi there,

I am part way through the process. I used a USA phone no. of a friend living in the States.

I'm at the point where I need need to choose a) a new number, or b) use my cell number.

If I choose "cell," I live in the 705 exchange. Will it work if I choose Cell?

I've tried choosing a phone number in 613 and 416. I get this response when I picked this particular number:

Sorry, no results for 7161900 in 613 area code

Can anyone help me out with some info on this?

Thank you in advance.

It will work with your cell number. I have 403 Calgary # and it works fine. I also have it linked to a US # and GV works fine for that phone too.

[peteryorkuca]

It will work with your cell number. I have 403 Calgary # and it works fine. I also have it linked to a US # and GV works fine for that phone too.

He is at the stage where he needs to choose GV number.

OP, you can't get same number as your current number or will they give you 705/416/905 area code. You much pick a US city of choice like NYC/347 or LA/213 or some random US city. Then, if you get lucky, you can forward to your cell number in 7057161900 or 6137161900 if that is your cell or home phone number. I said lucky because it worked for a week at end of november but soon, fowarding to canadian number stopped early december.

Good luck!

[shushwap]

Then if you are wanting to CF that to a Canadian #... You will need to forward the Google voice #... To something like Voxox... Then Cf the Voxox # to your Canadian # of your choice

[inhaliburton]

Wow. Complicated stuff for me. I'm going to wait for GV to be available in Canada and continue using Skype which works well, and is very cheap considering the Telcos.

Thanks again. This site and the people on it, is a wonderful resourse!

[redflagguy2u]

Don't use Google Voice. Its clear they don't want Canadians to have the same access as Americans. Focus on companies like Freephoneline, Voxox and others that give you a virtual number that you can forward anywhere. DSLreports.com will give you very good info. Lots of knowledgeable people there. You'll hopefully get a Canadian number though if you're not in a major urban area it might not be local.

Another option that few people consider is using Skype to receive your calls. Ring2me.com gives you a virtual number that forwards to your Skype account. There may be other companies, and if so, could people update this info? This overcomes so many issues. The downside is you have to wire your home from your computer. And use an ATA (analogue telephone adapter) for your phones. If you live in a small space just use your computer to answer the calls.

Remember that phones features are either incoming or outgoing. Its very important to divide your tasks to either one or the other. Ideally you want your outgoing line to be able to be independent from your incoming line so you don't have to monitor the line for call waiting beeps which are easily missed. Voxox has a brilliant feature that lets you change your outgoing caller ID number. So you can disply your incoming number when using Voxox. Think about the power of that. That means you can use multiple outgoing lines and all incoming calls are trunked in on one number. Its utter brilliance.

More and more people are getting long distance included in their phone packages now. But obviously its not mainstream yet. Getting that local number so people don't have to dial a long distance number is the challenge. But there's another solution to that: Global area code. You dial a local gateway number, then input the number of the person you want to reach. Free long distance. EVERYWHERE. Its a lot cheaper putting in a gateway for an entire city to use then getting hundreds of thousands of different numbers for them to use. Of course right now Skype and other IM's are the gateway. All you need is internet access.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INum_Initiative
http://inum.net

[ceredon]

There was a time, for about a week, where you could have GV assign you a Canadian number. Not sure if it was limited to only 403 or not, but they were allowing it. Then that closed.

[Vakman]

I really hope it officially comes to Canada... soon.

[redflagguy2u]

What's so special about Google Voice? Don't other phone companies also give away virtual, forwardable numbers? Freephoneline, Fongo, DellVoice, Voxox and surely there are several more. The challenge for some of us is getting a local number if you're not in one of the biggest cities. You can always use Gmail for free outgoing calling anywhere in North America but you can also do that with lots of others as well.

Does anybody know if any of these virtual numbers can also receive text messages from cell phones? That would be great. That's the one area cell phones have over landlines and maybe the cell phone companies are trying to keep it that way. Its just a matter of time before more and more people use hotspots for communication and then they won't even need their cell phone contract. The upside to this is when they're away from the hotspot they have peace of mind and can focus better on their work because they won't have silly Facebook and Twitter notifications.

[ceredon]

What's so special about Google Voice? Don't other phone companies also give away virtual, forwardable numbers? Freephoneline, Fongo, DellVoice, Voxox and surely there are several more. The challenge for some of us is getting a local number if you're not in one of the biggest cities. You can always use Gmail for free outgoing calling anywhere in North America but you can also do that with lots of others as well.

Does anybody know if any of these virtual numbers can also receive text messages from cell phones? That would be great. That's the one area cell phones have over landlines and maybe the cell phone companies are trying to keep it that way. Its just a matter of time before more and more people use hotspots for communication and then they won't even need their cell phone contract. The upside to this is when they're away from the hotspot they have peace of mind and can focus better on their work because they won't have silly Facebook and Twitter notifications.

GV can receive and send texts.

[Qwavel]

GV can receive and send texts.

Yes, GV is great, but since it is not officially available here it is rather a hassle to use, and there are good Canadian equivelents. If you want free, try Dell/Fong Voice:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ellvoice&hl=en
It too has free text

If you are willing to pay for quality, I've heard good things about www.voip.ms.

[peteryorkuca]

GV can receive and send texts.

Also, free US/Can long distance using wifi/data using apps like grooveip. If you can't link your canadian cell number, you can always have grooveip on to received phone calls from US number which helps your amerifriend/family. And use Google Voice app or web GV to txt via wifi/data.

If you can somehow link to your Canadian cell phone number, you can received and send both txt and calls to your phone like normaly. But to save some outbound mins and txts, you can still use grooveip for calls and GV for txt using wifi/data.

Good stuff!

[ceredon]

Also, free US/Can long distance using wifi/data using apps like grooveip. If you can't link your canadian cell number, you can always have grooveip on to received phone calls from US number which helps your amerifriend/family. And use Google Voice app or web GV to txt via wifi/data.

If you can somehow link to your Canadian cell phone number, you can received both txt and calls to your phone. Outbound can still be placed using grooveip for calls and GV for txt using wifi/data so to lessen the burden on your mins and txts.

Good stuff!

I am really sorry I missed the window where they are selling Canadian GV numbers. I had the chance, but waited since I didn't see any numbers I liked. A few days later they simply stopped offering any

[peteryorkuca]

I am really sorry I missed the window where they are selling Canadian GV numbers. I had the chance, but waited since I didn't see any numbers I liked. A few days later they simply stopped offering any

They never had any Canadian GV numbers. What was so good about it was, for past few years, you can link to a Calgary area code phone numbers. Also, about 6 weeks ago, you could link to your canadian cell numbers for few days, then it stopped.

You can still create Google Voice account using hotshotshield US IP. Then you can get Google Voice phone number. To link to Canadian number, you need to have US phone number. You can get one from callcentric. But as I said, linking no longer works to Canadian numbers.

[ceredon]

They never had any Canadian GV numbers. What was so good about it was, for past few years, you can link to a Calgary area code phone numbers. Also, about 6 weeks ago, you could link to your canadian cell numbers for few days, then it stopped.

You can still create Google Voice account using hotshotshield US IP. Then you can get Google Voice phone number. To link to Canadian number, you need to have US phone number. You can get one from callcentric. But as I said, linking no longer works to Canadian numbers.

That is out of date info. I've been using google voice as you describe for over 2 years, I am very familiar.

A couple months ago it was found that under the setting to get a new number you could obtain a GV Canadian number for a $10 fee (same fee to change to another US number). I verified this. I had my pick of many numbers but didn't have time to go through until I found one I liked so I let it sit for a few days. When I returned they closed that down. I do know someone that took advantage while it was open though. I am kicking myself for not doing it.

Also, as of right now, GV is no longer accepting Canadian numbers, even 403 numbers, as new forwarding numbers. Around the same time they started issuing Canadian GV numbers they began accepting almost any Canadian number as a forwarding number with the large caveat that only Android users could verify those Canadian forwarding numbers. This was restricted to the point that even if you verified it with an Android phone, if you put the SIM into an iPhone, it would not work. I got screwed here as well, as while I was testing how much iPhones were restricted, I deleted my 403 forwarding number and tried readding it. It can be added but now will not allow it to be verified so it cannot be forwarded to.