Google Voice and landline

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Tom_T
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Google Voice and landline

Post by Tom_T »

Has anyone ported their landline to Google Voice? I know the steps that are required. I'm just wondering if you noticed any pros or cons.

Reason I ask is that pretty soon I'll be doing the Verizon renewal dance yet again, and I'm thinking that I might want to remove one piece of the puzzle. They charge $25/month for a landline in their bundles.

Also, porting the landline gives me some options for cord-cutting while retaining our long-held phone number.
yohac
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by yohac »

You can't port a land line directly to Google Voice, you'd have to port it to a cell carrier first, and then to Google.

Much depends on if you want to continue using your traditional phone set. If not, once the line is ported, then any cell phone can be your "land line." But if you do, then you'd probably want to buy an OBi200 box, into which you plug your router and your phone. This is fine if all you want is a free no-frills phone line, but you won't be able to call 911 from that phone unless you set up some other service.

Many people disagree but personally I don't trust the Google Voice/OBi setup to work 100% of the time. I tried it and sometimes incoming calls went right to voice mail.
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bampf
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by bampf »

Tom_T wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 11:22 am Has anyone ported their landline to Google Voice? I know the steps that are required. I'm just wondering if you noticed any pros or cons.

Reason I ask is that pretty soon I'll be doing the Verizon renewal dance yet again, and I'm thinking that I might want to remove one piece of the puzzle. They charge $25/month for a landline in their bundles.

Also, porting the landline gives me some options for cord-cutting while retaining our long-held phone number.
I have not had a land line for about 10 years (perhaps longer). I have used google voice consistently and it works great. OBI works great as well. I would have no concerns at all and I think for $300 a year you would be well served to consider an alternative. Madness, in my opinion, to pay for land lines in this day and age.
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techiegirl
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by techiegirl »

I have used Google Voice with Obihai as our land line for over 10 years. The only time I had an issue was when my husband collapsed and I had to call 911, which doesn’t work with Google Voice. I had to find my cell phone to call 911.
cyclist
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by cyclist »

Yes. After some initial hassles and with occasional glitches, I have been successful at renewing FIOS service at new customer rates.

1. Port the number to a cheap throwaway cell phone sim for a day.
2. Then port it to Google Voice.
3. Get an Obihai VOIP adapter and configure it. This will make your legacy phones dial and ring. You will NOT have 911 service or decent caller ID yet.
4. Sign up for another cheap VOIP service with Callcentric or similar. I think it costs me about $2/month.
5. Find the correct support doc in the Obihai online community. You end up with 911 with your correct location and proper caller ID. And fabulous call handling options - our friends and family calls ring right through; all others must press 8 to connect- not a single spam phone call!

We’ve had occasional glitches that required restarting the Obihai box, but in a world with cell phones I think that’s fine.

If you’re at all technically savvy, go for it!

Cyclist
Topic Author
Tom_T
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by Tom_T »

I'm definitely going to do this. Thanks to all!
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Tubes
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by Tubes »

techiegirl wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:02 pm I have used Google Voice with Obihai as our land line for over 10 years. The only time I had an issue was when my husband collapsed and I had to call 911, which doesn’t work with Google Voice. I had to find my cell phone to call 911.
There is a solution for that. Get an E911 service and connect it to your Obihai. We use Anveo.

It costs $25 per year and is worth it. Once you convert to google voice and get the Obihai, that's the only recurring cost.

BTW, there are other E911 services besides Anveo, some cheaper.

Converting to google voice has saved us a lot over the last 3 years. We rarely use the land line. Mostly we keep it for elderly relatives who can't remember our cell numbers. And of course, for a heart attack, we have the E911 service to call without thinking about cell phones.
Soon2BXProgrammer
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by Soon2BXProgrammer »

techiegirl wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:02 pm I have used Google Voice with Obihai as our land line for over 10 years. The only time I had an issue was when my husband collapsed and I had to call 911, which doesn’t work with Google Voice. I had to find my cell phone to call 911.
For about $15 (maybe its gone up) a year, you can have 911 service with obihai.
Earned 43 (and counting) credit hours of financial planning related education from a regionally accredited university, but I am not your advisor.
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Don_Qua
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by Don_Qua »

techiegirl wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:02 pm I have used Google Voice with Obihai as our land line for over 10 years. The only time I had an issue was when my husband collapsed and I had to call 911, which doesn’t work with Google Voice. I had to find my cell phone to call 911.
Funny, as we've aged the lack of 911 with GV has been on my mind. We too have been using GV with an Obi box for 10 years. I dislike the form factor of a slab cell phone to my ear for longer calls and wife has relatives in Canada so it works for us. Just this past week I set up wireless chargers on either side of the bed. That's where we keep the cell phones overnight, ready to go and set to do not disturb just in case we need 911.
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Tubes
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by Tubes »

Soon2BXProgrammer wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:22 pm
techiegirl wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:02 pm I have used Google Voice with Obihai as our land line for over 10 years. The only time I had an issue was when my husband collapsed and I had to call 911, which doesn’t work with Google Voice. I had to find my cell phone to call 911.
For about $15 (maybe its gone up) a year, you can have 911 service with obihai.
It has gone up fairly recently to $25. Anveo used to be $15. Anveo was recommended because it works. Their website is thickly perplexing, but once you get through it, it is a known reliable provider. There are others that are cheaper out there with unknown reliability.

BTW, I just logged onto OBI and they now recommend "PunchAlert" for E911, and have a direct link and configuration. Same price as Anveo (ok, 1 cent less at $24.99). The link to sign up and configure is on the OBI web page.
Last edited by Tubes on Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
robphoto
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by robphoto »

I ported our home number to an old cell phone on Ting (had an account because my cell used to be there), then to Google Voice, which I have installed on my current cellphone as a secondary calling service. We don't really use that as a number to receive calls, except that we can hear from old friends or companies with the old number. I also use it for wifi calling when we're in a poor service area but have wifi.
jerryk68
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by jerryk68 »

I ported from Verizon about 3 years ago. I did not tell Verizon I was porting my house number, I just did it. Verizon found out my number was ported when I called them to cut my cable service. Be sure to put pin numbers on all your accounts, you will need them. Also be sure to purchase E911 service, it's about $1 to $2 a month. There are several companies that sell it see the Obihai website for additional info. I use GV911.com. Switching to GV will not eliminate the scammer calls. I get about 4 to 6 a day. As a side note, when I pick up a scammer call I talk to them and when they ask for info I always tell them it's upstairs but to hold on while I get it. I then put the phone down and go about my business. My purpose is to keep them on the line as long as I can. I can usually keep them on the line for 5 minutes but my record is 18 minutes. Sometimes I tell the scammers they have been scammed. They get mad---imagine that??
Soon2BXProgrammer
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by Soon2BXProgrammer »

jerryk68 wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 6:35 pm I ported from Verizon about 3 years ago. I did not tell Verizon I was porting my house number, I just did it. Verizon found out my number was ported when I called them to cut my cable service. Be sure to put pin numbers on all your accounts, you will need them. Also be sure to purchase E911 service, it's about $1 to $2 a month. There are several companies that sell it see the Obihai website for additional info. I use GV911.com. Switching to GV will not eliminate the scammer calls. I get about 4 to 6 a day. As a side note, when I pick up a scammer call I talk to them and when they ask for info I always tell them it's upstairs but to hold on while I get it. I then put the phone down and go about my business. My purpose is to keep them on the line as long as I can. I can usually keep them on the line for 5 minutes but my record is 18 minutes. Sometimes I tell the scammers they have been scammed. They get mad---imagine that??
You can turn call screening on Google voice for unknown numbers which decreases spam
Earned 43 (and counting) credit hours of financial planning related education from a regionally accredited university, but I am not your advisor.
retire2022
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Re: Google Voice and landline

Post by retire2022 »

op

I had an landline number which I had ported to a cellphone.

As Jerryk68 mentioned before, I would like to point out you need to make sure you establish a PIN number for Verizon account and once you ported to the cellphone account, you need to create a PIN for that cellphone account.

Once the number is ported to Google Voice, make a note it is a little quirky getting a confirmation from Google Voice, you need to enter the pin from cellphone account in order to port the number.

see link for article which discusses the process:

https://cordcuttingreport.com/port-phon ... gle-voice/
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