I carry two iphones - one for work and one for personal.

Ive been thinking about moving my personal number into google voice and loading the app on my work phone. If i quit my job i could transfer the number back to another carrier.

Curious if anyone is using google voice regularly- if so pros cons.

4/18/2017 7:37:46 AM

Is your main goal just to be able to use one phone instead of two?

4/18/2017 10:54:01 AM

I ported my cell # that I've been using since 2004 to Google Voice before I switched to Republic Wireless

texting is wonky sometimes, calls are fine

4/18/2017 11:10:14 AM

i eventually just dropped my line and use my work phone for everything, most of my personal use was texting and texting was always wonky. Sometimes i would never get texts, sometimes they would come in a day or two late.

4/18/2017 11:53:28 AM

I did the same thing to save on having a business line.

Texting can occasionally be wonky, as dweedle reported, but the convenience of having it on every device (tablet, website, etc.) drastically outweighs any downside for me. It also comes with excellent, excellent spam filtering. I can remember maybe 1 spam call via google voice in the last year, while my carrier number gets 2-3 per week it feels like.

Only concern right now is Google is going through some schizophrenia with messaging. I use google voice integrated with Hangouts for all messaging, but there's talk that might be going away. Hangouts may transition to business/app for work only, and you'll be split between android messaging and the google voice app (which thankfully has recently been updated.) This leaves Allo, which is their only product with end to end encryption, and duo - a brilliant video chat app when you only have 1 person to talk to, but worthless for groups.


.... but if you're on an iPhone you'll have to use the Google Voice app anyway. No integration with messaging or dialing as far as I know.

4/18/2017 7:58:59 PM

I have an iPhone and have been using Google Voice since they bought Grand Central eons ago. I agree texts are wonky...not so much sending them but delayed notifications are a regular thing, but I put up with it to text from web browser. Then Sprint partnered with Google and let you integrate your number without having to port it which was awesome when I used Android.

^Indeed schizophrenic they don't know what to do with Voice, Talk, Hangouts, Allo. A few months ago they overhauled both the app and the web interface without really any notification that they were going to. Most people were just hanging on to GV until it's inevitable graveyard send-off a'la Google Wave but now wtfk.

To build on the spam filter, you can also block numbers and they will be played an audio recording "We're sorry the number you have dialed has been disconnected or no longer in service" when trying to call you.

[Edited on April 18, 2017 at 9:16 PM. Reason : ]

4/18/2017 9:16:24 PM

i had the opposite experience with spam, i only ever get spam on my GV line

4/19/2017 11:39:44 AM

thanks for the feedback

this would free up about $100 a month for me but texts are big deal with my wife and daycare teachers so i'll have to weigh it out.

4/19/2017 3:33:40 PM

they just added features (mms, group texts), maybe check again in a few weeks to see if text issues were also fixed with the latest update

4/19/2017 6:13:04 PM

They added MMS?

Regarding texts I will clarify that I have never *missed* a text, but in an area with 1xRTT where an SMS might go through, pulling up the GV app may be unresponsive since it's looking for a data connection. The other side to that is no roaming charges if you're overseas and want to throw in a local SIM card or have wifi.

When I say notifications are delayed it's like sometimes I don't get the banner popups, toast alerts, or the new message ding until I open the GV app and it re-syncs. This is only on the cell -- Chrome browser integration seems to be fine.

^For 100/month I would definitely say give it a try if your IT staff is cool with it. You could even create a free google number and have your wife maybe even teachers help you test it for a week or two using that # exclusively while you're carrying the safety net iphone and see how it performs?

4/19/2017 7:35:35 PM

I have been using GV for a voicemail for years. Very few problems considering its a free service.

Also you can text from it while on airplane WiFi which is nice!!!

4/20/2017 11:55:42 AM