Google Voice Conflict

[taxtwit]

Although I'm in Canada, I recently tried to set up a GV account. I went through all the hoops and did succeed in getting and setting up the GV account, using a US GV phone # that forwarded to a CDN 403 # that forwarded to my cell #. I then configured the GV app on my N1.

However, when I tried to set my N1 voicemail to use the GV voicemail box, rather than my CDN PAYG service provider (Rogers) voicemail box, I got an error message stating that my carrier didn't allow for automatic GV voicemail configuration. At this point, I assumed my attempt to use GV voicemail had failed and that I would continue to have "default" voicemail, i.e. the Rogers voicemail service I get with my PAYG account.

I soon discovered, however, that although unanswered calls were being forwarded to my Rogers voicemail box, when I went to retrieve them, my N1 was calling my US GV #, instead of the Rogers voicemail access #. Because I don't have a LD plan, it costs me approximately $2 every time the N1 does this and, of course, there actually aren't any messages in that mailbox to retrieve. Furthermore, it is now much more complicated to access my actual Rogers voicemail box, because I can't change the configuration of the voicemail setting on my N1 - I get another error message telling me "forwarding change unsuccessful - call your carrier".

I have done the following to try to undo things:

1. Tried to delete the GV account I set up, only to learn Google doesn't allow you to delete one. I therefore set the account for "Do Not Disturb";

2. Tried to reconfigure the GV app on my N1, but I couldn't find any "settings" or "preferences" menu that allowed me to do anything;

3. Tried deleting the GV app on my N1 by dragging the icon to the trash can, but it appears this doesn't actually delete the app, since it is a "systems" app. I have the Uninstaller Pro app, but it doesn't work on system apps, nor does Astro.

I figure at this point I have two options to try and would appreciate feedback on which is better:

Option One: Find an app that allows me to delete GV without having to root my phone. I know I can delete system apps if I root my N1, but I'd prefer not to.

Option Two: Do a "factory reset", which I presume will wipe out everything, including voice message configuration.

If anybody has any other ideas to solve this, I'd appreciate hearing them.

 

[icebike]

The dialing sequence for voice mail setup is a standard feature of GSM, but some references insist that Rogers does not play by the rules.

GSM Features
Call forwarding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
GSM Feature Codes

Your problem seems to be that the Your phone thinks it is forwarded, but Rogers refuses to do it.

You might be able to go to /settings / Call Settings, and select Voice mail Service, and set it to "my carrier".

While in there check the Call Forwarding. All of the numbers should point to your carrier's forwarding number (or your actual cell phone number).

That should get you back to dealing with all VM thru Rogers, which, while not ideal, at least costs you nothing.

Rogers may be reluctant to call forward to a long distance number. I can half see their point. Especially an international number.

 

[taxtwit]

Thx for the reply, IB:

It is clear to me the problem is my N1/GV, not Rogers. I say this because the "call forward" settings on my N1 are all correct, i.e. the # indicated is the correct Rogers voicemail #. I have also tested the voicemail set up by calling my cell # and not answering it and the call is routed to my Rogers voicemail box.

It is at this point that the conflict manifests itself. When I get a voice message, I get the normal voicemail notification icon. If I select it, however, my N1 phones the US GV # I got when I set up my GV account, not the Rogers voicemail retrieval number. If I try to circumvent this by, for example, pressing "1", instead of the voicemail retrieval icon on the phone dial pad, my N1 calls the US GV #. If I try to circumvent it by calling my own cell #, my N1 calls the US GV #. In short, there is currently no way I can use my N1 to retrieve voice messages - the only way I can retrieve them is to use a land line to call my cell # and hit "pound" when my personal greeting starts to play.

As I said in my OP, I have tried everything I can think of to reconfigure my N1 not to do this, without success. Hence, my comment that it looks like I'll have to root my N1 so I can delete GV completely or do a factory reset of my N1 in the hopes that this will clear the GV/phone configuration that calls the US GV # every time I try to retrieve a voice message, unless somebody out there can share another way to end the conflict.

There might be one more option - in the course of surfing through the "manage apps" menu, I noted that there are "dialer", "dialer storage", "settings" and "settings storage" apps that can be "force stopped" and that have "data" that can be cleared. I'm going to start another thread about what happens when someone either force stops one of these apps or clears the data cache.