Regarding T-Mo $30 prepaid and porting my number

**Kid Antrim** · 11-02-2012, 04:18 PM

Hi everybody, I'm about to be one of those who's going to buy the N4 and get into T-Mobile's $30 prepaid plan. I currently have a Tracfone that costed me $10 in Walmart and this is going to be my first 'real' phone. I have used this number for over a year and do not want to change it, since I used it while filling some important documents and would be a pain to change it.
So my idea was getting my own Google Voice number (porting my current one), and then use that one with GrooveIP or Talkatone to be able to use data instead of minutes. I have several questions about this. In Google's support site, they say that after your number has been ported you will not be able to receive calls until you have (a) setup a new plan and (b) added your new number to your Google Voice account as a forwarding phone. Now, this sounds straightforward enough, but I am a little stupid and would like to confirm with y'all that I'm going to be doing the right thing here. The way I see it, what I need to do is this:

1. Buy N4 from Google Play Store and SIM card from T-Mobile.
2. As soon as they come in the mail, I need to set up a Google Voice account and port my CURRENT number as my Google Voice number.
3. After that, I need to setup online my new pre-paid plan with T-Mobile and select a NEW number instead of porting my CURRENT number.
4. Once I've done this, I need to add the NEW number to my Google Voice account as a forwarding phone.
5. From then on, my phone's SIM card will always have the NEW number but nobody will ever care about it, as people will still use my CURRENT number and Google Voice and GrooveIP will take care of forwarding all the calls.

Does this make sense?

**Andrew Martonik** · 11-02-2012, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by Kid Antrim

1. Buy N4 from Google Play Store and SIM card from T-Mobile.
2. As soon as they come in the mail, I need to set up a Google Voice account and port my CURRENT number as my Google Voice number.
3. After that, I need to setup online my new pre-paid plan with T-Mobile and select a NEW number instead of porting my CURRENT number.
4. Once I've done this, I need to add the NEW number to my Google Voice account as a forwarding phone.
5. From then on, my phone's SIM card will always have the NEW number but nobody will ever care about it, as people will still use my CURRENT number and Google Voice and GrooveIP will take care of forwarding all the calls.

Does this make sense?

Yes, that is a pretty standard Google Voice setup.

**ChromeJob** · 11-02-2012, 07:49 PM

Can you modify this recipe for someone already on a T-mo SIM who'd like to port his/her number to GV and cut the SIM down to use in the N4?

**Zalcorus** · 11-02-2012, 08:48 PM

Edit: Never mind, disregard.

**Andrew Martonik** · 11-02-2012, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by ChromeJob

Can you modify this recipe for someone already on a T-mo SIM who'd like to port his/her number to GV and cut the SIM down to use in the N4?

Porting the number to GV closes your account with the current carrier. You'd have to re-open a new account with a new number. They may be able to just give you a new random number but I don't think they're obligated to.

**meringues** · 11-03-2012, 12:11 AM

Hello all,

New poster and 5-year iPhone user here. Excited to be ditching AT&T and expensive post-paid plans...

I have a Chicago area number right now. I don't live in Chicago anymore, though I want to keep my number. I'm concerned that I'm going to lose my number at some point because I'm not sure when I'll be living in Chicago again.

If I do the setup that OP suggested with GrooveIP... do text messages sent from the phone use the non-GV number? ie is there any way to port my number to Google Voice and have all outgoing/incoming communications use that number as well? Or should I just port the number to T-Mobile and use my parents' Chicago address just to make sure they don't say "you're not in the same market anymore, no porting"?

I'm going to be using GrooveIP anyways since the vast majority of my minutes are used in places where I have WiFi connectivity.

A complicating factor is that I may ultimately stick with T-Mobile for a month or a year, I have no idea. I just don't know how good the coverage is where I am, and if T-Mobile coverage sucks I'll probably be going to Straight Talk. Worried about porting my number twice in the span of a month or two and somehow losing it in the process. Tempted to go the Google Voice route because it basically means I'll have my number forever.

**Woosh** · 11-03-2012, 06:13 AM

Originally Posted by meringues

Hello all,

New poster and 5-year iPhone user here. Excited to be ditching AT&T and expensive post-paid plans...

I have a Chicago area number right now. I don't live in Chicago anymore, though I want to keep my number. I'm concerned that I'm going to lose my number at some point because I'm not sure when I'll be living in Chicago again.

If I do the setup that OP suggested with GrooveIP... do text messages sent from the phone use the non-GV number? ie is there any way to port my number to Google Voice and have all outgoing/incoming communications use that number as well? Or should I just port the number to T-Mobile and use my parents' Chicago address just to make sure they don't say "you're not in the same market anymore, no porting"?

I'm going to be using GrooveIP anyways since the vast majority of my minutes are used in places where I have WiFi connectivity.

A complicating factor is that I may ultimately stick with T-Mobile for a month or a year, I have no idea. I just don't know how good the coverage is where I am, and if T-Mobile coverage sucks I'll probably be going to Straight Talk. Worried about porting my number twice in the span of a month or two and somehow losing it in the process. Tempted to go the Google Voice route because it basically means I'll have my number forever.

Texts from the phone text app get sent from your regular number.....If you install Google Voice you can send outgoing messages, and if someone sends you a text you can have them forwarded to your phone. When you reply to the msg it gets sent back as the GVoice number. So basically you just need to use the Google Voice app to send the msg. There is an integration app on the market that requires root access....I have no personal experience with it so tbh idk how well it works.

I wish Google would get their act together and fix Google Voice. It can't be that hard for them to do.

..

**Kid Antrim** · 11-03-2012, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by Andrew Martonik

Porting the number to GV closes your account with the current carrier. You'd have to re-open a new account with a new number. They may be able to just give you a new random number but I don't think they're obligated to.

One question regarding the porting of the number to GV. As I said in my original post, I plan on doing it as soon as I am ready to set up my T-Mobile plan (so at the moment that I have the phone and SIM card right in front of me), and expect it to be a very quick process, so within minutes my current number is ported to Google Voice and my Tracfone plan is out. Am I being realistic, or will take this much longer? I would hate to be without a working cell phone for hours or even days.

Thanks!

**meringues** · 11-03-2012, 11:11 AM

Originally Posted by Woosh

Texts from the phone text app get sent from your regular number.....If you install Google Voice you can send outgoing messages, and if someone sends you a text you can have them forwarded to your phone. When you reply to the msg it gets sent back as the GVoice number. So basically you just need to use the Google Voice app to send the msg. There is an integration app on the market that requires root access....I have no personal experience with it so tbh idk how well it works.

I wish Google would get their act together and fix Google Voice. It can't be that hard for them to do.

..

Thanks. I think I'm probably just going to port my current number over to T-Mobile to make my life easier and use my Gvoice number with GrooveIP. If the coverage sucks, I can deal with it for two months, then port it somewhere else. I'll just use my parents' IL address where I got the number to begin with.

Obviously I'd like to hold on to my number, but it's not the biggest deal on earth if I can't. I'm definitely not important enough for that to be the case.

**tyea** · 11-03-2012, 02:49 PM

How does authentication work with banks, Google, PayPal, etc..? If I go to T-Mobile, and have my GV number set to forward calls/SMS to my new Tmobile nexus 4, will my authentication phone number setup with PayPal and etc.. need to be changed to the new phone number assigned to the sim card, or will I be able to retain my authentication GV number that's integrated with my sprint number and associated with all my secure accounts?

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