Trying to forward calls to a Galaxy Nexus without a carrier

[pharmswede]

Hi everyone, long time listener etc etc..

So, I would like to forward calls from my ex-Verizon LG (carrier is now page-plus) to my ex-Verizon Galaxy Nexus which currently has no carrier.

I cancelled my Verizon service out of disgust for the unnecessary required data plan. I have an old cheap LG that I get ample talk+text+data for $30 a month through PagePlus. Huge savings and damn the man. Had to use the old LG for this because PagePlus told me that newer phones are designed to prevent them from providing service. Damn that man! I tend to carry both devices around, using the LG for phone/text and the Galaxy Nexus as a mini tablet on wifi.

But I'm getting tired of carrying both. Would love to forward calls from the LG to the Galaxy Nexus and only carry the Galaxy Nexus. Been trying to figure out how to do this for several months, but haven't accomplished it. Google Voice seems like a possibility, but it doesn't work (I can't receive any Google Voice number calls on the phone) and I don't really know enough to understand why.

Is there a way this is doable, by any method? Bonus points for being able to do it over "phone" and not have to be near wifi to get calls.

Thanks a million in advance.

 

[ultravisitor]

Why would you expect to receive calls on a phone that doesn't have cell service? How would that happen? Magic?

 

[Mellimel22]

Without wifi that can't happen.

Sent from my T-Mobile LG Escape using Tapatalk 2

 

[pharmswede]

Why would you expect to receive calls on a phone that doesn't have cell service? How would that happen? Magic?

@ultravisitor, Welp, like I said, I don't understand smartphones well enough to know why not. I figure that the phone is still mechanically capable of receiving calls, right? Why can't it have calls forwarded to it? Why does that require a carrier for that specific phone? What special "magic" power does having a carrier imbue a phone with. This is why I thought Google Voice might be useful; I could give the phone a number, and then forward calls to that number. But like I said, the phone doesn't pick up the calls. Obviously there is a problem, but I figured you smart folks would have a concise explanation how could or could not work. I'm sure people have thought of this before.

@Mellimel, thanks for being a little more helpful. I suppose I'd still like to know why it can't as just forwarding phone calls, but if it CAN be done with wifi, I'd love to know how to do that. I have a portable Clear router that I can easily take with me (though now I'm back to two devices again, at least I only need to interface with one of them).

 

[imnotajedi]

Google Voice works through the Data/internet connection. So without data/internet service the phone will not receive the Google voice calls. If connected to Wifi then you will receive them.


So "Without wifi that can't happen" unless the "magic" option comes through.

 

[ultravisitor]

What special "magic" power does having a carrier imbue a phone with.

Carriers provide service. Let me ask you this: if a carrier wasn't necessary to have service on our phones, then why would any of us bother to pay for cell phone service? It's not like any of us are necessarily happy to pay more bills in our lives.

 

[pharmswede]

Ok, progress! So I've learned that carriers provide some sort of mysterious "service" that ultravisitor relies on to make his cell phone work. I gather that without this service, one cannot use any of the "phone" parts of the device, i.e. for my case it's not possible to forward a call from received from a phone with service to a phone without service, even though the phone is mechanically capable of receiving calls. I thought it was reasonable that a phone without service could still receive forwarded calls using some kind of application or other trickery... like a direct cell signal or something. I guess it would still have to bounce back up to the carrier's satellite or tower or whatever and then be routed to the second phone. I apologize for my lack of knowledge, I'm trying to figure this stuff out.

So, then onto the wifi option.. I have a Google Voice number. My Galaxy Nexus has Google Voice, and that number appears on it's settings screen. When I call that number, Google Voice does not ring the phone, although it reports the call afterwards. Also, my PC gmail picks up the call and I can answer it and everything. Why doesn't the Galaxy Nexus Google Voice ring the call? If Google Voice works through data as imnotajedi kindly mentioned, then this shouldn't have anything to do with not having a cell service carrier, right? Is Google essentially the carrier?

One thing is that the "my phone number" in the the phone settings is still set to my Verizon number, but from what I read this doesn't seem like it should matter.