I got my Google Voice invite now what?

I have Google Voice but elected not to acquire a Google number. I have no need to direct calls to multiple phones nor do I want to change my cell phone number (and deal with sending the new number to all my contacts). So I basically use it for free visual voice mail and for the voice mail transcription.
 
I have GV but I don't understand why someone would want to use it..

Easy free visual voice mail, with personalize greetings per user group, based off the groups you define. I love my GV so much more than I liked youmail or Verizon VM in fact.

If you have it I would suggest you use it for at least a week or so and figure it out, you have an opportunity that a lot of people want and you aren't even using it. That's a crying shame.
 
I have Google Voice but elected not to acquire a Google number. I have no need to direct calls to multiple phones nor do I want to change my cell phone number (and deal with sending the new number to all my contacts). So I basically use it for free visual voice mail and for the voice mail transcription.

you might as well get the free number anyway, you dont have to use it if you dont want to. but in the future you might want it...
 
Easy free visual voice mail, with personalize greetings per user group, based off the groups you define. I love my GV so much more than I liked youmail or Verizon VM in fact.

If you have it I would suggest you use it for at least a week or so and figure it out, you have an opportunity that a lot of people want and you aren't even using it. That's a crying shame.

I've had my phone number for 15 years - I'm not changing now and giving a new one out to friends and family just for visual voicemail. Nor am I keen on letting Google have free reign with my current voicemail system. So yes I have it, I set it up but didn't activate it, and don't see why I'd need or want it

that and I have no idea how to use it anyway
 
I've had my phone number for 15 years - I'm not changing now and giving a new one out to friends and family just for visual voicemail. Nor am I keen on letting Google have free reign with my current voicemail system. So yes I have it, I set it up but didn't activate it, and don't see why I'd need or want it

that and I have no idea how to use it anyway

You don't have to give out a "new number". GV works with your Verizon number or your GV number. My biggest question if you didn't want another number that comes to your phone, or voice mail, why did you apply to get it? You just kept someone who could have helped with the beta not get it.......not knowing how to use it, or understand it, is no reason to bash it. Just my $.02, I'm not going to try to sell you on a better free alternative to an honestly dated voice mail model. Especially when I don't have a stake in it. Each to his own.
 
you might as well get the free number anyway, you dont have to use it if you dont want to. but in the future you might want it...

He can always request a number later, but if he gets one now, and decides he wants a different one, he will be charged $10. It might be best for him to wait until he needs it.

For me, there are no Google numbers local to my area, so I am sticking with just the voicemail feature for now. It's a major bummer, but at least I am in the door.
 
He can always request a number later, but if he gets one now, and decides he wants a different one, he will be charged $10. It might be best for him to wait until he needs it.

For me, there are no Google numbers local to my area, so I am sticking with just the voicemail feature for now. It's a major bummer, but at least I am in the door.

Yeah same here. The closest number to me is about an hour away or more. Enough to be long distance to land line users. So I just opted to take the voicemail option and possibly get a number later to bypass the $10 swap fee.
 
I didn't request it - someone sent me an invite

I was just trying to understand why everyone seems to think it's the coolest thing since sliced bread.....
 
Because it works like facebook did when it first came out. It's a walled garden. It works just a nice as Verizon VM for free, like YouMail without all the technical issues, and if you happen to call international, SMS a lot, or have people who call you on a landline you have the option of getting a local phone number for them to call. Just depends on what you look for, it's not for everyone much like the Android O/S itself.
 
I didn't request it - someone sent me an invite

I was just trying to understand why everyone seems to think it's the coolest thing since sliced bread.....

For me, it's nice to have a phone number to give out that is not my "real" number. I can, though GV, block them later if need be, set the time frames when the call are forwarded, and which numbers etc...
 
so how do you use it to just get the visual VM? I want to use my current cell # at the moment.

I have heard you have to use it for all texts as well...is this not true?
 
Nope not true at all. It only handles as little as your voice mail. When you set it up it walks you through how to set it up. There is a setting in your phone which tells your phone where to redirect voice mails to, obviously my default it's set to Verizon. When you set it up you dial in the code to redirect to them and boom it works from that point on.
 
OK, so I just got my invitation and I'm stepping through the setup on the Android app. It gets to 'Add this phone (this phone is not listed above)' and it tries to send an SMS from the phone to GV service. Each time it fails with the following error: "We have a problem: Your phone number could not be verified. Please try again." I've tried five times now with no luck.

Any hints?

TJH
 
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Put in your area code? It shouldn't be sending an sms from your phone to the GV service, the GV service calls your phone to verify you own the phone. SO no clue without seeing the phone.
 
Put in your area code? It shouldn't be sending an sms from your phone to the GV service, the GV service calls your phone to verify you own the phone. SO no clue without seeing the phone.

Check out my screenshots at Picasa. A series of four shots showing the process and the error. The blurred out number is my home phone, which I think GV got when I was setting it up on the computer and it asked for other phones to ring.


*** URL removed: Problem solved! ***
TJH
 
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Oh, you have your home number setup. Put your cell number there, it can't send an SMS to your landline. Then give it another try.
 
Oh, you have your home number setup. Put your cell number there, it can't send an SMS to your landline. Then give it another try.

After LOTS of messing around with the mobile app, I finally gave up and went to my Google Voice settings on the computer. I was able to see my problem (as you point out above) and make some corrections. Things still weren't too smooth, however.

For about an hour, calling my GV number went directly to voicemail. I couldn't get anything to ring!

The mobile app had some other "setup" pages I didn't record. One of them said to dial a number (*71503877****) to set up the voicemail. Calling the number let to one beep and nothing else. No directions or anything.

Sometime after midnight things fell into place and I was able to make and receive calls using GV and visual voicemail was working (and notifying) with transcriptions for both my Verizon number and GV number.

So, thanks for the help. I'm happy now!

TJH
 
After using GV all day, I think I really like it, especially not having to pay Verizon for visual voicemail!

I thought one feature of GV was the ability to screen calls, yet when I get an incoming call, I have just Accept or Decline.

Anyone use the call screening feature?

TJH