Google voice screwed me

[Marksnet]

oK guys and gals

If you make calls with Google Voice and you are on verizon unless you are on an unlimited call time plan then GV will cause you major heartburn on your phone bill.

GV uses a broker number or an access number to dial out and now it rotates so the broker number is what is going to show up on your phone bill and guess what,, it is not seen as a mobile to mobile number nor is it seen as a friends and family number unless you have all umpteen dozen of them logged so you and I are gonna pay thru the nose

I did I paid an extra 200 bones for september because i set my droid to make all calls from GV
FYI

 

[mountaineerndixie]

oK guys and gals

If you make calls with Google Voice and you are on verizon unless you are on an unlimited call time plan then GV will cause you major heartburn on your phone bill.

GV uses a broker number or an access number to dial out and now it rotates so the broker number is what is going to show up on your phone bill and guess what,, it is not seen as a mobile to mobile number nor is it seen as a friends and family number unless you have all umpteen dozen of them logged so you and I are gonna pay thru the nose

I did I paid an extra 200 bones for september because i set my droid to make all calls from GV
FYI

I stopped using it after the last update or so, when they implemented those codes. That's an expensive lesson.

 

[Mr_A]

Question, Did it cost extra because you went over your minutes using google voice or extra because using the broker number it charges x amount per min?

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[bomber889]

The latest update or two to google voice made this happen. This was known a while ago

 

[Marksnet]

Google Voice not anymore

it may have been known a while ago but, not by all because I did not know it. I also googled before posting to google voice forum and this forum so it is not widely known and that is why i posted so that others will not fall prey to this bullsnot.

Thanks for the useful "I am so smart I knew that already response"

That is always an asset in any forum! :icon_ banana: opcorn:opcorn:opcorn:

 

[Marksnet]

The total talk time sent me over and the fact that the numbers were access numbers not considered

mobile to mobile or my circle numbers is wat did it!

Hopefully this info will help others.

 

[Mr_A]

Definitely thanks for the heads up I was completely unaware...

Sent from my Droid

 

[dezymond]

i was unaware of this and tbh was never interested in using GV.

I'm sorry this happened to you and let this be a lesson to others as well.

 

[DigiK]

Try researching a bit the next time...

Google, download, and install GVMyNumber and add your GV# to FnF for unlimited, region/access number outbound calls.

Append the abbreviation of each contact's carrier to the name suffix field so you can quickly see whether you should use GV or your carrier number before dialing.

 

[hyisbm]

I take it this is because you created a new Google Voice number? What if I still use my Verizon number?

 

[thistle]

This has been a known issue since GV came out. You need to use the dial out via your GV number or call back methods with F&F to get unlimited minutes. Still works. Everyone knew the access numbers through the official GV app changed periodically.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Yeah, basically the "dynamic" number that GV has whenever you call out is constantly changing. I've just gotten used to dialing my GV number, inserting my password, hitting 2, and typing the number. I've even gotten so good as to add people to my address book that way -- Google voice number, pause, password, pause, #2 and number. Only way to keep getting "free" unlimited minutes. You can set it so that when you get called Google Voice's caller ID shows instead of theirs. I haven't done this but it might make it so you get free in-calling if you have GV set as your Friends and Family. When I moved to Verizon I haven't had to do this as most of my friends and family are on the Verizon network.

 

[HamDog]

So many people misunderstand the principle behind GV. GV was meant as a forwarding service. Friends and family call your GV number and it rings the phone of your choosing (home phone, cell phone, work phone, etc.). I believe that is how it was marketed.

A secondary benefit was to make long distance calls for free from your home phone. Many people don't have unlimited long distance (within the U.S.) on their home phones. You would tell GV to "connect" you with any number in the U.S. and you would not get charged.

But this was never the purpose for cell phones as most people already have long distance included in their cell plans plans (may not be unlimited, but it's still included). You could use GV to call from your cell phone because your friends would then see your GV number on their caller ID, eventhough Google used a different number to dial.

People started looking at loopholes in the system, such as adding the number Google uses to dial to their friends and family plans to get unlimited amount of calls rather than staying under the limits of their plan. This is why Google keeps changing the number it uses to dial!

This has been known for some time, but obviously, not everyone is gonna get an e-mail about this. They didn't disable a feature or take anything away, they just closed this loophole.

I love GV! I use it as it was intended. I give the number to all my friends and family. This way, my friends only have to dial one number to get in touch with me instead of calling my home and then my cell. And I have installed an app that automatically changes settings when I leave home, so my cell phone will ring when I'm away and my home phone will ring when I'm at home. Extremely convenient.

And I do use GV to make all my calls through my cell phone. But the reason isn't to save minutes, but so my friends see my GV number on their called ID and know it's me.

GV is awesome for it's intended purposes. But some complain about it screwing them because they closed a loophole. I don't believe it was their initial intention to screw phone companies out of their fees generated by minutes.

 

[hookbill]

I take it this is because you created a new Google Voice number? What if I still use my Verizon number?

Sorry, but this post doesn't make sense to me. If it does to somebody please respond so I don't keep coming back to find out how dumb I was.

 

[furbearingmammal]

I take it this is because you created a new Google Voice number? What if I still use my Verizon number?

Sorry, but this post doesn't make sense to me. If it does to somebody please respond so I don't keep coming back to find out how dumb I was.

You are not alone.

@OP

The instructions for Google Voice as far back as at least May said that you had to monitor the number assigned to you for outgoing calls and make sure you had it as a Friends and Family number or you'd be paying per-minute.