Google Voice Problem

[ksabz]

Alright so today I went ahead and got Google Voice for my Droid, however I have a couple problems and questions.
The whole point of me getting this is so that I can cancel my texting plan for the family which comes out to $30 a month and I am hoping to be able to text out with my new Google Number and receive texts with it rather than my Verizon Number.
Please reply to each question as it is easier to distinguish what you are answering. Thanks in advance.

1) For those that have this program and are using it, do you have a texting plan or are you just going off of the Google Voice for text?

2) Is there a way that I can text using the Droid's Messaging System while using my Google Number rather than having to go into Google Voice and starting a text message from there?

3) When I receive a text, I get a text sent to the Droid's Messaging System along with the Google Voice Messaging System. Is there a way to stop this so I don't receive 2 texts everytime 1 person texts me? Keep in mind I rather use the Droid's Messaging System rather than the Google Voice System.

 

[Luxferro]

Alright so today I went ahead and got Google Voice for my Droid, however I have a couple problems and questions.
The whole point of me getting this is so that I can cancel my texting plan for the family which comes out to $30 a month and I am hoping to be able to text out with my new Google Number and receive texts with it rather than my Verizon Number.
Please reply to each question as it is easier to distinguish what you are answering. Thanks in advance.

1) For those that have this program and are using it, do you have a texting plan or are you just going off of the Google Voice for text?

2) Is there a way that I can text using the Droid's Messaging System while using my Google Number rather than having to go into Google Voice and starting a text message from there?

3) When I receive a text, I get a text sent to the Droid's Messaging System along with the Google Voice Messaging System. Is there a way to stop this so I don't receive 2 texts everytime 1 person texts me? Keep in mind I rather use the Droid's Messaging System rather than the Google Voice System.

1) I canceled my verizon texting plan, and had it blocked, so I can't send or receive texts to my verizon #. I use google voice.

2) You have to abandon the 'messaging' app that is built into droid. And either use google voice, or gmail (if you set gmail forwarding in your google voice config - on the google voice wep page).

3) this is cause you have google voice set to foward texts to your verizon #. go into google voice wep page, and disable it.


If you forward google voice to your gmail, gmail is push, so you get pretty much instant text messages. and you can reply with gmail and it sends the sms. if you just rely on google voice app to check for texts, you could get delays of 5mins or more.

 

[ksabz]

Aite thanks! I just actually downloaded this app called Handcent Sms which is actually pretty cool and has hella settings. Do you know if there is a way to configure this app and Google Voice so I can use Handcent Sms to text or if I use Google Voice I can only use that?

 

[ksabz]

Also, is there a way to send mass texts with Google Voice?