Google Voice now works with existing phone numbers
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Google Voice now works with existing phone numbers, allowing users the option of using Google Voice without having to give a new phone number out to contacts.
The tech giant announced the number porting change to its phone-call-forwarding service Tuesday, saying in a statement that the feature is available to all current and future users. Previously, existing phone numbers couldn’t be ported over.
But in order to port a number over as the Google Voice number, a user has pay Google $20 and go through a few steps, said Robert Dong, a Google software engineer, in a blog post.
‘After porting your number to Google Voice, your mobile service plan will be canceled, and there are a couple of steps that you’ll have to take to continue making and receiving calls on your mobile device,’ Dong said.
Those steps include starting a new service plan, probably incurring fees if the previous service plan is canceled early, and getting a new mobile number and adding that to Google Voice.
The process on Google’s end is usually completed within 24 hours, Dong said.
How long it will take a mobile carrier to cooperate with the process could vary.
RELATED:
Google lets you make phone calls from Gmail
Google Translate on Android gets experimental Conversation Mode
-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Video credit: Google Voice via YouTube