Just noticed over on Engadget that Google is now offering the ability to port your existing phone number to Google Voice. It looks like Twitter user @QQforU is the one to thank for catching it. There will be a $20 charge, payable through Google Checkout and, of course, ETFs still apply. So, don’t jump the gun and inadvertently cancel your contract!
I just checked on my own account, and it is indeed available. Just hit up this page, follow the steps, and you’re ready to break the ties that bind!
Update: Aaaaand it’s gone. Apparently Google is just testing the feature. Google passed this note on to Engadget to explain what’s up:
“We’re continually testing new features to enhance the user experience. For a limited amount of time, we’re making the Google Voice number porting process available to users. We don’t have any additional details to share at this time, but plan to offer this feature to all users in the near future.”
Update 2: As Antiochasylum just pointed out in the comments (thanks!), it looks like the porting page is once again available. Get it while it’s hot!
Source: Engadget
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Your “this page” link is 404.
Google has confirmed they are testing this feature so the page may not be available all the time. Sorry.
I promise it was there when I took the screenshot!
what would be the benefit of porting your number to google? Why not just keep your googlevoice number instead? Im assuming for people who are too attached to their number and wanted to port it to the cloud? Thats why I have my google voice number as the number I care about and i can just always give that out…then if I cahnge number/provider and get a new one..just redirect the google voice number to the new number..no none ever knows i changed…but i guess some people would be attached to their old number?
I’m right there with ya. But, I picked up my # before Google bought up Grand Central and Gizmo5. So for me, it’d be *more* of a pain to port my old number over. But I’ve got a lot of friends who won’t even try GV since they don’t want the hassle of sending out a new number, which is understandable.
yeah..thats what ive seen…but for me its more like…cleaning out the closet..only letting people i care know the new number
but dont get me started with some people..my sister wont use google voicemail cause she prefers t-mobiles visual voicemail…yuck…
Exactly! There’s a lot of people with my old number I don’t want calling me! And, what’s not to love about getting your voicemail in your actual inbox?
Actually, one of these days I want to play around with getting Asterisk up and running *on a phone*. Have a full on PBX in my pocket, lol! Why? Why not? THAT is the question.
not exactly related….but have you tried sipgate (http://www.sipgate.com/one). You can get a free incoming sip number and use sipdroid (or your choise of sip application) and have it ring on your phone. If you put 20 bucks credit or so you can even make calls through it…they give you 60 minutes free for the first month. Its another way to get an extra number for specific uses…
Funny you should mention them, I snagged an invite code yesterday afternoon. I just haven’t actually setup the account yet, though. We’re looking at going the VoIP PBX route for one of the business ventures I’m involved with and sipgate is a likely candidate to get things started. But their plans get kind of expensive vs. roll-your-own. I’ve toyed around with trixbox a bit in the past, so we’re looking at just tossing it in a VM on one of our servers and then snagging a PhoneBochs rack system if we need to grow our system down the line.
hmm..well i have used it for simple projects and it works out very cheap for me..basically i set up a linksys router (I think it was the 3102) to use a sipgate number as incoming with 20 dollars credit on it. Gave it to my mother in Greece and since the connection there is always online she has an incomin U.S. number which we can call her at at virtually no cost to us (using free minutes or just like calling any other us based number) and for her its about 1.7 centd a minute to callus through it..all she had to do is plug it into modem and plug a standard phone (with touch tone). It does have a slight delay when you first dial the number but after a 30 second wait it connects perfectly.
I also plan on setting it up at home so i have an incoming landline without paying comcast the triple play package for an extra 20-30 bucks. I only need the landline because in my apartment complex the only signal that goes through is AT&T (Ive mentioned I think its a conspiracy theory from them right ?
)
the voip router was around 55 bucks on amazon…
haha, yes, you have mentioned the conspiracy angle.
Only reason it’d be more expensive for us is volume. There are inward call providers that can beat sipgate’s rates. But from what I’ve seen of the service so far, it looks to be very hard to beat on the ease of use end of things.
We intend to be 100% softphone based, numbers coming through to SIP clients on employee’s handsets. Although I’d imagine we’ll end up having a handful of hardware SIP phones in the mix. Dig around on eBay/craigslist and you can find retired Cisco SIP phones for around the same price as said router. And some models double as a Power over Ethernet injector.
Which, interestingly, is how I heard about them first…they’re apparently one of the cheapest ways to get PoE setup…
Funny you should mention them, I snagged an invite code yesterday afternoon. I just haven’t actually setup the account yet, though. We’re looking at going the VoIP PBX route for one of the business ventures I’m involved with and sipgate is a likely candidate to get things started. But their plans get kind of expensive vs. roll-your-own. I’ve toyed around with trixbox a bit in the past, so we’re looking at just tossing it in a VM on one of our servers and then snagging a PhoneBochs rack system if we need to grow our system down the line.
Its back up!
That it is, thanks for the heads up!