Use Google Voice without changing your number

Thu, May 14, 2009 Posted By:Eric Friedman

Edit: Please see comments for latest updates and settings for different phones

: Image by marcopako  via Flickr

I recently figured out a cool hack that lets you use Google Voice and all the features it offers that are superior to most systems, without the hassle of giving out a new phone number owned by Google.

I discovered this via a post about using SkyDeck to also sync. contacts and have other functionality – all things I did not need, so I took them out of the equation. If you are interested in even more functions, syncing, and worry about GV going down checkout SkyDeck.

To make this work you need a Google Voice account

1. Login to your Google Voice account and go to Settings
a. Make sure your settings (time Zone) and Greeting is setup – I setup a custom greeting so it operates like a standard VM system on a cell phone.
b. Enable Screening should not be checked (if checked it makes callers say their name before putting the call through to you)
c. Call Presentation > OFF (while off it directly connects calls that come through)
d. Caller ID – Display Caller’s Number (again, your choice but displaying your GV number is confusing)
e. make sure you have a pin setup
f. Transcribe Voicemails should be checked

2. Click Phones in settings
Make sure none of your numbers are checked. If they are, GV will try to ring other numbers when you do not answer your cell phone, or send calls to VM.

3. Modify settings on your cell phone to change the default VM settings – a big thank you to SkyDeck for supplying this information:

Alltel *71your-10-digit-Google-Voice-number
AT&T *004*1your-10-digit-Google-Voice-number#
Sprint Call Sprint Technical Support at 888 211 4727 and ask to turn on “call forward busy” and “call forward no answer” for your cell phone. This means that your phone will ring as usual when you receive a call, but if you are busy or do not answer the call will go to Google Voice. When they ask what number to forward to, tell them your-10-digit-Google-Voice-number. (Do not ask for “regular”, “normal”, or “immediate” call forwarding, or all of your calls will go to voicemail.)
T-Mobile *004*1your-10-digit-Google-Voice-number#
Verizon *711your-10-digit-Google-Voice-number
US Cellular *74your-10-digit-Google-Voice-number

If you want to unforward your number do one of the following:

Alltel *74##your 10-digit cell-phone number
AT&T #002#
Sprint Call Sprint Technical Support at 888 211 4727. Ask them to turn off “call forward busy” and “call forward no answer” for your cell phone.
US Cellular *740
Verizon *73
T-Mobile #002#

4. Test out your new automatically FREE transcribed voicemail system! Google Voice will text and email you a message (you can turn this off) when you get a VM and give you a transcription of the voicemail

For me this is a killer way to get the best of Google Voice features, without having to give out a new number to anyone. Google has my trust with email, and I do not have problems letting them archive my voicemails either. It also provides a great record of missed calls and documents numbers so that I can look them up later.

This post was written by:

Eric Friedman - who has written 671 posts on Eric Friedman – Marketing.fm.

Directof of Client Services at Foursquare - formerly the analyst at Union Square Ventures, blogger at www.marketing.fm You should follow me on twitter @EricFriedman

Contact the author

View Comments to “Use Google Voice without changing your number”

huangqin Says:
July 16th, 2009 at 6:04 am

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mfyameen Says:
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:56 am

I have a G1 and wasn't able to set my voice forwarding numbers using “*004*1-xxx-xxx-xxxx#”. However, if you dial that number, and hit send, it will switch over all of the call forwarding numbers to the phone number at the end of the message.

Hope that helps anyone else who has run into this problem.

EricFriedman Says:
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 pm

Thanks Fazal

Val Says:
July 31st, 2009 at 2:15 pm

Ok, I must be doing something wrong. If I call my voicemail from my cell phone I get access to the GVoice. But, if I call my cell phone number from any other phone it goes straight to my regular cell phone voicemail. Obviously, I'm blonde…could use a little extra help

EricFriedman Says:
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:29 pm

hmmm sounds like you did not forward your cell phone vm correctly. You can
always call your carrier and have them walk you through the steps. The
instructions above should be for all companies though.

EricFriedman Says:
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:00 pm

EricFriedman Says:
August 4th, 2009 at 12:25 am

michael Says:
August 5th, 2009 at 6:10 pm

it takes alot of rings. 8 not going to work for some people.

EricFriedman Says:
August 5th, 2009 at 6:24 pm

Good point – is there any way to control the amount of rings in Google Voice?

innov8ion Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 7:52 pm

Ok, but doesn't this mean that one can no longer forward their calls to different phones based upon predetermined criteria? This is one of the value propositions for Google Voice.

EricFriedman Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 8:14 pm

I totally agree, but currently do not have the need for that feature.

Until I can port my number to Google this is a great stop gap to get free vm transcription and archived voicemail.

Hope it was helpful.

innov8ion Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 8:16 pm

I agree with you, Eric. Thanks for the info!

innov8ion Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 8:34 pm

Ok, I've done it. But when I make calls from my cell, will my caller see the actual number or my GV number?

You rock, Eric!

EricFriedman Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 8:48 pm

If all you did was forward your cell to GV then anyone you call will still
see your original cell phone number. That is the beauty of this trick – you
get the best features of Google Voice, without the hassle of giving out a
new number.

This is why GV has apps for mobile phones. Your number should never be tied
to a device and Google Voice is helping make this possible in the future.

markjosephson Says:
August 17th, 2009 at 3:30 pm

Thanks Eric! Just set it up. Super simple.

EricFriedman Says:
August 20th, 2009 at 3:47 am

No problem – the auto transcription is a little wonky, but you can't beat
the price!

ihaveacar Says:
August 20th, 2009 at 11:25 pm

Hmmm – on my US Cellular account, I have to use *72+number to forward the call – and *720 turns it back off – I learned this by trial and error, *74+number didn't work.

EricFriedman Says:
August 21st, 2009 at 7:59 am

Thank you for sharing with others.

donr1 Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 3:09 pm

I tried the forwarding but if someone calls me when I'm already on the phone they are getting a busy signal instead of going to voicemail. Are you having this problem?

Matt Says:
October 15th, 2009 at 11:09 am

If you have Sprint, be aware that there are charges associated with using the call forwarding features described above. In just 5 days, my account racked up almost $20 in additional fees. The Sprint rep I spoke with on the phone to set this up did not warn me about this before enabling the call forwarding, so make sure you ask for details first.

EricFriedman Says:
October 15th, 2009 at 11:58 am

Thanks for this tip!

allenburt Says:
October 20th, 2009 at 7:21 am

Awesome trick Eric. I'm giving it a go.

bufori Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 11:49 pm

Lucky for both of you you can keep your own number now.

Peter Fasano Says:
October 27th, 2009 at 12:58 am

Thanks Eric – I have been looking for this precise info to bridge the services and devices.

kquade Says:
October 29th, 2009 at 9:11 am

After doing this, I now have full Voice features. This is awesome.

I would love a way to forward outgoing calls though. Maybe change the phones settings internally?

EricFriedman Says:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

Thanks – and sorry to hear that.

EricFriedman Says:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:36 pm

No problem – google seems to have released this as a feature today with instructions. Nothing that new though.

I now want to port my number to GV totally.

EricFriedman Says:
October 30th, 2009 at 2:23 pm

Depending on your phone there is a Google voice app for blackberry that works quite well.

If not, you will have to wait until you can port your number directly to Google.

winter123 Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:58 am

In this welcoming atmosphere, customers will discover the new and the renowned in Tiffany design and the option to experiment with it all, mixing different looks to play up personal style and individual expression tiffany jewelry online shop sells varieties of tiffany & co jewelry silver products, including tiffany bracelet, tiffany necklace, tiffany ring, tiffany earrings, tiffany pendant and various other tiffany replica jewelries. We are one of the biggest suppliers of tiffany jewellery company store in the globe.Tiffany translates the allure of it all in classic style with the new Tiffany Notes collection.

winter123 Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:59 am

colinnwn Says:
January 28th, 2010 at 12:27 am

Google Voice now offers this as a simple configuration, and better yet, you can set GV to still ring all your phones when someone calls your GV number directly, but if they call your cell number and it forwards to GV for voicemail, GV can skip ringing all your numbers again and answer immediately.

To set up, go to Phones, click on “Use GV for voicemail on this device”. It will ask you the carrier and give you the short code to use to turn on busy/no answer forwarding. Now open up advanced options, and chose “when someone calls this number directly, forward immediately to voicemail”. Sorry if I got the wording of the selections a bit off, but I think it is clear enough to figure out how to do it.

Also I have read several places, if you have T-mobile, and use another service for voicemail, they will give you 200 extra minutes a month. This is so you get some extra minutes for checking your messages on a non-free number. I'm not sure if you have to call and ask for it, or if it is automatically available to whatever number is your busy/no answer forwarding number, but is nice to have.

Mike Says:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:59 pm

Remember that call forwarding feature works like outgoing call. So if someone calls your cell phone which forwards a call too GV and you talk for 10 minutes, this will not be considered an incoming minutes, rather outgoing. With USCC for exampel, I have free incoming calls so it will put me at risk of going over.

EricFriedman Says:
February 1st, 2010 at 5:03 pm

This is a great point that I ran into when overseas – calls were actually
DOUBLE the amount of expected time due to the call forwarding feature.

imadahmad Says:
February 27th, 2010 at 6:06 pm

Hi, I just got the Droid from Verizon and I was wondering about the texting. I know that if you get incoming texts, Verizon still charges you. So, if I were to get my google number and not have my regular number changed and receive texts from others. Will Verizon charge me?

On another note, I have texting blocked on my plan. So, through Google Voice can I get texts with the google voice number?

Candy Says:
April 8th, 2010 at 6:13 am

Dear Eric,
I wanted to know if Google voice will work with a LG lotus elite? My friend has one and I can't find any Intel on it. I'm trying to figure it out for her. If you can help please email me
GV works great with the IPhone. Thanks for taking the time to read my comment.
Sinerely,
Candy

EricFriedman Says:
April 8th, 2010 at 12:13 pm

It depends on the operating system. I works on android and palm but not on
many others.

bennguyen Says:
April 29th, 2010 at 7:40 am

Me and the wife just moved here to texas from Ohio, can u please invite me to google voice agbana80@hotmail.com

Raid Recovery Says:
May 29th, 2010 at 6:52 am

I like to use google voice.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Micah Redding: Adventurer - Living in the Cloud: Google Voice says:

July 28, 2009 at 11:23 pm

[...] yesterday, I switched my cellphone voicemail over to Google Voice, following these instructions. Now, if you call my number and get no answer, you will be routed to Google Voice to leave a [...]

Google Reinvents the Phone with Google Voice | dijexi.com says:

September 16, 2009 at 5:55 pm

[...] Use Google Voice without changing your number (marketing.fm) [...]

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mfyameen Says:
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:56 am
I have a G1 and wasn't able to set my voice forwarding numbers using “*004*1-xxx-xxx-xxxx#”. However, if you dial that number, and hit send, it will switch over all of the call forwarding numbers to the phone number at the end of the message.

Hope that helps anyone else who has run into this problem.
EricFriedman Says:
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Thanks Fazal
Val Says:
July 31st, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Ok, I must be doing something wrong. If I call my voicemail from my cell phone I get access to the GVoice. But, if I call my cell phone number from any other phone it goes straight to my regular cell phone voicemail. Obviously, I'm blonde…could use a little extra help
EricFriedman Says:
August 3rd, 2009 at 9:29 pm
hmmm sounds like you did not forward your cell phone vm correctly. You can
always call your carrier and have them walk you through the steps. The
instructions above should be for all companies though.
EricFriedman Says:
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:00 pm
hmmm sounds like you did not forward your cell phone vm correctly. You can
always call your carrier and have them walk you through the steps. The
instructions above should be for all companies though.
EricFriedman Says:
August 4th, 2009 at 12:25 am
hmmm sounds like you did not forward your cell phone vm correctly. You can
always call your carrier and have them walk you through the steps. The
instructions above should be for all companies though.
michael Says:
August 5th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
it takes alot of rings. 8 not going to work for some people.
EricFriedman Says:
August 5th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Good point – is there any way to control the amount of rings in Google Voice?
innov8ion Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Ok, but doesn't this mean that one can no longer forward their calls to different phones based upon predetermined criteria? This is one of the value propositions for Google Voice.
EricFriedman Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I totally agree, but currently do not have the need for that feature.

Until I can port my number to Google this is a great stop gap to get free vm transcription and archived voicemail.

Hope it was helpful.
innov8ion Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I agree with you, Eric. Thanks for the info!
innov8ion Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Ok, I've done it. But when I make calls from my cell, will my caller see the actual number or my GV number?

You rock, Eric!
EricFriedman Says:
August 11th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
If all you did was forward your cell to GV then anyone you call will still
see your original cell phone number. That is the beauty of this trick – you
get the best features of Google Voice, without the hassle of giving out a
new number.

This is why GV has apps for mobile phones. Your number should never be tied
to a device and Google Voice is helping make this possible in the future.
markjosephson Says:
August 17th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Thanks Eric! Just set it up. Super simple.
EricFriedman Says:
August 20th, 2009 at 3:47 am
No problem – the auto transcription is a little wonky, but you can't beat
the price!
ihaveacar Says:
August 20th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Hmmm – on my US Cellular account, I have to use *72+number to forward the call – and *720 turns it back off – I learned this by trial and error, *74+number didn't work.
EricFriedman Says:
August 21st, 2009 at 7:59 am
Thank you for sharing with others.
donr1 Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I tried the forwarding but if someone calls me when I'm already on the phone they are getting a busy signal instead of going to voicemail. Are you having this problem?
Matt Says:
October 15th, 2009 at 11:09 am
If you have Sprint, be aware that there are charges associated with using the call forwarding features described above. In just 5 days, my account racked up almost $20 in additional fees. The Sprint rep I spoke with on the phone to set this up did not warn me about this before enabling the call forwarding, so make sure you ask for details first.
EricFriedman Says:
October 15th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Thanks for this tip!
allenburt Says:
October 20th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Awesome trick Eric. I'm giving it a go.
bufori Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Lucky for both of you you can keep your own number now.
Peter Fasano Says:
October 27th, 2009 at 12:58 am
Thanks Eric – I have been looking for this precise info to bridge the services and devices.
kquade Says:
October 29th, 2009 at 9:11 am
After doing this, I now have full Voice features. This is awesome.

I would love a way to forward outgoing calls though. Maybe change the phones settings internally?
EricFriedman Says:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Thanks – and sorry to hear that.
EricFriedman Says:
October 30th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
No problem – google seems to have released this as a feature today with instructions. Nothing that new though.

I now want to port my number to GV totally.
EricFriedman Says:
October 30th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Depending on your phone there is a Google voice app for blackberry that works quite well.

If not, you will have to wait until you can port your number directly to Google.
winter123 Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:58 am
In this welcoming atmosphere, customers will discover the new and the renowned in Tiffany design and the option to experiment with it all, mixing different looks to play up personal style and individual expression tiffany jewelry online shop sells varieties of tiffany & co jewelry silver products, including tiffany bracelet, tiffany necklace, tiffany ring, tiffany earrings, tiffany pendant and various other tiffany replica jewelries. We are one of the biggest suppliers of tiffany jewellery company store in the globe.Tiffany translates the allure of it all in classic style with the new Tiffany Notes collection.
winter123 Says:
November 3rd, 2009 at 1:59 am
In this welcoming atmosphere, customers will discover the new and the renowned in Tiffany design and the option to experiment with it all, mixing different looks to play up personal style and individual expression tiffany jewelry online shop sells varieties of tiffany & co jewelry silver products, including tiffany bracelet, tiffany necklace, tiffany ring, tiffany earrings, tiffany pendant and various other tiffany replica jewelries. We are one of the biggest suppliers of tiffany jewellery company store in the globe.Tiffany translates the allure of it all in classic style with the new Tiffany Notes collection.
colinnwn Says:
January 28th, 2010 at 12:27 am
Google Voice now offers this as a simple configuration, and better yet, you can set GV to still ring all your phones when someone calls your GV number directly, but if they call your cell number and it forwards to GV for voicemail, GV can skip ringing all your numbers again and answer immediately.

To set up, go to Phones, click on “Use GV for voicemail on this device”. It will ask you the carrier and give you the short code to use to turn on busy/no answer forwarding. Now open up advanced options, and chose “when someone calls this number directly, forward immediately to voicemail”. Sorry if I got the wording of the selections a bit off, but I think it is clear enough to figure out how to do it.

Also I have read several places, if you have T-mobile, and use another service for voicemail, they will give you 200 extra minutes a month. This is so you get some extra minutes for checking your messages on a non-free number. I'm not sure if you have to call and ask for it, or if it is automatically available to whatever number is your busy/no answer forwarding number, but is nice to have.
Mike Says:
February 1st, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Remember that call forwarding feature works like outgoing call. So if someone calls your cell phone which forwards a call too GV and you talk for 10 minutes, this will not be considered an incoming minutes, rather outgoing. With USCC for exampel, I have free incoming calls so it will put me at risk of going over.
EricFriedman Says:
February 1st, 2010 at 5:03 pm
This is a great point that I ran into when overseas – calls were actually
DOUBLE the amount of expected time due to the call forwarding feature.
imadahmad Says:
February 27th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Hi, I just got the Droid from Verizon and I was wondering about the texting. I know that if you get incoming texts, Verizon still charges you. So, if I were to get my google number and not have my regular number changed and receive texts from others. Will Verizon charge me?

On another note, I have texting blocked on my plan. So, through Google Voice can I get texts with the google voice number?
Candy Says:
April 8th, 2010 at 6:13 am
Dear Eric,
I wanted to know if Google voice will work with a LG lotus elite? My friend has one and I can't find any Intel on it. I'm trying to figure it out for her. If you can help please email me
GV works great with the IPhone. Thanks for taking the time to read my comment.
Sinerely,
Candy
EricFriedman Says:
April 8th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
It depends on the operating system. I works on android and palm but not on
many others.
bennguyen Says:
April 29th, 2010 at 7:40 am
Me and the wife just moved here to texas from Ohio, can u please invite me to google voice agbana80@hotmail.com
Raid Recovery Says:
May 29th, 2010 at 6:52 am
I like to use google voice.

Micah Redding: Adventurer - Living in the Cloud: Google Voice says:

July 28, 2009 at 11:23 pm

[...] yesterday, I switched my cellphone voicemail over to Google Voice, following these instructions. Now, if you call my number and get no answer, you will be routed to Google Voice to leave a [...]
Google Reinvents the Phone with Google Voice | dijexi.com says:

September 16, 2009 at 5:55 pm

[...] Use Google Voice without changing your number (marketing.fm) [...]

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