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 If you read last week's post about
a free home telephone line without any monthly fee, you might have been a
little disappointed when you realized that Google currently only lets you port
mobile phone numbers to Google Voice.
Not to worry because there is a fairly simple workaround
that will only cost you an extra $20 that will quickly be recouped by the lack
of a monthly bill.
Basically you will have to port your number to a cheap
prepaid cell phone and then port your number again to Google Voice. Although it
sounds like a pain, the entire process will only take 2-3 days to complete.
Landline to Pre-paid
Mobile After reading a few other people's experiences I decided to go with T-Mobile's
prepaid Nokia 1616 phone which can be purchased for $20. (AT&T has a
prepaid phone for $10 which should also work but it seems the porting process
through T-Mobile was a little simpler.)
When you call to activate your prepaid phone you will have
the option to port your existing number to the new prepaid line for free. It
usually takes about a day for the port to go through. T-Mobile was kind enough
to send me a text message notifying me when my landline number was activated on
the cell phone.
Pre-paid Mobile to Google
Voice
I went directly over to Google Voice's settings page to check my number for
porting eligibility. Unfortunately Google didn't recognize it as a mobile
number yet so I checked back the next morning and voila, Google was now able to
port number in for a one-time fee of $20.
The following day Google Voice now had my landline number
listed as my primary number.
Hopefully in the not so distant future Google adds the
capability to port all numbers directly in but until that time, this trick can
be a lifesaver for someone that wants to keep their number but lose the costs
associated with it.
It is possible that in 2013 Google will start charging for
phone calls but considering there are also a number of other companies offering
free or virtually free calling, you can bet that Google will do whatever it can
to stay competitive.
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Re: Porting Your Landline Number to Google Voice
