doo Doo DOO ... the number you are calling is not in service, so JUST HIRE SOMEONE ELSE
March 11, 2010 10:49 PM Subscribe
Can employers reach my Google Voice number?
There have been some issues reported with Google Voice numbers being unreachable by certain inbound callers. The problem apparently lies with the originating carriers, so on the surface, it's clearly a challenging problem from Google's perspective.
But to me, this seems to be a complete show stopper for business use of GV numbers. How can you storefront this number if you can't be sure everyone can call it? I'm job hunting now, so I obviously want to be as certain as possible that any caller can reach me through my GV number.
Google has a moderately stale forum page that talks about this and a form to fill out to report known failed connections. There are recent postings about the problem, but I haven't seen recent news about resolving this in a universal way.
Yeah, I know GV is free, and you get what you pay for. Just asking about anyone else's experience or knowledge. Boiled down, my questions are these:
1) Does anyone know of any updates regarding of GV's connection problems from other carriers?
2) Are you GV users confident that all calls are getting through to you?
3) Would getting a Vonage number give me any more reliability?
4) extra credit: Do you GV users receive calls directly from numbers not in your GV contacts list, or do these only ring through immediately to voice mail? ( I'm guessing this doesn't affect the connection issues, but I'm curious )
There have been some issues reported with Google Voice numbers being unreachable by certain inbound callers. The problem apparently lies with the originating carriers, so on the surface, it's clearly a challenging problem from Google's perspective.
But to me, this seems to be a complete show stopper for business use of GV numbers. How can you storefront this number if you can't be sure everyone can call it? I'm job hunting now, so I obviously want to be as certain as possible that any caller can reach me through my GV number.
Google has a moderately stale forum page that talks about this and a form to fill out to report known failed connections. There are recent postings about the problem, but I haven't seen recent news about resolving this in a universal way.
Yeah, I know GV is free, and you get what you pay for. Just asking about anyone else's experience or knowledge. Boiled down, my questions are these:
1) Does anyone know of any updates regarding of GV's connection problems from other carriers?
2) Are you GV users confident that all calls are getting through to you?
3) Would getting a Vonage number give me any more reliability?
4) extra credit: Do you GV users receive calls directly from numbers not in your GV contacts list, or do these only ring through immediately to voice mail? ( I'm guessing this doesn't affect the connection issues, but I'm curious )
Best answer: I use GV for my business. I have had one or two multi-hour outages of the service in ~2 years (was using Grand Central which became GV).
I've even used GV when traveling outside the US, where GV calls my GrandCentral no, which in turn calls my phone. Talk about stringing together a bunch of services, but it works.
So, I'm a fan.
I have seen maybe one call a week fall through GV to my cell phone voicemail, which should never happen.
So yes, it is not perfect. However, in that two year period I would have expected some issues with any telco or number provider.
On the balance, the sheer convenience of GV means I am more likely to be reached, on whatever device I'm using, despite the incidents above.
posted by zippy at 12:22 AM on March 12, 2010
I've even used GV when traveling outside the US, where GV calls my GrandCentral no, which in turn calls my phone. Talk about stringing together a bunch of services, but it works.
So, I'm a fan.
I have seen maybe one call a week fall through GV to my cell phone voicemail, which should never happen.
So yes, it is not perfect. However, in that two year period I would have expected some issues with any telco or number provider.
On the balance, the sheer convenience of GV means I am more likely to be reached, on whatever device I'm using, despite the incidents above.
posted by zippy at 12:22 AM on March 12, 2010
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I'm an IT manager who takes help desk calls and receives a several dozen calls a weekend from various US metro areas and various cellular carriers. I'm using a central Kall8 number that rings to my GV number which rings to my cell.
2) Aside from poor local reception from Verizon, I am sure that 98% of all calls are coming through. If they weren't I would hear about it through IM or email or someone else calling.
4) I receive about 50% or calls within my GV contacts, and 50% from without. (I imported our staff list into Google Contacts CSV form to make callerID more functional.
I have never had an observed instance where a number went through to voicemail without ringing the standard 4 rings on my handset.
posted by sonicbloom at 11:45 PM on March 11, 2010