Two Google Voice number, one phone

February 3, 2012 8:38 AM

I have a Google Voice number. My job has a Google voice number. How to get both to forward to my phone, or how to devise an alternative to my current set-up?

I have a Google Voice number forwarded to my personal phone number. My job's general line is a Google Voice number. They now want me to answer the general line - however, since I already have my own Google Voice number forwarded to my phone, I can't have a second Voice number forwarded (or so Google says). Right now, I have our general line ringing in Gchat, which is inconvenient because I miss calls when I'm not at my computer, I can't answer when I'm working in a public place and answering calls on my computer feels awkward.

I work from home and have only the one cellphone.

Is there an alternative I'm not thinking of?

-I read this, which is a workaround for the forwarding. It didn't work for me, and disconnected my personal Google Voice from my phone.

-The ultimate goal would be to have our general line forward to my phone somehow, while keeping my personal number forwarded, but if there are truly no workarounds, I'm open to any ideas you have. I've considered getting a landline for this purpose, but I can't justify the expense (and my job wouldn't pay for it).

-Everyone uses my Google Voice number to call me personally, so I can't disconnect it from my phone.

Thanks for any ideas.

posted by Laura Macbeth to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Change the type of phone from Mobile to Home or Office. They only allow one number to be forwarded to a cell phone.
posted by dozo at 8:43 AM on February 3, 2012

(Sorry, in the settings for both GV accounts.)
posted by dozo at 8:43 AM on February 3, 2012

On Preview: dozo's solution may be exactly what you're looking for, but you may also want to consider the alternative below.

This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but have you considered an Obi box? They allow you to connect "regular" (land-line-style) phones to a Google Voice number. They are pretty cheap.

This doesn't exactly solve your problem, but is a good work-around if you can't figure a better way to do it.
posted by Betelgeuse at 8:46 AM on February 3, 2012

The link I posted suggested the Mobile/Home switch, which I tried and it didn't work for me -- it just disconnected my Google Voice number from my personal phone and switched it to the work phone. Otherwise, that would be my ideal solution.
posted by Laura Macbeth at 8:48 AM on February 3, 2012

Hmm, yeah I see that the link you gave says the same thing. That's what worked for me, I beat my head against the wall for a few days trying to get this to work a while ago and it was really that simple. You did it on both GV settings? Changed them both to Home?

You could get an ITSP number very cheaply, have the GV number forward to that and have that forward to your phone. It's literally 2-4 USD a month.
posted by dozo at 8:52 AM on February 3, 2012

The thing about changing to a home number is then the number does not accept texts
posted by AugustWest at 8:59 AM on February 3, 2012

I can't tell you why, but I went through the steps in the link a couple more times and suddenly, it started working. Before, it would just kick one of the numbers to voicemail. Now it rings both. I changed both numbers to Home. I verified the number, too. Thank you for your assistance!
posted by Laura Macbeth at 9:03 AM on February 3, 2012

Excellent! It's shake and bake, and I helped.
posted by dozo at 9:10 AM on February 3, 2012

I think sometimes there is just a lag. I did a big round-robin switch with my phones and GV #'s (I have 4...) and it was weird for a day or so and then everything just worked again.

I always set all of my #'s to Home to avoid some of these issues, BTW. If you plan on using the GV app or website to read/send texts instead of having it use SMS to your phone, there is no downside (and you don't have to pay for text messaging on your cell plan).
posted by wildcrdj at 6:34 PM on February 3, 2012