Why won't Google Voice pick up calls made from landlines?
May 16, 2010 11:12 AM Subscribe
Why is it that calls made to my cell phone from other cell phones connect to my Google Voice inbox, but calls made to my cell phone from landlines go to my carriers voicemail? And how do I make GV the default for *all* calls, irrespective of their origin?
Just ran a couple tests with my parents, who have been complaining that I'm not getting messages from them lately. As it turns out, calls from their home phone number don't go to my GV inbox, but get intercepted by Verizon inbox instead. But messages from their cellphones go through to GV. I want to use GV as my only inbox. Any ideas on how to solve this problem? Is it a problem with GV, with their carrier, or is it something I'm doing wrong?
If the simple solution to you seems to be one of social engineering -- tell them to use their cellphones when calling me -- well, then all I can say is you haven't met my parents. Plus, that doesn't resolve the problem of missed unknown calls from other landlines.
Just ran a couple tests with my parents, who have been complaining that I'm not getting messages from them lately. As it turns out, calls from their home phone number don't go to my GV inbox, but get intercepted by Verizon inbox instead. But messages from their cellphones go through to GV. I want to use GV as my only inbox. Any ideas on how to solve this problem? Is it a problem with GV, with their carrier, or is it something I'm doing wrong?
If the simple solution to you seems to be one of social engineering -- tell them to use their cellphones when calling me -- well, then all I can say is you haven't met my parents. Plus, that doesn't resolve the problem of missed unknown calls from other landlines.
Response by poster: Good idea, 47triple2. That's not it for my case though: nobody knows my GV number. I use GV only as the primary voicemail for my cell phone #. I definitely under-utilize GV. But that's a question for a different week.
posted by .kobayashi. at 11:38 AM on May 16, 2010
posted by .kobayashi. at 11:38 AM on May 16, 2010
Have you tried it with other land lines?
Have you set google voice to "Do Not Disturb"?
posted by 47triple2 at 11:46 AM on May 16, 2010
Have you set google voice to "Do Not Disturb"?
posted by 47triple2 at 11:46 AM on May 16, 2010
Response by poster: Haven't yet tried it with other landlines. Oddly enough, people I know with landlines are in short supply. I may drive into the office later today, and try from there. I have tried with other wireless carriers, though, so it's not just a 1 carrier thing. I've never used "Do not disturb" either.
posted by .kobayashi. at 11:55 AM on May 16, 2010
posted by .kobayashi. at 11:55 AM on May 16, 2010
Go to the GV website, click on "Settings" in the upper-right corner, go to the "Calls" tab and enable "Do Not Disturb" at the bottom.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/voice/thread?tid=01562634dfc785da&hl=en">This forum thread made me think of it for some reason. :?
posted by 47triple2 at 12:01 PM on May 16, 2010
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/voice/thread?tid=01562634dfc785da&hl=en">This forum thread made me think of it for some reason. :?
posted by 47triple2 at 12:01 PM on May 16, 2010
Response by poster: 47triple2: Thanks for trying to see this through. I'm afraid I'm not being very clear, though. Let me try again. I'm sure I've exhausted your patience by now, and I do thank you for trying. I'm elaborating more, just in case I haven't worn out your patience, or in case I can help others to understand the problem and share solutions. Here goes:
I use google voice as an alternative to Verizon's voicemail service on my cell phone. It works with my regular cell phone number. I don't use, nor do I tell others about, my google voice number.
My problem is this: when my parents call at my cell phone #, using their landline, and I'm not available to pick up the phone, their messages do not get picked up by GV. They get picked up by Verizon. Since I do not check my Verizon inbox (because I have replaced it with GV), I do not get their messages. This has not always been the case; it has changed in the last few weeks, and has changed without me altering any GV settings.
With some testing, I've been able to figure out that cell phone calls (at least from Verizon & AT&T) will get picked up by GV, but calls from my parents landline do not.
What I want to do is to figure out why this is happening, and how (if at all) I can fix the problem so that calls from my parents landline (or all landlines? I'm not yet sure) also get to GV instead of my Verizon inbox when I'm not available to take the call.
I don't think that Do Not Disturb would do the trick, as it looks like that sends ALL calls made to a google number directly to GV. That's not what I'm trying to do. I don't want to reroute calls to GV without my phone ringing. Also nobody's calling my GV number. I'm using the service with my cell #.
The problem is that GV (or Verizon, for all I know) is treating phone calls FROM my parents landline differently than it is all other calls to my cell #. And that's what I want to fix. All calls to my cell phone should ring, but should be picked up by GV if I cannot answer. That's the goal.
Thanks again for trying to puzzle through this with me. I really appreciate your efforts.
posted by .kobayashi. at 12:22 PM on May 16, 2010
I use google voice as an alternative to Verizon's voicemail service on my cell phone. It works with my regular cell phone number. I don't use, nor do I tell others about, my google voice number.
My problem is this: when my parents call at my cell phone #, using their landline, and I'm not available to pick up the phone, their messages do not get picked up by GV. They get picked up by Verizon. Since I do not check my Verizon inbox (because I have replaced it with GV), I do not get their messages. This has not always been the case; it has changed in the last few weeks, and has changed without me altering any GV settings.
With some testing, I've been able to figure out that cell phone calls (at least from Verizon & AT&T) will get picked up by GV, but calls from my parents landline do not.
What I want to do is to figure out why this is happening, and how (if at all) I can fix the problem so that calls from my parents landline (or all landlines? I'm not yet sure) also get to GV instead of my Verizon inbox when I'm not available to take the call.
I don't think that Do Not Disturb would do the trick, as it looks like that sends ALL calls made to a google number directly to GV. That's not what I'm trying to do. I don't want to reroute calls to GV without my phone ringing. Also nobody's calling my GV number. I'm using the service with my cell #.
The problem is that GV (or Verizon, for all I know) is treating phone calls FROM my parents landline differently than it is all other calls to my cell #. And that's what I want to fix. All calls to my cell phone should ring, but should be picked up by GV if I cannot answer. That's the goal.
Thanks again for trying to puzzle through this with me. I really appreciate your efforts.
posted by .kobayashi. at 12:22 PM on May 16, 2010
Heh, I enjoy a puzzle as much as the next person. :)
I don't know for sure, but it might be that Verizon is letting the landline ring for less rings than cell phones. (I almost wrote, "normal phones"... :D )
Anyway, by enabling do not disturb, google voice will not ring *at all* when they pick up the voicemail, resulting in less rings for people calling you. Verizon might be forcing the landline to go to voicemail because it's ringing a bunch.
Have you considered calling Verizon?
posted by 47triple2 at 1:29 PM on May 16, 2010 [1 favorite]
I don't know for sure, but it might be that Verizon is letting the landline ring for less rings than cell phones. (I almost wrote, "normal phones"... :D )
Anyway, by enabling do not disturb, google voice will not ring *at all* when they pick up the voicemail, resulting in less rings for people calling you. Verizon might be forcing the landline to go to voicemail because it's ringing a bunch.
Have you considered calling Verizon?
posted by 47triple2 at 1:29 PM on May 16, 2010 [1 favorite]
Are your Google Voice contact groups set up properly, so that everything goes to voice mail?
Have you tried a different landline? Or a call from a number not in your contact list or from a different contact group?
posted by chengjih at 6:27 PM on May 16, 2010
Have you tried a different landline? Or a call from a number not in your contact list or from a different contact group?
posted by chengjih at 6:27 PM on May 16, 2010
Also, you probably want the more specialized forum/help at Google. Have you looked at these:
Google Voice help forum with Verizon Voicemail in the search string.
Have you posted anything there?
posted by chengjih at 6:33 PM on May 16, 2010
Google Voice help forum with Verizon Voicemail in the search string.
Have you posted anything there?
posted by chengjih at 6:33 PM on May 16, 2010
Response by poster: I think the contact groups are set up for everything to go to Google Voice. But my parents' home phone is in the same contact group as their cell numbers, so I don't think that could be it. I'm going to try a different landline when I get to my office tomorrow. Right now, I don't know if all landlines are the problem, or just theirs. The funny thing about this puzzle is realizing how few landlines are in my life anymore.
posted by .kobayashi. at 7:35 PM on May 16, 2010
posted by .kobayashi. at 7:35 PM on May 16, 2010
Response by poster: Also, I have posted in the GV help forum too. If I get an answer there, I'll share it here. And I'll give Verizon a call too, if it's not settled through the GV forums quickly.
posted by .kobayashi. at 7:36 PM on May 16, 2010
posted by .kobayashi. at 7:36 PM on May 16, 2010
Who is the Telco on your parent's landline? is it also Verizon?
posted by jrishel at 7:31 AM on May 17, 2010
posted by jrishel at 7:31 AM on May 17, 2010
Response by poster: Not sure what their telco is; will try to figure that out. Having tested from other landlines now, it seems as if my parents # is the only one with the problem.
This would indicate that it's a problem with the settings on Google Contacts. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I haven't altered these settings at all, and they were able to get through to GV until about 2 weeks ago.
I'm going to drive out and see them later this week, then experiment more while I'm there.
posted by .kobayashi. at 8:46 AM on May 18, 2010
This would indicate that it's a problem with the settings on Google Contacts. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I haven't altered these settings at all, and they were able to get through to GV until about 2 weeks ago.
I'm going to drive out and see them later this week, then experiment more while I'm there.
posted by .kobayashi. at 8:46 AM on May 18, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by 47triple2 at 11:30 AM on May 16, 2010