

Port your existing mobile number to Google Voice - abraham
http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/port-your-existing-mobile-number-to.html

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stevefink
While the idea sounds fantastic - the one major hesitation I have is how
difficult will it be to get customer support from Google? I've been waiting
for this feature for quite sometime, but now I'm seriously reconsidering.
Despite the gripes anyone might have with their existing wireless carrier's
customer service.. you can get someone on the other end of phone 100% of the
time to help you resolve problems. Let's face it, your mobile number these
days is probably significantly more involved in your day to day life than your
landline (if you even still have one of those). I think twice before placing
my mobile number on any provider.

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billybob
I agree very much. I _really_ like the features of Google Voice, especially
the call screening. And I _hate_ the way AT&T doesn't let me set up spam
filters for text messages, happily charging me for crap I don't want. So I'd
love to have the power of GV to block those before they ever hit my mobile
number.

But Google does a sorry job of personalized customer service, and yes, for a
phone, I want that.

I'm basically a Google fanboy, and my wife accuses me of thinking everything
they do is perfect. And even I see this as a problem.

I think Google will have to get more serious about customer service to become
a major, primary provider of phone numbers.

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danielle17
I blogged awhile back about porting your mobile, land line, or Google Voice
number into Twilio for free and hang onto it for just $1/month. You can also
make it so your landline numbers can send/receive SMS once they're ported

[http://blog.twilio.com/2010/08/how-to-port-
your-212-landline...](http://blog.twilio.com/2010/08/how-to-port-
your-212-landline-to-twilio-forward-to-your-mobile-phone.html)

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nomurrcy
Please be warned. I've been a longtime google voice user and for the past few
months text messages from AT&T senders have been dropping silently at a very
high rate. This is a very bad problem as the sender thinks you have received
the message.

I've written to google about 10 times about this over the past couple of
months and have gotten no reply and the problem continues to occur. Searches
of their help site indicate that this is a medium-spread problem. Caveat
Emptor.

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xtacy
What does "After porting your number to Google Voice your mobile service plan
will be cancelled.." mean? I am on AT&T; does this mean I am no more a part of
AT&T?

~~~
billybob
It works like this: 1) You port your number to GV. That has the effect of
cancelling your carrier plan - you're no longer their customer. (Same as if
you ported from Carrier A to Carrier B.) You may have to pay early termination
fees. 2) You then start over with your carrier (or a new one) - say "please
give me service with a brand new number. Oh look, I already have a phone." 3)
Once your cell phone has a number, you put that into GV as a forwarding
number.

Now the number that everyone already knows is your GV number, and you can keep
your mobile number a secret if you like.

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smikolay
I just finished the process of moving my number over. I had some issues
calling the ported number from Skype, and as has been mentioned, there is no
support from google. More on my experience here:

[http://www.mikolayczyk.com/2011/01/successfully-ported-
numbe...](http://www.mikolayczyk.com/2011/01/successfully-ported-number-to-
google.html)

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nutmeg
The post and FAQ only mentions mobile numbers. Any idea if this is available
for land lines as well?

~~~
CRASCH
That is strange. I worked on the NPAC (Number Portability Administration
Center) software. I also worked on WLNP. There isn't a technical reason why
this won't work. Full number portability is supported in the US and Canada.
Wireless porting simplified the process and eased the requirements to port
numbers. My best guess is that, they would be able to port land lines in the
not too distant future, once they meet the requirements for land line porting.

