

Google Voice Runs Natively On The iPhone via Sprint. - brackin
http://uncrunched.com/2011/10/21/finally-google-voice-natively-on-the-iphone-via-sprint/

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Shenglong
For all you Canadians who want a Google Voice number:

1\. Use a US proxy, or get a friend to sign you up for Google Voice. Once set
up, you can access the account even in Canada.

2\. Sign up for <http://www.freephoneline.ca/> and get a _403_ area code. It's
free. They might call you once or twice though :(

3\. Set your Google Voice number to forward to your 403 number. Set your 403
number to forward to your regular Canadian number.

4\. If you have trouble dialing out with your Google Voice number, enable
Click2Call.

I'm actually not sure _why_ 403 works. Sadly, the Google Voice app for iPhone
is terribly constructed; there are more bugs than you'll be able to count.

~~~
afterburner
Lot of oil business Americans in Calgary so they wanted to make an exception
for their plans? I dunno, that's my conspiracy theory...

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raldi
I don't understand this part:

 _"Google doesn’t need Apple’s permission to take over the address book and
call log. They’ve moved down the stack to control the device’s actual phone
number."_

How does controlling the device's actual phone number obviate the need to take
over the address book and call log?

~~~
gks
I suppose via ActiveSync contact syncing that Google Voice contacts show up in
your iPhone Contacts database. Which has been doable for quite some time now.
But previously, to call one of those numbers via Google Voice you had to call
it via the web, the iPhone app, or dial a special Google number first. At
least to make it appear as though the number calling you is your Google Voice
number.

Now with Sprint, since they effectively make your GV number your phone number,
you can call contacts from your iPhone Contacts and without any mumbo jumbo in
between appear as though your GV number is the one calling. Because it is.

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timjahn
Timely article, as I recently switched to Sprint with an iPhone (last Sunday
actually, after 4 hellish years with AT&T) and a few days ago realized what
Arrington did - I could get full Google Voice without a new number!

So far, it's been working well. I mainly just use Google Voice for the
voicemail transcriptions (which actually, are insanely useless - they more or
less provide a general vague idea of what the person is calling about).

One bug I noticed last night was my wife texted me but it got caught in Google
Voice, as I guess I didn't have SMS forwarding turned on. We'll see if
toggling that fixes it.

~~~
paul9290
I would be interested in hearing if you received the text and where your
received it on your iPhone. Did you receive it within the iMessage app or only
through the mail app?

Prior to having iPhone and Sprint, I had iPhone and ATT. I used ATT # for
voice and Google Voice for text. I loved & am missing being able to reply to
my texts thru Gmail. I didn't do the same set up with Sprint because I want to
continue to use Siri for texting and I'm pretty sure she only uses iMessage?

~~~
timjahn
As an update, I disabled the Google Voice Sprint full integration because it
was eating my texts (Google Voice would catch them but never forward them on
to my phone, despite that option being enabled), as well as not notifying me
of missed calls.

Now I'm trying to go back to Google Voice Lite (to have just voicemail
transcriptions emailed to me) and it appears there's no way to do that.

I might have to drop Google Voice altogether it seems.

~~~
paul9290
Thanks for the information.

I don't see how Google Voice can work with an iPhone? At least not as well as
it does with an Android device and or forgo using iMessage - use iPhone email
client to send/receive text messages. Though if you forgo using iMessage then
Siri won't be able to send text messages for you.

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stumm
There are a few gotchyas with this setup from my friend's experience when he
used a windows phone and google voice via sprint:

1\. Reading an sms on the phone doesn't mark it read on google voice and vice
versa (it's like having pop email)

2\. If your phone is off and you get a call the phone won't let you know you
missed a call like the google voice app would. This is important in NYC where
you're often in the subway and want to know if you missed any calls.

There might have been other issues but these were the two that I remembered
off the top of my head.

~~~
res0nat0r
I used Google Voice with my Sprint HTC Evo for a while, the integration with
the Voice webpage was nice, but SMS's seemed to rely on having an actual data
connection for them to come through. If I was in an area with spotty data
coverage my SMS's seem to get lost or not come in in a timely manner at all. I
switched it off the other month because of this.

~~~
TREYisRAD
In the GV app settings, select "Receive notifications also in the messaging
app". If you compose or reply to an SMS through the GV app, it will require
data, since I presume it sends it over the internet, but if you send via the
default messaging app, it goes through Sprint like a regular SMS.

I just ignore the native GV app altogether (and disable notifications for it).
Texting works exactly as you expect it would, but everything is also stored on
voice.google.com. Using GrowlVoice on my Mac is a dream for texting.

------
spoon16
Do MMS messages get properly delivered to your iPhone if you are using GV and
Sprint? I know that GV does not normally support MMS messages.

~~~
dvdhsu
If sent from a Sprint phone, yes.

[http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-steps-
towa...](http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-steps-towards-mms-
support.html)

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jianshen
What about international calls?

Does the Sprint iPhone4s natively support using google voice when dialing an
international number from the regular phone app or do I have to launch the GV
app and get a proxy number?

~~~
jamesfrank
You should be able to just dial directly from the phone app. I haven't tried
this on my phone, but based on the way it works and the way Google describes
the integration, you should be able to do it.

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brackin
I suppose there's nothing Apple can do about this in all honesty, not sure if
they would. But after Google Voice not being allowed in the app store for so
long it is something that apple may not like.

~~~
jamesfrank
As I recall, their issue with the GV app was that it "duplicated features"
like the phonebook and dialer. Whether you believe that was their real reason
or not, the Sprint integration doesn't duplicate anything - everything can be
done using the native phone functions.

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encoderer
I have an android on Sprint and I love their Google Voice integration. I'm
sure all phones will work like this some day. These features are just too
useful.

