Google Voice Porting — Numbers No, But Voicemail Yes!

I’ve said before how much I’d like to port my primary mobile phone number to Google Voice. Ninety-five percent of my contacts over the past 10 years have that number, so it’s part of my identity at this point. I tried to change that when I got the custom Google Voice number of 262-KCTOFEL, but it’s taking time to catch on in people’s address books. ;) Well, you still can’t port a number to Google Voice yet — that’s still in the works — but you can “port” your mobile phone’s voicemail over to Google Voice.

The new feature works with the following carriers at this time: Alltel, AT&T, Cricket Wireless, MetroPCS, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon Wireless. Essentially, you’re providing the Google Voice transcription and notification system access to your voicemail on your existing mobile number. With this option, I have all of my bases covered. Calls to my personalized Google Voice number are obviously handled already by Google’s voicemail. And missed calls directly to my Palm Pre or iPhone 3GS will also get transcribed and recorded. It’s a win-win for me because I don’t have to worry about three different voicemail accounts. On the other hand, Barb doesn’t want to change her number. Using this new option, she can use Google Voice in a limited fashion with her non-Google number.

Google also has a nice chart of the differences between using Google Voice with or without a Google phone number, plus additional information right here.

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