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Google banned me from Google Voice

dannyguo.com

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Re: Google banned me from Google Voice

#101

Post by WorldMaker »

thatsnotmepls wrote: post #86
ffsm8 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While rare, there have been cases of people losing their paid-for domains too - because a company wanted them and had a lawyer convince the registrar that it should really be theirs (obviously exaggerating), or because the registrar made an error and accidentally put it back on the market etc. These cases are super rare though, Google users getting rekt are much more frequent, that's for sure!

People forgetting to renew happens frequently too. Now what's more rare, Google banning someone for no reason or a person forgetting to renew and losing its domain?

Also forgetting to setup 2FA with the registrar, forgetting to setup whois privacy on the domain, forgetting to turn on transfer locks. Domains with their short term leases and meant-to-be-easy transfers between/among too many lowest common denominator, cost cutting providers and a technical standard/backend ripe for easy accidental dox leaks are an interesting case of almost built to cause social engineering attacks, in too many different ways.

Not that any of the alternatives to DNS have yet proven to be half as reliable, but it's still fascinating how DNS is both simultaneously our best and worst hope for identity "ownership" on the current internet.

Re: Google banned me from Google Voice

#102

Post by kirykl »

WheelsAtLarge wrote: post #99
gpspake wrote: post #58

Life pro tip (I believe that everyone should do this): - Buy a domain and set up a custom email that represents you like firstname@firstlast.com - you own this domain and email address and no company, with the exception of your registrar maybe, has any control over it or authority to take it from you. - Set up a dummy gmail/proton/whatever acct with a random address - this address will never be used or exposed public…

This is great until you lose control of your domain because you forgot to pay it or whatever. What then? Whoever owns your domain owns your email address. It's a good solution but it's got its faults too.

even buying an IPv4 block from your RIR and using one directly in your email has the same issue

Re: Google banned me from Google Voice

#103

Post by xethos »

bastard_op wrote: post #89

This is actually fairly terrifying, I have used google voice for around 15 years myself (since acquisition), and use it as my main inbound line for multiple numbers actually. After verizon screwed me too circa 2009, I treat cell phones like burners, and really only use GVoice as my main inbound. It is all my mfa, sms, professional identity number, etc, and has always been solid as such as I use it with a paid gsuite…

Oh hey, I've seen people like you. and it prompted me, several years ago, to do something similar with Voip.ms.

My "one number" was ported from a telco, and has lived at this paid service, with customer support, for over six years now. One side affect of this is, because it started out as a telco number, on't blackball it like they might other VoIP numbers.

Now all my SMS OTPs, real SMS, MMS, and transcribed voicemail all go to my email, which I consider impossibly convenient - real-time, but not dependent on a SIM card

Outgoing calls are through the built-in Android SIP client [0], and so show up as my one number (and are recorded by defualt in my single-party consent nation)

Incoming calls are forwarded to my SIM (for reliability).

All in all, it works pretty well. There was a series of outages around 2019 or so, but that's been the worst of it. And the benefits of getting SMS to my home country during international travel, and calling too, for no extra charge, is worth it to me. Though given your setup, I doubt I have to tell you about why it's so handy

[0] This was removed... I dunno, a few years ago? But I currently use a BlackBerry KeyOne that never made it past 8.1, because the battery life, repairability, and keyboard are exactly what I want.

Re: Google banned me from Google Voice

#104

Post by xethos »

wiredfool wrote: post #88
kuczmama wrote: post #10

I have been using Google voice for 10+ years, and it's always been something that concerns me. I've been worried about Google either banning me or dropping the service. Does anyone know of a good alternative, I'm happy to pay for something but the main thing is it needs to be able to work from the browser like Google voice.

I've been pondering something based on twilio or similar, but haven't found anything. Don't really need the web calling, but web sms would be useful at times. jmp.chat doesn't really fill me with confidence, but it might be an option in an emergency.

I've been using (and recommended up-thread) Voip.ms, whose services include web-based SMS as an option

Re: Google banned me from Google Voice

#105

Post by anal_reactor »

peterfisher wrote: post #33

My strategy for this class of issue is paying Google. I pay for Google Apps (now rebranded to workspace). I have so much of my life tied up into the Google Ecosystem I see no problem paying per month for their services. This also provides me a number to call when shit doesn't work.

Reminds me of how Google banned a game developer trying to port a popular title to Stadia

Re: Google banned me from Google Voice

#106

Post by anal_reactor »

jtbayly wrote: post #13

He should be more mad, in my opinion. It’s ludicrous that Google can simply kill your phone number and nobody bats an eye. It’s such a fundamental part of life at this point. At the minimum, users should get a “We are no longer willing to provide you service. You have two weeks before service will end. Please switch your number to another provider if you want to keep it.” Other than non-payment, are there other phone…

At some point people were laughing at me because I'm using Yahoo as my main email address, but honestly, I'd rather have two "super important" accounts (Yahoo mail and Android gmail) rather than just one that gets me banned from everything in case AI decides it wants to fuck up my day.

I'm wondering what can I realistically do to protect myself from Yahoo screwing me over. Not gonna lie, setting up my own email domain sounds like a chore. Entry number 9274 on the list of things that will just take one evening and marginally improve my life.

Re: Google banned me from Google Voice

#107

Post by beej71 »

I went back to using my cell number for exactly this reason. My Google Voice number still works, but I don't want to risk it getting locked out for no reason.

I have stopped using Gmail, Google One, and Google Voice.

I still use photos, contacts, and calendar, but I frequently do takeouts of all those and can handle it if they die.

It's trouble I just don't need. But I'm guessing Google doesn't notice if a few of us leave, so why should they change?

Re: Google banned me from Google Voice

#110

Post by brewtide »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #70
jtbayly wrote: post #13

He should be more mad, in my opinion. It’s ludicrous that Google can simply kill your phone number and nobody bats an eye. It’s such a fundamental part of life at this point. At the minimum, users should get a “We are no longer willing to provide you service. You have two weeks before service will end. Please switch your number to another provider if you want to keep it.” Other than non-payment, are there other phone…

> ludicrous that Google can simply kill your phone number and nobody bats an eye A free phone number. That comes from a company notorious for no customer service. It’s not at all justified behaviour. But it isn’t unexpected and it’s irritating that it will probably take other peoples’ resources, i.e. public resources, to resolve.

I wonder how this would play out for someone like me who ported in their 'real' number?

I would hope they would provide a port out at minimum since it was never "their" number to begin with?

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