Google Voice goes US only • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Voice goes US only

#41

Post by devoutsalsa » Fri, Dec 29, 2023, 2:49 PM UTC

jeffbee wrote: post #27

I've never used Google Voice, but I do use Google Fi, and they offer unlimited calls and sms in what looks like every country on the planet. What's the advantage of Voice for the traveling caller?

I have both Google Voice and Google Fi. With Fi, it's not meant to be used perpetually outside of the USA. If you stay outside of the USA long enough, they'll disable your data connection until you return to the USA, although I believe voice & SMS continue to work.

The biggest problem I've had with Fi is that I destroed my phone while traveling, and I couldn't find a phone internationally with which I could activate Fi while traveling abroad. I could only associate the new phone w/ Fi once I returned to the USA.

I use Google Voice as my phone for nearly everything, unless it doesn't work.

Re: Google Voice goes US only

#42

Post by 1oooqooq » Fri, Dec 29, 2023, 2:50 PM UTC

Mystery-Machine wrote: post #20

prepend wrote: post #4

What’s the replacement service for google voice? I like having a proxy number that I give out and route to my “real” number. So I have an unchanging number and don’t risk revealing my actual contact info. I also like getting texts through a web/app interface. Is there a similar nice, simple, and cheap voip service that I can just drop in? (When google inevitably kills their another awesomely useful service that doesn…

I use Hushed app. It gives me a phone number that I can use for WhatsApp and to receive SMS confirmation codes from various archaic services that still validate you thorough the insecure SMS. https://hushed.com/

Could not find any country list or minute rate list anywhere on their site. Their FAQ is just a bunch of questions by users without answers.

edit: but they have a dedicated UI to sell you number from a specific neighborhoods all over the US. I'm guessing their main market is online catfishers. (not saying the service cannot be a gvoice replacement, but catfishing is clearly their market)

Re: Google Voice goes US only

#43

Post by refurb » Fri, Dec 29, 2023, 2:50 PM UTC

prepend wrote: post #4

What’s the replacement service for google voice? I like having a proxy number that I give out and route to my “real” number. So I have an unchanging number and don’t risk revealing my actual contact info. I also like getting texts through a web/app interface. Is there a similar nice, simple, and cheap voip service that I can just drop in? (When google inevitably kills their another awesomely useful service that doesn…

If you want a real US phone number (as increasingly banks are blocking VOIP numbers like Google Voice), you can get the lowest tier plan from providers like Tello or Ultra Pay Go. For $3-5/month, you get a US phone number, and ~100 texts (international) and ~100 voice minutes (international if you use Wifi calling).

You can pay for more data or voice minutes, but it's expensive and not a great deal.

eSIM is available.

But if you need a cheap US number, it can't be beat. Works great for people working overseas who need a 2FA US phone number or need to make occasional calls to US numbers (hi IRS!).

Re: Google Voice goes US only

#44

Post by gst » Fri, Dec 29, 2023, 2:50 PM UTC

nabusman wrote: post #7

prepend wrote: post #4

What’s the replacement service for google voice? I like having a proxy number that I give out and route to my “real” number. So I have an unchanging number and don’t risk revealing my actual contact info. I also like getting texts through a web/app interface. Is there a similar nice, simple, and cheap voip service that I can just drop in? (When google inevitably kills their another awesomely useful service that doesn…

I used to use Skype for this when I was traveling outside the US. I also imagine you can set up something simple with Twilio as well, IIRC they have a no-code configuration tool for this kind of thing (simple forwarding, text to email, etc.)

Main downside of Skype is that you afaik can't port a number into it. Otherwise it would be a great alternative to Google Voice.

Re: Google Voice goes US only

#45

Post by cj » Fri, Dec 29, 2023, 2:51 PM UTC

1oooqooq wrote: post #29

zamadatix wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple of years after Google Voice split out from Hangouts and, while there were plenty of VOIP options, they all sucked for use as a personal number (even Google Voice kind of did to be honest). The latencies for ringing, not being accepted at ever more places, the weird connection quality and delay issues, one way audio issues, and so on were just so rampant compared to a "traditional" (now also really just data,…

google didn't split from hangouts. It got merged into hangouts (and both apps existed) because some PM bonus was tied to hangout active users or something. Same reason you automatically logged into a gmail-plugin-hangouts client when you opened gmail by default. They just undid that shenanigans after the PM got his bonus. Maybe by then their bonus was tied to simplifying the tech stack :) edit: > If privacy/secrecy v…

(Bracing for the downvotes) As an end user, looks like the bonuses resulted in a pretty good UX.

I love having Mail, Meet, Voice, and Chat in a single web app. (The Gmail app now also has Meet and Chat all-in-one, but Voice has its own app)

I can definitely see how merging the services would boost MAU/DAU, but in this case it seems like increasing DAU means you’re making it easier for users to access + use the service, which is a win win.

Re: Google Voice goes US only

#46

Post by koselig » Fri, Dec 29, 2023, 2:51 PM UTC

prepend wrote: post #4

What’s the replacement service for google voice? I like having a proxy number that I give out and route to my “real” number. So I have an unchanging number and don’t risk revealing my actual contact info. I also like getting texts through a web/app interface. Is there a similar nice, simple, and cheap voip service that I can just drop in? (When google inevitably kills their another awesomely useful service that doesn…

https://jmp.chat/ has been great for me, uses bandwidth behind the scenes and wraps the experience in a nice XMPP UX.

Calls and texts work, only issues I've run into are the usual some services don't accept VOIP numbers, and group texts > 10 people I can receive but not send messages (bandwidth provider limitation AFAIK).

Bonus is that their stack is all open source and since it's XMPP you can use whatever clients or server you want, or stick to their Cheogram app + a hosted server included through https://snikket.org/hosting/

Re: Google Voice goes US only

#47

Post by gst » Fri, Dec 29, 2023, 2:54 PM UTC

iamEAP wrote: post #37

devoutsalsa wrote: post #28

I've been using Google Voice while living outside the USA for 4+ years. I've never been able to make calls to the USA when using a foreign SIM. On my phone, I've only been using it for SMS, and I make the occasional call from the website.

I’m in the same situation. Calling and receiving calls worked for a year or so via the app, but at some point this year, it asked me to verify that my (former) US number was still valid (which I obviously couldn’t do). Probably what OP is referring to. Guessing I’ll have to find another alternative soon.

Did you have the number configured as forwarding number? At some point I got asked to verify an old forwarding number, but I just deleted it and Google Voice continued to work fine (I mostly use it in VoIP mode instead of forwarding calls).

Re: Google Voice goes US only

#48

Post by singpolyma3 » Fri, Dec 29, 2023, 2:54 PM UTC

prepend wrote: post #4

What’s the replacement service for google voice? I like having a proxy number that I give out and route to my “real” number. So I have an unchanging number and don’t risk revealing my actual contact info. I also like getting texts through a web/app interface. Is there a similar nice, simple, and cheap voip service that I can just drop in? (When google inevitably kills their another awesomely useful service that doesn…

Several options: jmp.chat, voip.ms, mysudo, etc

Re: Google Voice goes US only

#49

Post by AlchemistCamp » Fri, Dec 29, 2023, 2:54 PM UTC

jeffbee wrote: post #27

I've never used Google Voice, but I do use Google Fi, and they offer unlimited calls and sms in what looks like every country on the planet. What's the advantage of Voice for the traveling caller?

Does Google Fi work for 2FA? I’ve been using Google Voice for more than a decade, have lived in half a dozen countries during that time and never once lost my primary phone number.

Especially if you’re a digital nomad, relying on a phone number tied to a specific country and SIM card as a verification mechanism is a problem. Even if you’re not a DN, Google Voice is a much more secure 2FA than a phone that could get sim hijacked.

Re: Google Voice goes US only

#50

Post by 1oooqooq » Fri, Dec 29, 2023, 2:55 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #22

What do you mean by "randomly"? Like it asks you to re-validate it every week or month or something? I haven't encountered this at all. Honestly it sounds like a bug (try deleting and reinstalling the app for starters), or it's flagging your specific number as high risk for some reason. I share your frustration but there really needs to be more evidence that it's either a widespread problem or an intentional policy c…

I mean exactly that. If you have a phone number associated to your account and gvoice, they will ask you to re-validate it via SMS at random. If you don't have a US number (as I just tried to switch to one number I can access) they will just display that it must be a US number.

You might just have a US number and not yet be flagged to revalidation. Or maybe going overseas flags you for revalidation (great timing!)

...anyway. Good luck waiting for Google-I'm-altering-the-deal.-Pray-I-do-not-alter-it-any-further to be upfront about their changes.