Hacker News Reader

Comment by ssl-3 | Hacker News Reader

I've just realized that, even though I've used Google Voice as my primary phone number since before it was Google Voice -- for about 18 years now -- I have never really had a problem with it[0], and I've also never paid a dime for it[1].

It seems like a well-oiled machine.

0: Well, some places don't like using GV for 2FA (and demand a "real" cell phone number), and some other places don't think it can do short-code messages at all, but those aren't issues that anyone at GV could ever solve even if those people did exist.

1: Yeah, sure. I'm the product. Blah blah.

View on HN

Many services won't even text 2FA codes to voip numbers, google voice included.

Some may call, most not even that.

Its more of a recent thing, but I am a little worried about how common it is becoming. I've used my GV number since atleast 2007 for everything.

My bank accounts at banks I like have never complained about my Google Voice number and still don't. My bank account at Bank of America had some security check I needed to complete at some point and my Google Voice number that had been in their system for a decade I was told was not eligible anymore and I needed to actually use my real phone number.

I could almost put up with it if it was for things that need to be secure, but my 7-11 rewards account rejected my phone number at the gas pump a few years ago and Target rewards also started blocking my GV number.

Sometimes, it's like neither loyalty nor consistency nor history actually mean anything.

"I have cheerfully been using your service in this exact same way for seventeen years."

"FUCK YOU! GET OUT!"

> I've used Google Voice as my primary phone number since before it was Google Voice

I've still got my .10 Grand Central introductory credit.

I use Google voice as my main number on my Pixel, but also on a burner phone to harass overly aggressive recruiters. When I set up Google voice in the burner it made me load it with credit but surprisingly all the calls and texts I've made with it are free.

Things are pretty stable because Google Voice has barely changed in the past decade, but when things do go wrong there's no one around to look into it.

There was a time many years ago when Google Voice would intermittently fail to ring or even forward calls to another number when I tried that, and then give no indication that a call was ever made to your number that you missed (I verified it by asking when people I knew called me and said I never got back to them), which is pretty bad when you're expecting to receive important calls sometimes. This went on for months. I received bare minimum support which didn't even come close to helping the issue even though my issue was voted to the top of the support boards because many other people were having the same issue at the time. I'm glad you personally haven't had an issue but you should be prepared to have one at some point and get essentially no help.

GV numbers are in some database as being VOIP. If there was some there that could do something, they could get the numbers out of that database.

Do these databases see through number portability, or are they just verifying that the area code + prefix is assigned to a traditional telco?

Because you can port a landline to Google Voice for $20, and, in my experience, random Internet "phone number lookup" sites still show it as a landline years later.

CNAM is the database you're looking for, maybe LIDB too. Once you port the number the CNAM should change.

The number gets classified differently in the "official" phone number database when you port it to a new carrier, including Google Voice. I used to have my US number in GV but ran into a lot of the 2FA issues as as well as trying to use it overseas extensively. Eventually, Google will figure it out to the point where it is no longer tenable to try and keep working around it. I caved and bought a $5/mo eSIM plan from Tello. They don't seem to care that I'm not in the US 10 or 11 months out of the year. I can use wifi calling to send/receive texts for 2FA for free, and iOS even supports using the data of one SIM/eSIM as the "wifi" for a different phone line also present on the device. So even if I'm out, I hop into settings, turn on the second line, it uses my EU data plan to fetch new messages via "wifi calling" and then I get my 2FA code or whatever. Takes about 30 seconds in total.

Is it the most convenient thing ever? No. I have an older iPhone because I'm a cheap bastard so I turn off the other line when I'm not using it, otherwise it will constantly look for a compatible roaming signal which it will never find because I have not authorized any international charges on that account (battery drain).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com