GVoice suspended in error: no Takeout, portout, incoming text forwarding blocked
google.com
google.com
They restored access after about 4 hours, but during that window:
- Google Voice disappeared from Takeout, so I could not access my historical data
- I had no option to port my number to another provider
- Incoming text forwarding was disabled, which locked me out of financial, municipal, health, and payroll apps.
When I called some of those providers to update my phone number, they wanted to authenticate me with a one-time code sent to the suspended Google Voice number! They would not accept an email link and the only options were to either visit them in person or by certified letter.
I have been using this number since GrandCentral, before it migrated to Google Voice, and had never had an issue until yesterday.
The suspension was eventually reversed once the error was discovered, but it exposed a serious planning and design failure in Voice. Even if Google believes it needs to block outgoing activity during an abuse investigation, incoming texts should remain available. Removing Takeout access and preventing port-out during a mistaken suspension seems hard to justify.
This doesn't seem to be a one off - I stumbled across https://www.reddit.com/r/Googlevoice/ and found that this has been an ongoing issue - I hope atleast one person here can affect some positive changes.
I'm also lucky I wasn't in middle of an emergency myself requiring phone calls during that time - that could have had far more disastrous consequences.