My Personal Google Voice Number is not showing up on my account

Jul 24, 2023

Hi High Speed Performance, welcome to the free, consumer version of Google Voice (a telephony product) community forum!

First off, make sure you are logged into the proper Google Voice account. You'll know you are if you can see all of your call, text and voicemail history. If you are logged into the correct account and you do see all of your history, but you don't see your Google Voice number at the top of the Settings page, then it has probably expired.

Here is a link to the Google Voice Acceptable Use Policy.

The Acceptable Use Policy states:

Account inactivity

Google may reclaim your Google Voice number (if you have one) if you do not appear to be making use of the service as it was intended, such as placing calls or sending text messages, for a period of three months. We advise you to check your email for notifications regarding any such number reclamation based on account inactivity.

This means incoming calls, and incoming text messages do not count as usage.

ONLY outgoing phone calls and outgoing text messages will reset the 3 month expiration countdown.

If your number does expire, you'll have exactly 45 days to reclaim the number for yourself. After that, the number is lost for good, and there is no way to retrieve it..

Here is the official help page to Reclaim your Google Voice number.

I hope this answers your question!

Jul 26, 2023

Thank you for the information. I was receiving and answering calls on my number up until it stopped working and disappeared from my account. I don't see any email's regarding expiration of the number either. Is there any way to escalate this to see if the number can be recovered? When the number is called it just says the call cannot be completed and it does not come up as available when its searched for to add it back to the account.

Sep 25, 2023

Hi High Speed Performance,

Please reply back to this thread, with all of the information I requested in my last post.

Time is of the essence, and you'll need to reply back right away. Your number would have expired on August 18, 2023 based on your screenshot. There is a maximum of 45 days from that day to reclaim your number. You can attempt the reclaim process, but know that those 45 days are almost up.

Here is the official help page to Reclaim your Google Voice number.

If you are unable to reclaim the number, answer all of my above requests. Also post what carrier is listed when you put your number into: https://freecarrierlookup.com/

Sep 25, 2023

Hi Zanzibar,

Thank you so much for your continued support.

1. Yes, I am posting with the same account the Google Voice number is attached to.

2.The last 4 of my Google Voice number is 5656

3. 0423 Mon, May 15, 2023, 11:59 AM PST

2345 Mon, May 15, 2023, 4:20 PM PST

0880 Tue, May 16, 2023, 3:38 PM PST

2139 Thu, May 18, 2023, 12:30 PM PST

4. I give explicit permission for Google Voice engineers to examine my account.

Also, when I search on https://freecarrierlookup.com/ it says: BANDWIDTH.COM-NSR-10X/1

I believe this is google as the owner.

Thank you again!

Sep 25, 2023

Hi High Speed Performance,

You're welcome. Can you also confirm that you attempted the reclaim process, and that your number was not available? Did you ever receive an email stating that your number would expire?

I will escalate this issue right away!

Sep 25, 2023

Yes, I have tried it repeatedly to reclaim the number and I cannot find an email stating that it would expire or is expired.

Thank you.

Sep 25, 2023

Thank you for confirming.

I have escalated this issue to my contact at Google. I believe that person has already left for the day, so I don't expect to hear back until at least tomorrow. Even then, it will probably just be confirmation that it's being escalated.

Sep 25, 2023

Thank you so much again. I will eagerly await a response. Have a good evening.

Oct 10, 2023

Good afternoon, Zanzibar.

Have you heard anything back from your contact at google?

Oct 11, 2023

Hi High Speed Performance,

Last I heard was that it was being looked into. I sent a message asking for an update, and will get back to you as soon as I get one.

Oct 12, 2023

Thank you very much!

Nov 1, 2023

Hi High Speed Performance,

I have heard back from my contact at Google. Your old number is currently in a "cooling off" period. In December, you can start checking to see if it is available every day. As long as you find it available, and are able to claim it before anyone else, then you should be able to re-establish the number in your account.

Be prepared to have a personal number you can use to qualify to get the number. You may want to have a few numbers available to you, in case the first one or two don't qualify.

If you are able to get the number back, make sure you never let a 3 month period pass that you don't place at least one outgoing call, or send at least one outgoing text message. Setting up a monthly calendar reminder for yourself to take one of those actions would not be a bad idea.

I wish you the best of luck, and hope you're able to get your number back!

Nov 10, 2023

Hi Zanzibar,

Thank you so much for the update. I will be prepared to retrieve the number in December and have several numbers to verify with. Thank you again for all of your help. I'll follow up if anything else comes up.

Nov 10, 2023

Hi High Speed Performance,

Great! I hope you're able to find, and retrieve the number. I have no idea what date in December it may become available. I just hope you get it back!

Dec 8, 2023

Good afternoon, Zanzibar.

Thank you so much for all of your help and advice. I was able to recover my number today and all is well again. Have a great holiday and a happy new year.

Dec 9, 2023

Hi High Speed Performance,

That is fantastic! I'm very happy I was able to help you! It's great news that you were able to find the number available, and claim it again successfully. I would hate to lose a number after having it for so many years, as well.

Would you mind marking an answer in the thread, so it will finally be able to show as completed?