Porting Landline to Mobile to Google Voice

Hello John Williams 6550, thanks for your question and welcome to the free consumer version Google Voice forum.

so I'll have to go through a mobile carrier and port there first and then onward to Google Voice...is it possible to forward calls to her landline at the assisted living facility?

Short answer, yes. Google Voice only accepts porting in from cell providers so you'd have to first port her home number to a cell carrier. Then you can forward Google Voice calls to her assisted living telephone number if her assisted living telephone number is direct dial (meaning there is no extension number that needs to be dialed to ring a telephone in her room).

✦ It does not matter whose name the assisted living facility telephone is, it only matters that the telephone must be a direct dial to your mother's room.

You will pay Google $20 to port an eligible cell phone number to Google Voice but there is no other cost, month to month, for Google numbers.

Google only charges you if you call International telephone numbers, and most calls to US telephones are free, except for a few "free service" numbers such as "free conference call lines" and similar numbers (Google charges you 1¢/minute for these calls because they cleverly include hidden termination charges to the incoming carrier).

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Now for some details to consider to see if the above general "yes" answer applies to your situation.

✦ Not all cell numbers are eligible to be Google Voice telephone numbers. Before you go to the trouble and expense of porting a home landline to a cell carrier and possibly discovering that the resulting cell number can not be ported to Google Voice, following I explain how to test your mother's landline number before you port it to a cell carrier to see if it would be eligible to be a Google Voice number. 

Before you attempt to port a landline to a cell carrier, check the eligibility of your home number with a Google Voice eligibility tool to see if it can be ported into Google Voice after it is ported to a cell carrier. The tool is linked, here and below.

The porting eligibility tool can give you a meaningful response even though you already know you can't port a landline phone number to Google Voice.

If you check the eligibility of your landline number before it is ported to a cell carrier, you may get either of the two following error messages. One of them is "good" in that it most likely indicates that your number will be eligible to be ported after you first port it to a cell carrier.

👍 If the tool tells you: "This number appears to be from a carrier we don't support" then congratulations, this is actually good news. You already know that a landline number is not eligible to be ported to Google Voice but this message means that your landline number most likely will be eligible to port to GV after your port it to a cell carrier.

👎 If the tool tells you "This number is from an area we don't support" then I'm sorry, your number will not be eligible to port to Google Voice and there is nothing you can do to make it eligible. The technical meaning is that the carrier that hosts Google Voice phone numbers does not have a presence in the telephone exchange represented by your phone's area code and exchange (the first seven digits: 123 456-7xxx), therefore, Google Voice has no way to host that telephone number as a Google number.

Google Voice: porting eligibility tool

"Ooops! We currently don't support porting from your carrier. We apologize and are working on adding support for more carriers."

Thank you!

@Receive Reiki

In the past the answer would have been "yes" but now, it is not necessary to have a real telephone associated with your Google Voice account after you use a "real" telephone required to verify a new Google number.

The porting process cancels your telephone and its carrier line, it is not necessary for you to cancel. If you were to cancel you'd interfere with the porting process and risk losing your number.

Should I use my own mobile carrier OR sign up for a pre-paid carrier? And if so, which carrier is the best? And then what do I do? Do I have to use an unlocked phone? And how do I know if my phone is unlocked?

Hello Win MitcheII.

We recommend using one of the "big four" mobile carriers (AT&T Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon Wireless) because they have the expertise to get the porting done quickly and efficiently, especially if your need to port is time sensitive due to moving residence, changing jobs, etc.

If you've had good experience with your current carrier and porting you could use them, but if they're not one of the "big four" then there is a possibility of delay if the port doesn't go through the first time due to any one of numerous errors.

Yes, you would have to use an unlocked phone. Call your carrier to ask if it is locked or not.

📚 Google Voice: port your mobile number to Google Voice

Hello John,

If I port my VOIP number (usable according to the tool you provided) to my mobile carrier and then to Google Voice and I find there are technical issues or the setup just doesn't suit me, is the process reversible - either entirely or in part?

Also, I have let my cell service lapse and am presently relying on my VOIP and Google Voice numbers.  Will this hinder the process at all?  I don't believe there is any balance to reconcile, as it is a no-contract, month to month plan. And I have not yet lost the number - they have assured me this would not happen for another couple of months).

Thanks so much for your valuable help,

Glenn

 

Glenn S. said ..."I have let my cell service lapse "..."Will this hinder the process at all?"...

 

Yes, you will not be able to port that number to any provider until you get the number back in service. 

@GIenn S.

Yes, if you are not happy with GoogIe Voice after porting your VolP number to GoogIe, you are free to port your newIy created (former VolP) GoogIe number back to any carrier that wiII accept it.

Red Leatherman didn't pay close attention to what you wrote.

Porting your VolP number to a ceII carrier is independent of your other current ceII phone that you aIlowed to Iapse, so no, letting your other current celI plan lapse wiII not affect the porting of your VolP number to a different celI plan/carrier. They are two different Iines, two different teIephone numbers, and probabIy two different carriers.