How to Use Google Voice for Visual Voicemail

As I discovered from this forum, Verizon doesn't support visual voicemail on the K1. This would have been a dealbreaker for me (as in, I would have switched from Verizon to AT&T for the K1), but Google Voice provides an excellent and free alternative.

Since I haven't seen instructions on how to set up Google Voice on this forum, I thought it might be useful to others to post what I found out.

One set of instructions are here, but it's a simple process.

To use Google Voice as your visual voicemail (including speech-to-text) on your K1 (or any other phone):

1. Get a Google Voice number.
2. Go to the Google Voice legacy settings page:
   
   Menu (the three horizontal bars in the upper left corner of the window) --> Legacy Google Voice (not Settings) --> Settings --> Settings (yes, twice) --> Phones
   
   I have no idea why they bury this so deeply, but this is only annoying part of the setup.
   
3. Enter your mobile phone number and click on Activate.
4. Set up conditional call forwarding from your phone, by pressing *71 followed by your Google Voice number.

Your phone will ring normally and you can answer calls normally. If you don't answer, the call will be forwarded to Google Voice. You can customize your greeting message. You will automatically receive a text and/or email notifications whenever you receive a voicemail message.

Then go to the Google Voicemail page to see and manage all of your messages.

Originally Posted by RoninX

Since I haven't seen instructions on how to set up Google Voice on this forum, I thought it might be useful to others to post what I found out.

Thanks for sharing. I'm sure that it will help folks on Verizon and other carriers.

It does, but one would still have t o go to the Google Voicemail page to view the messages. The beauty of Verizon's VVM was that you could see the messages on your phone without having to go through extra hops. I really wish they would resolve this, but having been dealing with VZW and their superiority complex for so long, I don't hold out much hope.

Either way, thanks for the tip.

Ok so I went ahead and set it up anyway :)

Quick question - do you need to keep the Android App of Google Voice open all the time to see the VVM?

Also, what is this credit $ balance I am seeing??

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by zephyr613

It does, but one would still have t o go to the Google Voicemail page to view the messages. The beauty of Verizon's VVM was that you could see the messages on your phone without having to go through extra hops. I really wish they would resolve this, but having been dealing with VZW and their superiority complex for so long, I don't hold out much hope.

Either way, thanks for the tip.

Ok so I went ahead and set it up anyway :)

Quick question - do you need to keep the Android App of Google Voice open all the time to see the VVM?

Also, what is this credit $ balance I am seeing??

Thanks again!

No, you do not need to keep it open the push notifications will work.

The credit balance is for if you use Google Voice to make calls. There is cost for some calls.

Also, I would recommend also doing:

#1 *71 + your GV number
#2 *90 + your GV number
#3 *92 + your GV number

The reason is 1 is for when there is no answer, one is for when busy, and one is for when on a call. Otherwise some calls will not go to voicemail

Originally Posted by cliberti

No, you do not need to keep it open the push notifications will work.

The credit balance is for if you use Google Voice to make calls. There is cost for some calls.

Also, I would recommend also doing:

#1 *71 + your GV number
#2 *90 + your GV number
#3 *92 + your GV number

The reason is 1 is for when there is no answer, one is for when busy, and one is for when on a call. Otherwise some calls will not go to voicemail

Thanks for the info about *90 and *92.

As cliberti mentioned, you don't need to use the Google Voice app to access your messages. You can use it, but you can also just go the web page. You don't even need to have the app installed, though it's a convenient shortcut.

You will need to keep the app open in the background if you want notifications if you received the June security update which stops notifications. Google VVM can be set up to send to you via text and/or email so you will not need to go to the app/webpage to read it or listen to them.