Using Google Voice To Reduce Your Smartphone Bill
Smartphone agreements are complicated when voice service is in question. You can go overboard plus have a thousand or further extra minutes that won't be necessary to use every month, or minimize your usage and track your minutes at every end of each billing phase to ensure you don't surpass the cap. But if you have a Google Voice app on your Android smartphone, you can cut your voice usage considerably by steering calls through your smartphone's 4G or 3G connection-or, if you can rely on Wi-Fi connections only, you may well eliminate your cell service completely.
What's Google Voice?
Google Voice service has been around since March 2009. It uses Voice over IP, a communications protocol that drives voice and multimedia communications via the Internet. Which means your voice is communicated out over your Internet connection as an alternative over the normal voice network. Generally, your Internet connectivity should handle a minimum of 80Kps both ways to receive high-quality voice signal and with low latency. Fairly much any cable, mobile broadband, or DSL connection nowadays can take care of that.
Google Voice is applicable with any Android phone and accessible by just installing the app, however in that scheme, it will mean you'll still have to use your cellular minutes. So as to receive the calls using your mobile broadband or Wi-Fi connection, and you'll also require another app, Groove IP, to direct calls from landline to your Google's number, which evades the cellular network completely.
How to set up Google Voice
The first step is to sign up for the service. But for Google account holders, open voice.google.com and proceed.
Non-Google account holders will need to create one. Once an account has been created and the necessary required information filled, click to request a new number. Pick the area code and then look for the number you would like. Once a number is chosen, you will be prompted for a PIN to use for authentication purposes.
Subsequently, click the cog at the top right under the Google Voice page and see the options. Go to the Settings and add your landline's phone number by clicking Add a new phone (not your cell number!). You'll receive a call from Google to verify if the number is valid.
After your account is set up; the next step is to access the Android Market to download the Voice app, if you don't have the app already. Setting up is simple: Log in, confirm the similar forwarding number that you previously set up on the Web, and verify 'Use Voice' for all calls (tap the menu button on your smartphone and head to Settings in app, and subsequently into Making Calls). The app can also be set to take care of all your voicemails.
Take into account that sometimes you could run into circumstances where your Internet connection isn't enough to make the call. In such instances, just have your Wi-Fi connection turned off, and Google Voice will prompt you if you'd prefer calling over your normal network instead.
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