1. You'd have to a.) forward GV calls to the Charter number. It would look like any other incoming call to that number, and if you paid for the service, Charter (or whoever, this applies to any provider) would look up the CNAM that goes with the Caller ID, and send both to your line. So you'll have pay the fee. A clear example of where VoIP is less expensive than wired hard-wired ILECs.
2. No, mine are working as expected, through yesterday. Suggestion, try with a different email address, check hotmail spam's folders, set the GV email address as trusted sender in hotmail.