Can I use GV voicemail with my Call Centric number?

[ccbrianf]

I have the following, fairly simple, situation:
1) My long time known number is now a Call Centric DID
2) I recently signed up for a GV number as well, which forwards to the Call Centric DID
Both are configured on my Obi 200, such that everything incoming comes through Call Centric (GV doesn't ring chat), but outgoing calls use GV.

I'd like for people who call in on my well known Call Centric number to get GV voice mail if I can't answer or if it's busy.  I can certainly set up a call treatment to forward to my GV number if unanswered or busy, but that would seem to create a call loop and also extend the ring time past reasonable.  Is there a way to use conditional call forwarding and get GV to immediately direct this to voice mail?  I would set a GV rule to do this for any incoming call from my Call Centric number, but I think the call may appear to be from the actual caller instead?  Any suggestions would be most welcome.  Thanks.

[Robnelson2]

I think you can create a rule in the google voice page that calls forwarded from your DID go directly to voicemail (i think you can base this on caller-id).  otherwise, just setup another google voice account and set it up for DO NOT DISTURB and it will go directly to voicemail.

[SteveInWA]

I have the following, fairly simple, situation:
1) My long time known number is now a Call Centric DID
2) I recently signed up for a GV number as well, which forwards to the Call Centric DID
Both are configured on my Obi 200, such that everything incoming comes through Call Centric (GV doesn't ring chat), but outgoing calls use GV.

I'd like for people who call in on my well known Call Centric number to get GV voice mail if I can't answer or if it's busy.  I can certainly set up a call treatment to forward to my GV number if unanswered or busy, but that would seem to create a call loop and also extend the ring time past reasonable.  Is there a way to use conditional call forwarding and get GV to immediately direct this to voice mail?  I would set a GV rule to do this for any incoming call from my Call Centric number, but I think the call may appear to be from the actual caller instead?  Any suggestions would be most welcome.  Thanks.

Ideally, Google Voice is designed to host your "well-known" number, that single-point-of-contact phone number that can then call your other phone number(s).  So, the best match to your requirement would be to port your current Callcentric DID over to Google Voice, and then set up Google Voice to forward that number to either Google Chat on your OBi, or to some other Callcentric DID (such as one of their free NY State DIDs).  This would make use of Google's voicemail system, plus allow you to optionally forward to any of up to six other phone numbers (OBi-attached, and cell phone, for example).

You can probably make your opposite scenario work.  Google Voice is smart enough to understand that a forwarded call coming in via one of its listed forwarding phone numbers should go to voicemail, and not be a calling loop.  Callcentric doesn't have a single command or setting for conditional call forwarding, which is what's needed to forward busy/unanswered calls back to GV VM. 

So, without trying out myself, I believe you would need to create two separate Callcentric call treatments, which are processed in top-to-bottom order, similar to how firewalls process their rules.

If not already set up, add and verify your CC DID as one of your Google Voice forwarding numbers.  Then, configure call treatments:

The first call treatment would be:  "If this DID is on a call, then forward calls to my Google Voice number".  The second call treatment would be:  "Ring my extension(s) for 25 seconds and then send to my Google Voice number."

If you want to give it a try, and let us know, that would be great.

[ccbrianf]

Thanks SteveInWA,

I tried your suggestion, and while I think it works, it does seem to have a long ring delay after being forwarded (about 4 more rings) instead of going directly to voice mail.  8 rings is a bit long for most people to wait to leave a message.  If you can think of any way to improve that, or if I might have done something wrong to have caused it, please let me know.  Thank you again. 

[SteveInWA]

That's the best you can do.  The non-technology fix is to "train" your callers to reach you on your Google Voice number instead of on your CC number.

[ccbrianf]

Well, good new and bad news:

I got it down to answering in 6 rings which seems acceptable by changing my Callcentric call treatments from call hunting to simul ring.  However, GV does seem to be forwarding the call back to Callcentric.  It seem Callcentric is smart enough to break the loop and send what would then forward back again to GV to an error.

Does anyone know if I get charged for outgoing minutes from Callcentric to GV if GV voicemail doesn't pick up since this is now simultaneous rather than hunting which doesn't even make the call unless I don't pick up?

Thanks for your help with an odd request.  I just feel a bit unethical transferring a number I just moved to Callcentric through some third party cell provider and on to GV.  Doesn't it actually cost these providers to do the transfer?

[SteveInWA]

Yes, you'd be charged for any answered call, forwarded or otherwise.

Yes, porting numbers does cost the service providers money.  Some providers (e.g. Google Voice) charge a fee to recoup the cost. Other providers eat the cost and hope to recoup it as an inducement to acquire a paying customer.

[ccbrianf]

I was asking about the unanswered forwarded calls to GV when I do pick up on Callcentric, but thanks.

One more piece of possibly relevant information for anyone who tries to reproduce this:  I told GV my Callcentric number was mobile and enabled voicemail in GV settings.  Not sure if that was required, but it seemed like my best bet to make this work.  I was hoping that would enable immediate pickup (compatible with Callcentric call hunting to send to GV VM), but it didn't do what I expected with a delayed pick up instead.

[SteveInWA]

The setting in Google Voice that identifies a phone as "mobile" vs. "home" or "work" only controls text message forwarding.  Type = mobile will forward text messages.  Type = home or work won't.

[ccbrianf]

I've got text set to go via Hangouts anyway, so that's not a problem, but the option to use GV VM doesn't appear for Home, only for Mobile.  If you are telling me that this really doesn't do anything but put up a dialog about how to enable conditional call forwarding for a particular carrier and doesn't change any actual settings, I guess I could buy that.  It certainly looks like it does something though because it toggles the displayed text and shows the conditional forwarding disable codes going the other way.

Thank you for being so helpful to so many people on so many forums!

[SteveInWA]

Yes, you're right -- the only way you will see the instructions on conditional call forwarding is if the phone type is set to mobile.  This doesn't actually do anything at all on the Google side; it merely displays the instructions for you to enter into your phone's keypad.  It doesn't offer those instructions for land lines because CCF is rarely used by land line customers.