Second number on GV?

[ArmoredDragon]

I've been using my Obi100 with GV for an outgoing fax line for about a year now, works great too. However I'd like to be able to receive incoming faxes now as well.

Trouble is, I only have one phone number on my google voice account, and I need it to be able to receive my voicemails, so I'm thinking if I set incoming calls to work, I would probably break that.

If this is correct, then is it possible for me to get a second number on my google voice account and have the obi send and receive calls from that, while still using my first GV number for my voicemail as usual? Or is it necessary for me to create a new google account and get a new phone number? And if the later must be done, what is the cheapest way of doing so?

(I'm currently thinking along the lines of buying a 99 cent prepaid tmobile SIM if necessary, and only having it just long enough to create a google account so I can get a google number - though when that prepaid account runs out of money and that number goes away, will google kill off my account?)

[Rick]

You don't need a mobile phone if you aren't porting your number...

I don't understand your problem.  Receive faxes on your number as is.  What's the issue.  If you're receiving a fax and someone calls, GV will take a message.  No problemo.

[ArmoredDragon]

You don't need a mobile phone if you aren't porting your number...

I don't understand your problem.  Receive faxes on your number as is.  What's the issue.  If you're receiving a fax and someone calls, GV will take a message.  No problemo.

Doesn't GV work by having the carrier forward your call to your google number if there's no answer? If so, doesn't that send the missed call to my fax instead of going into my voicemail?

[Shale]

You should either get a second OBi100 to hook up to your fax machine, or get an OBi202 if you want a single box to handle both the fax machine and a separate phone.

Regarding getting a second GV number, you might need to have an additional phone number to get your second GV account with number free. It is not the case that GV will forward calls to that phone unless you set up GV to do that.


Maybe a friend or relative who is not planning to get GV would let you use their number for the verification call.

[ArmoredDragon]

You should either get a second OBi100 to hook up to your fax machine, or get an OBi202 if you want a single box to handle both the fax machine and a separate phone.

Oh nothing like that, I just have my cell phone and then my fax line. I want it to where incoming calls directly to my GV number go to the fax, but meanwhile my google voice mail still works as it currently does (i.e. when somebody calls my main cell number and I don't answer, they get forwarded to my google voice mail box and not my fax.)

Is this already the way it works anyways? I haven't tried it, I was under the assumption that if you set obi to be able to receive the incoming calls then your voicemail would stop working, and I didn't want to risk missing any voice messages.

[Rick]

If they are calling your cell and not your GV number, setup GV as the VM for your cell.

[ArmoredDragon]

If they are calling your cell and not your GV number, setup GV as the VM for your cell.

How do you do that? I just set the calls direct to the GV number to go to google chat, as per the directions for incoming calls. However I just tested and when somebody calls the cell number and there is no pickup, it goes to the fax rather than the voicemail.

[Rick]

https://support.google.com/voice/?hl=en#topic=1708439

[ArmoredDragon]

https://support.google.com/voice/?hl=en#topic=1708439

Not sure what it is you're linking to there as that URL goes to a category of options rather than a description.

Anyways it seems I'm only able to either get the missed call to forward to the obi or forward to the voicemail when they call the cell number. Playing with all of the forwarding options on the GV page doesn't seem to give you the option of making missed calls go to voicemail, whereas direct calls forward to google chat (and thus the obi with connected fax.)

If I can't do it the way I'm doing it, then is there another way?

[azrobert]

Get a 2nd GV account and phone number for your inbound fax.
Buy the $.99 sim card for the verification call.
I don't think Google has anyway to detect that your sim card expired.
Define the 2nd GV account on your OBi100 SP2.

[ArmoredDragon]

Get a 2nd GV account and phone number for your inbound fax.
Buy the $.99 sim card for the verification call.
I don't think Google has anyway to detect that your sim card expired.
Define the 2nd GV account on your OBi100 SP2.

Cool, thanks!

[sic0048]

If I understand correctly, the OP expects to be able to send and receive faxes over a GV number/connection.  If this is true, I think the OP should test the reliability of sending and receiving faxes over GV before getting to far into this process.  Most VOIP providers (Google Voice included) are terrible and sending and receiving faxes.  They might work for short faxes (1-2 pages), but if you hold a connection longer than that, the odds are very high that there will be some sort of glitch in the transmission that makes the fax fail.  Fax transmissions are much more prone to jitter, delay, and other transmission issues than a normal voice call is.

Most VOIP providers either have a fax specific solution, or they don't recommend sending faxes over their service.  Just something to keep in mind.

[ArmoredDragon]

If I understand correctly, the OP expects to be able to send and receive faxes over a GV number/connection.  If this is true, I think the OP should test the reliability of sending and receiving faxes over GV before getting to far into this process.  Most VOIP providers (Google Voice included) are terrible and sending and receiving faxes.  They might work for short faxes (1-2 pages), but if you hold a connection longer than that, the odds are very high that there will be some sort of glitch in the transmission that makes the fax fail.  Fax transmissions are much more prone to jitter, delay, and other transmission issues than a normal voice call is.

Most VOIP providers either have a fax specific solution, or they don't recommend sending faxes over their service.  Just something to keep in mind.

Actually it works great. I just tested send and receive.

I obtained a second phone number by using the app called burner, which includes one free limited use temporary phone number, and used that to create a second GV account. My total cost in this is zero.

FWIW the machine I am using as a fax is a brother MFC-9325CW