{"slug": "google-voice", "name": "Google Voice", "category": "communication", "category_name": "Email and chat", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 9, "warners": 2, "score": 1.987, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2026-01-14", "latest": "2026-09-25", "why": "Maybe porting your primary number to a cloud PBX service like Google Voice", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 4, "compare": 0, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Maybe porting your primary number to a cloud PBX service like Google Voice", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://voice.google.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Google Voice"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 797627328, "item_id": 49851708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49851708", "by": "saturn8601", "date": "2026-09-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Maybe porting your primary number to a cloud PBX service like Google Voice", "excerpt": "Oh man, did I go through this hell with a lot of MVNOs like two years ago. Pushed me to buy T-Mobile's most expensive plan. Something I actually regret to this day now, because I'm not sure if I got any real tangible benefit from it compared to all the money that went down the drain. However, now that I think about it, I don't feel like I've been getting too many ghost calls as I used to. It's hard for me to measure ", "context": "", "use_case": "reliable call delivery", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Hypothesis: Cellular providers are deprioritizing voice calls?"}, {"id": 778884176, "item_id": 48680261, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48680261", "by": "dlcarrier", "date": "2026-06-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is why I use Google Voice for SMS.", "excerpt": "This is why I use Google Voice for SMS. I have messages forwarded to through email account, and can treat them like any other message. That's the only way I can get to them in reasonable timeframe, because I often don't have my phone nearby.", "context": "often doesn't have phone nearby", "use_case": "SMS forwarded to email", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Deal with Horrible Smartphone Ergonomics"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 785209952, "item_id": 49075622, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49075622", "by": "Marsymars", "date": "2026-07-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google voice doesn't operate outside of the US", "excerpt": "a) Google voice doesn't operate outside of the US, and I'm not aware of any equivalent that does, short of setting up, paying for, and managing a full-fledged voip line (e.g. with voip.ms) which are pretty finicky with 2FA codes. b) These systems are a general pain when you need to deal with human support if your number on file doesn't match the number you call them from. I have a few different numbers that I use var", "context": "", "use_case": "phone number forwarding", "switched_from": "", "story": "Android May Soon Restrict On-Device ADB"}, {"id": 778374832, "item_id": 48648427, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48648427", "by": "ProblemExplorer", "date": "2026-06-23", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "it exposed a serious planning and design failure in Voice", "excerpt": "Google suspended my Google Voice account by mistake: https://www.google.com/appsstatus/dashboard/incidents/qqWhZSpoVLJWur1GfHfu They restored access after about 4 hours, but during that window: - Google Voice disappeared from Takeout, so I could not access my historical data - I had no option to port my number to another provider - Incoming text forwarding was disabled, which locked me out of financial, municipal, he", "context": "user since GrandCentral", "use_case": "phone number / text forwarding", "switched_from": "", "story": "GVoice suspended in error: no Takeout, portout, incoming text forwarding blocked"}]}], "who": [{"by": "dlcarrier", "context": "often doesn't have phone nearby", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48680261", "date": "2026-06-25"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["reliable call delivery", "phone number", "phone number forwarding", "phone number / 2fa texts", "sms forwarded to email", "phone number / text forwarding"], "compared": [{"slug": "jmp-chat", "name": "jmp.chat", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49833212", "title": "Ask HN: Hypothesis: Cellular providers are deprioritizing voice calls?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49122882", "title": "Anti-fraud tools can't keep pace with scammers exploiting cheap internet calling", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49045159", "title": "Android May Soon Restrict On-Device ADB", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48787329", "title": "Verizon is About to Break our Watches", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48679155", "title": "How to Deal with Horrible Smartphone Ergonomics", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48648426", "title": "GVoice suspended in error: no Takeout, portout, incoming text forwarding blocked", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 797627328, "item_id": 49851708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49851708", "by": "saturn8601", "date": "2026-09-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Maybe porting your primary number to a cloud PBX service like Google Voice", "excerpt": "Oh man, did I go through this hell with a lot of MVNOs like two years ago. Pushed me to buy T-Mobile's most expensive plan. Something I actually regret to this day now, because I'm not sure if I got any real tangible benefit from it compared to all the money that went down the drain. However, now that I think about it, I don't feel like I've been getting too many ghost calls as I used to. It's hard for me to measure ", "context": "", "use_case": "reliable call delivery", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Hypothesis: Cellular providers are deprioritizing voice calls?"}, {"id": 786065872, "item_id": 49129117, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49129117", "by": "ogou", "date": "2026-07-31", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "My Google Voice number got 37 calls from the same region in the past 2 days.", "excerpt": "My Google Voice number got 37 calls from the same region in the past 2 days. All day, about every 50 minutes, rotating different 404 based numbers. It happens about twice a year from this area code (404). I know exactly where it is from. I had to park in Atlanta once and it required me to create an account on an app for that parking lot to pay. Of course I used my Google number. That service must have transferred or ", "context": "", "use_case": "phone number", "switched_from": "", "story": "Anti-fraud tools can't keep pace with scammers exploiting cheap internet calling"}, {"id": 785209952, "item_id": 49075622, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49075622", "by": "Marsymars", "date": "2026-07-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google voice doesn't operate outside of the US", "excerpt": "a) Google voice doesn't operate outside of the US, and I'm not aware of any equivalent that does, short of setting up, paying for, and managing a full-fledged voip line (e.g. with voip.ms) which are pretty finicky with 2FA codes. b) These systems are a general pain when you need to deal with human support if your number on file doesn't match the number you call them from. I have a few different numbers that I use var", "context": "", "use_case": "phone number forwarding", "switched_from": "", "story": "Android May Soon Restrict On-Device ADB"}, {"id": 780656288, "item_id": 48791018, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48791018", "by": "bastawhiz", "date": "2026-07-04", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've used Google Voice since it was Grand Central and switched to Fi the month it came out, and I have never experienced what you're describing.", "excerpt": "I've used Google Voice since it was Grand Central and switched to Fi the month it came out, and I have never experienced what you're describing.", "context": "", "use_case": "phone number / 2FA texts", "switched_from": "", "story": "Verizon is About to Break our Watches"}, {"id": 778884176, "item_id": 48680261, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48680261", "by": "dlcarrier", "date": "2026-06-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is why I use Google Voice for SMS.", "excerpt": "This is why I use Google Voice for SMS. I have messages forwarded to through email account, and can treat them like any other message. That's the only way I can get to them in reasonable timeframe, because I often don't have my phone nearby.", "context": "often doesn't have phone nearby", "use_case": "SMS forwarded to email", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Deal with Horrible Smartphone Ergonomics"}, {"id": 778374832, "item_id": 48648427, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48648427", "by": "ProblemExplorer", "date": "2026-06-23", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "it exposed a serious planning and design failure in Voice", "excerpt": "Google suspended my Google Voice account by mistake: https://www.google.com/appsstatus/dashboard/incidents/qqWhZSpoVLJWur1GfHfu They restored access after about 4 hours, but during that window: - Google Voice disappeared from Takeout, so I could not access my historical data - I had no option to port my number to another provider - Incoming text forwarding was disabled, which locked me out of financial, municipal, he", "context": "user since GrandCentral", "use_case": "phone number / text forwarding", "switched_from": "", "story": "GVoice suspended in error: no Takeout, portout, incoming text forwarding blocked"}, {"id": 764671904, "item_id": 47791994, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47791994", "by": "jlledo", "date": "2026-04-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Not affiliated and never used them, but Cape (https://www.cape.co/) says they protect against SIM swaps with private keys.", "context": "", "use_case": "SMS 2FA phone number", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Broke Its Promise to Me. Now ICE Has My Data"}, {"id": 754317553, "item_id": 47144847, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47144847", "by": "jerlam", "date": "2026-02-24", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've been using my Google Voice number for something similar.", "excerpt": "Secondary numbers sounds neat: https://www.cape.co/blog/product-feature-secondary-numbers I've been using my Google Voice number for something similar. But Cape doesn't specify if/when these numbers are rotated in any way - you have three numbers to track now, and you can't retain these numbers if you switch services.", "context": "", "use_case": "Secondary phone number", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cell Service for the Fairly Paranoid"}, {"id": 745970416, "item_id": 46623151, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46623151", "by": "apitman", "date": "2026-01-14", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Google Voice for SMS.", "excerpt": "I got sniped away from Visible (Verizon MVNO) by US Mobile (multi-carrier MVNO) during a Black Friday sale. USM has an interesting thing where you can actually get a separate eSIM for each of the major carriers, and switch between them. I was curious so I signed up for all 3. It's been interesting to see how the signals vary from location to location, and at least a couple times I've been able to get significantly be", "context": "", "use_case": "SMS", "switched_from": "", "story": "East coast. Verizon outage in US"}]}