I ask because there was a worrisome fire in my hometown yesterday. I don’t keep any of my smartphones on 24/7. I am often on my desktop PC during the day. Would Google Voice alert me about an emergency when I’m on my desktop PC even when I don’t have any of my smartphones on? In any case, Google Voice is brought up in this 2018 article by Michael Timmermann:
https://clark.com/technology/phones-mobile-devices/stop-robocalls-with-google-voice/
I am also interested in finding out if it is worth getting.
I don’t think so. I use GV as my main phone number, but only get emergency notifications through my carrier number.
Yes it’s worth getting. Where else can you get a free telephone number that works on the PC? My machine is old and I can’t plug in headphones with microphone since I have the older jacks on the cabinet. So, I don’t used voice. However, I use it a lot for text messages. I have never gotten any alerts so you must do that with your cell phone service. Be advised that getting 2-factor authorization codes works with some financial institutions but not with others. You must have your bank, credit union, or brokerage send a code to your GV phone number and see what happens.
I concur with those who’ve written that you won’t get emergency alerts with GV. I use it to both text my wife when I’m at work, and for phone calls when I don’t want to share my “real” phone number. With speaker headphones, I also use it for Zoom meetings, which leaves my hands free to take notes.
Had a few GV and then got them all moved. Oh I think I still have one. Didn’t know you could still get one at this point…
If you want an alternative I would take some voip. Get an analog telephone adaptor (ATA) and an account somewhere. Our friendly local voip expert is Lavarock. Check out what he has to say. I recently converted my sister from POTS, saving her beaucoux dollars. For light use we are looking at small change, and that ATA should not cost a lot either.
We use GV to park an old home phone number and an old fax number. Might as well since there is no cost…
Recently, HP took over the Obihai/PolyComm desk phones and discontinues the residental versions. Those could access GoogleVoice (GV) directly as if it were a telephone provider. Although those phones still work with GV, IF they were configured before the shutdown of the ObiTalk website. Their future use is based upon the GV server still being online for Onbi devices. That means it could stop at any time. Obi devices were the only devices I know which worked directly with GV.
However, Obi adapters and many other adapters can be used IF there is another ISP provider account configured on them. You would forward your GV calls to that device. Control of the number still would be done through Google. Inbound calls might be free but outbound might have to use a different caller-ID. It depends upon the provider. Still, not an expensive option.
Alternatively, you could get a new provider account and PORT your GV number to that provider. That would allow you to keep the number and control it through the new provider. You would pay for inbound and outbound calls and the hosting of the number. The minimum cost for that is a couple of dollars a month and a few pennies for each call. For a residence, you might pay $5 total a month or less. That is not an expensive option.
I am speaking about voice telephone calls and am not the ‘go to guy’ about texting. I do know that many VOIP companys will pass along text messages, but I don’t use VOIP for that. There are free services which will allow you to have both a telephone number and receive text messages on your cellphone. ‘TextFree’ and ‘2ndLine’ both do that, but require you to use their app and to make a periodic text or call out to use their service. This forces you to see their ads. You can oftentimes pay a monthly fee to avoid the ads and keep the number regardless of use or seeing ads.