[Discuss] Google Voice

[blu at nedharvey.com (Edward Ned Harvey)]

> From: discuss-bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org [mailto:discuss-
> bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org] On Behalf Of Dan Ritter
> 
> > Has Google officially added SIP support to GV? I had read that for a
> > short while you could reach your GV number via SIP using some test
> > servers Google had in place, but they went away. 

Correct.  They apparently just opened that by accident, or thinking nobody
would notice.  But people noticed, so they quickly shut it down.

No, GV does not support SIP, unless you were lucky enough to get a gizmo
account way back when.

There are, however, some workarounds.  Here's what I personally do:
I have a SIP client from some other provider, which is its own separate
phone number.  For inbound calls, no problem, I simulring my other SIP phone
number and it works perfectly.  For outbound calls, I use the GVoice
Callback app on android... Or I dial my own GV number and then dial the
outound number...  Or I use the web interface to dial...  There are probably
more options, but I find using the GVoice Callback app takes care of 99% of
what I want to do.

If you asked me before I started doing this, I would have thought using the
callback app was annoying.  But after 1 day of using it, I was quickly
surprised to learn it is PREFERABLE over anything else, even preferable over
direct dialing with a supposed native SIP client.  Why?  Because the
callback app is in my cell phone with all my contacts, and it's voice
activated, and I always have my cell phone with me, and I can make it
callback to other numbers such as my office phone, or the landline I have at
home, or at my brother's or gramma's house.  No matter where I am, I make
outbound calls using my GV number and whatever phone happens to be the most
convenient (best quality) for me to use at the time.  

I have a definite preference for voice quality of landlines & sip lines over
cell phones.

Plus I do a lot of international calling, and GV has the best rates of
anything I can find anywhere.


> You can reach GV (and vice versa) through open-source gateway
> code now, 

Are you talking about the gateways that were closed down?  Or is there
something new?


> and several signs point to Google doing full SIP
> interoperability in the near future.
> 
> Such signs include:
> 
> - SIP servers being advertised in Google's DNS
> 
> - SIP client implementation shipping in Android 2.3.4 and later.

I am also hoping this will be true.  But there are a lot of commercial and
legal obstacles for them to overcome before it can become reality.  So ...
it might never happen...  But keep hoping.