Verizon charging for GV text messaging?

[Elysian]

how many cheapasses buy a $300 phone? really? i pay $30 a month for unlimited everything but minutes.. so instead of receiving a random crazy $200 bill due to overages, why wouldnt you just pay the $30 and not have to worry about overages.

Maybe you have 30 bucks you don't mind paying a month, I don't. I'm not going to pay extra for texting when it's available for free, period.

 

[WhiskeySix]

To text using google voice do I need people to send texts to my google voice number, or can they still text my normal Verizon number?

To get the text free of charge and not have it count against your Verizon account they should use your Google Voice number. Also as mentioned previously make sure you set your phone up so that your notifications don't come through Verizon or else you will be charged for those as well.

I get unlimited texts, but I am moving to a place with no cell coverage. I heard that GV could receive texts over wifi. How do I do this?

Texts sent to your GV number are actually stored on a google server somewhere.... just like your gmail. You read these texts by connecting to the GV server over the internet. You can read/write these text messages from any internet-connected web-browser (voice.google.com). Your droid also happens to have a Google Voice app that does the same thing as the browser... it goes over the internet to the GV Server to send/receive text messages.

That's all free.

What costs money is that you can configure the GV Server to forward text messages it recieves to your Verizon phone number. Verizon doesn't discern between a text message recieved from the GV server and your friend Hank. They'll happily charge you for both.

So here's what I did: I sent a text message to the 10 or so people that I text the most. The message basically said "This is Matt, please use this as my mobile number". So 99% of all texts I get are from those people and thus are free.


hope that helps.

 

[backlash]

So here's what I did: I sent a text message to the 10 or so people that I text the most. The message basically said "This is Matt, please use this as my mobile number". So 99% of all texts I get are from those people and thus are free.


hope that helps.

That's what I did..............except my name isn't Matt I just sent out my google voice # asking people that if they need to text me, text me at my google voice #.

 

[WhiskeySix]

To make it less confusing for them, I just told them to replace my mobile number all together. If they call my "new mobile number" (GV#), it rings through to my mobile. If they TXT my mobile, I get it for free

 

[takeshi]

I also suggest switching completely over. You can do a partial change but it's a pain for your contacts IMO.

 

[Jim 777]

I set up a second GV account using a Google number so I could use texting. I'm not a big fan/user, so even a $5 plan makes no sense to me, but I have one or two people who send the occasional text.

However, being under the impression that I could utilize the data part of my plan instead of incurring costs, I sent and received a few through the GV account. Afterwards, I checked my Verizon account and saw 27 texts (at 20 cents each!). WTF???

I called and explained the situation and was told that ALL GV texts as well as IM messages were chargeable at the text messaging rate.

Is this true for you or is there a way I need to set up GV so no costs are incurred?

I just went down today and talked to them for the same reason. They said that GV texts charge against the account. My concern was that online I see my usage where I shouldn't. GV number everywhere. But, there was also the texts from one verizon number to another (my mom still uses my verizon number but she's verizon). So there's nothing conclusive there. If I call #DATA which is supposed to be real time balance, the messages using GV do NOT show up.

I set up a second GV account using a Google number so I could use texting. I'm not a big fan/user, so even a $5 plan makes no sense to me, but I have one or two people who send the occasional text.

However, being under the impression that I could utilize the data part of my plan instead of incurring costs, I sent and received a few through the GV account. Afterwards, I checked my Verizon account and saw 27 texts (at 20 cents each!). WTF???

I called and explained the situation and was told that ALL GV texts as well as IM messages were chargeable at the text messaging rate.

Is this true for you or is there a way I need to set up GV so no costs are incurred?

They don't have anything to do with GV. If you got charged then you had to of used your regular texting and just thought you were using google voice.

When your doing a text in Google Voice you will know it because you will not have word complete available. That's the easiest indicator. Perhaps you were in a conversation with someone and they text you back at your regular number? If you replied, you would of course be on Verizon's texting at that point.

I've never been charged for using Google Voice, it's a different number. Verizon isn't even aware of if you have a Google Voice number according to a rep I spoke with. (Yes, I know)

That isn't true, at least in my case. The predictive text is local I believe, in that it resides on the phone, not GV or Verizon. I use the GV app and the predictive text works.

Also, I have Handcent and my messages that are sent to my GV number also show up on the Handcent app. The difference that gives you a clue that it came in on the GV number, is that instead of just the message showing, it's preceded with the sender's name and a dash. Also, if it's the first time receiving the message from a person, it comes across on Handcent from a new unknown number, like a 406 area code or something. When I determine who it's from, I add the number to the appropriate contact and from then on out, the Handcent recognizes by name who it is. Oddly enough, if you call that number, it rings their phone too! If I respond to that number via Handcent, it also appears to stay on GV.

Now I can use the more appealing Handcent to continue the conversation. Still should initiate the conversation from GV app.