8PM 9/7/2012
aaargh!
I seem to be able to find my way around in the woods ok but computers and tech stuff I cant deal with anymore! What a curse technology can be! what a waste of time!!!!
Been sitting here at McDonalds in Pincher Creek trying to figure out how to receive and or make phone calls using any one of a number of options I thought I had - that I SHOULD have, that SHOULD work. But don't.
Not in the order that I've tried things, but maybe in some "logical" order: If anyone of you has any helpful insights into this the first to chime ip will be the first to be appreciated, (but all help aprreciated - no need to be the first! ;-) (and thanks for reading this far...)
1. I've discovered that I cannot seem to change the forwarding options on my google phone number. Since at least Stephen is using this, may be Stephen has some insights:
The symptoms:
no matter which of my forwarding options I have checked in gvoice settings (ATT Cell, TMobile Cell, old EC work land-line, google chat, sipgate) when I call my number 7076364468 (either from Skype-out or from my "new" not-yet-completely working canadian speakout7eleven pay-as-U-go # - more on that below) I always get the answering msg "you've reached Gary hundt's Cell Phone" which I think is the msg I have for my ATT Go-Phone - the first cell phone I used (on my TMobile cell I know I mention its my TMobile phone) I now suspect this has been going on for ages and I've been unaware of it, because somehow any voice messages left there get forwarded to my gmail email and I can hear them there.) Oh, except when I did have access to my EC work phone I could get calls there, so - not sure why whenever that is unchecked it goes to ATT even it ATT is also unchecked.
2. Used to have skypeout subscription recently expired. Have about $9 of skype credit left - been using that a bit today for testing. Been trying to call my CSAA car insurance, but cant get past the phone menu because via skype the touch-tones don't seem to be recognized - I seem to hear them, but other end doesn't seem to respond appropriately. Otherwise I might try re-upping my skypeout sobscription - but skype seems to have changed subscription plans - more expensive - not sure it's worth it fior me.
3. Totally confused about using google talk/chat. Doesnt seem to work for me at the moment for forwarding - used to work at some point for me earlier, so maybe its because I'm now in Canada?
4. can't add my new speakout7eleven phone to my gvoice forwarding phones because its not in same country - get a msg to that effect when I try. probably moot anyway due to problem #1, though if would have been nice because I seem to be able to receive calls to that#.
5. OK, now for the new speakout 7-11 sim card I bought for $10 and $25 usage credit. Was able to activate the sim card, am able to talk to customer service using their 3digit# from the phone, was able to receive a test call from cusomer service (presumably from a local canadian #), and am even able to call MY google phone number seemingly using my cell-phone's "normal call" option (as opposed to via skype or via google-voice-callback options), but trying to call stephen's google voice#, or any other number (local Pincher Creek# or long distance) I get message "could not complete the call, please try again". Customer Service seems to be at a loss - telling me I should wait up to 24 hours, or to take the sim card & try it in another phone, or to find some option in my phone settings to use only GSM- not 3G. in the latter case, I do see an option on my android phone to use 2G only, and I've tried it with & without checking that. Haven't yet tried another cell phone...
Any suggestions how I should proceed?
I've in the mean-while left an email msg with CSAA about my car insurance issue, and I suspect if I just go back and do some hiking this weekend while the weatehr here is still nice (actually missed out on lots of picts today of new snow on the mt tops from the recent cold-front that came thru... Pissed to be getting myself stuck onto this tarnologybaby!
gary
9PM 9/7/2012
Didn't read or understand it all, but just a quick FYI that may help for getting a hold of your insurrance co: almost always you can bypass touchtone menus and talk to a real person by saying "operator" at any point (or push 0 if touchtone is working).
Good luck! All else fails, just use a payphone (if you can still find one these days!)
Rebecca
2PM 9/10/2012
Hey dad,
I should have responded earlier tell you that I received your messages on my google voice account. I was at school late on Friday and then had a bunch of stuff planned for this weekend so I didn't have a chance to try you back.
As for the problems you've outlined below, I can't offer any advice of 3-5 and don't have any sure answers for the others.
1. Are you trying to use the 711 phone and skype out to make outgoing calls with google voice, or are you calling your google voice number just as a test to see what is encountered when others try to call you? If its the first one and you've entered your 711 and skype numbers into your list of phones then I'm not sure what is happening, but I suspect this isn't what you are trying to do. If its the second one here are some thoughts, all of which are speculation since I'm not going to actually take the time to research the specifics about google voice.
Is the message "you have reached..." from the phone's voicemail or is it a google voice message that you recorded? If its a google message, well, then, this is what is supposed to happen. If it's the phone's voicemail maybe calls made to your google voice number are being directed immediately (or after some number of rings) to that phone's voicemail as would happen when that phone is turned off. This would definitely happen if the ATT phone were the only forwarding phone selected but may also happen if it was one of many since that phone's voicemail would be answering the call before any other phones had a chance to. However, it sounds like you still have the problem even when the ATT phone is not selected as a forwarding phone. Have you tried to delete it altogether? If deleting the ATT phone from your forwarding list doesn't eliminate the problem maybe the message is actually from another phone's voicemail. You could try deleting those or just calling them directly to see. What result were you expecting?
2. I remember having a problem with using touchtones on skype at one point and I remember being able to change some option that allowed them to be recognized by the automated menus. What worked for me on my computer was to have skype display a dialpad that was different then the one I made calls with and which you could click on to produce the tones. I just read some forums in which people were having the same problem using the Skype app for the iphones and androids and some people suggested muting the mic when you want to produce the dial tone.
OK. I doubt much of this will be helpful, but maybe it will cause you to discover the problem yourself. Try not to let all of this bullshit ruin your trip.
8PM 9/13/2012
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for the time you took to help with this.
Finally had a chance to play around with this a bit more, and think I solved some of the issues: (so the below is just "fyi" in case your curious - no need to read if you're pressed for time.
re: 1.
I was just testing calling my GV number via Skype to see what others heard. I don't have a skype number (I had a "Skype-out" subscription but that has expired and I think they no longer offer the same feature. Though, maybe I ought to consider getting a skype number as another option for me to forward GV calls to.
Turns out I was mistaken about the message I had set up for Google Voice messages. (Not sure how I screwed that up ) For the time being I changed it to the default system msg, til I get a chance to say a new greeting. (Cant talk where I'm at now.)
There is still something I don't understand what GV is doing when it's somehow mediating my outbound calls from my cell phone. OK let me think this thru... it's causing my phone to call a google number rather than the # I dialed, then redialing (forwarding to) my desired number but "spoofing" the callerID to be my google number. Does that sound correct?
So at any rate, I'm now able to use the 711 cellphone to call out. I needed to go into the "Google Voice" app on my phone and change a setting from "always use" to "always ask". I was looking for this app but it was "sort of hidden" where I wasn't looking last time. I also have a "similar looking" app called "Google Voice Callback" which in conjunction with another number I have via a "SIP" protocol provider that works via the internet, that allows me to avoid calling out via my cell phone #, to make free calls. It's a bit complicated and I think I somehow messed something up because it's not working right (anymore...) Will take a chunk of troubleshooting time to sort that out, I fear. At any rate, that app also has a similar setting re "always use" vs "always ask" etc that I initially thought was the problem.
re: 2.
Muting the mike may have been worth trying, because at the time I was at McDonalds with a lot of background noise! But I'll still plan to look for that touchtone option before I have to use it again. I managed to email CSAA and they replied - assured me my account was payed up thru October.
Thanks again for taking the time,
Gary
[note: I think some time later I found out that I had two levels of GV-callback "indirection" active and I was still making calls "through" the google voice system when I thought I was using "bare" cell phone calling.]
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