09-02-2015, 04:49 AM
[size=18px]How to Get Google Voice outside the U.S.?[/size]
While Google Voice is no longer an invitation-only service, you need to be in the United States (that is, your computer must have a U.S. IP Address) and you must also have a local US phone number in order to activate your Google Voice phone number.
[size=22px]T[/size]he free Google Voice service lets you can send text messages and place calls to regular phone numbers from the computer or your mobile phone.
There are however some simple workarounds that will help you enable Google Voice from anywhere outside the USA. I activated Google Voice from India but the same procedure should work with other countries as well.
Step 1: Get a US Phone Number. This process should not take more than five minutes.
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How to Get a US Phone Number?Step 1: Sign-up for a free account with Callcentric - VoIP Internet phone service and click continue. CallCentric will send you a confirmation mail to verify your email address.
Step 2: Once you’ve verified the email address, provide your city and country code, agree to the terms and conditions and click “Sign me up.”
Step 3: CallCentric will now provide you with a virtual tour of their websites. Skip it and choose – “Go to My CallCentric.” The next screen will list your CallCentric # in the format 1777** – copy that number to the clipboard.
Step 4: Open a new browser tab and go to phone.ipkall.com. Set the account type as SIP and paste the CallCentric # from the clipboard into the field that says SIP Username. The hostname is in.callcentric.com and choose the same email address and password that you used while setting up your CallCentric account.
[*] The default area code for your local US phone number is 253 but you may choose a different one from the drop-down. For this example, I’ll go with 425.
Step 5: Within a minute, you should get an email from ipkall.com with your new local phone number. Keep the email handy as you’ll need it while configuring the SIP client.
Step 6: Now that we have got ourselves a US phone number, let’s activate it.
6a. Download and install Express Talk on your computer. The trial version is good enough for our task. Make sure that you don’t install any of the “optional components” like toolbars, etc. during the setup.
6b. During installation, choose the default options for all the wizard screens. When you are on “SIP Setup,” choose “Yes, I already have a SIP account” and click Next. Fill the SIP details as in Step 4 above. Finish the setup.
6c. Once the setup is complete, go back to your My CallCentric page and refresh it. You should see a notification saying – “your phone is registered.” Done!
Update: You can grab a SIP VoIP client for your mobile phone and configure it with your new CallCentric /ipKall number. Most Nokia Symbian phones can be configured for SIP without external apps or just search for “SIP phone” in iTunes or the Android marketplace. Popular mobile app Fring is free and also supports SIP._______________________________________________________________________________________
Step 2: Download and install Hotspot Shield (make sure you decline the optional toolbar). This is required because you can’t sign-in to Google Voice from a non-US I.P. address.
[*] Hotspot Shield may insert audio ads in websites which are annoying but the reason I recommend it is because the software requires no configuration and you can easily disable it with a simple right click.
Step 3: Start Hotspot Shield, if it’s not already running on your system, and then visit IP2Location to confirm that your location is listed as “United States.” If not, disconnect your current Hotspot Shield session and reconnect to get yourself a new IP Address.
Step 4: Launch the Express Talk softphone software (you may have previously downloaded this software for activating your local US phone number).
Step 5: Open voice.google.com in your web browser and sign-in with your Google account. If you get an error message saying – “Google Voice is not available in your country” – clear your browser cookies and try again.Spoiler![[Image: choose-number.png]](http://img.labnol.org/di/choose-number.png)
![[Image: add-phone.png]](http://img.labnol.org/di/add-phone.png)
![[Image: reclaim-phone.png]](http://img.labnol.org/di/reclaim-phone.png)
5a. It’s time to pick a Google Voice phone number. You may enter a US area code and some word to get a memorable phone number or pick one from the available choices.
5b. Enter a four digit pin for voicemail, accept the Terms and continue.
5c. In the next screen, input your local US number that will ring when someone dials your Google Voice number.
5d. Click Call Me Now. Google Voice will call your local number and this should ring the Express Talk software. Enter the confirmation code using the dial pad of Express Talk and once it is verified, your Google Voice phone number is ready for use.
While Google Voice is no longer an invitation-only service, you need to be in the United States (that is, your computer must have a U.S. IP Address) and you must also have a local US phone number in order to activate your Google Voice phone number.
[size=22px]T[/size]he free Google Voice service lets you can send text messages and place calls to regular phone numbers from the computer or your mobile phone.
There are however some simple workarounds that will help you enable Google Voice from anywhere outside the USA. I activated Google Voice from India but the same procedure should work with other countries as well.
Step 1: Get a US Phone Number. This process should not take more than five minutes.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
How to Get a US Phone Number?Step 1: Sign-up for a free account with Callcentric - VoIP Internet phone service and click continue. CallCentric will send you a confirmation mail to verify your email address.
Step 2: Once you’ve verified the email address, provide your city and country code, agree to the terms and conditions and click “Sign me up.”
Step 3: CallCentric will now provide you with a virtual tour of their websites. Skip it and choose – “Go to My CallCentric.” The next screen will list your CallCentric # in the format 1777** – copy that number to the clipboard.
Step 4: Open a new browser tab and go to phone.ipkall.com. Set the account type as SIP and paste the CallCentric # from the clipboard into the field that says SIP Username. The hostname is in.callcentric.com and choose the same email address and password that you used while setting up your CallCentric account.
[*] The default area code for your local US phone number is 253 but you may choose a different one from the drop-down. For this example, I’ll go with 425.
Step 5: Within a minute, you should get an email from ipkall.com with your new local phone number. Keep the email handy as you’ll need it while configuring the SIP client.
Step 6: Now that we have got ourselves a US phone number, let’s activate it.
6a. Download and install Express Talk on your computer. The trial version is good enough for our task. Make sure that you don’t install any of the “optional components” like toolbars, etc. during the setup.
6b. During installation, choose the default options for all the wizard screens. When you are on “SIP Setup,” choose “Yes, I already have a SIP account” and click Next. Fill the SIP details as in Step 4 above. Finish the setup.
6c. Once the setup is complete, go back to your My CallCentric page and refresh it. You should see a notification saying – “your phone is registered.” Done!
Update: You can grab a SIP VoIP client for your mobile phone and configure it with your new CallCentric /ipKall number. Most Nokia Symbian phones can be configured for SIP without external apps or just search for “SIP phone” in iTunes or the Android marketplace. Popular mobile app Fring is free and also supports SIP._______________________________________________________________________________________
Step 2: Download and install Hotspot Shield (make sure you decline the optional toolbar). This is required because you can’t sign-in to Google Voice from a non-US I.P. address.
[*] Hotspot Shield may insert audio ads in websites which are annoying but the reason I recommend it is because the software requires no configuration and you can easily disable it with a simple right click.
Step 3: Start Hotspot Shield, if it’s not already running on your system, and then visit IP2Location to confirm that your location is listed as “United States.” If not, disconnect your current Hotspot Shield session and reconnect to get yourself a new IP Address.
Step 4: Launch the Express Talk softphone software (you may have previously downloaded this software for activating your local US phone number).
Step 5: Open voice.google.com in your web browser and sign-in with your Google account. If you get an error message saying – “Google Voice is not available in your country” – clear your browser cookies and try again.Spoiler
5a. It’s time to pick a Google Voice phone number. You may enter a US area code and some word to get a memorable phone number or pick one from the available choices.5b. Enter a four digit pin for voicemail, accept the Terms and continue.
5c. In the next screen, input your local US number that will ring when someone dials your Google Voice number.
5d. Click Call Me Now. Google Voice will call your local number and this should ring the Express Talk software. Enter the confirmation code using the dial pad of Express Talk and once it is verified, your Google Voice phone number is ready for use.