For friends who often use various foreign services, it is very necessary to obtain a long-term available mobile phone number. Many important Internet services can use mobile phone text messages for two-step verification to improve the security level of the account and avoid abnormal login and account termination due to switching VPN. There are many services that provide US virtual numbers, but only Google Voice is stable, convenient and affordable. Although there are many tutorials about Google Voice, it is still necessary for me to introduce it again as a basic skill. This article introduces how to obtain, associate, recharge, and retain Google Voice.
Note: PayPal US does not support numbers bound to virtual service providers such as Google Voice.
1. Google Voice Introduction
Google Voice is a VOIP service launched by Google. In short, you can get a virtual US number, which can answer other linked physical US numbers, or use this number alone to receive calls and text messages; if Google Voice is not linked to a physical mobile number, it is currently unable to make calls.
2. Google Voice Acquisition and Transfer
If you have a physical number in the United States, you can directly verify and obtain a Google voice virtual number. Many people will try to exploit loopholes and use virtual numbers provided by various free software for verification. The time cost is too high and the success rate is not high. I will not go into details here. It is recommended to purchase directly on Taobao. You will get a Google account and the Google voice mobile phone number contained in it after purchase. It is recommended to transfer it to your own Google account after purchase.
The transfer process is introduced below
- 1.1 Enter the Google voice interface, log in to the Google account with Google voice, enter the account password, and generally verify the security email address, which the seller will generally provide. Enter the settings interface and click Transfer
- 1.2 The old version of Google voice interface will automatically jump to the interface. Continue to click transfer
- 1.3 Click to log in to your Google account (i.e. the target account)
- 1.4 After logging in, click to select your Google account
- 1.5 Click Continue
- 1.6 Ignore the reminder that you need to add a physical number, click Continue, and the transfer will be successful.
3. Uses of Google Voice
- Registering Telegram with a US mobile phone number can reduce the risk of account restrictions.
- Connect Facebook and Twitter, turn on two-step verification, and avoid being disabled due to using a VPN account. (Using some proxy services may cause social account behavior to be very similar to the behavior of institutional account maintenance)
- It is not recommended to use Google Voice numbers to call customer service numbers of various services in the United States. The connection effect is poor and it may be blocked by the system recognition.
- Please note that PayPal US no longer supports numbers bound to virtual service providers such as Google Voice.
4. Google Voice Recharge
Google Voice cannot be recharged in the iOS app. It is recommended to open the Google Voice web version (both desktop and mobile), and find the recharge page directly in the settings. A single recharge can be 10/25/50 US dollars, and the total balance cannot exceed 70 US dollars.
Because recharge uses Google Pay, you need to associate a foreign currency credit card such as Visa/Mastercard to use it. UnionPay credit cards are not supported. The balance of Google Play gift cards seems to be unable to be used for Google Voice recharge (pending confirmation).
5. Google Voice Number Preservation
Google Voice is a public resource. Google will occasionally reclaim inactive phone numbers. Even if there is a balance, the phone number may be reclaimed if it is not used for a long time. Google will send an email notification one month in advance before the reclaim. It is recommended to add a calendar reminder and send text messages to friends every one or two months to keep active.