How To Forward Google Voice Calls to Another Number

Jamie Read more March 15, 2019

Want to travel a bit or think you’ll be going places without internet? Not going to be able to access the internet for a while but don’t want to miss phone calls? This tutorial is going to show you how to forward Google Voice calls to your mobile or any device.

Of all of the apps that Google offers, Google Voice is the most useful but has the lowest profile. Mainly available in North America and a few other countries, it’s a full unified communications app that allows you to make and receive calls on any device with Google installed.

Google Voice

Google Voice is 12 years old yet very few people I asked either knew it existed or knew it was still going. It’s one of the original VoIP services that offers free calling within the US, provides a virtual phone number you can use on any Google-connected device and allows you to make and receive phone or video calls.

Sign up for Google Voice and you get a unique phone number that works anywhere in the US and the ability to make calls from your phone, desktop and anywhere you have Google. It is built into Android phones, accessible through the Google suite of apps in a browser and even has its own app.

One other neat but underused feature was voice transcription. It could receive a voicemail from a caller while you were busy and could transcribe it into a text message. A small thing but very useful. The transcription engine is pretty good too making very few mistakes in my experience.

Forwarding Google Voice calls

The idea behind unified communications is that you have one phone number that can reach several types of device. Used primarily in business, it means a customer or contact has a single number to call and it will reach you wherever in the world you may be, on whatever device you might be using at the time. That could be landline, mobile, computer, tablet, laptop or whatever.

That’s great if you’re somewhere that has a good internet or data signal. What if you’re somewhere with no WiFi? That’s where call forwarding comes in. You can manually forward your Google Voice number to your mobile to use the old fashioned way. It can forward calls over your 4G connection anywhere you might be.

Here’s how to configure it:

Log into your Google Voice account.
Select the cog icon to access Settings in the top right of the screen.
Select Linked Numbers and add the number.
Select Send code.
Repeat the code Google provides on the forwarded phone to verify the connection.
Make the box next to ‘Forward calls to’ is checked.

That’s all there is to it. Once you add the number, Google calls it and a machine will give you a code. Enter the code on the popup verification window to verify and you’re done adding numbers. If you’re adding a mobile, you will be sent an SMS rather than be called. Just enter the code into the verification window and you’re good.

Once you verify the number you are returned to the Settings screen. You should see the number you just added on the screen and a check box next to it. The check box is for call forwarding. If there is a check in the box, that phone will ring every time you receive a Google Voice call.

You can add up to six numbers here and as long as they are all checked to receive forwarded calls, they will all ring when you get a call. You can dynamically change what numbers ring and what numbers don’t by checking or unchecking the box next to them.

In the above scenario where you’re going somewhere without WiFi, you don’t have to uncheck any devices but it might be useful to uncheck all but your 4G mobile for the duration of your trip. That way, nobody else will answer the call while it is forwarded to your mobile.

As far as I know, it doesn’t cost anything to forward Google Voice calls to a mobile if you’re within the US. If you travel elsewhere there may be costs involved. You should check the Google Voice call rate page to see how much calls would cost if you’re in a different country. Whatever the cost, it will be much less than your carrier charges that’s for sure!

Google Voice is one of the best apps the Big G offers and not enough people use it. Businesses pay hundreds of dollars a month for this kind of system and we can get it free. Try it yourself and see how you like it!