Tech Getting Google Voice in Canada (Workaround) - How to Sign Up Guide

What is Google Voice?

So why can't Canadians sign up?
The service isn't available in Canada yet. If you try visiting https://www.google.com/voice/, it will simply say "Google Voice is not available in your country. Thanks for visiting Google Voice. We're not yet open for users outside the US, but are planning to expand our service to additional countries in the future."

To get around this restriction, follow these steps.

1. Download Hotspot Shield (http://hotspotshield.com/) to make Google think you have a US IP address (Note: after completing these steps, you may uninstall the program since your account will be able to access Google Voice without it).
2. Visit https://www.google.com/voice/ and you should be able to login with your Google Account and proceed with registration.
3. After following their steps and choosing an American phone number, you're prompted to enter a forwarding number which normally has to be US based as well. However, there's a loop hole that allows Alberta phone numbers with the area code of 403 to be added without an issue. So if you are from Calgary, simply enter your wireless or home phone and you're golden. Otherwise, proceed with Step 4.
4. For everybody else in Canada, you need to obtain a 403 phone number. You can do this for free by signing up here: http://www.freephoneline.ca/ and following their registration procedures.
5. Once you have your 403 number, link it with your Google Voice number. You need to download the freephoneline client (or forward the 403 number to your primary phone number) to validate the number in Google Voice. You SHOULD forward your 403 number to your home or wireless number anyway to make the most of Google Voice.

Once activated, you can text (SMS) or call from Google Voice for free to any US or Canada destinations.

Here's what happens when you dial a number in Google Voice (GV):

1. GV dials your 403 number which gets forward to your primary phone number.
2. When you pick up, the number you have dialed gets a phone call too (from your Google Voice number).
3. When they pick up, GV links the phone numbers and allows you to converse with the dialed party from your home phone.

 

I have this setup, but it doesnt seem to work entirely.

I can make calls from the google voice website to my other phone that i was using to test.
but I cannot call directly from the google app on my android phone to my test phone.

my android phone will receive a call from google when I go on googe voice website and make a call, it calls my android phone and calls my test phone to connect the two phones. but if i dial from android to test phone directly through the android google phone app, it doesn't work, says cannot make the call. I go onto the freephoneline.ca site and look at the call log and it says

From To Connect time Description Disconnect reason City
561692xxxx 1778878xxxx 2010-09-16 00:55:10.0 Network error Internetworking, unspecified Aldergrove BC

any idea's on how to fix this? I think its some sort of routing error on freephoneline.ca's part where something gets lost in translation when making a call from android GV app to a real phone.

 

Have you tried using google voice from your android phone with wifi? If anyone can use google voice with data then people would be making free calls.

ALso, anybody tested fring yet? Non of my friends have any android phone. I have one friend who have iphone 4, but he too lazy to install fring.

 

the whole point to google voice is that you can use it on wifi or data...
it was made so people can make free calls...
and yes i've tried on wifi and on data plan. I now use 'google call back' app instead of google voice for dialing out on the android.
that's the only fix I can find.

 

phi0x, have you tried it with their mobile version of the website rather than the app? It's http://m.google.com/voice

Maybe it'll work better than the app. I actually haven't tested it on a phone, bummer if freephoneline indeed has trouble forwarding. Hopefully we won't have to wait until GV comes to Canada officially.

 

Google voice seems to have closed the 403 loophole.

I live in Calgary and have been trying to set up a google voice number.
I have three 403 numbers a freephoneline number, a telus number and a cell phone, none of them work for dialback code verification. It says my number is out of service area.

I have set up a us gmail email using a US text service, but so far have not found a telephone service that works. I have tried three services that showed promise. Voxox which will not answer properly, voipbuster which google will not accept because it is a gmail service and a toll free call forwarding service which cannot verify my location to forward to.

Google also seems to do some ip geolocation on some their services now. I don't even know if an obi will still work.

Other services like sipgate that people used to use seem to no longer work either.

Google seems to have really stepped up it's game when denying service to those in other countries.

Google's promise of free phone service ends in 2012 (this year) after which whether they continue being free or what they change is anyone's guess.

Can anyone confirm that an obi will still work if I manage to get a google number and an obi?