Phone for personal / work - carrier number and Google Voice

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jamsomito

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Here's the situation. I started a new job 9 months ago, and they have a BYOD policy, but provide a stipend to cover some of the cell bill. I was on Ting for my personal plan at the time (pay for what you use), and thought I'd be smart by taking out another cell plan for work, getting another, cheap phone, and keeping personal and work separate. I use Cricket for work. I don't have any issues with either, except I can't tether on Cricket and having 2 phones, each with cases, is becoming a pain. I have a Nexus 5 with a cracked screen for personal, and a Nokia 635 for work.

My plan was to migrate my work number to Google Voice, ditch Cricket, and move my personal cell number to another carrier that has unlimited minutes and text for work, and decent data for personal/work together (5-10GB would work I think). Work has discounts through AT&T and Verizon, and the stipend can float with costs. It would be cheaper for me to move to one phone on either of these carriers and have my wife as a second line than what we are doing now.

I use my phone a ton, so Id like one of decent quality. I need the phone to be powerful enough to handle two phone lines (carrier and Google voice), and last me a while. Also would like a good quality camera for both personal and work. I really like the Note 5, but I hear it's good stock, and excellent rooted. Problem is AT&T and Verizon don't let you root, and I may not be able to with company security software anyway. I'm a sucker for features though and the pen looks pretty cool. Thoughts on this device? Also possibly considering Nexus 6P, LG V10, s6 edge+, moto X pure, droid turbo 2 (dat shatterproof display doe.. Havent looked up reviews yet), or other suggestions?

So, questions:
1. How reasonable would it be to manage two phone numbers for voice and text together on one phone with a carrier line and Google voice?
2. I need good coverage in urban and rural areas throughout the Midwest so I'm leaning towards AT&T or Verizon, regardless of the company discount at either. If you have recommendations for carriers I'm all ears.
3. I'd like a nice phone, and I think work will cover some or most of the monthly cost of financing it (can't purchase outright - I know, weird). I'm leaning Note 5, but is it still worth it if VZN and AT&T can't be rooted? Also thinking Nexus 6P, LG V10, s6 edge+, others?

Thanks for the help.
 
Using 2 numbers outgoing phone calls are a bit of a pain, but you can do it, just requires you to say if you want to make a call by cell phone or google voice. I have a google voice number, I give it out to people more because I use it to screen calls from those I don't know personally. Any personal friends or work colleagues just have my direct number.

Texts are much easier, both come into google hangouts just fine.

Where I live, Verizon is king due to their purchase of Alltel back in the day, and their cell coverage footprint. If I had a choice in the matter, I would probably go T-Mobile, my wife loved them until she moved in with me, and never had service to use her phone. I don't have any experience w/ AT&T or Sprint. You may also want to look at a pre-paid w/ a carrier that runs off of Verizon towers if the service area is restricted.

I know both Verizon & AT&T have been running switch over campaigns that provides some amount of money towards a new phone with trade in. Their payment plans are actually cheaper then the phone is on contract (which you wouldn't be able to do anyway).

Currently we pay $206 for our family plan on verzion, with 12GB Data, 4 smart phones, 1 flip phone. That has 1 phone currently under contract @ $40 / month, 3 phones @ $20 / month, and 1 phone at $15 (flip). I just recently upgraded in july to a droid turbo, and pay $11 / month in payments, with only paying taxes up front. Under a contract it would have been $40/month + $99 initial payment on the phone, so I ended up saving $360 over 2 years by doing that.
 
I used Google Voice for business for a long time until last year when I had some problems that cost me a lot of money. Since then I just use my personal carrier number.
 
Blown 89 said:
I used Google Voice for business for a long time until last year when I had some problems that cost me a lot of money. Since then I just use my personal carrier number.
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What problems did you have? We're they avoidable?
 
Blown 89 said:
I wasn't getting text messages and outgoing texts were hit or miss. Even the desktop interface wasn't working.
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Gotta love hangouts... :mad:

I've given up on it and switched to textra. Do you have to use the GV app to send texts from your GV number?
 
Blown 89 said:
I wasn't getting text messages and outgoing texts were hit or miss. Even the desktop interface wasn't working.
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Google voice was horrible, only good thing it saved $20/mo on texts. Haven't had those problems with Hangouts as far as I know, but I believe incoming calls are still hit or miss. I'd never rely on it for critical things. But with unlimited data it's basically like having unlimited everything which is nice.

As far as carrier, I've traveled a lot and moved from Los Angeles to the midwest as well. Driven all over and 99% of the time had LTE with Verizon. People would come to my house with any other carrier including ATT and be lucky to get even a voice signal.

They all have pretty detailed coverage maps though, so take a look to see who works best on where you visit.

And yea not having root is bs. I just renewed my contract and sold the Note 5 for a $400 profit. About to sell my Note 4. Have no interest in Samsung or any other device that can't be rooted. Will pick up a 6P once it hits $350.
 
I was already thinking Verizon had the best coverage, thanks for your thoughts on that. I will check out the coverage maps.

I think what I'm going to do is move my personal number to Google Voice since its not as mission critical, and port my work number to my phone. That solves the sometimes not working issue.

So as far as phones, what would everyone recommend for Verizon?
 
depends on where u live and coverage. I just saw Walmarts MVNO has 10GB data LTE and unlimited text/data for 40$ a month. Not sure if the use Tmoblie or ATT
 
I've been doing this for years, OP. Works great for me. I've used this setup on both Android and iOS without issues. I prefer the overall experience on iOS a little more than Android, because there is more noticeable differentiation between when I am using my Voice number through the Hangouts app and using my carrier number through the native dialer/messages. The distinction is muddied somewhat on Android due to the way Hangouts and the SMS/Messages app work. I've never had problems with missed texts on Voice and I've been using it for over 5 years now. Calls were spotty in the past but have been fine since the Hangouts transition.
 
I do this as well, google voice is subpar for voice quality. Generally there is always a 1 second lag compared to a normal call, and sometimes the call quality is terrible you have to hang up and call again but thats maybe 1 in 20 calls for me. Text messages is just fine and I mostly text and being able to text from gmail/hangouts on pc is nice. My biggest complaint is not being able to set the google voice number as the default text action on android, for example if you are in some app that has the option to send someone a text by opening hangouts it will always send from the carrier number.
 
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munkle said:
I do this as well, google voice is subpar for voice quality. Generally there is always a 1 second lag compared to a normal call, and sometimes the call quality is terrible you have to hang up and call again but thats maybe 1 in 20 calls for me. Text messages is just fine and I mostly text and being able to text from gmail/hangouts on pc is nice. My biggest complaint is not being able to set the google voice number as the default text action on android, for example if you are in some app that has the option to send someone a text by opening hangouts it will always send from the carrier number.
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I have used wifi calling in the past and it was horrible - big delay, and highly compressed (bad quality). It was unusable. That would be a big concern of mine if GV worked that way, but I heard it was more of a call forwarding service meaning you're still using your voice line, not data for calls. Is this not how it works?
 
jamsomito said:
I have used wifi calling in the past and it was horrible - big delay, and highly compressed (bad quality). It was unusable. That would be a big concern of mine if GV worked that way, but I heard it was more of a call forwarding service meaning you're still using your voice line, not data for calls. Is this not how it works?
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You are using voice line, not data for calls with google voice on the phone, the quality and lag is still subpar, its usable for business, but if you are trying to have a normal conversation with friends then the lag really takes the emotion of the call because your constantly waiting a few seconds to make sure they are really done talking and that you aren't talking over them.
 
This can depend on carrier/data type as well. Ping matters a lot. With 3G GV calls will have horrible lag. At least on Verizon, using Hangouts with my GV number the call clarity is excellent, maybe even better than using actual cell line voice. The delay is maybe 500-1000ms at most on LTE with Verizon.

I use it to call anyone that doesn't have Verizon, since I'm on a limited minutes/unlimited data plan.
 
You can forward incoming calls from your GV number to your carrier number. This uses minutes and voice.

Hangouts uses data with your GV number for outgoing calls, and incoming as well if you're not forwarding calls.
 
BeavermanA said:
You can forward incoming calls from your GV number to your carrier number. This uses minutes and voice.

Hangouts uses data with your GV number for outgoing calls, and incoming as well if you're not forwarding calls.
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Ah, I see. Thanks.

Is the quality comparable between the two then?
 
jamsomito said:
Ah, I see. Thanks.

Is the quality comparable between the two then?
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I don't forward, so I'm not sure what that's like.

I always use Hangouts with LTE data only, and it has been excellent. I just don't trust it 100% with critical calls/texts, so wouldn't use it for business. And it's made/supported by Google, so at any time they could totally screw it up, cease support or just stop the service. Case in point Gmail app, latest update or something has completely screwed up sync.
 
BeavermanA said:
And it's made/supported by Google, so at any time they could totally screw it up, cease support or just stop the service.
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Voice is part of the Apps for Enterprise infrastructure, so the service itself isn't going away anytime soon or without a very long period of advance announcement. Worst they could do on short notice is start charging for it, I suppose. I don't see this as likely because the services it competes with are free.
 
CEpeep said:
Voice is part of the Apps for Enterprise infrastructure, so the service itself isn't going away anytime soon or without a very long period of advance announcement. Worst they could do on short notice is start charging for it, I suppose. I don't see this as likely because the services it competes with are free.
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Yea was only being half serious. Google just annoys me sometimes. Update app, add cool new features, break/remove other things that were perfect.

Certainly hope they don't change anything, cause Hangouts/GV saves me like $60/mo. 2 lines, have low minutes and no text service through Verizon. But with unlimited data I can use Hangouts for unlimited calls/texts.
 
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