That was pretty good! Thanks!

Okay, so I think I'm finally understanding this whole concept of VOIP.

When using DialCentral, for the phone number I'm trying to call it first has to go through to my home phone since that's my forwarding number.

From there it redirects it back to my tablet, so once I answer it, DialCentral will then connect me to my original phone number I had dialed. Is this the correct method on how this whole process works?

By the way, thank you hornartist for such an excellent guide!

Err I Googled that # and it seems to be a spam caller? o.O

Yes, that's exactly how DialCentral works.

You're welcome. My pleasure.

Awesome! I'm learning me technology!

Okay. So I've noticed that I can still call out using my tablet even if my home phone is currently busy. So I guess I'm not quite sure how Google Voice is actually using that phone line.

If I start calling stuff like my Psychic Hotline Friends, 411 Information and 1-976-Dial-a-Sweat tawdry smut action phone numbers, is my house number going to be charged for these ummm... quality services?

Is anyone using a forwarding number besides their house phone and is there any benefit for doing so?

Thanks ahead!

@addison
Yes I use a VOIP line instead of a "physical" phone.

You can use Gizmo5 (client running on tablet or using Nokia client or FRING or another VOIP client that can run on the tablet) or SIPgate or etc.

Why Google won't handle the whole process, IDK.

I think it's because their primary use-case is business people that have various home and work lines and need one line to manage them all.

If you use Google Voice call-out it will show the Google Voice # as the caller-id.

As far as being charged, well that depends. If you call via VOIP (tablet or any computer) then you cannot incur charges (just be sure you don't link your credit card with Google). However if you dial out via a home phone (call your GV #, during voicemail dial your PIN and then dial 2 and the number you want to call) then it will charge you for the call TO google (the entire call) so be sure that the GV # you pick isn't long-distance as far as your phone company is concerned. You are tunneling through the GV #. Now if you used a cellphone then it would use anytime minutes.

There are a bunch of guides out there. Search the forums, but the most popular is hornartist's. I also wrote one (not too popular though).

Here's a neat way to get your SMS messages read over the phone to you, and be able to respond via voice-to-text transcription.

I just set this up myself after much googling.

1. Get a separate, new email address specifically for your SMS messages. (Like at gmx.com for example)

2. In Google Voice, go to Settings > Voicemail & SMS. Next to "Alert me when I have a new voicemail", you'll see a link "Add a new email address". Do this. Have the new email verified and all that's required.

3. Once you've added a new email address for voicemail notifications, it will appear in the dropdown for SMS messages. Since you can already call your Google Voice number for voicemails, uncheck the email notifications for them. Notice that when you check "forward SMS messages to my email" it will have your new, separate email address next to it.

4. Sign up for a http://dial2do.com account. Set up the email reading feature using the IMAP settings of your free email service (if you got one at gmx.com, they have free IMAP service. A lot of free email services don't, so use gmx or find one that does).

5. OPTIONAL: If you are a T-Mobile MyFaves user, add dial2do's number to your MyFaves for unlimited calling.

6. Call Dial2do's access number, say "listen to email", and you'll be rewarded with text-to-voice SMS messages with the ability to respond via voice!

And it's all for free!

Now if there were only a way to get a free phone call when someone SMSed you. I realize I could just pay for SMS messages via my cell provider and have them forwarded, but what would be the fun of that?

So check it out, and if you find any more useful ways to extend Google Voice, be sure to pipe up

It has 100% accuracy with my pronunciation thus far (only sent 10-20 SMS messages with it though)

Hey, been using gv + gizmo, as well as several other cool SIP solutions over the years, but only recently got a N800 and was able to "take it on the road" so to speak.

If anyone here uses dialcentral and can't figure out why they can use it to make outgoing calls from cellphones or landlines but not with a SIP number (i.e. gizmo account) the problem is with the google voice mobile interface. Details here:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/...f32fb6fc&hl=en