What is the “forwarding phone” number in Google Voice?

A reader emailed me with a question about my tutorial for using the Nokia N810 as a wifi phone with Google Voice and Gizmo.

I am not very techie, but I can usually read and follow directions.
Somehow, I managed to mess this up. Everything was fine until I got to
the Dial Central forwarding phone section at the very end. Will you
please write out explicitly what the “forwarding phone” number is
supposed to be? Google Voice? or The SIP number from Gizmo or something
else entirely?

Thanks So Much For A Great Post,

Q

Dear Q,

I reread my tutorial, and I can see how you might have become confused.  I’ll try to clarify:

Forwarding Phone: This refers to any phone number that you set your Google Voice number to forward to.  This is the same as a Callback Number in DialCentral.  You can add forwarding phones by signing into your Google Voice account at http://google.com/voice, clicking “Settings” then “Phones.”

Callback Number: When you place a call through DialCentral, it doesn’t call out directly.  Instead, you tell it which of your forwarding phones you would like the call connected to.  DialCentral refers to this as your “Callback Number.” The menu for this feature is found under the Accounts tab.  When you place a call, Google Voice first calls the Forwarding Phone you choose through the Callback Number menu.  After you pick up the phone, you will hear it ringing through to the person you are calling.  Here’s how to do this:

Instructions:

1. When you start DialCentral for the first time, you have to sign in with your Google Voice credentials.  On the login dialogue, select “Google Voice” then enter your username and password. (Update 10/9/09: It’s no longer necessary to select account type during this step.  Just enter your Google Voice username and password when prompted.)
2. Tap the “Account” button at the bottom left corner. Near the bottom of the screen, you will see “Callback Number:” with a dropdown menu next to it.  Any forwarding phones you have set up in your Google Voice account will be listed in the dropdown menu.
3. Choose the phone you want to use for the call. If you have set up forwarding to your Gizmo5 account as described in my tutorial, your Gizmo SIP number will be listed as one of the options under the Callback Number menu.  If you want to use your Nokia N810 as a wifi phone, you must configure the Internet Call application with your Gizmo SIP settings so that calls to your Gizmo SIP number will ring through to the N810.  Instructions for setting this up are available under Parts Two and Three of this tutorial.
4. To place a call through DialCentral, you have two options.  You can either dial the number you want to call by tapping “Keypad,” entering the number, and tapping “Dial,” or you can select a number from your list of contacts by tapping “Contacts.”  If you dial from “Contacts,” you will have to select “Google Voice” from the Contacts dropdown menu before your contacts will be displayed.  To call a contact, double tap their name and tap “Dial.”  If you have entered more than one phone number for a contact, you will be given a choice of which number to call.
5. The phone you selected under “Account” will ring.  Answer it.  You will then hear your call ringing through as if you had dialed it directly from your phone.  Placing a call through your Nokia N810 works best if you have the Internet Call application already open and running in the background.  If it has to start cold, it sometimes takes too long and the call fails.

Hopefully this clears things up a bit.  If you have additional questions, you can ask me through my email contact form or by posting a comment below.

© 2009, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.

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