Howto: Google Voice in Canada

15. Jul, 2009 193 Comments

Okay, so I just got my invite and I got Google Voice to work. In Canada. Sorta. Here’s how to get it to work from a non-US location:

1. Getting the Invite:
https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/ in case you haven’t already.

2. Wait
You just have to wait for an email invite… I know of no way to speed this up.

3. What to do with the email:
If you just click on the link in the invite email it’ll tell you that google voice isn’t offered in your country (unless you’re in the US) and won’t let you do anything. You need a US IP address. For this, use hotspot shield. Activate hotspot shield and click on the invite link in your email.

Update: According to a commenter, hotspotshield may contain some malware. The point of this step is to make google think you are in the US, so you need a US IP address. I have enabled a proxy through this site which should work. Please try it out and let me know of any problems: Actually, I’ve taken the proxy down due to complaints by some users.

4. Account setup:
You’re not quite out of the woods yet. In the setup section you have to provide a phone number that will ring when someone calls your google voice number (ie a real phone). You put your number in the google voice setup page and it will call you. You then have to type a 2-digit code on your phone to activate the link. As google voice isn’t working outside the US right now you need a US number. Trying a Canadian (or other non-US) number will not work. There are a few ways around this:

Method 1: Just get a US number.
I have a SkypeIn number based in Rhode Island so I used that. If you want one it’s $18 for 3 months.

Method 2: Get a temporary US number.
You can get a temporary US number from a service like inumbr (currently down) or tossabledigits ($6.99) that will forward to your non-US phone.

Method 3: Get a US SIP number
This method requires a few steps.

     

  1. Register for a SIP account at IPTel. You will get an address like sip:username@iptel.org.
  2. Get a phone number from IPKall. You will have to input your SIP account information from step 1. There will be a bit of a delay before you get your assigned number.
  3. Set up a new your VOIP router or softphone with the SIP account information. Your username will be the one from iptel (“username” from step 1), and the proxy will be iptel.org
  4. Test it out by calling your US phone number from IPKall. If it works, then you can use your IPKall US number to activate google voice.

Note: This should in theory work with iPod Touch/iPhone if you set up a new SIP account in Fring. I tried activating this way but could not enter the 2 digit activation code using the Fring client. YMMV

UPDATE: Apparently area code 403 (Alberta) works for google voice natively, so if you have access to a 403 number you can skip step 3 and just use your regular number. Please comment back here with your results if it works.

So yeah, I have google voice with a phone number based in NYC. I also have a SkypeIn number based in Rhode Island.

Even if you get a US number now, you can change your google voice number at any time for $10. Get a US number now, change it to a Canadian (or any other) number later for $10, or just wait until it’s offered and grab a non-US number from the get-go. Of course there isn’t really anything stopping you from getting a US number with one email address now and then getting a number from your home country for free later with another email address (and thus new google voice account) except you wouldn’t have all your old voicemails/settings/etc in your new account.

Once your account is set up, please be sure to click on the “Send Feedback” link at the top of your google voice management page and tell them you’d like to see service in Canada ASAP. Of course be stereotypically polite Canadians when you do it, but don’t spare the enthusiasm!

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Canada, Fring, Google Voice, iOS
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  • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

    Hi Patrick: I am aware of magic jack and have ordered one for testing and review. I didn’t have one at the time I wrote the article so I just went with what I had personally checked.

  • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

    Andrew: It sounds like you are trying the “use google voice mail” sign up, and not the full google voice sign up. If you are just using google voice mail to replace your original voicemail, then you have to provide your carrier if I remember correctly. I do not believe this exists in the full google voice signup procedure, but if it does, you can try just selecting some random setting to see if it works.

  • Gihan

    Had access with a 519 number last year, but contract ran out and I couldnt port the number to my new carrier (bell)…now my new 519 number wont work :<. booo. I wonder why google is allowing 403?

  • ashan

    I got a 403 number and I got google voice…thanks to this blog!

    However, it seems that I cannot make any calls using google voice to others in Canada without getting dinged. Shouldn’t this be free since they made NA calling free? Is it only free if the google voice cellphone is in US?

    Does your Gizmo5 workaround fix this issue? Any other workaround?

    Thanks

  • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

    Hi Ashan,

    How are you getting dinged? Is your google voice account costing money (ie, the free $0.10 they give you going down), or is it that your regular phone is getting charged?

    Your regular phone will still have to “call” your google voice number, so you still pay that amount in airtime, or minutes, or however your phone contract is set up. The google voice account should not go down though, and if it is we should try to figure out exactly why. Are you calling from Canada to Canada?

  • ashan

    hey,

    I’m calling from Canada (using Google Voice through my 403 #) to a Canadian #….and my google voice account ($.10) is depleting.

    btw, I initiated the call through the google voice online interface…so I get a call from my google voice # to my 403 cell, which then connected to the 519 #

  • Bob

    Called a few numbers in Canada tonight – 0.02 per minute. They were free yesterday. Is Google now starting to charge to Canada again? I wish they’d make up their mind…toll-free, toll, toll-free, toll.

  • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

    Really? Wow. This is interesting news. Hopefully it’s just a glitch in the google voice setup and isn’t permanent. I’ll post this on the main page and will keep it updated.

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  • Pedro

    I want to verify something.

    Once i get my US number, google will let me change numbers to any number? So i can then pay them $10 and get a 416/647 number?

  • zmzmzm

    I use a service called voip.ms; you can get numbers all over the place (including Canada). For $1.50 a month you can get a DID in one of many areas, then pay about $0.01/min for NA wide calling.

    The service has lots of features…

  • Jev

    I have bought a Nexus One phone, and by using the phone to sign up, hey presto, I activated Google Voice on my account!

    I bought my Nexus One via expansys.ca and I’m using Fido. I have tested so far with international dialing, which works seamlessly. I have not yet tried to set up Voicemail, this may be a bit more problematic but I will try later.

    -Jev

  • Lucian

    Hi Jev are u just getting a data package from fido with no voice? if so how much u pay for it…I am a current fido customer as well with a Google Nexus One…but I can’t get the Google Voice working…I am still waiting for a Google Voice invite…and btw how many MB have u used by making phone calls over 3G? I heard that 2 hours of videochat via Skype on the Iphone can use up as much as 350MB….

  • Mark

    It seems that Google now added an additional requirement — when adding a phone number to Google Voice, we must now also select from a list of “supported carriers” (e.g., AT&T, T-Mobile, etc).

    Unfortunately this change seems to close the “loophole” of forwarding calls from a Skype In number (or other call forwarding service)…

  • http://www.blerg.ca Lagerstatten

    I have an invite, live in Calgary, Alberta and have a mobile with Rogers/Fido. I enter in my mobile number, get the call and I enter in the two digit verification code, then create a pin. After that it states that it can’t find my carrier and asks me to select from the drop down list. The list only has US based providers and not the Canadian ones.

    I randomly chose Verizon and it gives me a number to call – called it but it says that the call could not be completed (with a female voice on the other line).

    Do I just click continue from there? or did the process not complete?

    Any help from other Albertans would be nice. Thanks!

    -TT

  • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

    I think you guys are going through the googlevoicemail only setup. You’re just adding google voice features to your existing number, so yeah you’ll get this problem.

    If you request a new google voice number I don’t think you’ll have this issue. You’ll get a US google voice number, but will be able to use your Canadian phone with it.

  • Mark

    You are correct George —

    I did indeed sign up just for the Googlevoicemail only setup (now am wishing that I had signed up for the Google Number)

    Unfortunately having now made this mistake, the system requires that I register a phone number with a “supported” mobile carrier (doesn’t provide any option to go back and obtain a google number)…

  • Albertan

    I have a San Francisco Googlevoice # that easily forwards to my Alberta 403 phone number.

  • Brian Roulston

    Hello,I live in Ontario, Canada and am deaf. I was wondering could I use this number to dial a IPRelay service such as SipRelay,Purple to dial back into Canada to contact friends and family.
    Thanks
    Brian

  • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

    Brian: That’s a great question! I will look into it for you. Give me a little time to work on it.

  • http://www.tek-tom.com Tek-Tom

    The missing link to this is MagicJack!! It costs $20 for the year of service and you can forward that number to your Canadian phone. Then if you have an iPhone or other web enabled phone and if you have incoming calls free on your plan, then just bring up the webpage for google voice and put in the number you want to call in the form and press call. Google voice will call your phone (free call because it’s incoming) then once you answer, it will initiate the call to the other party. Talk until your battery runs out for free!!

  • murman

    Skype does the Job way better than Google.I have had a gizmo5 acct for years.Comparing the 2 programs Skype rocks Gizmo needs Improvment,big time
    Also there are lots of Skype phones but I have yet to find a Gizmo phone

  • James

    Somebody said you can’t forward google voice # to skype, I just did, it works great, my friends in the usa can call my google voice # which call forwards to my skype, and skype call forwards to my cdn cell phone, btw I have had it for months and my calling credit still says .10 so they aren’t charging for canada, btw I used the hotspot shield from canada and it worked great, I used google voice to call my us pay as you go tmobile and got in the car and drove down the highway talking to canada for free since tmobile has a pay as you go free after 7pm plan

  • Sean

    I’m a bit confused. Until now I thought GV was a VOIP service. But if GV calls me back in order to make calls, then that means I’ll be using my minutes while on the line. It won’t be “free” like everyone here is talking about. Also, won’t I have to have that other number always running on fring, since GV will always be calling it?

    Am I missing something here? I just got an invite from my cousin, but I’m hesitant now to take the steps to enable it, cause I no longer see the benefit of GV.

    I have a Nexus One with the ATT/Rogers 3G. I was hoping to be able to use GV to make and receive calls over wifi and 3G, since I can’t get Skype.

    • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

      Hi Sean,

      GV is NOT a VOIP service. You need an existing phone line in order to make it work. There are some really cheap VOIP plans out there, so that will help, and one of the benefits of GV is that you can make long-distance calls for essentially free, which will save you those charges on your existing phone line.

      This may change soon however, as google acquired gizmo5, which was a VOIP company.

  • shelagh stone

    Id be forever grateful for an invite please?

    Please let me know if there is anything else that i may do, besides passing some more on to help out.

    Please reach me at shelagh1959NOSPAM@gmail.com

    Please remove the NOSPAM from the email addy

  • Zwee

    A question from someone coming a little late to this party:
    I’m from S. Alberta (Calgary) and now live in Chicago. A mate of mine in Calgary has a GV invite and wants to activate it. She asked me if I could activate it for her. I’m eager to help her but I’m not entirely sure what I should be doing, nor is she.

    Do I need to just set her up with her Calgary cell phone number (403 area code)? Do I set her up with my cell phone here in Chicago then have her change it later (for the 10$ fee I keep reading about)?

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I’m kinda feelin’ like a babe in the woods here. :)

    • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

      The 403 area code is pretty special in that you can just set up her cell phone number with it and it’ll work. She’ll have to help you with it though as google voice will call her 403 number and ask her to enter a code.

      Here’s what you should do if you can coordinate with her online:

      1. Click on the GV invite. If you’re in Chicago, then you won’t need a proxy or anything.
      2. When it asks for a phone number to tie to, put in her cell number.
      3. The GV setup page will give you a 2-digit code and will call her cell. Give her the code and tell her to put in this code when the GV phone call asks for it.
      4. You’re done.

      She will of course have a US GV number this way. How this works is she will have a number from say, NYC 646-555-1234 for example. Someone can call her at that number and it will forward to her 403 cell number. When/if GV becomes available in Canada, she’ll be able to change her US GV number over to a Canadian one for $10.

      If you can’t coordinate online with her for some reason, then you can go through the setup process for her and put in one of your phone numbers to tie into GV. The account will essentially be yours, but you can transfer it over to her. Once the account is activated, get her to log in to the GV account (she may have to use a proxy for the first time to set the cookie), and she can then add her 403 cell number on her own time, and remove your phone number from the account.

      If you have any problems, let me know and I’ll try to help.

  • Zwee

    @George: Thanks a million for the step by step. As soon as she come back online later this evening I’ll coordinate with her and get this rolling. I’ll update with the results in case anyone else finds this helpful. Thanks again!

  • http://Peter John B

    After reading this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time to put this blog piece together. I once again find myself spending way to much time both reading and commenting. What ever, it was still worth it :)

  • Dave

    George…great info..but one question…
    Do you know of any way to get this to work in reverse?

    I am originally from Montreal, and I want to get a Montreal # I can use that would forward to any of my US #. I already have a secondary 866 # through vonage (US), but I will most probably be disconnecting my vonage account shortly as I use my T-Mobile phone 95% of the time.

    Essentially, I am looking for the cheapest way to get either a Montreal or 800/866 standalone number, even if it is IP based, that could forward to my US cell #. Any ideas?

    Respects

    • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

      Hi Dave,

      Yes there is a way to do this, however it won’t have all the fun features of google voice. You’ll need a VOIP phone number from a service provider, and then you can just log into your account and have it always forward to your US number.

      I’ve tried out vbuzzer (www.vbuzzer.com) and it’s cheap and has worked for my testing purposes.

      Check out the features here and see if it’s what you want.

  • Daniel

    Hi George,

    I would like to verify a few things since somehow it’s still not really clear to me even after reading your article and some of the messages.

    I live in Toronto, have 416 # (landline/cell). Somehow I screwed up the invite once (doing those hiding IP steps) so when I actually get an invite I’d save the trouble just ask a friend in US to activate and get an US # for me..

    But questions:
    1. so when you said later we can pay $10 to transfer the GV# to a Canadian number, is it happening yet (since your article was last year)?

    2. if not, can I still tie my 416 landline and cell # to this new US GV# for my US friends to call (and it’d ring on my 416# ?)

    3. when I call out (either to US or Canada), do I just dial the number (either from landline or cell) and it’s free? (and the receiver will see it’s from the US GV# instead of 416#?)

    Or, is the case being we’d have to pay long distance (416 to US GV#) and from US GV# to North American # portion is free? (if so then seriously what’s the hype before GV really comes to Canada anyways?)

    4. if Q3 is yes, does it mean whoever owns a GV# can just pay the min. fee to any carrier, just to keep the line, and calling North American for free (even roaming?)

    Thanks for your reply in advance!

    • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

      Hi Daniel,

      The short answers are: no, no, long distance rates apply.

      No, you can’t get a Canadian GV number, and GV is still not available in Canada. I have no idea when this will change, and yes it has been a long time.

      You can’t tie your 416 number into GV either. If you try, it’ll say that it’s not available in Canada and won’t let you do it. The lucky people in the 403 area code (southern Alberta) are exempt from this for reasons which are still not clear. Basically, you can’t get GV to ring your 416 number.

      The best way to go for now is to get a cheap US VOIP number and tie this into GV. The downside is that your neighbour will have to call a US number to reach you through GV if you decide to make it your only phone number. This makes it not a very usable solution for now. This guide is mainly to get Canadians access to the service, and to allow us to play with it a little bit.

  • Kirsten

    So.. I don’t know if this is because I was a grand-central subscriber first, *but* I somehow have my Canadian (Montreal, 514) numbers active in Google voice. If someone dials my GV number (a US number), it will forward to my Canadian phone(s). If someone texts my GV number, it forwards to my Canadian cell. I actually just realized this today (yeah – I know, slow to the game).

    My question is this — how does billing work? If someone calls me from the US, will I be charged long-distance fees? What about if someone texts me from the US?

    Any ideas?

  • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

    Hi Kirsten,

    You got it right. It is because you were a Grand Central subscriber. Lucky you :)

    I don’t have an answer for you regarding your second part though. Can you test it for us? I think you get $0.10 free in your GV account (at least I do). Maybe someone can call your GV number, talk for a minute and see if your account balance goes down for transferring the call over to Montreal. My guess is that you won’t get charged as that’s the entire point of using GV.

    I have a NY GV number, and my skype number to which it forwards is in Rhode Island. I’ve never noticed my GV account getting charged for forwarding the calls…

  • chastyti

    so i am trying this now and the 403 loophole seems to be closed. just saying – as of May 26 2010

  • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

    Hi chastyti, what exactly do you mean? Can you no longer forward to your 403 number when you could previously? Or are you trying to sign up and can’t get it to register?

  • RAGETRON

    chastyti, can you give a bit more detail on that? You’re telling me that Google Voice recognizes that the 403 area code as a forwarding phone is international? If so, does it say the message about not being able to forward to international phone numbers? Or are you trying to get a 403 Canadian phone number AS YOUR GV number?

    Please let me know the status on 403 area code phones as forwaring phones as I’m planning to get a cellphone plan with it soon that I can have my GV number forward to (as I understand, you just need to enter 2 digit code to activate this Canadian phone number as a phone to receive calls from GV)

    If this option is truly not available, I have to use workarounds like getting a US forwarding number that forwards to any Canadian number (whether through magicjack or skypein or any other system). I would very much like to know, as do many others! So please update with the status?

    • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

      Hmm, I just logged in to my google voice account and tried to add a 403 number as a forwarding phone. It seemed to work fine as it asked me to go through the verification process. When I try with my 778 number it gives me an error that international numbers are not supported and doesn’t get to the verification process.

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  • Philippe

    Thanks you … I fallow the method 3 is work fine but in google voice when it’s time to put your real number the following error appear

    International numbers are not supported as forwarding phones.

  • RAGETRON

    Hi guys! Glad to be able to tell you that the 403 loop hole STILL works as of 6/11/2010. In fact, I just changed from a pay as you go Rogers 778 Vancouver number to a pay as you go Rogers 403 Calgary number and had Google Voice successfully add it as a forwarding phone. It did NOT complain about it being an international forwarding phone, it simply gave me the two digits I should use to verify. I received a phone call from my Google Voice number with a recorded lady asking me to enter those two digits, which I did. The nice lady told me my ‘forwarding phone is now active’. I am able to receive callback from Google Voice on my 403 number in Canada and dial out to US numbers. Amazing!

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  • MIke

    Well I requested a few months back to be notified when the service would be in Canada and to my surprise June 12 2010 I received a message from Google telling me it is now available and a link to click on for the invite in Canada. Happy as I was I clicked the link that took me to a page telling me it was NOT available in Canada yet. What a downer Google got my hopes up after waiting for so long.

    Did this happen to anyone else?

  • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

    Philippe: You can’t forward google voice to a non-US number yet. That’s why you need the other phone number (skype or magic jack etc). You can then set that up to forward to your regular phone. Of course, you still have a US google voice number.

    MIke: Really? That’s kind of cool. Can you email me a screenshot? Nothing in my google voice account, and I still can’t forward to my Canadian number.

  • TrueG

    Thanks for the tip on using IPTel/IPKall. I had an old VoIP phone laying around (Goldstream BT-100) so I set up a number with IPTel/IPKall and then asked for an invite. It took 10 days, but it finally came today. I was able to set it up and it works great. Bye bye $30 long distance plan. :)

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  • Dean

    I have call forwarding on my home phone (canada) to my google voice account, which send me an email voice mail while I am on the road. I used my magic jack phone number as my American phone number. This works pretty well for me.

  • TrueG

    I just wanted to mention that PortGo for Windows Mobile (by PortSIP) is free and supports DTMF, so assuming you have a US number via iptel/ipkall, you can use this program to activate and use Google Voice.

  • Nick

    I dont get it, isnt the whole point with google voice that you can
    switch to any local number when you travel? So in theory you should be able to go to China, get a local sim card and redirect google voice to call you there. You may need to put some money on the account as interantional calling rates may apply, but for canada those are $0/minute, so I’m not sure what is the issue. Maybe there is a bug that requires you to have non-zero money on the account to switch to foreign number even if usage is free there?

  • http://www.wifitalk.ca george

    Nick,

    That’s a possible FUTURE use, but it isn’t the point. Basically GV is to be “the last phone number you’ll ever have to give out” and will aggregate all your phone plans into one front end.

    Right now you can’t tie GV to a non-US number, nor can you get a non-US GV number. There’s currently no way to use it in other countries the way you specified.

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  • HardRom

    I read through until the comment of you telling the guy to set up his friends’ account and coordinate with her in Calgary, so forgive me if you’ve already noticed…. My God Man! Quit telling people to use hotspot shield! They install malware AND an I.E. Browser “helper” in the form of a search redirect to some site like qmrzy.com or something similiar.

    Not BS, take this how you will. I’d recommend googling it.

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