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Quality Considerations
Google Voice's free VoIP offerings can be a good resource when you're getting started with a phone number, but their sound quality is typically poor and their settings often interfere with forwarding to a reception service.
Some customers have been able to make Google Voice work in conjunction with our services, but sometimes things do get a little tricky, and Google Voice doesn't have a technical support team to turn to if any questions arise. We're always happy to take a look at what's happening on our end, but we're only able to see the path of a phone call after it has entered our system. We've found that we are typically not able to offer a full resolution should Google's technology become an issue.
With no customer service team at Google to assist, using their service long-term can put the calls for your business at risk. Hosting your number with Ruby, free of charge, will be the best way to ensure that your callers consistently reach our receptionists. We highly recommend porting your business line to Ruby to host free of charge instead. When you host your number with Ruby, you can text from, dial out from, and forward your business line - all from our mobile app. In our app, you can also set your status for our receptionists, see all your call records in one place, and manage your Ruby account.
Optimal Settings
While some of their settings seem pretty handy when we're not answering your calls, having extra announcements or options come up before a call connects can actually cause issues when the lines are forwarded to our receptionists. To make sure your Google Voice settings are working as well as they can with our service, follow the below instructions depending on the layout of your Google Voice account.
Google's Legacy Interface
- Review your Groups & Circles tab to remove any previously set rules that may prevent calls from reaching Ruby.
- Under the Calls tab, make sure that the Call Screening feature is off.
- Uncheck the box in your call settings for Call Options: Enable Recording (4), Switch (*), and Conferencing Options on inbound calls.
Google's New Interface
- In the Calls tab, make sure that the Screen Calls feature is off.
- Turn off Incoming call options: Record call (4), Switch linked phone (*), Start conference call (5)
Forwarding from Google Voice
After confirming your Google Voice account is set up with the ideal settings above, you're ready to activate forwarding.
- Add your Ruby forwarding number. Under the Phone tab of Settings, add your Ruby forwarding number as a "Work" number from the dropdown menu. You may also have calls forwarded to Google Chat while also forwarding to Ruby. Note: Be sure your Ruby forwarding number is NOT labelled as a "Mobile" contact.
- Display caller ID. Go to the Calls tab and turn off call screening. Select Display caller’s number so your callers’ numbers display in our system. Double check that all other boxes on the Calls tab remain unchecked!
- Call Ruby! When you’re ready to forward calls, give our Customer Happiness team a call at 866-611-7829 to assist you with Google Voice’s pin verification. Make sure your verification pin is set to be delivered via phone call (not text) and our team will be happy to assist you in collecting the code.
Troubleshooting
Calls Ringing to Google Voicemail Instead of Ruby
Google Voice calls require us to press 1 to accept all calls that are forwarded to us. This feature can be both persnickety and inconsistent, and sometimes leads to issues receiving all of your calls successfully. Unfortunately, there is also no way to deactivate this feature.
There are three main reasons that a Google Voice call is not answered by Ruby:
- We answered very quickly and weren’t prompted to press 1 to accept the call.
- We did not answer within 20 seconds.
- We tried to press 1 to accept the call, but Google Voice didn’t recognize that we were trying to accept it.
At this point we've done all we can on our end to troubleshoot this issue, but since Google Voice does not offer customer service or technical support of any kind, we don’t have a way to fully resolve the issue from our end.
The best solution if you’re running into this issue is to port your published number to Ruby to host for free. It would live in our phone system and be linked directly to your Ruby account. Porting your number to Ruby gives you the ability to make outbound calls from, text from, and forward your business number - all from our mobile app! You can read more about porting here.
Does Google Voice Offer CFBNA or Delayed Call Forwarding?
No, Google Voice does not have any settings that would result in Call Forward Busy/No Answer or “delayed” call forwarding. The closest thing Google Voice offers is simultaneous ring, and that setting does not work well with Ruby’s system. Hosting your number with Ruby instead of Google Voice would allow you to set up a delayed call forward!
Using Google Chat Call Notifications
While the simultaneous ring feature does not work well with our system, Google Voice does have a way of notifying you that an incoming call is being forwarded to Ruby. In order to use this feature, Google Voice will have to be set up to forward calls to a Google mail account. As long as you’re at your computer, you’ll be able to tell via Google Chat who is calling you ahead of time if your Gmail is open.