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Google Voice too. No human tech support. It's kind of weird how having no human to talk to can be a good thing in these high security matters. No social engin

Google Voice too. No human tech support. It's kind of weird how having no human to talk to can be a good thing in these high security matters. No social engineering attack surface.

ssl-3 3y ago
I've just realized that, even though I've used Google Voice as my primary phone number since before it was Google Voice -- for about 18 years now -- I have never really had a problem with it[0], and I've also never paid a dime for it[1]. It seems like a well-oiled machine. 0: Well, some places don't like using GV for 2FA (and demand a "real" cell phone number), and some other places don't think it can do short-code messages at all, but those aren't issues that anyone at GV could ever solve even if those people did exist. 1: Yeah, sure. I'm the product. Blah blah.
- WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
  > I've used Google Voice as my primary phone number since before it was Google Voice I've still got my .10 Grand Central introductory credit.
  - gosub100 3y ago
    I use Google voice as my main number on my Pixel, but also on a burner phone to harass overly aggressive recruiters. When I set up Google voice in the burner it made me load it with credit but surprisingly all the calls and texts I've made with it are free.
- fragmede 3y ago
  GV numbers are in some database as being VOIP. If there was some there that could do something, they could get the numbers out of that database.
  - jasomill 3y ago
    Do these databases see through number portability, or are they just verifying that the area code + prefix is assigned to a traditional telco? Because you can port a landline to Google Voice for $20, and, in my experience, random Internet "phone number lookup" sites still show it as a landline years later.
    - aosmith 3y ago
      CNAM is the database you're looking for, maybe LIDB too. Once you port the number the CNAM should change.
    - yurishimo 3y ago
      The number gets classified differently in the "official" phone number database when you port it to a new carrier, including Google Voice. I used to have my US number in GV but ran into a lot of the 2FA issues as as well as trying to use it overseas extensively. Eventually, Google will figure it out to the point where it is no longer tenable to try and keep working around it. I caved and bought a $5/mo eSIM plan from Tello. They don't seem to care that I'm not in the US 10 or 11 months out of the year. I can use wifi calling to send/receive texts for 2FA for free, and iOS even supports using the data of one SIM/eSIM as the "wifi" for a different phone line also present on the device. So even if I'm out, I hop into settings, turn on the second line, it uses my EU data plan to fetch new messages via "wifi calling" and then I get my 2FA code or whatever. Takes about 30 seconds in total. Is it the most convenient thing ever? No. I have an older iPhone because I'm a cheap bastard so I turn off the other line when I'm not using it, otherwise it will constantly look for a compatible roaming signal which it will never find because I have not authorized any international charges on that account (battery drain).
- 77pt77 3y ago
  Many services won't even text 2FA codes to voip numbers, google voice included. Some may call, most not even that.
  - Larrikin 3y ago
    Its more of a recent thing, but I am a little worried about how common it is becoming. I've used my GV number since atleast 2007 for everything. My bank accounts at banks I like have never complained about my Google Voice number and still don't. My bank account at Bank of America had some security check I needed to complete at some point and my Google Voice number that had been in their system for a decade I was told was not eligible anymore and I needed to actually use my real phone number. I could almost put up with it if it was for things that need to be secure, but my 7-11 rewards account rejected my phone number at the gas pump a few years ago and Target rewards also started blocking my GV number.
    - ssl-3 3y ago
      Sometimes, it's like neither loyalty nor consistency nor history actually mean anything. "I have cheerfully been using your service in this exact same way for seventeen years." "FUCK YOU! GET OUT!"
- lepus 3y ago
  Things are pretty stable because Google Voice has barely changed in the past decade, but when things do go wrong there's no one around to look into it. There was a time many years ago when Google Voice would intermittently fail to ring or even forward calls to another number when I tried that, and then give no indication that a call was ever made to your number that you missed (I verified it by asking when people I knew called me and said I never got back to them), which is pretty bad when you're expecting to receive important calls sometimes. This went on for months. I received bare minimum support which didn't even come close to helping the issue even though my issue was voted to the top of the support boards because many other people were having the same issue at the time. I'm glad you personally haven't had an issue but you should be prepared to have one at some point and get essentially no help.
moneywoes 3y ago
what if you lose access to google voice yourself?
- hombre_fatal 3y ago
  There is usually a way to get into your own account. It’s just harder than fibbing to a customer support agent in a chat box.
RockRobotRock 3y ago
Imagine making a mean comment on YouTube and losing access to your bank account (everything runs on SMS 2FA) No human to talk to, no appeals process. Don't trust Google, they are indifferent.
- shrimp_emoji 3y ago
  My class read a science fiction story in CS about a guy getting executed on death row for a late library book in a comedy of errors where a series of automated systems glitch out and a detached bureaucracy is slow to react. Or something like that. I feel like it should be required reading to protect against "automate all the things" hubris.
  - HideousKojima 3y ago
    Sounds somewhat reminiscent of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. Basically a fly dies and gets caught in a teletype machine, causing the name on an arrest warrant to be misprinted. This snowballs into all sorts of darkly humorous and depressing hijinks.
    - WatchDog 3y ago
      Literally a bug in the system.
  - WatchDog 3y ago
    Do you remember what it was called?
    - bsammon 3y ago
      I had a fuzzy memory of this story from years back, and recently stumbled across it recently on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computers_Don't_Argue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computers_Don't_Argue
  - redwall_hp 3y ago
    Basically a modernized version of the premise of "The Trial" by Franz Kafka. An unknown authority charges the character with a unstated crime and bureaucracy chugs along on errors and assumptions.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
thayne 3y ago
The downside of course is if you do run into a problem, you have nor recourse.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

Google Voice too. No human tech support. It's kind of weird how having no human to talk to can be a good thing in these high security matters. No social engineering attack surface.

ssl-3 3y ago

I've just realized that, even though I've used Google Voice as my primary phone number since before it was Google Voice -- for about 18 years now -- I have never really had a problem with it[0], and I've also never paid a dime for it[1]. It seems like a well-oiled machine. 0: Well, some places don't like using GV for 2FA (and demand a "real" cell phone number), and some other places don't think it can do short-code messages at all, but those aren't issues that anyone at GV could ever solve even if those people did exist. 1: Yeah, sure. I'm the product. Blah blah.

WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
> I've used Google Voice as my primary phone number since before it was Google Voice I've still got my .10 Grand Central introductory credit.
- gosub100 3y ago
  I use Google voice as my main number on my Pixel, but also on a burner phone to harass overly aggressive recruiters. When I set up Google voice in the burner it made me load it with credit but surprisingly all the calls and texts I've made with it are free.
fragmede 3y ago
GV numbers are in some database as being VOIP. If there was some there that could do something, they could get the numbers out of that database.
- jasomill 3y ago
  Do these databases see through number portability, or are they just verifying that the area code + prefix is assigned to a traditional telco? Because you can port a landline to Google Voice for $20, and, in my experience, random Internet "phone number lookup" sites still show it as a landline years later.
  - aosmith 3y ago
    CNAM is the database you're looking for, maybe LIDB too. Once you port the number the CNAM should change.
  - yurishimo 3y ago
    The number gets classified differently in the "official" phone number database when you port it to a new carrier, including Google Voice. I used to have my US number in GV but ran into a lot of the 2FA issues as as well as trying to use it overseas extensively. Eventually, Google will figure it out to the point where it is no longer tenable to try and keep working around it. I caved and bought a $5/mo eSIM plan from Tello. They don't seem to care that I'm not in the US 10 or 11 months out of the year. I can use wifi calling to send/receive texts for 2FA for free, and iOS even supports using the data of one SIM/eSIM as the "wifi" for a different phone line also present on the device. So even if I'm out, I hop into settings, turn on the second line, it uses my EU data plan to fetch new messages via "wifi calling" and then I get my 2FA code or whatever. Takes about 30 seconds in total. Is it the most convenient thing ever? No. I have an older iPhone because I'm a cheap bastard so I turn off the other line when I'm not using it, otherwise it will constantly look for a compatible roaming signal which it will never find because I have not authorized any international charges on that account (battery drain).
77pt77 3y ago
Many services won't even text 2FA codes to voip numbers, google voice included. Some may call, most not even that.
- Larrikin 3y ago
  Its more of a recent thing, but I am a little worried about how common it is becoming. I've used my GV number since atleast 2007 for everything. My bank accounts at banks I like have never complained about my Google Voice number and still don't. My bank account at Bank of America had some security check I needed to complete at some point and my Google Voice number that had been in their system for a decade I was told was not eligible anymore and I needed to actually use my real phone number. I could almost put up with it if it was for things that need to be secure, but my 7-11 rewards account rejected my phone number at the gas pump a few years ago and Target rewards also started blocking my GV number.
  - ssl-3 3y ago
    Sometimes, it's like neither loyalty nor consistency nor history actually mean anything. "I have cheerfully been using your service in this exact same way for seventeen years." "FUCK YOU! GET OUT!"
lepus 3y ago
Things are pretty stable because Google Voice has barely changed in the past decade, but when things do go wrong there's no one around to look into it. There was a time many years ago when Google Voice would intermittently fail to ring or even forward calls to another number when I tried that, and then give no indication that a call was ever made to your number that you missed (I verified it by asking when people I knew called me and said I never got back to them), which is pretty bad when you're expecting to receive important calls sometimes. This went on for months. I received bare minimum support which didn't even come close to helping the issue even though my issue was voted to the top of the support boards because many other people were having the same issue at the time. I'm glad you personally haven't had an issue but you should be prepared to have one at some point and get essentially no help.

moneywoes 3y ago

what if you lose access to google voice yourself?

hombre_fatal 3y ago
There is usually a way to get into your own account. It’s just harder than fibbing to a customer support agent in a chat box.

RockRobotRock 3y ago

Imagine making a mean comment on YouTube and losing access to your bank account (everything runs on SMS 2FA) No human to talk to, no appeals process. Don't trust Google, they are indifferent.

shrimp_emoji 3y ago
My class read a science fiction story in CS about a guy getting executed on death row for a late library book in a comedy of errors where a series of automated systems glitch out and a detached bureaucracy is slow to react. Or something like that. I feel like it should be required reading to protect against "automate all the things" hubris.
- HideousKojima 3y ago
  Sounds somewhat reminiscent of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. Basically a fly dies and gets caught in a teletype machine, causing the name on an arrest warrant to be misprinted. This snowballs into all sorts of darkly humorous and depressing hijinks.
  - WatchDog 3y ago
    Literally a bug in the system.
- WatchDog 3y ago
  Do you remember what it was called?
  - bsammon 3y ago
    I had a fuzzy memory of this story from years back, and recently stumbled across it recently on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computers_Don't_Argue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computers_Don't_Argue
- redwall_hp 3y ago
  Basically a modernized version of the premise of "The Trial" by Franz Kafka. An unknown authority charges the character with a unstated crime and bureaucracy chugs along on errors and assumptions.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

thayne 3y ago

The downside of course is if you do run into a problem, you have nor recourse.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]