It is no secret that Google dominates much of the internet space today with its diverse range of services, products, and info products. What started as a casual research project in the hallways of Standford has successfully expanded into a multinational tech giant right in front of our eyes. Having left an extraordinary mark in online advertising, email services, navigation, translation, and other industries, Google ventured into the telecommunications industry back in 2009; but with a twist.
Instead of opening a regular service-providing company, they designed an innovative Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. Herein, you can send and receive messages and calls globally using the internet, directly, without any third-party platform or tool involved.
And the most interesting part? To others, it’ll just look like you’re calling from your regular device; they’ll even see a different number – the one provided by Google – in place of your real one. So, if you’re someone who likes to keep their work and personal life separate, signing up for Google Voice is the answer to all your problems.
To make the lives of their customers easier, Google Voice offers both free and paid plans and you can pick either in accordance with your needs. Fourteen years after its launch, the service is still restricted within the US, managing to grow a user base of 1.4 million active users. Isn’t that extraordinary?
In this blog, we’ll explore the possibility of someone finding your real phone number through your Google Voice number. Stick with us till the end to have some other major Google Voice FAQs answered as well!
Can Someone Find Your Real Number from Google Voice Number?
Because Google Voice is still not available in so many countries, it is natural for the platform to have a comparatively smaller number of users. This translates to lesser information about it available online, which is why we understand why you might be feeling confused. We’re here to solve that conundrum for you!
You want to learn whether there’s a likelihood of someone finding your real number through your Google Voice number, right? Well, you’re lucky, because the answer is NO.
There is no way for people to find your real number through Google Voice; if there were, it’d totally beat the very purpose that Google designed and launched this service for.
Let’s discuss it more elaborately to further reassure you:
The process of acquiring an alternative phone number from Google Voice first requires you to sign up for the service. You can do this using your verified Gmail address – which means you must have an active Gmail account for it.
And since even the process of signing up for this service doesn’t require you to enter your real phone number, it keeps the safety of your Google Voice number separate as well as intact.
Can someone use more than one Google Voice number?
Now that we’ve gotten your initial query out of the way, there are several other questions Google Voice users have been sending our way that we’d like to answer here. Rest assured that as a Google Voice user, they’re going to benefit you as well.
One of the most frequently asked question is whether or not can a single user can have multiple Google Voice numbers. Unfortunately, that’s not how Google Voice works. Only one number is assigned to an individual account, which is why possessing two or more of them is out of the question.
How often can someone change their Google Voice number?
If getting multiple numbers from Google Voice isn’t possible, how come one of your friends had two of them? We’d be happy to answer this query as well.
While Google Voice allots only one number to a user, it does provide them with an option to change it – not as often or as many times as they’d like, but once a year.
So, if this friend of yours has two numbers associated with Google Voice, it’s likely that one of those numbers is an old one, which they might have changed recently. In any case, one of those numbers has to be out of service at the given moment.
You could try calling on both and check for sure yourself.
Are Google voice numbers traceable?
With all that’s good about the world of the internet, there’s one major downside – hacking. This infamous skill has led to countless people losing their money, property, and other important belongings online, which is why there’s so much emphasis on staying away from hackers while browsing online.
Coming back to the matter at hand, how strong is the shield of a Google Voice number against threats like tracing and hacking? Pretty strong.
According to its privacy policy, every piece of information you enter on Google is encrypted using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate. This prevents even the employees working at Google from deciphering your information, making it even more secure than before.
In addition to that, the numbers provided by Google Voice are not available in any directory – offline or online. Even if someone with impressive hacking skills tries to trace it, they’ll only end up at the Bandwidth headquarters of Google Voice, from where these VoIP numbers are issued to users.
And because the location of the headquarter gives nothing about your identity, they won’t be able to reach all the way back to your real phone number in any case.
Exceptions to the rule:
Exceptions are the necessary evil in the world; the same is true about this conundrum you face. While Google has made its best effort to keep your Google Voice number separate from your real one, there’s still one possibility where people can trace it back to the latter. It involves you using this number on your website or social handles.
As soon as you do that, anyone who is a part of your network or lands on your website will quickly be able to tell that you’re using this Google Voice number and associate it with you.
For this reason, Google always recommends users to avoid putting their Google Voice number anywhere online if they want to keep it private. That advise could come in handy to you as well.
The bottom line
As we’re ready to wrap things up, let’s quickly summarize all that we’ve learned today.
We started our conversation with Google Voice. After a brief introduction to their services, we quickly moved to answer your query – of whether or not someone can find your real phone number from your Google Voice number.
In the later sections of the blog, we’ve also discussed the possibility of users having more than one Google Voice number, as well as explored the traceability of these numbers.
If there’s anything else that you’re confused about on Google Voice, feel free to ask us about it in the comments section below.
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