Starting With Google Voice

Q: Where can I sign up for a trial?

A: You can use this Google Form to start a trial.
Trials are full service and not limited.

Q: Is Google Voice a core Workspace Service?

A: Yes, Google Voice is a core Workspace Service. With Google Voice you will get:

  • Emergency dialing

  • Telecom compliance

  • ISO-27001 compliant

  • GDPR compliant

  • Data encryption at rest & in transit*

  • eDiscovery (Vault) support

  • Google Workspace SLA

Billing FAQs

Q: Is there a minimum license purchase when purchasing through Amplified IT?

A: No there is no minimum license purchase amount. 

Q: What is the minimum length of service offered by Amplified IT?

A: Currently we require a purchase order for an estimated service of 12 months.

Q: Does Amplified IT provide support for Google Voice?

A: Please note that support@amplifiedit.com does not currently provide support for Google Voice. Support is available directly from Google via your admin console.

Q: Can I discontinue my service at any time?

A: Amplified IT requires 60 days of prior notice so that we can track utilization and depletion of funds from your current Purchase Order.

Q: Does Amplified IT take credit cards?

A: No we do not accept credit card payments for Google Voice, we will only accept purchase orders. We do accept credit cards for other select products.

Q: Can we add or remove licenses during the course of service?

A: Yes you can, we will true up based on utilization at the end of your service term

Q: Is Google Voice currently available on a purchasing vehicle or procurement contract?

A: Google Voice is available on TIPS.

Q: Can we purchase fewer licenses than are currently assigned in my Google Voice Trial?

A: Yes, however in order to accept the commercial license from Amplified IT, the number of active licenses in a trial needs to be equal or less than the number of licenses in the order. To remove licenses please see this article on license management.

Q: How long before I want to renew should we let Amplified IT know?

A: Amplified IT will send out reminders 90 days before your service end date. Please reach out to your Regional Account Manager for an estimate to issue a PO for the new term. 

Q: Will Amplified IT be tracking usage?

A: Yes we will be tracking usage monthly.

Q: Will we have to pay for the licenses we are not using?

A: Google allows an inventory of phone numbers equal to 2x the current number of active licenses.  Numbers in excess of this ration will be billed at a rate of $5 per month, starting in Q1 2021.

Q: What are the regulatory fees?

A: Google is required to collect and remit fees to support and finance local governments’ operation of emergency calling services (“E911”), even if Voice isn’t used to call an emergency service. These fees are mandatory fees issued by the telco governing authorities. 

Q: Are any taxes included in the regulatory fees?

A: No, Educational institutions are tax-exempt entities which is why we require that you send in your tax exemption information with your purchase order before we can turn on service.

Q: Are there international calling charges? Are they included in my license fees?

A: International calling charges will be charged as a separate line item on your monthly invoice.  In your quote, they are included with the estimated telecom fees. You may find a list of the international calling costs here: Calling Rates.

Q: Are there any other data or overage charges?

A: No, there are no additional data charges.

Service FAQs

Q: Can I keep my existing number or do I have to get a new number?

A: Existing or grandfathered numbers are not affected, you can Port that number.

Q: Can I choose my own number or area code?

A: Yes, as long as Google Voice has phone number inventory in that area code.

Q: Is there any archiving function like Vault for Google Voice?

A: Yes Google Voice is integrated with Vault. Archives include Meta data, SMS content and voicemail transcripts. Retention policies can also be set.

Q: Is Google Voice covered by Google Workspace legal agreement?

A: Google Voice is a Google Workspace core service which means it complies to the Google Workspace SLA, but does require additional acceptance of service specific terms. The terms are https://gsuite.google.com/terms/service-terms/index.html section 8.
Google Workspace super-admin accepts these terms online during the acceptance of the Google Voice license.

Q: What are grandfathered licenses?

A: Grandfathered licenses are Google Voice licenses that were assigned to Google Workspace accounts before February 2019. Consumers can continue to sign up for consumer Google Voice which is still free and can be connected with any gmail account. Consumer licenses are free licences with limited functionality. Google Workspace users with consumer licenses are grandfathered in, but no new consumer licenses can be attached to Google Workspace users.

Q: Can you tell me how many grandfathered licenses our district has? Is there any way we can find out who has them?

A: We do not have that information and neither do Google because of privacy laws since these are essentially personal accounts. However, if you assign a managed Google Voice license to a user that has a consumer (grandfathered) license, Google Voice admin console will tell you how many users.

Q: How does the trial impact grandfathered licenses?

A: These accounts are not affected but can be migrated into the Licensed Google Voice System. *However once migrated they cannot return to grandfathered status and must be paid for after trial.*

Q: How does emergency calling work with Google Voice?

A: Each user has a Service Address plus the Primary Address for Support/Billing
Service address for emergency calls – If a user calls an emergency number, Voice sends their service location to emergency services. For nomadic devices (mobile, computer) Google Voice uses GPS or GeoIP, for deskphones Google Voice uses the configured service address.
You add the service address when you assign a user their Voice number. If you let users choose their own phone number, they add their service address when they sign up for Voice.

 

 

Q: Can our school set up a number (local number) so the caller can see that the call is coming from our school administration or front office?

A: Users can show their caller ID as the school phone number if assigned to a Ring Group and the Admin has allowed specific users to use the Ring Group number for outbound calls. See Set up ring groups – Google Workspace Admin Help

Q: Can our school port toll free numbers?

A: Google Voice doesn’t currently support toll free numbers but is expected to be supported in the future.

Q: Can our school port multiple numbers at one time?

A: If you are porting geographic numbers then you can port them as a block under one request as long as they belong to the same provider. Mobile numbers must be ported one at a time.

Q: Does Google change the admin password of Poly phones?

A: Yes, for security reasons once a phone is provisioned on Google Voice, the default Poly admin password used to access the Web GUI and advanced settings is changed. Admins can contact Google Support and request the new password.

Amplified IT and David Rosenthal from the Google Voice team recently presented an overview of Google Voice, reasons why we recommend it, and best practices for education. Watch the recording here.