Google Voice Drawbacks?
 

I'm really sick of calls on my Verizon account from "Unknown", "No Caller ID", or from a huge, shifting assortment of specific numbers that turn out to be marketing calls or political solicitations.

So I'm pretty much ready to sign up for Google Voice, or a similar service. What's stalled me is a possible issue around "number porting," or retaining the same phone number. According to Google, when you do this the carrier cancels your current plan, which for me is a joint plan with my wife.

Is there likely to be an issue reinstating the exact same plan with Verizon once the number is ported? Are there other services that do the job better than GV, or is it preferable just to bear the hassle of getting a new phone number when signing up with them?

I think if you inform them you're porting the number but want to keep the account open with a new number they should be able to accommodate.

Sync.ME is an app that performs reverse phone lookups and blocks calls from known spammers and unwanted callers.

Just forward your cell number to the GV number. Problem solved.

It depends on the carrier, but assuming you are out of contract, cancelling one line of a family plan usually does not cancel the whole plan. That is something you should confirm with Verizon, however.

Porting to Google Voice won't stop spam. Download Truecaller which helps identify and block spam

Actually, GV's SPAM blocking has been quite good for me. I get about one SPAM call a year. When I get that call, I log into the GV portal and flag as SPAM to improve their detection.

Edited to add: I just logged into my GV account and looked in the SPAM folder at all the calls I never got. The voicemail transcripts are pretty obvious:

Seems like Google Voice filters SPAM to me! :D

In addition to the spam filter, I use Google Voice's caller announcement/screening for those not in my address book. This means even if it is not totally spam, but I don't recognize the number, but after i hear the name, and it is not a call I'm interested, I can reject the call. Useful for things like annoying sales people that call way too often and such but wouldn't totally classify as "spam".

The only issue I have with Google Voice is not receiving images over text. Need to go online to view them.

The MMS can be a little annoying because it is handled differently, but if you have the MMS sent to your gmail account you can still get it on your phone.

It also works fine if you're using the Hangouts app on your phone (Android or iOS). I've had MMS from Verizon take a few minutes to show up occasionally, but otherwise it works great.