Careful if Using Google Voice and Skype Together

I recently got a SkypeIn number.  I also have a Google Voice(GV) number.  I thought this would be the perfect marriage.  When I am working at my computer I can just have Skype up and running and any calls to my GV number would ring my Skype number.  Then I could answer the call without ever taking my hands off the computer.  And it was great when I had Skype running.  But what I didn’t know was that when you don’t have Skype running, it’s voicemail kicks in.  This meant that all my GV calls that I didn’t answer personally went to Skype voicemail and so GV’s voicemail never took effect.  So I never knew I was getting the voicemails.  I had this setup going for over a week and had no idea what was going on.  Where were all my voicemails?  I finally figured it out the next time I logged into Skype and saw my huge list of voicemails.

So I did a little Googling and found a few solutions.  You can turn on call presentation in GV which is a nuisance when you are answering the call.  You can also set Skype to forward the calls back to GV, however this costs extra.

I decided to disable the Skype number as one of my GV lines for now.  But I have enabled call presentation to get used to it.  After a few days I will reenable the Skype number and all should be good to go again.  Oh, and I also enabled email notification for Skype voicemail so I am notified if someone does happen to end up at my Skype voicemail.