Replace your Comcast home phone service with Google Voice

After getting my latest bill from Comcast and seeing the price I am paying for a home phone I rarely use, I decided to port my Comcast phone number to Google Voice. Well, not exactly that path. Since Google Voice can only accept numbers ported from cell phones at this time, I had to port it to a pay as you go cell phone first, then to GV.

I chose a Verizon prepaid phone that came with 10 minutes of talk time included for $14.99. It took about 48 hours to port my Comcast number to the Verizon prepaid.Then I ported my number from Verizon to Google Voice, which Charges $20 for the porting service. This was very fast, taking less than 24 hours.

The final step was adding an awesome device to my home network called an OBi which cost me $40 at Amazon. This device connects to your home network, and then you connect your home phone to it which enables your Google Voice number with your home phone. Extremely simple to setup, nearly plug and play.

I’ve had this setup running for nearly two months now and it’s worked flawlessly. The whole setup ran me about $75, a one time cost that will pay for it self in about 3 months of usage. I love the benefit of being able to flag and block telemarketer calls in Google Voice. Most of all, I feel great giving Comcast less of my money.

Update 2/28/2014: Google is turning off support for XMPP in May 2014. That will prevent the phone service above from working. I have a new post that discusses Google Voice XMPP Alternatives.

14 thoughts on “Replace your Comcast home phone service with Google Voice”

  1. I just hit this post when I googled “Comcast home phone.” My family uses cell phones exclusively. Lately I’ve been considering a home phone line for those times I run an errand and leave my older child home alone. She doenst have a cell. Is it feasible to run google voice through a traditional handset telephone without the extra step of the initial Comcast line? Thanks for your time !!

    1. Yes, just leave out the part about porting over your comcast number to GV. It will be even easier without that in the mix. Just get a free GV number and you are all set.

  2. Can you elaborate on what’s involved in getting a number ported to a prepaid phone? Is there a specific phone/plan/etc. that you need, and how do you know if the service provider will be able to port your old Comcast number?

    I found 2 prepaid phones on Amazon for $8:

    1. Those should be fine. Cheaper the better. The only reason you need to port to a cell phone first is because Google Voice cannot currently port numbers from land lines.

  3. You are now my favorite person in the WORLD. I hate Comcast with the fire of a thousand suns, and I’m one of those people who has to be pushed to breaking point to get that response. Which is what happened. So. Following your directions, I’ve kicked Comcast to the curb by buying the Verizon 14.99 phone just as you described and tomorrow will begin process of handing it on to Google Voice and tracking down that OBi thing to get it hooked up.
    Thank you, thank you, thank you for this solution.

  4. One point of clarification on the OBi thing – is the purpose of that to bypass paying a phone carrier? Meaning, once my number is ported to Google voice and I set up the OBi, can I just plug in a phone to it which is not supported by either a landline or cell service?

  5. This is exactly what I’m hoping to do and I l really appreciate the tip on porting to a cell first.

    Can you tell us more about the timing of porting your phone number to the cell and notifying Comcast that you were discontinuing phone service with them? I assume you port first, then notify Comcast?

    1. Looks Google is turning off access to XMPP which will prevent this setup from working any longer. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

      1. I was just about ready to buy the OBi device, and then that is when I saw that Google Voice won’t be supported. Can you suggest any other device that would work? I’d really like to get rid of Comcast Digital Voice home phone service. I would think there would be other devices out there, just not sure.

        1. You could subscribe to one of the providers in that blog post, but I was happier getting it for free from Google Voice. Not sure what I am going to do now.

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