Text Messaging with Google Voice? The Right Setting Depends on Your Particular Phone

If you're new to Google Voice, there's a really good chance that you are using it wrong. Here's the deal: Google Voice has the ability to forward text messages to your cell phone. Should you allow that setting? It depends on the kind of phone you have. Do it wrong, and you might miss important texts. Or Google Voice might cost you money needlessly by duplicating free text messages on your cell phone provider's text service.

Thankfully, it's not that complicated. Go to the Google Voice page in your browser and click Settings, then Voice Settings. Now switch to the Voicemail & Text tab and find the Text Forwarding section. Here are your options:

If you have a smartphone and have a Google Voice app installed, then Google Voice can notify you about incoming text messages. If that's the case, then you don't want Google Voice to forward texts to your cell phone. If it does, you'll get two copies of every text -- a free one in the Google Voice app, and a second one that you'll have to pay for.

Verdict: Clear the checkbox for Receive text messages on this phone
If you have a dumb phone or simply don't have access to a Google Voice app, then Google Voice has no way to notify you about incoming texts on its own. In that case, you need Google Voice to forward texts to your phone, where you'll see them through your cell phone's text service.

Verdict: Check the box for Receive text messages on this phone
Photo courtesy Flickr user Ed Yourdon