Assuming the setup and interface is solid; this can only mean good things for Sprint and Google Voice in general.

Sprint needs to focus more on disrupting the marketplace. Their differences on price/offerings is good however - now more than ever - Sprint will need to create additional benefits to remain a player in the mobile arena.

If the AT&T/TMobile deal moves forward, consumers will need Sprint to keep the playing field somewhat fair.

i'd like to know how this is going to work for people like me who already have a google voice number and a sprint number. I have no desire to get rid of either number as I use one for personal and one for business. Will I have to create a new google account to route both numbers through GV? Then what number will my phone chose when dialing out as I don't think there's an app to select what phone number to call from or a way to use 2 different GV accounts from one phone.

Before this was announced I was reasonably sure that the iPhone would make its way to Sprint before the end of the year. With this development, I'm not so sure. What would the ramifications of a Sprint-based number tied to Google Voice being passed through to an iPhone? Might this be a sticking point discouraging Apple from launching the iPhone on their network?

How reliable is Google Voice? I'm a little wary about switching my phone over considering my Sprint service has been rock solid so far.

I have never had any issues. When I call people, I get them and can talk as long as I want. When I text people, they get my message. I receive calls and texts regularly and never hear, "hey, why didn't you reply to my voicemail / text". So I assume it works.

The only problem I have is that I get two Android notifications for each text. One from the SMS app, and one from Google Voice. Not sure how to fix that.

On the Google Voice website there is a setting where you can disable receiving SMS on a certain phone.

But receiving the SMS is what tells Google Voice to poll for messages.

Not on Android. It's a push service. I've had the SMS disabled since I installed the Google Voice app.

I've used them as a proxy/redirect to my other lines, and generally I don't like the sound quality to my cellphone. SMS works well enough, at least within the limitations of the SMS system.

If my cellphone wasn't already the one number to reach me at, then I'd be more interested.

I haven't used the number porting feature, but I'm using everything else and have no complaints about it. I even got it to replace the features of my android (e.g. replace the default voicemail app with google voice's voicemail).

Number porting works fine except that text messages take an extra 48 hours to start appearing after the number is ported.

every once in a while I'll get a call that doesn't ring my phone, but overall I'm very satisfied with the service

Wish I could pick which contacts I use Voice with. I will still be picking how — Call with Google Voice or Call without Google Voice — for each call even though I use Sprint.

I doubt the audio quality will improve or that I can find out via reading the Web whether it improves after this connection is made.

now if att would get on board...

How does this affect MMS messages? The one annoying thing about google voice since I switched to completely using it is that I don't receive MMS messages and people that send them to me don't know that I didn't get it.

It says on the FAQ that MMS messages will be sent through your Sprint number and not your Google Voice number.

$99 per month recurring cost. Damn. That's a rich person's territory.

There's no cost beyond what you pay for your Sprint service. This is just pure FUD.

Their everything unlimited plan is $99. That's still a lot from median/average perspective.

So don't buy the "everything unlimited" plan? They have other ones.

Virgin Mobile USA is Sprint. They have a $25/mo plan.