Google Voice Now Allows Porting Your Own Number - (Update - Option is now gone)

Google Voice is a terrific product. Up until now, the main caveat has been that you needed to select a number they provided for you to use with their service. That obstacle is now gone.

As of today, Google Voice now allows you to port your own mobile number to use as your Google Voice number. Now you can give your number out and manipulate it in the myriad of ways that are available through Google Voice. Your messages can now be transcribed using the service, (and yes I know the transcriptions aren't always the best.)

There are a few important facts to consider:

• You must first check to see if your number can be ported. This can easily be checked on your Google Voice page. Under your Voice Settings, you should now see an option next to your Google Voice number that says Change / Port. Once you click that, you will be asked if you want a new Google Voice number, or if you want to use your existing mobile number instead. You then enter your mobile number and select Check. If your number can be ported, you will see this screen:

• As you can see in the screen above, there is a $20 fee associated with the number port.
• Additionally, it has been reported by Engadget that your existing phone contract will be terminated when you port your number to Google voice. They show a screen shot showing the text: "Your mobile phone service plan will be terminated when you port your number to Google Voice and your carrier may charge you an early termination fee." I do not see this when I check my number. I am simply notified that I will need to pay $20. I am an iPhone 4 user on AT&T.
• By terminating your contract, you will potentially rack up some heavy penalty fees from your cell phone carrier. 
• I believe this is due to the fact that to receive voice calls, you will need a "new" contract from a carrier for a number that Google Voice can send calls to. This is somewhat confusing right now, so I will need to do some further research.

This is no doubt exciting news. Although I have not yet ported my mobile number to Google Voice, I will stay tuned to see how this works for people and how it affects contracts, call flow, and functionality.

I love the feature set that Google Voice offers, but I do not want to breach my contract and be pinned with large early termination fees. I also am interested to see how the functionality works for people that have ported their mobile numbers.

Will you be porting your mobile number to Google Voice? What functionalities will you gain by porting your number?

Update:
The option to port your mobile number has been removed from Google Voice from now. Google has mentioned that they are still testing the feature. Stay tuned... it's bound to resurface soon.