Yes, apparently this is possible. Also, for iPhone Users outside the US, I notice that only one Google Voice app is available, as of, today in the App Store (this refers to the Ireland store but I presumes applies elsewhere in the EU and perhaps further afield too): VoiceCentral. Because none of the other (Google Voice) apps are available in the App Store I have a faint suspicion that VoiceCentral might just have been placed in a non US app store by mistake. So if you're non resident in the US, feel like using a proxy to set up your GV account, are an iPhone user and don't mind a couple of Euro punt on this app then, if I were you, I'd pile into the AppStore and get me a copy of VoiceCentral before its pulled by Apple. Enjoy and remember, if it doesn't work, don't blame me. For the record I've downloaded myself a copy but haven't yet attempted to try to set up a GoogleVoice account, I haven't even got an invite yet (There's a hint in there: if anyone can advise me, or help, on how to get a GV invitation I'd be very thankful for your help) - JSLeFanu from Bookmarklet

I set up a Google Voice account from Germany this weekend. I had to screen-share with a US colleague to get the initial registration done, afterward I used localphone.com to redirect calls. Voice Central works flawlessly. - Lars Trieloff

Lars, thanks a million for the heads up on that. At least now I know another part of the picture for getting this done. I'm pretty jazzed at the thought of getting this set up. I'll report back on how I get on. Now to get one of those invites. - JSLeFanu

How can Robert Nelson's public-knowledge reminder to rely on unnamed US-proxies to set it up, along with his fine print[*], be considered anywhere near useful? Lars Trieloff sez that "Voice Central works flawlessly," but what's the value of potentially-critical service which one can never know how long it may last? [^*] "fine print: if you choose to go this route only to have Google shut your Voice account down, I, along with Gadgetell, take no responsibility. Additionally, I, along with Gadgetell take no responsibility for any calls that may not be properly routed should you try and forward your Google Voice number to a non-US number." - ianf ⌘

I did setup my Google Voice account using Hotspot Shield and forward all call to my sipgate.com number and I have a truphone.com US number that I linked. and I use my BlackBerry to control Google Voice and send/receive SMS - zsafwan 

This is purely academic enquiry in my part, but how many discrete steps were required (each moment of entering a site, navigating to a specific page, filling/ entering username/ password in a form, submitting/ registering, etc, counts as one step) for you to complete the GV registration, including any previous regs you now merely invoked in order to set it up? 100? 200 discrete steps? I wonder… - ianf ⌘

ianf, I'm not very far down the road with this so I can't offer any real response to the issues you raise. I made the original post because I happened upon this article the same morning I spotted this GoogleVoice app in the Ireland App Store. Normally Apple don't stock apps for services not supported in the market of any given app store. SO for those of a "hacky" mindset I thought I'd just put the word out and attach the necessary caveats. I'm as interested as you are in the responses to your post. - JSLeFanu

David, I'm not questioning any decisions any of you above may have made, I am merely trying to clarify certain usually-unmentioned things as much for others' sake, as for my own. I have not attempted this unofficial GV setup, and probably won't, because I have other, analogous experiences of past "bypass-ordinary-channel" services similar to that which seldom worked in the long run. Perhaps if I were a heavy intercontinental talker, I might've found this tempting for a while. But as I am not, I simply am trying to decide if the bother might be worth the… candle? or whatever it is supposed to be replacing. - ianf ⌘

Well I hope everyone jumped on those GoogleVoice app while the going was good: http://www.macnn.com/article... - JSLeFanu

This article leaves out a significant part: If you don't have a US number you cannot complete the registration. - Joe Breen

you can get a free SIP phone number from here sipgate.com - zsafwan 

Thanks so much. I got my invite today, and I am in canada. Crap. I can get to and sign up for it in Canada, but I don't want to spend the long discance charges. - Zachary TG

Well I got my GoogleVoice invite today. Hooray! Hooray again that I grabbed that VoiceCentral app before it was pulled. Boo, I'm still not sure if I can get this to work in a practical way. I'm with a VOIP provider in Ireland and my package includes limitless free to the states, among numerous other places, but I haven't yet worked out the way, if any, I can get to use the GoogleVoice functionality affordably, or ideally, free or next to free. Btw lads, thanks for all the feedback. Even if GoogleVoice craps out this thread is teaching me the value of FriendFeed over other social networking sites. - JSLeFanu

Ok, I give in. I'm now with ianf ⌘ on this whole gig. I can't tell anyone if GoogleVoice hacking is worth the trouble or not because I've got nowhere near getting registered. I tried the SipGate route. I made several attempts to fill out their online form but at the bottom of the page the CAPTCHA text wouldn't render. Of course I was using a Proxy, several different ones to register so I can't hold this against Sipgate. In any case if you try this without using a proxy SipGate will tell you that you're not in the States and therefore not eligible. Use a proxy, at least if your experience is like mine, and you're out of luck too. I tried LocalPhone, more or less the same result. When you attempt to configure their softphone it tells you to apply for a VOIP account. No problem? Yes problem because, despite my being in Ireland, it only offers me UK numbers. This only after I enter my UK location. There should be a way around this using a proxy, shouldn't there? Nope, use a proxy and Localphone rejects your attempts to login to your account. Perhaps, perhaps I could navigate to LocalPhone using a proxy and try to reregister a new account while spoofing a US address. Maybe that would work but at this stage I've had enough of this messing around. The key issue seem to be that these proxies simply don't work well enough to the web forms these sites require you to use. Had I found a way to get a sip number properly registered I'd be only halfway through the process. The next hurdle would be setting up the GoogleVoice account and my experience, so far, is that Google keeps rejecting these due to too many "redirects." I'm sure there are ways around all these issues, and if anyone would like to share detailed instructions then please do, but ianf ⌘ seems to have hit the nail on the head as far as I am concerned. Knowing myself as well as I do, I'll probably have to scratch this itch again but right now my primary concern it to try to forget GoogleVoice and get on with... more... - JSLeFanu

But an invite is required... so...? Proxy is easy, just ssh into your US webhost. - Paul Grav

Paul, thanks, I have the invite already and I got it using a proxy, that bit was easy. I only have the haziest notion of what ssh means so I'll postpone attempting that until my understanding catches up a bit. I suppose its possible that in practice the process "can" be as easy as Gadgetell portray, its just that in my experience it isn't. Maybe it would be a breeze if I knew more about this "ssh-ing" but I don't and Gadgetell didn't suggest any competence in ssh-ing" was needed. - JSLeFanu

Well, if you have a webhost in the US, just open a terminal and type: ssh -D 1080 mywebhost.com Then fire up Firefox and change the socks host to 127.0.0.1 and 1080 for the port. Lifehacker has a more complete guide: http://lifehacker.com/237227... - Paul Grav from IM

What about the fact that international numbers are not accepted? I'm in Canada, and yeah, I had no problem signing up, proxy-style. However, it won't allow me to route my calls to my area code. I foolishly accepted a number in an outside area code (American) close to my locale, and now I'm stuck giving it a routing number that it won't accept. I think I should have waited and done it legit, because now I'll be stuck with that long distance area code as my number, and I can't even complete the process and use it properly now. Any thoughts? - timedalkat

Paul, thanks for the tip, I really appreciate the info. I actually don't, yet, know how to do any of that. I'm posting from the phone at the moment but I'll be sure to check out the lifehacker link you provided when I'm back at the Mac. I might leave it a day or two to give myself a break because I got a bit pissed off with the whole process today and perhaps need a bit of a breather. Workarounds like this one are, I'm sure, insanely easy when you've dome them once or twice but as Ive yet to swing a bat at your particular work around I'll have to proceed with caution. Thanks again. - JSLeFanu from BuddyFeed

timedalcat, you raise a good point and one that's already crossed my mind. Sorry to say I can't, yet, help you on this one. I'm not even close to being that far through the process yet myself and consider such concerns an extravagant luxury at this stage . My own local Irish number is with an Irish Sip service but I haven't even worked out how to configure GV (assuming I even make it that far) so as not to be incurring punitive forwarding costs from my, notional, US sip number. so while not yet in the same boat as you I think there's every chance, should I even get that far, that I'll be in the same boat. Thanks again to everyone who's chipped in with ideas and tips to this discussion. It's much appreciated by me and probably by anyone conducting a "GoogleVoice Europe" search on FriendFeed. - JSLeFanu from BuddyFeed

The article is crap, it basically tells you to setup a proxy but that alone isn't sufficient to setup a Google Voice account. During the setup you select a Google Voice number but you need to forward calls to your own phone, which will inevitably have an international number and only US numbers are supported. - Paul Grav

I would think the simple way to get around any US IP address requirements would be to have someone in the US setup a TOR hidden service that points to the GV registration. It wouldn't have the same kinds of limitations as typical proxies. (I'm not the Robert Nelson of the article btw) - guruvan (Rob Nelson)