Number porting arrives on Google Voice

Google has made it official - number porting has arrived for Google Voice.

In a blog post today, the company announced the ability to take your existing phone number - maybe from your cell phone or even your landline - and flip it into one of those keep-it-forever Google Voice numbers. The company said number porting has been one of the most requested features.

Google will charge a one-time $20 fee to port your number into Google Voice and warned that users will need to take steps to keep the service on for the account - whether landline or mobile - that had that number before.

The feature is available now to existing customers and will become available to new customers in the coming weeks. For now, it is only available in the U.S.

Previous coverage: On Google Voice, porting will be good but other features would be better