For the last few years I have had a Google Voice account. Well it started out as a Grand Central account, but Google purchased Grand Central a few years ago. The idea was simple. You get a phone number from Google and you would never need another phone number again. Much like email, you could just forward the phone number to any current phone you are using. No more worrying about having to “port” you phone number from carrier to carrier.
On top of that idea, they added some really cool features. Let’s start with the voice mail features. It will email you the voicemail and even transcribe it (though it seems that the transcribing is getting worse over the years, not better). The really cool thing here is you can use Google Voicemail with any cell phone (You do not have to use your Google voice phone number).
You can also have custom greetings for the people that call. So I could have play one greeting for my wife, another for clients, and even a third for that pesky sales person that calls every week. Any voicemail can easily be played, forwarded, or even downloaded from the website.
Using the Google Voice phone number gives some enhanced features. You can have the one phone number ring multiple phones (like 2 cell phones, 1 Cell and 1 home, etc). You can block calls (Callers go straight to voicemail) or even record calls and retrieve them online later.
Here is the basic rundown of the features:
Use with your existing number and get:
· Google voicemail: voicemail like email
· Voicemail transcription: read what your voicemail says
· Custom greetings: vary voicemail greetings by caller
· International calling: low cost calls to the world
· Notifications: read voicemail messages via email or SMS
· Share voicemails: forward, embed, or download voicemails
Add a Google number to get these additional features:
· One number: a single phone number that rings all your phones
· Free SMS: send, receive & store text messages online
· Block calls: send unwanted callers straight to voicemail
· Record calls: record phone calls and store them online
· Conference calls: join several people into a single call
· Screen callers: hear who is calling before you pick up
If this looks like something you would like, just head over to http://voice.google.com to learn more. It is an invite only service, but I have a few invites if someone wants to try it out (Just email support). I would recommend it to anyone for their home or cell phone. I would be very scared to use this for any kind of business phone.
