 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Toward a Better Computing Experience | Hank Pearson, Webmaster, and has served in many capacities including President, Treasurer, and Editor, ASCIi (Arizona Society for Computer Information, inc.) The ASCIi Clipboard, October 2009 www.asciigroup.org hank.pearson (at) asciigroup.org |
What is Google Voice?
A phone line? No
Instant messaging? No
A new Google telephone? No
A new wireless phone plan? No
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)? No
It is totally free? Yes!
Free long distance? Yes!
Free phone number? Yes!
Intelligent forwarding? Yes!
More versatile voicemail? Yes!
And a lot more free features? Yes!
Do you have to be at a computer to use Google Voice? No. Use Google Voice from any phone. Google Voice is free, but you need an invitation.
Just Google for 'Google Voice invitation.' When you receive your invitation, select a free phone number.
When someone calls your Google number, some or all of your phones can ring at once - your home phone, mobile phone, work phone, your cousin's phone where you are visiting. You can answer from any of them.
You can organize your contacts into groups and let some contacts ring all your phones, others ring certain phones, others go straight to voicemail, and still others get blocked.
You can personalize your voicemail greeting for groups or even individuals.
You can listen to your voicemail from any phone or listen online, or receive email or SMS (texting) notification. You can read voicemail transcripts visually online, and see each word underlined as it is spoken by your callers.
When you are online, you can just click a contact to call local or long distance. Or you can call from any phone by dialing extra digits. You can call any number without setting up a contact. All calls to the contiguous 48 states are free! Check out the rates for other locations
You can send, receive, and store SMS (texting) messages.
You can screen calls and record calls.
Similar to a mobile phone interface, you can review calls placed, received, missed, and so on.
Can you port your existing phone number? Officially, not quite yet. “We hope to offer this option in the near future.” But a few people have been reported to have ported their numbers. News on this subject might change fast. To keep up with the latest stories, Google for ‘Google Voice port existing number.’
There's even more to Google Voice! And it's free!
This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).