Review: Google Voice!
What is it? and How does it work?….read this semi-detailed review.
First of all I want to thank Google for inviting me to the service, it has been in closed beta for a long time and I was able to acquire an invite.
What is it?:Google Voice is a service which assigns your a telephone number (US ONLY) which you then use for the rest of your life to manage all of your communications. Basically they give you a number that you can have ringing at a plethora of devices…cellular, land lines, etc. I have heard through the grape vine that they will eventually allow number portability so you can take your favorite number and make it the one that you give to people. Why would you want this? Read on….this is a detailed review.
How does it work? : Google voice is basically voice over ip service on STEROIDS. It does everything a high end PBX can do but…it is made for the common person so that no TECH knowledge is required. If you can use GMAIL then you can use Google Voice. All of your contacts from GMAIL are automatically available and can be edited etc…
Groups: Once you are set up you simply create groups from contacts that you either already have on Gmail or new contacts. (i.e. Family, Friends, Co-Workers, etc..). The groups give you the ultimate control as to how you will route telephone calls to yourself. That being said, you are able to setup call routing functions including times, voice mail greetings, and call presentation options. Simply put, you control who can reach you, when they can reach you, and where the call should go after it gets to Google Voice. (For Example: I have setup my 2 cell phones and my office phone as phones Google can use to find me). Groups are quite a simple process, I have one setup for family that allows all calls to go through to all of my devices 24hrs a day…because I always want them to be able to find me….period! I have one setup for people that I will only speak to during 9am and 8pm, also the calls must only go to one particular cell phone. You get the idea!!
Call Screening: This goes hand in hand with groups, but I felt it was important to let everyone know about it. If person XYZ is unknown by your groups and calls your GV number, he/she must speak their name. GV then calls you and says so and so is calling, its up to you to accept or reject the call. Great feature… This can also be turned on for people in a specific group so that when anyone in that group calls they must announce themselves before the call will go through.
SPAM: The FIRST and I mean FIRST phone solution that actually detects SPAM phone calls and puts them in a spam folder for you. I have never even heard of such a thing….can you tell I am loving this product thus far.
I have only scratched the surface of this great product…
FREE Calls: Yep….FREE. There are two ways to make a telephone call out of Google Voice. First you can log in to the site and instruct it to make a call to any number in the world (more on international later). GV then asks you which telephone you are near….for example your office phone….voila it dials your office phone first–you answer–it places the call to the number you entered or the contact you selected. MARVELOUS right? Second, say you are at a friends home/office and you need to call someone but you want the recipient to know you are calling…EASY…dial your Google Voice number and using the prompts you can place a phone call directly from there….impressive no? When the person you are calling gets the call, they see your Google Voice number on their caller id and know that you are calling. A note about international calls…they cant give us everything for free can they…NO…International rates are quite low and you are able to purchase credits (10 cents is given to you for free when you sign up).
SMS Messages: Another feature that is accessible from the website…you can send an SMS to any capable device right from the website…for FREE….
Voice Mail: Voice Mail is of course included and is just like managing email. You see your messages, you can play them back via the website, you can even dial in from any device and listen to your messages. Pin numbers are set up…but you can by-pass them from phones that you consider secure. (i.e. when I call from my home phone I dont need to enter a pin..but from my office I am required to enter a pin….this is customizable.) The BEST feature of this is on the site…where Google automatically transcribes your voice mail and shows it to you….you are even able to have the transcription emailed/sms’d to you. WOW!!!
Do Not Disturb: They have a DND feature so that all calls are held…period.
Your Recorded Name and Greetings: One of the coolest features if you ask me….login, go to settings, and you are able to tell the system you want to change your recorded name and or add/change greetings…it will call you wherever you tell it to so you can make those changes.
Call Widgets: Yes, a widget is available so you can add the CALL ME function to your website…people are able to click on it and call you without seeing your telephone number. See post right before this one that has the widget embedded in it…go ahead and call me.
I am sure that I have given the major highlights of Google Voice….and I am certain that I have missed a lot of things that others may consider important. Google has created an awesome service that will only get better with time. I can only imagine what services they will add to it…faxing, number portability, etc. With services like this it is not hard to imagine that we can all drop our cell phone contracts and go to pay as you go type services….
I am sure I will be adding more posts as days go on … but for now the above should give you summary. Here are some screen shots: (click on the images for the full view).
