Anyone Using Google Voice For Voicemail?

[Viventis]

I bought my Nexus 5 directly from Google rather than T-Mobile. Although some have gotten it to work, T-Mobile's Visual Voice Mail is not expressly compatible with the device. So, for fun, I set up Google Voice as my voice mail client (I selected no phone calls with Voice during setup). I am surprised how well it works. It works fine with wifi on or off. You can even set it to transcribe the voicemail to text so you can read the message directly from the pull down menu. Since I just set up my phone today, I was wondering if anyone else was using this and if so, whether there are any downsides to the app.

 

[Shawn Magm]

I've been using it for the last couple of years. It's an essential app for me. I have unlimited data, but no texting plan. I like that I can get texts when I'm in an area with poor cell coverage. I can text from any browser, but in particular, like the GV extension with the Chrome Browser. As it is web based, I can use it on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X. There are apps for Android, a very good 3rd party on WP8 (MetroTalk), and iOS (which I don't use). I like the Voice transcription feature.

The only downside for me is the lack of MMS texting, although T-mobile or Sprint (I think) may send an email with an MMS, which I can get pictures. Also, when I receive a call to my GV #, instead of answering directly, I have to go the keypad to enter "1" to accept.

Otherwise, I love this app.

 

[Viventis]

Even though Google Voice does not support MMS, when I set it up for voice mail only, I still can send and receive MMS texts through Hangouts. I think that if you disable calls in the initial setup, you don't get a telephone number assigned to you and texting still goes through T-Mobile.