Google Voice

[ImTheDuke]

Just wondering what the advantages are of Google Voice? What does it offer that I can't do now? Do I have to change my phone number? Thats what kinda scared me away from it. I guess I'm just looking for a compelling reason to use it

 

[kicko]

you can send free text...but it will show on your friends phone as your GV number. ONce all your contacts add your GV# under your contact when you text them it will show it from you. I mainly use it for texting, but i also use it for my voice mail, since verizon charges $3 for "visual voicemail" I can save the money. You can activate the option on the phone. My friends call me on my regular # and it will automaticly switch to GV if i dont pick up. the benefit of using GV as voicemail is you can listen to it on the web and it is also transcribed, which is handy but sometimes more funny then useful.

 

[takeshi]

Just wondering what the advantages are of Google Voice? What does it offer that I can't do now? Do I have to change my phone number? Thats what kinda scared me away from it. I guess I'm just looking for a compelling reason to use it

The advantages really depend on how you intend to use it or how useful you find its features. The GV site spells out all the features and there are countless guides out there as well. I find the following useful. YMMV.
1. Multiple phone ring - Handy if I'm in the office where coverage is spotty for all carriers.
2. GV web site - Useful for listening to voicemail, sending/receiving SMS, placing calls via my GV number. This has been very useful the few times I've left my cell at home.
3. Voicemail - Transcription can be hit or miss depending on the caller but generally I don't have to listen to messages.
4. Incoming call handling - Several options here. The block option is very useful as callers get a "number disconnected" message. It's also possible to automatically send callers to voicemail and have the voicemail automatically deleted without any notification.
5. Call transfer - Handy for teleconferences at the end of the day where I don't need to sit around in the office.

There are certainly other features that may or may not be useful to you. It's really up to you to figure out what might compel you though.

Most features require that you use your GV number. Basically, if people don't call your GV number then voicemail is really the only feature you can use.

 

[coastalfan]

google voice

I have a google voice number, but don't really know how to use it. I would like to use it for txtn and for voice mail, but don't know how to set it up on computer or phone. How would I do that? I don't want to change my cell number to the google voice number, though.

 

[Goldwinger]

Like the others, using it for texting just makes good sense. I'm also toying with the idea of using it as a main contact number (have to see how reliable it is first), then if you switch carriers or get a new number, you don't have to switch what number everyone calls you on, you just have to get Google Voice on your new phone.

Like I said, still just using it for text, but it is looking very promising at this point. Plenty of other ideas for it's use as well. Never hurts to have something that's free.

 

[frunkiss]

I use it as my primary number and have for a year. I love it. there's a lot of features if you make time to learn. I even set my cell number to use google voice for voice mail. I don't even give my cell number out anymore.

I love separating my contacts into groups, family, friends, business, school. I have different voice greetings for each group.

You can have calls ring on multiple phones so it saves your cell phone minutes if you have a land line.

I notice a lot of posts from people trying to recover deleted text messages, with google voice you archive your messages and you can star them like in gmail. You never have to delete them and if you switch phones you just re-sync or log into your account. You can access your voice mail and texts on a browser as well.

I also love that I can record calls I receive. Comes handy for business calls when I can't take notes.

I love the do not disturb feature and ability to send specific people to voice mail.

There's also call screening.

 

[dspcap]

@cm40, how do cell minutes work when you receive calls? What network are you on?

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[frunkiss]

I have verizon.
Minutes are used like regular calls. It's not VoIP like Vonage.
But there are (were) ways around it. I don't know if it's allowed to be talked about it here.
Google Voice made changes to the app that uses different "service" numbers to make calls.

So by default your minutes are used like any other call. GoogleVoice is a text/voicemail service, not a voice over IP service.

 

[artincali]

I have verizon.
Minutes are used like regular calls. It's not VoIP like Vonage.
But there are (were) ways around it. I don't know if it's allowed to be talked about it here.
Google Voice made changes to the app that uses different "service" numbers to make calls.

So by default your minutes are used like any other call. GoogleVoice is a text/voicemail service, not a voice over IP service.

If you set up your GV number on your Friends and Family network (up to 5) you can make free calls when you call your GV number to make calls out. By using this method you don't use your Peak minutes. If you have unlimited minutes then this method doesn't matter to you.

 

[frunkiss]

Perhaps you didn't read my post correctly.