Google Voice: Who's got it? How you using it?

[Likwid]

Who's got it, and how are you using it? (I sure as hell home I'm not the last one to get it)

I JUST got invited today and the features make me hard, but I'm not sure the best way to be using it...

While it seems like an amazing tool for call/location management, but I can't decide if I should notify my friends/family to use that number (that way it rings me on all my numbers)... or if I should just use it for outgoing calls and for giving new folks.

Also, when you got it, did you turn off your answering machine at home? Seems like I'd prefer to have GV voicemail than the recorder at home.

Link for anyone not in the know: https://www.google.com/voice

[Benyen Soljax]

i was invited months ago cause they rolled it out to help military first...doesnt help me on the other side of the globe though

idk if i would use it at home. i mean, it wouldnt really f#$% up your number at all since other people could still call your regular number and it would ring. also, i dont have anything other than a cell phone. i might set it up just so that in the future the only number i tell people would be the Gvoice number once i actually get a home/business phone. i would prolly use it just cause i can, and the voicemail thing is pretty cool.

[Likwid]

i was invited months ago cause they rolled it out to help military first...doesnt help me on the other side of the globe though

idk if i would use it at home. i mean, it wouldnt really f#$% up your number at all since other people could still call your regular number and it would ring. also, i dont have anything other than a cell phone. i might set it up just so that in the future the only number i tell people would be the Gvoice number once i actually get a home/business phone. i would prolly use it just cause i can, and the voicemail thing is pretty cool.

So first, yah, I'm not sure how useful it would be to you... your cell phone is probably already in your home area code

But, in terms of only using it with one number, seems like a great way to manage calls, you give everyone your GV number and then suddenly your old girlfriend Jane starts calling... you can just block her number and she can't call you anymore...

Of course, all that depends on if anyone has your real number (same applies to email spam stuff too)...

I wonder if there's a call forwarding option with the carriers... "forward all but THIS number" that way all calls would be forwarded to GV except for GV.

[Likwid]

Now that Sprint offers free call forwarding I changed my Conditional (no answer, send to VM) forwarding to GV.

Also, went to a few car dealerships... pretty convenient when they ask for your number, give them GV, if they abuse it, block them.

[V4junkie]

Hmm didn't even know about it . . . but I came in here to say . . . I <3 Google

[MidgetTodd]

im clueless as to what it even is this is the first Ive heard of it

[Likwid]

Hmm didn't even know about it . . . but I came in here to say . . . I <3 Google

Well I told my in-laws about it, they hate all technology (seriously, just recently got a cell phone and they only use it for long distance calls)... I told her about using it to make international calls... $.02 a minute to Germany and Canada free.... now she wants to join it...

I don't have invites yet though

[gruss]

Been using it since it was Grandcentral. Have 2 of them.

while its intended purpose would be great if your single, with moltiple lines i havent really found a way to use it as our Primary number.

I actually got the origianl number because it was local to where all my family still lives in Indiana, none of my family has had a long distance charge calling us in a long long time.

I also grabbed one when we moved to the toledo area because we kept our MI cell numbers for freinds and family to call us toll free, and this gave us a local number to give out instead of our cell numbers for people who still use those crazy things called landlines

So in summary I use it for:

Family to call us toll free, and avoid toll calls myself. Works great if you have a "my circle/fav 5/free incoming/freinds and family etc and can live without caller id...unlimited minutes to everyone!!

School emergency number, rings every phone everywhere!

Call my buddy in Canada

Prank people with sms feature since not a whole lot of people know it, and its so easy to sms bomb people with a keyboard! Plus if its funny you have a log of it!

give out to salesfolks so if its leaked it can be blocked.

Voicemail

Had some quality problems since the google takeover with the 419 number other number trouble free since the beginning

[Likwid]

Thanks for the insight gruss!

I'm having trouble in using it for both my wife and I... mostly because of people that would call only for me or her (her friends calling her shouldn't ring at home)... you can get around that by setting up contacts and groups but it seems like you have to go through the trouble of adding every contact.

Great feature idea for GV would be having virtual numbers (similar to Vonage), 555-1234 rings ALL, 555-4321 rings group 1, 555-4444 rings group 2... but I realize this is a bit over the top considering what it is for.

[gruss]

Adding numbers are easy if you have them stored electronically somewhere else, there is always a way to import. I had mine backed up to gmail from an old palm, pushed the BB contacts in too and GV is nice enough to merge them! had to do a little clean up but nothing major. It was nice because they were already grouped, and I automatically blocked all the calls from where I work in case they ever stumble on that number GV would be great if you had a small business, or liked changing carriers all the time. Or even for me if I could use it for work I would, so I didnt have to carry two phones. I wanted to use it to lose the landline but so far the wife still wont give it up....

Edited November 9, 2009 by gruss

[Likwid]

Ok, have used GV a bit and I've found some things incredibly helpful.

1.) Call screening: I never realized how great this was, with an unknown number I let it go to voicemail and can listen in on the message and answer at anytime

2.) Using GV to manage my cell phone voicemail: Very nice having all calls on one voicemail, and I hate listening to calls, so that'll bring me to...

3.) Voicemail transcription: pretty nifty, it's not perfect but it's getting pretty close most of the time

My main issue...

When forwarding my voicemail from cell phone it was ringing my home phone... I THINK I fixed this by going into settings and selection on forward go directly to voicemail... but we'll see.

So far so good, if you have an invite I'd definitely recommend checking it out.