Google Voice, formerly GrandCentral, is a seriously heavyweight product. When it relaunched in March, just a couple of months ago, we gave Google Voice a glowing review.
Once you’ve jumped in head first to the product it will straighten out your phone life forever. You’ll never have to worry about figuring out which phone numbers to give to different people. Give them one number – your Google Voice number – and then use rules to determine where your calls go based on who’s calling and what you are doing.
There are significant switching costs, though. You have to tell everyone your new phone number and get them to start using that, instead. New business cards have to be printed, which is another cost. For most people, that’s just too much heavy lifting to fully embrace the service. And there’s the additional problem of your outbound calls and outbound text messages showing the phone number of the device you are calling from instead of your Google Voice number. Your friends need to store that number or they won’t know who’s calling. And once it’s stored, they’ll use it, bypassing all the great voicemail and call routing features of Google Voice.
But Google has a plan to deal with all of these issues, we’ve heard. And it starts with Number Portability.
Today you are issued a new phone number when you sign up for Google Voice. But we’ve confirmed that a very small number of people have ported their existing numbers to Google (Google uses Level3 to handle phone numbers). In the U.S. it’s possible to port any phone number to another service provider – even a mobile number to a voip provider like Level3.
Google is only testing the service for now, but we’ve heard from a source inside Google that they plan to roll out number portability as a general feature later this year. Once that happens, users will be able to move the phone number they’ve had forever to Google, and avoid the switching costs.
That means you can switch your mobile number to Google and then just use whatever device you happen to have in your hand to receive calls. That’s an extremely powerful feature for Google Voice.
Outbound calls from those devices will still show whatever phone number is assigned to it, though. But Google has that covered, too. We’ve learned that they are preparing to launch apps for the major smartphone platforms that will automatically route outbound calls through Google Voice. That means whoever you call will see your Google Voice number as the caller.
I’m banging on every door I can find to get Google to let me port my mobile number over to them as soon as possible. I’ll have to pay a $175 fee to AT&T to switch away, but it’s worth it. As long as Google is around I won’t have to be shackled to any of the ridiculous U.S. mobile carriers. I can just use whatever device I’m testing at any given time as my main phone. And I won’t have to ask people to call me at my home VoIP line when I’m here just because my iPhone doesn’t work at all at my house. Instead I can just switch my inbound calls to Vonage. Callers won’t know the difference.
when can we start switching numbers over?
Phone.com gives you number portability today with Virtual Number – why wait?
You can also port and park your number at NumberGarage and then forward it to Google Voice.
Interesting. I hadn’t heard of NumberGarage, so I checked it out… turns out it is actually cheaper to port your number to VoIP provider CallCentric (which I use and love) instead of NumberGarage.
As an added bonus, a VoIP provider actually lets you make and receive calls!
Hey, thanks for the CallCentric pointer! They are feaking awesome – I was looking for a cheap provider that allows me to port my current landline number to them, and that has minimal monthly fees and cheap international rates.
CallCentric is just what I needed – I feel stupid for not hearing about them earlier (have been using a variety of sip providers for 6 years now…)
Mmm, I smell fresh spam! Thanks, Elliot and Chris!
CallCentric has great rate for pay per call but Skpe has a much cheaper pay plan.
That’s the great thing about android and the GV (google voice) app, it intercepts all the calls and you can mask your calls and text messages under your GV number without switching anything.
You can also retrieve voice messages (including visual voicemail transcripts) without calling your subscriber and having to go through the crappy services.
“I’ll have to pay a $175 fee to AT&T to switch away”
Um..hasn’t that very thing caused millions, hundreds of millions of people to be “stuck” in their mobile contract to the point of defining an industry?
Somehow because it’s Google, the masses (not you) are suddenly going to be just fine with paying to get out of their mobile contracts?
Research FAIL
research NOTfail. the point is people switch carriers from time to time, usually when their contracts run out and there is no fee. number portability gives them the freedom to move among carriers. Now that Google will be able to take that number, too, they’ll get a share of those users. the fact that you will no longer be tied to a big carrier is a big incentive.
but that wasn’t really your point. you just wanted to spread a little hate around the Internet today. go do it somewhere else please.
Question, if you port your number away from your iphone/att to GV, then what are you going to use for a cell phone? your going to break one contract just to start another?
what i recommend is setting up a carrier relationship that doesn’t involve long term contracts and termination fees.
Hey Michael,
Great article and timely for me as I am looking to port my numbers from at&t now.
“I’m banging on every door I can find to get Google to let me port my mobile number over to them as soon as possible.”
-How did this go for you? Please twitter or email me the details
“I’ll have to pay a $175 fee to AT&T to switch away”
-AT&T’s policy now (I think due to some class action suit) is that they give $5 / month credit towards the $175 fee for each month you’ve been in contract. So for someone like me whose latest 2 year contract started on the Iphone 3G release date (7/11/08), I’d get a 13 month credit ($175 – $65 = $110 cancellation fee)
It sounds like maybe you don’t understand what Google Voice is. It allows you to route calls to any phone… VoIP, land line, cell phone, work phone, etc… all simultaneously. You can even set up schedules. Want it to only ring your work phone during business hours? Maybe you don’t want it to ring your cell phone after midnight but, instead, ring your home phone number.
Also, if you happen to have multiple cell phones, you can have text messages routed to all of them simultaneously. In the meantime, this can be logged on the website, so if you don’t feel like picking up your cell phone and typing on the small keyboard to reply to a text message, you can do so using the Gmail-like interface.
And text messaging is free unless you forward to your cellphone. With Android and the Google Voice or GV app you can text all day long for no charge!
haha Go Michael! Its your bday! It’s your bday!….
I agree, Michael. The point is that it’s a one-time fee, either way, really. Either you do the work of printing business cards etc. or you have your number ported. As a student, I didn’t have the business cards problem, but I have to admit that it took a while to call all of my contacts to tell them my number and explain the new shenanigans they would have to deal with when knowing who is calling. I did it, but it would have been much more convenient to port the number instead, and even to simply alleviate the hassle the money would have been worth it. For those with business contacts who need a constant number, porting is really the only option, so I’m glad they are doing this.
I wish I didn’t need a carrier at all. When I get my Android phone (within the year if release promises are kept), I want only an unlimited data plan because I can do all the calling and texting I want through Google Voice, and thus, the internet. I would rather have a Skype number (much cheaper) than a carrier one.
And buddy, I would do my own research before you have to taste your foot.
The big downside to doing what you’re proposing is no longer using Mobile to Mobile minutes. Any call coming through GV is no longer a M2M, and any outgoing call going through GV’s routing service then uses regular out of network rates. Also, SMS forwarding is the same deal.
That alone would double the amount of billable minutes I use on a monthly basis, as most of my friends also have Verizon Wireless.
I added my GV number to my friends ‘n family plan (Verizon Wireless); then, set GV to always show the GV number when a call comes in.
Calls stop using my minutes.
But then how do you know who is calling? Not only that, but other people don’t get the mobile2mobile savings, either.
This argument is the dumbest constantly recurring one in GV-land:
1) You don’t need to change your number, if you change what you TELL people your number is… And MOST people do change numbers – whenever they move state to state, change carriers, etc – the whole idea that number portability is USED by the masses outside of geekdom is wildly exaggerated. Most people don’t know this stuff exists.
(I understand where Techcrunch is aimed, but this bit always irks me, since it’s a non-issue with the ‘normal’ people I tell about GV/similar services, especially when business cards are basically free nowadays (vistaprint) )
2) What number portability DOES do, is give the freedom Michael is talking about – either with a penalty cost (probably more than printing new cards, but…) to get out of contract, or post-contract which again is where most people are ignorantly overpaying for their cell service – you can use the EXISTING cell number as a GV number, then just get a bunch of “whatever” numbers for home, office, new cell provider, etc. Honestly, THAT option is a lot more work to my mind, versus a single ONE TIME number switch to a GV number.
But, you know, whatever works… Just wish Techcrunch had, like, a “hickville” field reporter who could balance the sillivalley polarity of the site a bit more, and explain things like “why a farmer wants Google Wave”, rather than arguing with tech heads who fear it’s the next Lotus Notes.
A farmer wants Google Wave to eliminate the mental and fiscal overhead of various communication channels in dealing with real-time crop decisions. Within an email-like framework, an entire network of agricultural business owners can discuss various options, review live data, and act in the best interests of their fields, their businesses, their customers, and their communities.
Deano, a good idea, but that content is probably best suited for another blog. Want to write it? I can help you get started…
Also, LOL @kawika , especially because it’s true
Okay, but how annoying is it to “change your number, if you change what you TELL people your number is”? I don’t think number portability in this article is a being exagerated at all (even outside of geekdom!), I think it really is the biggest barrier to entry for GV and if they can resolve it, they might just change the whole game.
It’s fine with new contacts or people you are just meeting, but imagine having to dig-up with every old friend or client or business contact who you ever dealt with just to get them to start using your google number instead of your normal one.
And it doesn’t help that when you call people on GV through your phone, the number that shows up on their caller-ID is still your regular number and not your google number! It’s only natural that they’ll still stubbornly call you back on that same regular number…
In the meantime, something that really helped me get past this is to use http://www.avakit.com, highly recommended!
That’s not true. When you call people through Google Voice, it’s your Google Voice number that shows on the CallerID.
no it is not.
@martyclips.com — Yes it most certainly is. As it is when you text them.
Not sure I agree with that. When my girlfriend wanted a smartphone I told her I would get her a Pre when I got mine and switch her from her expired Verizon plan to a shared Sprint plan to save money. As a non-techie she was glad to leave the details and phone choice up to me but there was one thing on which she was adamant: she had to be able to keep her phone number.
Needless to say I made sure of number portability before buying anything and made sure that they could port it on the spot. If she had gone a day or two without her number she would have missed important calls.
In my experience, to the “non techie” folks out there, number portability is one of the only issues after phone choice. In my experience people don’t really comparison shop for plan prices. They just see a phone they want, see an ad on TV for a network, or catch something cool at the store. As long as they can keep their number they are sold. Why do you think there are so many folks out there paying $100-150 for an iPhone plan when a comparable plan on another carrier with another smartphone might cost $70-100?
Porting your number does not void your contract. When you do that your cell phone gets a new random number, which you no longer share with people. You still use your cell just like before, but Google becomes the middle man. This way, even if you forget to pay your bill you still get calls! Plus all of the great Google Voice features. Of course the experience is now a lot less seamless with the Android Google Voice App.
Yes porting number out from your existing cell phone service provider (i.e. AT&T) will terminate your existing contract, they will not randomly assign you a new number. I tried that last year March porting my cell number to Vonage, got slapped with $175 early termination fee. I had to hurry get my cell service back on, which means another activation fee and a new 2-year contract. I was in hell last year.
FYI..if you find someone to take over your contract you don’t need to cancel anything. Just put an ad on craiglist…(free phones are usually a deal closer) then call the company and let them know you are switching from person X to Y and boom done! No early term fee. Takes a little work I suppose…but $175 will go towards new phone/plan whatever.
Just my stance on the whole issue though. I really like GV. I really like Apple. Iffy on ATT though. Wish they would let the app on Iphone but would rather have iphone and a bit less functionality on it that to give it up. There is always a web browser…just set a bookmark to your GV inbox. That easy…you just save $175 bucks. Or am I missing something?
Looking forward to this. I’ve been using AT&T Callvantage for years and was prepared to just drop that number in favor of my Google Voice number.
I’ve heard of companies that use similar technologies to keep down costs. Great to see Google bringing this option to individuals. Although, I wonder when they will start charging a monthly fee. The costs are too prohibitive for Google to keep this free forever.
not saying they won’t add a monthy fee some day, but they plan on making money by charging for international calls (which is apparently a huge market).
On an enterprise level, Adaptive Engineering has been doing this for years.
If you want to maximize your company’s return on investment, you should consider Adaptive’s Concourse 3(TM) software suite. Concourse streamlines all kinds of inefficiencies, especially in customer service call centers.
Meanwhile its incredibly user-friendly interface makes it very simple to use. http://www.adap...engine.com/news
Great call (no pun intended) on Google Voice. It really is great!
Where can i get that TShirt>?
I’ve been using GC since its early days and now GV. so the number portability feature does not appeal to me, since I already conditioned my friends, family, to call the original GC-issued number for some time now. But the outbound ‘Caller ID cloaking’ is something that I (and I am sure many others) have communicated to GC staff as a much-needed feature. I dont see where this would become a legal-issue, as a user would be substituting one number (that they already as associated with and control, so to speak) with another number that they also control or are associated with, not dissimilar to how a Call Center handles their outbound Caller ID displaying one main number. BRING IT ON!
“GV Mobile” for iPhone has both SMS out and dial out from your GV number.
To have the call appear from your Google Voice number, you dial from the GV Mobile app, and it has Google Voice call you back at the number of your choice before ringing the other end.
http://www.ipho...-gv-mobile.html
If you use the GV Mobile app, keep in mind you need to “Verify” numbers you list in the simul-ring section. That verification currently is done through the web interface.
what would be nice would be for an invite or for Google Voice to open up to more users…. oy.
agreed, any word on when that should happen?
I wonder if I can switch my Skype number into GV?
Knock, Knock Google Voice.
2 years I’ve been searching for an invite to this service! No seriously. I want in so badly. Mainly so my voicemail will not read “Sorry, don’t leave a voicemail. I don’t check them because it takes way too long. I’ll just call you back.” Also many other reasons.
Google, I submitted my request to get in years ago. I left cute poems to your voicemail in the Google Voice twitter contest. I would PAY for this service if I had to.
Knock, knock. Nobody is home.
Ive done the same! Have asked for an invite, also left a voice mail at the listed GV phone number.
Google takes forever to come out with a product.
Looks like i will have to go with another service.
I’ve waited because GV seems to be the best, if you can get an invite!!!
Come on google, share the love!!!!!
I won a contest on TechCrunch for an invite. I LOVE the service!! I use it to “mask” my “real” phone number all the time.
If someone starts being stalkerish, I just send their incoming calls directly to voicemail and my real phone never rings.
Genius!
I got my invite about 2 months after signing up — and I also noticed Google street view came down our little street in Hooterville — one theory: I’m a shareholder…
I wonder about new phones though since a large amount of the cost of new phones is subsidized within the plan costs. Wouldn’t it end up costing quite a bit more if you ever want to update your phone? Would unlocked phones work with the service?
I have a strong suspicion that Apple/ATT will not be amenable to any such Outbound Caller ID cloaking apps
they don’t have to be, they can’t stop it – you call into your google voice number, then dial out…. or better yet, the google voice app calls your cell, then dials out itself (showing your GV number to the called party) – so you always get incoming calls and it’s connected as an outgoing. AT&T can’t stop it even if they want to.
I hear you, but still… I want to place outgoing calls and outgoing texts using the tightly integrated interface that comes with my phone — I don’t want to have to travel to some disconnected app every time I do this…
Well, I don’t know how the iPhone works, but with Android (Google’s Phone OS) the app is integrated, you can set it to intercept calls or place calls through it as if you were making a regular phone call .. I guess that’s what’s so great about an open source phone os
my very educated guess on this is that you can expect tight integration on android phones, less ease of use on other platforms.
Apple is stepping on toes with this already. They removed the dialer app from iTunes store. Not only that but they are keeping the 30% commission they levy & leaving responsibility for the *entire* refund to the individual developer! Dirty!
I can’t wait for this to be rolled out. Google is giving away free business cards featuring their Google Profile, so perhaps they can give away new cards with new accounts?
google voice has been in beta for quite some time now. annoying. reviews about products we cannot use are really frustrating to read – especially with no real release date.
I have had a Grand Central number since they started, but don’t use it as you can’t record phone calls without people knowing.
Yes, each state is different in regards to the legality of recording the calls, for instance, in Texas only one party needs to give consent.
Google should allow those in certain states to record calls without notifying the other party. Otherwise, I won’t be porting over my number.
You shouldn’t be recording calls without people knowing it anyway. It’s not ethical and Google is doing the right thing.
If someone’s calling you and threatening or harassing you, recording them is a great way to get the evidence you may need to convict them. They’re already abusing you and your number – why bother telling them they’re being recorded?
There are *so many* situations where recording calls with one-party consent is useful, and a handful when it’s not, that these notions of “this isn’t ethical” is, I have to say, antiquated.
Governments have shown no qualms about phone tapping and recording people when necessary. We can already be recorded with 0-party consent, so letting me have a bit more control over my own conversations (in an easy fashion) is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time…
So, just call the NSA and ask them for a transcript of your phone call.
Plutonium Implosion Trigger (PIT)
Weaponized Anthrax
Dickhead Cheney
No, it’s unethical. Period! But I guess it’s perfectly acceptable in the country with the most lawyers per capita in the universe and where cops can pull you over for no reason and treat you like a criminal.
If one is paranoid or a simple coward, there’s always a good explanation for the abuse of the human rights and every FU is a considered serious threat! In reality, people use words to vent out and those that don’t say much are the real trouble makers.
Just curious as to who owns the number once you transfer it. Current terms indicate the google voice number might be a non-transferable black hole. Anyone know more?
Current Google Terms: “As between the parties, Google shall retain all right, title and interest to the telephone numbers used in connection with or provided as part of the Services.”
It’s an interesting quandary that, in order to port your number you need to leave your current operato, but in the case of Google Voice you’re really just taking the number with you, and you still need voice and data service.
I can’t wait for G to add portability. I have a GV account, and replaced by number in my work directory with this GV number, but I haven’t given the number out to friends and family (to spare them the switching/update burden).
Interesting that no one seems to be picking up on the merged ID possibilities that this next iteration could present – a primary number through Google Voice, and a primary online ID through Google. With Google fronting both services, there’s really no reason these couldn’t be consolidated, or used interchangeably.
How about using your Google Profile as Caller ID for your Google Voice number?
Google Voice is an amazing service. Being able to port my regular mobile number would be even better. Thanks for the heads up. Let us know when you find the right door / contact to let your readers port our Google Voice numbers.
I agree. Ever since Grand Central became Google Voice, the service has been outstanding. Using it on Android with the unofficial GV app makes it perfect. Still, an official app from Google would be better.
Once they allow you to port numbers (hopefully more than one), I will say “goodbye” to all the blood suckers I have to deal with now. I just can’t understand how come Google Voice supports Gizmo, but not their own Google Talk for PC calls?!
I am just afraid that the service won’t stay free forever, but if it’s reasonably priced, then I will pay the extra $4.95 per month (hopefully not more) for the unprecedented freedom and convenience.
That Vonage thing for USA is probably good. But for international calls I would highly recommend http://www.nonoh.net. Most major landlines are free, mobiles between 6-12 cents.
And the best thing is, you don’t need internet. You get local number (I assume you have landline flatrate) which you first call and than you dial the number which you want to call. Sounds complicated? no problem, just save combination in your phone like this: 04444444 , 00494444444 (local number, pause, international number) and everything goes automatically.
2 times cheaper than Skype, Jajah, Vonage or Truphone
Hey Michael, any chance of finding out whether they’ll be able to forward SMS “through” the number if your device is a mobile?
That’s the main thing that will prevent most people from porting their long-time number from their mobile provider to Google Voice – not only changing the number they need to give out to receive SMS, but also having two separate numbers with only one being SMS-enabled.
Actually, there’s a (somewhat inelegant) workaround to the outbound SMS problem. When someone sends an SMS to your GV number, it shows up on your phone as coming from a number with a (406) area code. From then on, if you send an SMS or place a call to that (406) number, the person on the other end will see it as having come from your GV number. So now you can make calls to or text that person through your phone’s regular interface.
The trick I’ve learned is to just initiate an SMS convo with people through the GV website or the GV Mobile iPhone app in order to generate their (406) number, which I then save in my iPhone for that contact and use exclusively for them from that point on.
Hmm. Not perfect by any means, but thanks very much for taking the time to write that out. I’m off to try it.
SMS:
1. you are able to send sms through the GV site.
2. you are able to receive sms through the GV site, it will also forward them to all of your sms enabled devices.
3. If you send an sms from X device..that is the number that will show to the recipient…at least until they launch a mobile application that we can use on a smartphone/iPhone etc……..
so for example I use phone number 999,999,9999 to send a sms to my GV number – in my GV sms list I see 999,999,9999 but when GV forwards it to my sms enabled devices I see the actual sms number that google uses.
Ofcourse if I use phone with 999,999,9999 to send an sms to my wife..she is going to see the 9’s.
Hope that answers it….
Hi there,
This sounds definetely great!
huge question: will it work outside the US?
We are in the UK, France and Italy, this centralized system could smooth a lot our procedures.
If number portability is something you want to see soon, go to http://www.goog...ct_type=suggest and slick the “suggest” button next to “Port a number to Google Voice”.
FYI. The Google Voice team (@googlevoice) tweeted about this feature being a likely addition to their roadmap more than three months ago. So I’m not sure what the news flash here is.
http://twitter....atus/1317258848
“We unfortunately don’t support porting phone numbers to Google Voice right now. Stay tuned though.”
Thanks for that trick.. I didn’t know it
I’ve been a GC/GV user for a while, and that cloaking issue will be helpful. It’s just too much of a hassle to initiate a call from the iPhone through GV now.
You are right that this is huge because it will help people to unchain themselves from a cell provider.
(By the way, GV’s transcription of voicemails works surprisingly well; it’s funny how people ramble when they leave a voicemail, and you can see that and save a bunch of time with that.)
My man crush grows even more when you talk dirty about Google, Michael
I have google voice.
I’m DONE with contract cell phone plans. they suck!
I have phones from nextel, tmobile and att.
I go in and out of different prepaid accounts as I PLEASE!
When I get tired of one phone, i put prepaid minutes on the other!
I never have to worry about giving out a new number.
I have a boost phone specifically reservered for their prepaid GPS navigation and I keep it in my car. $30 for the phone and $2/day gives me GPS when I need it
Google needs to acquire Gizmo or ooma or a similar company and start offering customers to buy the “device” so that they can plug-in a phone…
currently, in order to use the service, one needs to have one more phone… (it is like email forward services of the gone years)… but it needs to become a full telephony service.
Gizmo sucks. Google has Google Talk and that’s what Google Voice needs to integrate with. Another terrific option would be Skype, but I guess that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.
What is your beef with Gizmo? just want to know. last year when I was leaving west Africa and my lady friend stayed behind i bit longer. I was able to load the gizmo app on my outdated blackberry and Call her Africa prepaid phone from my blackberry. seemed cool. thats 1 point for them and the other is they have been integrated with google voice since it was grand central. that seems like 2 points for them. add comparable rates and I feel good about them. what is your beef?
I agree. I have always found Gizmo’s service to work well. Gizmo saved me quite a bit of money when I traveled overseas and forwarded my GrandCentral number to Gizmo. Gizmo even let’s you forward to other SIP services for free, which I’ve done as well when I have access to other non-USA ATA-enabled VOIP services. There is no need to hate on hard-working people like the folks at Gizmo. It just sounds so simple-minded.
I tried Skype and was not happy with its quality. Now, I tried GV with another SIP account. I configured SIP client on Nokia e71 and it works great. Partly because, i have a router that can prioritize voice data over others. I vote for GV adding SIP services, thus as others said I can have ATA for VOIP/SIP and enjoy great calls.
We all have our preferences and can express our experiences; but, no trash talking others, please.
I assume Google Voice will be U.S only. It would be amazing if they could role it out internationally (and it would be easier because Telco’s outside the U.S are more open)
Massive news Mike..
Thanks for the flag..
I have been using GV for an year now. Recently I found the iDilaer app for my WM6 phone. This allows users to place calls using GV from the same device. It is little complicated but works. http://supware.net/iDialer/
Ideally skype should have done this and they probably can do it as well, even if they copy this they will be probably be a bigger hit
But, they won’t. Mainly because they brought it for billions and want to make money from that service. On the other hand Google spent less than 100 millions (?) on this and they are dependent on revenue by directly selling voice services. Google can still make money by targeted advertisements, and Skype can’t do that.
Correction: GV NOT dependent on direct revenue from voice services.
Great ,Google Voice i think i have to pay a $175 fees to AT&T to switch away and can use this function .Is it just paying first time or pay every years ? have more details about Google Voice ? and interested in .
something is missing here. maybe i just dont get it, but.. how the hell you gonna use mobile device without carrier? if you drop ATT, you drop your cellphone. Not much freedom in that. Otherwise, Google will need to start building some cellphone towers/antennas near you.
I think Google will use VoIP. If you are at home or office the calls can be carried over a wi-fi connection. While outdoors, you will still need a data carrier though. Eventually we will all be carrying high-speed Internet enabled devices without a telephone number.
GV gives you a telephone number. As of today, what they don’t give you is call termination on GV number. Hence, you need to forward it to another number where the call terminates. However, GV is asking for feed back on providing call termination feature. If they implement it, like a phone number tied to a SIP account, you can use your WiFi/Data connection to take the call without having another provider. In future, we may see something like WiMax or data-only-cell plans that let us use GV/VOIP on our mobile devices.
Ribbit already covers all these bases and does it much smoother and with less hassle (not to mention no concerns about Google privacy issues) with the same features.
Research FAIL!
This would be great! I am ready to drop my home phone but do not want to lose my home number. This way I could keep my home number and route it to me cell phone. SIGN ME UP!
AHHHHHH. I wish I could get a GV account.
I’ve got the same setup you do: a mobile phone and Vonage at home/work. I’m dying to get on GoogleVoice, but they haven’t gotten around to my application yet. So maybe I will wait for number portability. I’ve had the same cell phone number for ten years, and most people don’t know any other. I can’t lose it:-)
I personally can’t wait to test drive Grand Central.. It’s definitely a cool product and I could just imagine the cool features and value added services which can be built on top of the platform. Very Promising!
Well, I have never had a caller ID issue. I have been a GC user almost since they began service. While I miss some features of GC after GV takeover, GV has been doing great.
When I want to make a call, I login onto my account online and initiate the call from the web. I get an option of which number to call from (a list of my registered numbers and a blank space to enter a number-when you are at a friend’s place for example). The number starts ringing and when answered, the call gets connected. The receiver gets my GV number on caller ID. And they happily lived ever after.
i use google voice and t-mobile’s myfaves program for unlimited voice calls and data for ~$66/month with no contract
only problem is numbers don’t show up in caller id (because i want the free incoming benefit of myfaves)…
calling is a bit awkward on a sony ericsson phone… can’t wait for these smartphone apps to come out – forget the wireless carriers service plans… joke
What about if/when Google starts charging for outgoing calls? Or text messages? Or offers only a specific number of free minutes a month? Why would I want to pay for a number, on top of my cell phone plan? Outgoing calls are too tedious with GC/Google Voice from a handset– outgoing caller ID is a problem, and I don’t want to have to open an app/browser each time I make a phone call.
They already do charge for outgoing calls, it is only free for calls in the US, anything international costs money. What do you mean too tedious, you just call your GV number, press 1 or 2 (I haven’;t made calls in a while) and then dial whatever number, pretty simple, no browser required.
Competition in the VOIP space is fierce and is only going to get fiercer. I found a SIP provider who gives a free phone number and free incoming calls. Charges very small for outgoing calls. Their services are very similar to GV. Unlike others, Google need not make money by directly selling voice services. They transcript your voice mails for a reason: to sell you targeted adds, which is their main revenue source. On top of it they know a lot about your phone usage and can make even more money by predicting a lot about your buying behavior.
I highly doubt they start charging for basic voice services. However, they may add value added features and charge for them.
Over 2 years, and GC/Google Voice is still “rolling out”/closed. I have an account, but not in the correct area code.
They need to set a real release date, and stick with it.
I’m from India. This is seriously a non-issue here. We have no long term contracts here. Even better we are getting number portability this september.
It is more less a basic right to choose the carrier, the plan and freedom to swictch.
http://in.reute...-32991620080411
But, you don’t have GV for India numbers. India, to date, doesn’t allow GV like services to give out India numbers.
With all due respect to the freedom you already got, there is a lot more you are missing and you don’t realize.
By the way I am from India too, and I love India for what it is. I don’t fee a need to say how great my country is in irrelevant contexts.
Calls I make from my mobile (iPhone via AT&T) already show my Google Voice number, because I call my contacts using the (406) number that’s generated when someone first sends a txt message to my Google Voice number. So, as long as I send txts and make voice calls to the (406) number that Google voice already generates for each of my contacts, they see my GV number in their caller ID.
You can also dial via the web interface (which is awesome by the way, it makes text messaging a whole new, useful thing when I am at home and have practically no cell coverage). That shows the GV number for calls and txt messages, as well.
Arrington, woulds be good to indicate where Google Voice works and where it doesn’t work geographically. I had to do the extra work of googling GV to get that info.
There’s also the cost of each and everyone of your calls being recorded and analized by the Google cloud, scary.
I’ll pass.
I’d bet EVERY phone service today does it already, after all, they run through voip also… so it’s got to be recorded to a drive somewhere and then passed on so all the 1s and 0s can be reassembled at the other end to make a voice rather than a beeep.
Google just tells you they are doing it, unlike other services. Think of all the lines you call that say, “your call may be recorded for quality purposes”… you know they are recording it every time anyhow.
True, but it is unlikely that anyone aggregates and analyzes call records from your bank transactions and your Amazon purchase disputes. If you route all calls via Google, they can do it. And that is discomforting to many.
By the way I have a GV account and plan to use it.
if google voice continues to be free than this will be ‘HUGE.’ any free service that give people a place to ‘park’ there current phone number and than never pay another penny will be absolutely massive.
just as for many now GV is nothing but a way to make free phone calls(i bet most users never give anyone their number) it will be known as the place to transfer and save your number at when you go phoneless.
I’ve tried switching a couple of times but it takes forever to ring through on my T-mobile line. I don’t know if it’s the same with every carrier but for me I never hear the first 2-3 rings while GV is forwarding the call to my mobile. It’s a great concept but comes a too great a cost.
Did you verify if there is a lag in ringing T-mobile number from ANY phone number?
My experience is all calls to cell phone have this lag. I tried this from non-GV number to my T-mobile number.
GV may have a little more lag because they need to process all your routing preferences. But, this should be in micro seconds, assuming Google uses better servers to process these preferences.