Google voice allows you to present to the world a single phone number that could result in several actual numbers behind the scenes. It allows you to change numbers without concern and provides a host of additional features covered below. I started with Google Voice when it was Grand Central and have enjoyed it for some time now.
1. Groups
Groups or calling groups, as I like to say, allows you to customize the experience based on the person that is calling. For example, in my Google contacts I added all my friends and family to a group. When they call the call is not screened and they receive my personal voice mail greeting instead of my business greeting. Additionally, they will broadcast ring multiple phones (Home Phone, Work Phone, Personal Mobile, Work Mobile, and Skype). In contrast, work contacts will not ring my home phone or personal phones and callers receive my business greeting.
2. Schedules on a Per Phone Basis
My phone rings all hours of the day but an advanced setting in Google Voice allows me configure schedules for specific phones. It allows you to create customized schedules for both weekdays and weekends as noted in the image below.
3. Digital Voicemail
Often I need to forward a voicemail with Google Voice which is simple. “Visual Voicemail” is a rather common feature on smart phones today. On many phones it is either not possible to forward the VM (iPhone) or it is stored in a proprietary format (Blackberry).
4. Integrated SMS
SMS is a great way to communicate and I use this aspect of Google Voice Daily. The cool thing is I can start an SMS conversation via Google Voice and transition to my phones SMS messaging or just manage via the web or in the Google voice mobile app. Just as Microsoft Live Messenger allows you to go from IM to SMS and carry a conversation, Google Voice will act as a middle man in an SMS conversation. Thus when someone sends an SMS to my Google Voice I can reply from my mobile SMS and it is relayed though Google back to the original sender.
5. Do not Disturb (DnD)
When I get on a conference call I can just enable the Do not Disturb feature and none of my phones ring. I have used and outlook plugin called Email Prioritizer for some time now and my favorite feature in that app was putting email on DnD for 30 minutes. Google just took this idea this idea and applied it to phone calls.
6. Voicemail Transcription
I often can get the gist of what a message is about from the transcription that is emailed. This is not why I like the feature, like a lot of us I ignore most joke emails but the transcriptions from Google Voice can be the best jokes of the day.
As you can see I can quickly pick out the details but it is now almost a game trying to guess what Google is trying to tell me.
7. Call Screening
When I travel out of the US I love to enable call screening. With incoming calls Google Voice reads the names of people in my contact list when I answer giving me and option to take the call or not. If they are not in my call list the first time they call Google Voice will prompt them to say their name. Again I get the option to take the call or send to voice mail.
8. Initiate Calls from Google Voice
Call it lazy or just not wanting to dial 10 digits all day long but being able to lookup a contact in my contact list and initiate a call is just a heavenly feature. One downside is when Google Voice was Grand Central they had an Outlook plugin that allowed you to initiate calls. The Google Voice app on the blackberry is nice but what they have done on Android is amazing but still had room for improvement.
9. Call Log
I often need to reference back to when I called someone. Desk phones only have a limited call log but because I do all my calls via Google Voice I can reference back to when I called someone. Also with Google Voice I have a consolidated call log. Microsoft had this technology years ago when they did a handset with Ericsson that talked to outlook. The product was not very good but the concept was on point.
10 International Call Rates
When I need to make an international call on my mobile I know the rates will be low as all my calls go over Google Voice. I know I can get great rates with Skype or Vonage but I want a transparent experience and I get that with Google Voice.
Once you get past the funny aspect of voice transcription Google Voice proves to be a rather useful tool for managing your various phone numbers.
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