Google just keeps destroying business models. In this case, that’s a boost to everyone who wants to cut an office land line bill. As long as you don’t mind wearing a headset.
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen: I am an enthusiastic convert to Google Voice.
I’ve been using the free phone service from the web search giant for the past month and have found the experience to be much better than the standard office phone system.
Signing up is easy, but you will need a Gmail account from Google, which is also free. When you sign up, you pick from a long list of available phone numbers. You can pick your area code, too. So even if you don’t have an office in New York, you can at least pretend.
It will ask you for your mobile number; this allows you to make the most of what Google Voice has to offer. When someone calls your Google number, you can set it up to ring both your cell phone and your computer at the same time. To receive calls on your computer, just leave Gmail open in your web browser. You will also need a headset.
If you don’t want calls coming in to your cell phone, then you have the option to just have them come in your computer. Or vice versa. You can also set it up to send calls directly to your Google voicemail.
The voicemail system is one of the best features. Instead of the grueling process of navigating through a long list of voice mails using your keypad, Google Voice shows you a list of messages you have received, and it even transcribes them for you.
The transcriptions themselves still need a few tweaks and often include a few misinterpreted (and unintentionally funny) phrases, but if you don’t have time to listen you can usually get the gist of what the caller needed. For example, it always transcribes my name (Al) into Alice. And in another message it translated “West Cary Street” to “was scary St.” If you want, you can check a box indicating whether the transcription was useful or not, which Google is using to improve the voice translations.
Another bonus is that Google Voice will forward the message transcripts to you via e-mail or as a text message to your cell phone.
As far as call quality goes, I have not had any issues. Perhaps some of you even talked to me on my Google line.
Every once in a while, you might want to adjust the volume on your computer to hear someone better.
One more cool thing is the call screening. When someone calls you, a Google robot voice will ask callers for their name. When you pick up it will tell who is calling you, so you have the choice of accepting the call or sending it to voicemail.
There are two minor flaws. Although Google Voice will allow you to record and save incoming calls (which I haven’t got around to trying yet), you can’t record outgoing calls. Not sure the reason why, but it could be a technical hurdle they are most likely trying to work around. Maybe it’s to discourage users from making prank calls.
The other thing that is a bit odd is the interface. Calls are made and received from inside your Gmail account. But you have to go to the Google Voice page to view your voicemails and call history and or to send texts. You can make calls from the Google Voice page itself, but it does it in a weird way. When you put in the number you want to call, it rings your cell phone (and/or your Gmail, depending on how you have it set up) and after you answer it connects you to the number you were trying to call.
Not sure the reason for this, but it is easy enough to work around. Google Voice is very easy to use, and perhaps even more importantly free. Well, you still have to pay for Internet service unless you are hijacking your neighbor’s WiFi.
So maybe you are tired of checking multiple voicemail boxes for messages. Or maybe you don’t want to miss calls at the office, but you don’t want to give out your personal cell phone number, either. It could be that you are tired of getting complaints from customers that your phone system is an impossible maze of extensions. Or you could just be a cheapskate.
If any of the above describes you, I highly recommend giving Google Voice a whirl.
At RBS, we will be canceling two of our phone lines.
Google just keeps destroying business models. In this case, that’s a boost to everyone who wants to cut an office land line bill. As long as you don’t mind wearing a headset.
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen: I am an enthusiastic convert to Google Voice.
I’ve been using the free phone service from the web search giant for the past month and have found the experience to be much better than the standard office phone system.
Signing up is easy, but you will need a Gmail account from Google, which is also free. When you sign up, you pick from a long list of available phone numbers. You can pick your area code, too. So even if you don’t have an office in New York, you can at least pretend.
It will ask you for your mobile number; this allows you to make the most of what Google Voice has to offer. When someone calls your Google number, you can set it up to ring both your cell phone and your computer at the same time. To receive calls on your computer, just leave Gmail open in your web browser. You will also need a headset.
If you don’t want calls coming in to your cell phone, then you have the option to just have them come in your computer. Or vice versa. You can also set it up to send calls directly to your Google voicemail.
The voicemail system is one of the best features. Instead of the grueling process of navigating through a long list of voice mails using your keypad, Google Voice shows you a list of messages you have received, and it even transcribes them for you.
The transcriptions themselves still need a few tweaks and often include a few misinterpreted (and unintentionally funny) phrases, but if you don’t have time to listen you can usually get the gist of what the caller needed. For example, it always transcribes my name (Al) into Alice. And in another message it translated “West Cary Street” to “was scary St.” If you want, you can check a box indicating whether the transcription was useful or not, which Google is using to improve the voice translations.
Another bonus is that Google Voice will forward the message transcripts to you via e-mail or as a text message to your cell phone.
As far as call quality goes, I have not had any issues. Perhaps some of you even talked to me on my Google line.
Every once in a while, you might want to adjust the volume on your computer to hear someone better.
One more cool thing is the call screening. When someone calls you, a Google robot voice will ask callers for their name. When you pick up it will tell who is calling you, so you have the choice of accepting the call or sending it to voicemail.
There are two minor flaws. Although Google Voice will allow you to record and save incoming calls (which I haven’t got around to trying yet), you can’t record outgoing calls. Not sure the reason why, but it could be a technical hurdle they are most likely trying to work around. Maybe it’s to discourage users from making prank calls.
The other thing that is a bit odd is the interface. Calls are made and received from inside your Gmail account. But you have to go to the Google Voice page to view your voicemails and call history and or to send texts. You can make calls from the Google Voice page itself, but it does it in a weird way. When you put in the number you want to call, it rings your cell phone (and/or your Gmail, depending on how you have it set up) and after you answer it connects you to the number you were trying to call.
Not sure the reason for this, but it is easy enough to work around. Google Voice is very easy to use, and perhaps even more importantly free. Well, you still have to pay for Internet service unless you are hijacking your neighbor’s WiFi.
So maybe you are tired of checking multiple voicemail boxes for messages. Or maybe you don’t want to miss calls at the office, but you don’t want to give out your personal cell phone number, either. It could be that you are tired of getting complaints from customers that your phone system is an impossible maze of extensions. Or you could just be a cheapskate.
If any of the above describes you, I highly recommend giving Google Voice a whirl.
At RBS, we will be canceling two of our phone lines.
Google Voice is great; I have been using it for almost a year. The other nice feature with it is that you can set up a video chat if your computer has webcam enabled. It is still crude in execution when you compare it to a Cisco VOIP solution for an office, but i think Google’s will only get better and will force Cisco to improve their product.
Came across this article yesterday, with several more unusual but handy uses:
http://lifehacker.com/5697196/the-most-helpful-ways-to-use-google-voice-that-youre-not-using
Interesting service. But considering all the other ways Google has invaded your privacy, are you sure you want them recording and transcribing (and certainly storing somehwere) all your personal and business phone calls and voice mails? And using the content of them to serve you more targeted advertising?
Try Yap’s free voicemail to text transcription app for the iPhone…better transcription quality than Google Voice, and fully automated with no human intervention, unlike many other solutions…