It seems that I’m one of the lucky ones that already has a Google voice number (*waves number in the air and sticks out tongue. Adds left hand to hip for desired effect) so I figured I would share my thoughts on it for all those unfortunate people that are without. (Can you believe that people are selling numbers on eBay? AND people are buying said numbers?)

I first heard about Google Voice when I realized I had way too many phone numbers and I needed something that I could use to manage them all. When I stumbled onto the Google Voice site, I immediately signed up before even reading all the details. (If it’s made by Google, it is a win. Fact.)

In July, I finally obtained that elusive invite. However, I was in Brazil and couldn’t activate it, because the sneaksters at Google easily detected that I was out of the country.

August came. I arrived in New York. I pulled out my laptop and activated my Google Voice account.

New hitch in the plan: There were no Washington, DC numbers available. After trying every day for the next week, I was finally able to score a great DC number that’s easy to remember. (I honestly wasn’t worried about anyone else remembering it, just me. I have a huge problem with numbers.)

I’ve been using Voice since then and while there are a few snags, it’s a solid tool.

Google Voice is great…

One number!: Obviously this is the whole point. I currently have about 4 phone numbers (don’t ask) and people were having a hard time keeping up with how to reach me. Now people can call one number and reach me anywhere in the world because I was able to connect my Google Voice number to my Skype account.

Just like email: I’m an email junkie. Gmail, specifically. Even my business email address is housed using Google apps. It thrills me that I can now handle my phone calls in the same way that I can handle my emails. You even receive text messages in your Voice account and you can respond to them right from the web. This includes…

Web messages: When you receive a voicemail, Voice sends you an email with the transcript (see below) and a link to hear the voicemail. I really hate having to listen to voicemails on the phone (is that weird?) so this is huge for me.

Listen in to calls: When you pick up a google voice call, the person has to state their name before they even know that you’re on the line. If you don’t like them can’t talk, you can send them to voicemail. And you can even listen in while they are leaving the message.

These things suck…

Transcription: I learned very early on not to trust the transcribed message that I received from Google. They make absolutely no sense. Who exactly is transcribing these things? Hmmm, that’s actually a pretty scary thought.

Only United States: For now, this is only open to US users. I’m certain however that this will be expanded. When international numbers can be added, it will be an even bigger win.

So overall, I’m loving Google Voice. And there are plenty of features that I didn’t even add here.

Thanks Google, you rock.

(It breaks my heart to see Google and Apple fighting.)

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