Google Voice Goes Live

 

Overview   

After about 15 months of invite-only testing Google has finally made the service 100% public. For those of you that don't already know Google Voice is a client that connects all your phones together in order to create a new and intuitive telephony experience. As with all of Googles products the service is completely free. However; there are a few downsides that come along with Google Voice. The first on being that there is no Google Voice App for the iPhone. When you think about it it seems like a very practical and useful app that one might have on their phone. Unfortunately Apple last year blocked the Google Voice app entirely from their App Store. With no App for the iPhone you will either have to use the service from an actual browser on from another phone using an operating system such as android.  

How It Works

When one signs up for Google Voice at www.google.com/voice they will be prompted to enter either their zip code or an area code for the particular area in which they live. Once this is done Google generates a list of Phone Numbers that you con choose to be you google voice phone number. After this you connect all of you traditional phones (Ex: Cell Phone, Home Phone, Work Phone). And google will call each one of the numbers you entered to confirm that this is your actual phone number. 

What Would I Actually Use This For?

At first it seems like somewhat of a stupid idea. Although when you get started with the service and actually truly understand how everything works it is a very useful little tool. So when you are about to give someone your phone number give them your Google Voice number instead. This way when the person tries to call you it will ring all of your phones at the same time so there is a very low chance of you missing the call If you do miss the call you dont have to find the phone that the voicemail was left on you just log into your Google Voice account and it is right there. Also not only is Google Voice very useful for phone calls you can also send free text messages to any phone in the U.S. Google Voice really is an extremely useful and easy service to use.