Google Voice Now Open To All

Google’s voice product is now open to everyone after a long beta period where you could only join by a referral.

Google voice issues you a US phone number which is designed to be your primary phone number. You then have that number ring all your other phone numbers, such as your home/work/cell when someone calls it. This is called their “Ring All” feature. Google voice also comes packed with many call screening features where you can block certain numbers, block callers that don’t show their caller id and many more.

My favorite feature is the listen in on voicemail. When you get a call to your google voice number when you answer it you have the option to take the call or send it to voicemail. If you send it to voicemail you have the option of listening to that message and jumping back on to the call at any time. All your voice mail’s are also converted to text. This is a handy feature, but if your caller doesn’t speak clearly into their end of the phone the transcriptions are not always perfect. But in most cases you can get the idea of the call by reading it. They also have developed a Google Voice app for Android, Windows Mobile, IPhone and Blackberry where you can check your voice mail through your phone.

All these features are managed on line though Google’s web interface. I have had this service for over a year now and I love it. I have blocked so many telemarketers that I don’t think I can every get rid of it now.

This service is completely free and they do offer local numbers in may major metro areas. My advice to you is to sign up now while numbers are still available in your area. If you don’t end up using it for your main number, you may consider giving the number out to places that you buy things from, similar to a spam email address, that way you only give your main number out to those that you want to.

To lean more about all the features Google Voice has, check out their Feature Videos.