Pros & Cons of Google Voice

by | Oct 17, 2012

I like Google Voice.  I’ve had a Google Voice number for several years.

I’m sure that it is part of Google’s master plan to take over the world and collect information about us as they continue to merge and consolidate the data they collect when we use Gmail, Google Search and all the other Google products.

So what are the Pros of Google Voice in my humble opinion?

  1. Free.  That’s right. Zero dollars to use.  Unless you make international calls, but there’s always Skype for that.
  2. Make any phone ring.  Well sort of.  I’ve had my number since 2009 but it wasn’t until last year that I publicized the number.  I can have it ring my cellphone, my deskphone, my homephone and set it up to ring what ever phones I decided during the hours I decide.  I used this feature at first, but since my cellphone is with me 24/7 I just have it ring my cell.
  3. Back to the free.  I was able to cut back on the minutes for my paid cellphone plan.  Since my wife and I share minutes, she gets 99% of them.
  4. Voicemail and texting included. Because this is connected to a Google account, I get email alerts (if I want them) and transcriptions.  I also sometimes need to send a text to several people at once which I can do from my laptop with a full keyboard.

Those are my main reasons for using Google Voice as my primary number.  Another is when I signed up I was able to select my own number and I decided on one that spells HELP at the end, since that is what I do, help people.

There are two Cons of Google Voice:

1. I still need a paid cell phone number to keep my cell connected to the world unless I were to rely entirely on WiFi.

2. The voice mail transcription service sucks.  For example, look at this message from my wife last week:

Hi Scott, Sutton had and getting out of town. I get a call. And I So he writes stomach other tire place and see what’s what. And to Bob. It’s my RAM of the Frigidaire. So the freight it and i’m sure there’s something Perkin Perkins and, so, anyway, love you, that’s the deal. My Job Catching. Where’s the money. Alright, I’ll talk to you bye.

It’s laughable which is what I often do when I read it.

Check it out at http://www.google.com/voice

And I’m curious about your experiences with Google Voice…

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