Lifehacker Helps Us Ease Our Transition To Google Voice

2009 July 27

by timmy

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to my newsletter for updates.

screenshot.15 Lately there has been a lot of buzz about Google Voice and how it has the potential to change how we think about our phones. I, too, have acquired an invite to try Google Voice (I was using Grandcentral.com when Google acquired it) and am loving the experience. There are, however, some difficulties while transitioning to the new number and service. I’d like to call it growing pains.

The good folks over at Lifehacker.com have put together an article with some contact lists, and others feel like they'll catch you quicker if they've got your direct line. Don't take their calls. Call them back from your Google Voice number, through the Google Voice web site (explained later on), or by calling your Google Voice number from your standard phone and dialing them from there. They'll either take the hint and spend the 30 seconds to update, get lazy and start calling your Google Voice number from their Recent Calls list, or get used to having their messages returned at your convenience. Photo by jessicafm. Dealing with annoyances Changing your phone life will, of course, come with its share of kinks. Here are a few of them, and how you can sidestep the worst side effects. Note: The first two can be mostly avoided with Google Voice apps for smartphones, like GV for Android and GV Mobile for iPhones. o Text message replies: When Google Voice delivers your text messages to your phone, they arrive from a completely new phone number, although with a contact's name attached if you have it stored. Replying to that message is easy, but to compose a new message to that person and have it show up as being from your Google Voice number, you'll have to add that phantom Google Voice SMS number to their contact, perhaps under an "Other" phone. You can, of course, send and respond to texts from Google Voice's web site, and its mobile site works great from phone browsers, but when you're not near a computer or a net connection, this is the way to enforce your One Number. o Call-backs: Unlike text messages, Google Voice doesn't provide a magic call-back number to avoid re-introducing your "old"/carrier number to contacts. If Voice's mobile or desktop web sites are accessible, you have to call into your Google Voice number, hit 2 to place a call, then enter the number you're calling back. That's a pain in the rear, and even more so if you don't feel comfortable setting your cell phone to not require a PIN when you call Google Voice. If you're calling certain contacts all the time and want the calls to go through Google Voice, you could search to see how to insert one- or two-second pauses into a phone number in your phone's address book. Then create an "Other" number for them that consists of your Google Voice number, then a pause, then "2," then a pause, then that contact's actual phone number, followed by a "#". That automates the Google Voice dialing, leaving you with just a bit of a wait while it goes through. o That slight voice latency: As previously mentioned, there's a variable amount of audio delay when routing calls through Google Voice. Sometimes it's hardly noticeable, but other times, you seem more rude than you really are. Being patient is the obvious, but best, coping mechanism. If you sense there's a good second or so lagging in your connection, simply let them finish out their entire thought before jumping in with your own. From experience, trying to time yourself slightly ahead of the end of their sentence simply makes you a bad listener, and it's hard to pull off. Form your groups Not every caller is the same. Your parents, spouse, siblings, best friends, business partners, and other VIPs can probably call whenever and you'd like to pick it up. Your over-sharing co-worker, friends who like to call from bars, and pushy sales reps of all kinds, though—they can go straight to voicemail. And what if you like being short and snappy with your friends, but need a more professional-sounding voicemail greeting for potential clients? Google Voice's Groups let you create multiple pools of people from your Google Contacts. If you didn't have any Google Contacts set up before, you will now, just by making and receiving calls. To create new groups or add and remove people from existing groups, hit the "Contacts" link in the left-hand toolbar of the Google Voice site, then select or search out names from the vertical scroll, then hit "Groups" to manage which pools they fall into. To change what happens when a Group member calls, head to Settings, then Groups, then click "Edit" next to the groups that need special rules. You can set which phones ring, what greeting someone hears, and whether you want to "ListenIn" and have Google Voice read their name to you on calling, so you can decide whether to talk or let them ring through to voicemail. If you've only got a few different folks who you want to have non-standard rules for, you can do that without having to come up with a clever group name. Select their name from your Contacts, click the "Edit Google Voice Setting" link under their contact information, and you can tweak greetings, where they ring to, and whether you see their call or not. Tweaking call rules Google Voice's killer app is allowing you to keep one phone number, but have it route to multiple phones the way you want. Here's how to save money, avoid annoyances, and get more out of Google Voice's custom calling rules. After signing up with Google Voice, you'll probably have at least your cell phone set up with the service, under a new number. It's pretty easy to add a new phone—click on "Settings" in the upper-right corner, then hit the "Phones" tab and click "Add another phone." After entering your number and verifying, you'll have a new entry in your Phones list you can set rules for. Click Edit next to a phone, then "Show Advanced Settings," to set up when these phones ring, Here are a few calling rules you can use as templates for customizing how Google Voice handles your calls. o Cell minute saver: If you've got any other kind of phone at home, or you don't mind routing certain friends and family to your office, you can have those other phones ring at the same time when your cell minutes are "regular," i.e. tracked by the minute. You could theoretically set your cell phone not to ring during day hours, but that would cut you off from calls you want to take when you're mobile. What you want to do is set your non-cellular phones to not ring between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. (or whenever your cell plan goes "free" and when you're okay taking calls). On weekends, adjust those hours to whenever you're likely to be home. If you share one of those landlines with other people, create a group of the people you wouldn't want to bother your spouse/roommate/relatives and set them to ring directly to your cell phone at all times. o Whitelist your ring-throughs: Google Voice provides pretty good caller ID, and you can easily ignore a call and check the transcription to see if that unrecognized number had something good to say. You can do one better, though, by having unrecognized callers go right to voicemail. Head first to the "Phones" section, and un-check your phones so your Google Voice number no longer "forwards to" by default. Don't worry, you're not actually losing connectivity! Head to the Contacts section and choose the callers for your trusted group by selecting them individually, or clicking another group like "My Contacts" and hitting Select: All, then hit the "Groups" button to add them to a group named "White list" or "People I Know," or something similar. Head to Groups, click Edit on that white list, then re-select the phones you want them to have access to. Google Voice provides other default options for every caller in its settings: "Do Not Disturb," which sends every call to voicemail and doesn't forward text messages; "Call Presentation," which asks callers to record their name for you to hear when they call from an unrecognized number; and "ListenIn," which lets you listen as a caller you chose to ignore records their voicemail. Those options, however, seem a bit severe and all-or-nothing compared to a white list that's not too hard to add or subtract to. Photo by Ed Yourdon. o Mumblers, speed-talkers, and hanger-uppers: Sometimes, Google can't even try to understand what certain folks in your voicemail are trying to say, and some really impatient people leave empty voicemails. That could defeat one of Voice's great strengths, the SMS/email voicemail notice you don't have to call for. In this case, we're pulling out the secret weapon—honesty. Head to Contacts and move everybody who tends to talk softly, quickly, or not at all into a group, or select them individually and change their greeting to a custom version. Name it "Transcription Reminder," and record a custom greeting. Don't patronize, but tell them that their voicemail is being transcribed, and to speak slowly "so I don't miss anything." o Formal/informal voicemail greetings: This one's easy, and fun. Head to Settings, then Groups. Click "Edit" under any contact group that should get a longer, more professional-sounding greeting ("You've reached the voicemail of Dr. Venkman. Your call is very important to me ..."), or make that the default. Set up your friends and family, however, to hear just a short message to save on their cell minutes and patience. Google Voice pros, what psychological or technical tactics have you used to make Google Voice work for you? What's been the hardest bug to deal with? For the insiders and not-yet-invited alike, what kind of filters or features would you like to see added or changed? Tell us everything in the comments. More about Google Voice VoIP Make Free Outgoing Calls with Google Voice & Gizmo5 Gizmo5, the Skype-like internet phone service, could already be set up as a Google Voice forwarding number, letting headset callers receive and, through Voice's web site, make calls. More » Dealhacker Get 25 Free Business Cards from Google Voice for a Limited Time Remember when Google was handing out free business cards earlier this year to promote profile pages? Now Google Voice is running a similar promotion, handing out 25 free business cards to the first 50,000 users to sign up. Photo via TechCrunch Presumably you'll need a Google Voice account, then... More » Google Voice Tip How to SMS with Google Voice from Any Mobile Phone Just because you don't have an Android phone or BlackBerry (or even, unofficially, an iPhone) doesn't mean you can't text from your cellphone using your Google Voice number. More » Click here to find out more! Click here to find out more! Read More: Phones, Google Voice, Cellphones, Cell Phones, Mobile Phones, Voicemail, Speech Recognition, Text Messaging, SMS, Top Click Here Click here to find out more! Got something to say? Image Video Upload an image | Add an image URL Images must be JPG, GIF or PNG and if uploaded, less than 2MB. × Choose a file to upload Image URL Insert a YouTube URL × Submit Cancel Image of timmyjohnboy timmyjohnboy 10:00 AM One of the most annoying parts has been dialing through the GV number in order to have my GV number show on caller ID. Thanks for the "call-backs" section! This annoyance should go by-by! One other trouble I will have is if a contact has the same cell carrier, and I want them to call my GV number, the cell-to-cell call will no longer be free for them. Nothing we can't work through though. Use Google Voice To Save On Your Cell Phone Bill! timmyjohnboy was starred timmyjohnboy was unstarred Image of ckrames1234 ckrames1234 07/17/09 I Made a sweet perl script that can call or text from your GV #. check it out: http://rapidshare.com/files/256867924/gvcall.pl It Requires: WWW::Mechanize (Have to get it from CPAN) HTTP::Cookies (Included in Perl) ckrames1234 was starred ckrames1234 was unstarred Image of Cjordan Cjordan 07/16/09 Maybe this wave to text converter do you good. A powerful speech recognition software. http://www.111download.com/product/wave-to-text-v.html Cjordan was starred Cjordan was unstarred Image of HolbrookHippolyta HolbrookHippolyta 07/15/09 Like others I want to keep my 9 year old phone number that I have passed out to hundreds. I just use the voicemail component of google voice. If I miss a call I get a text with a transcript of the vmail and I can just call voicemail to hear my messages try it out http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/06/29/hack-use-google-voice-to-add-visual-voic...1-dream/ Edited at 12/31/69 4:00 PM HolbrookHippolyta was starred HolbrookHippolyta was unstarred Image of Jeremy Glenn Lopez Jeremy Glenn Lopez 07/13/09 great post. i still hate it when some call me though me "old" cell number damn stubborn people they're like, "wtf? why? i can still call your old number though.." Jeremy Glenn Lopez was starred Jeremy Glenn Lopez was unstarred Image of jkrell jkrell 07/10/09 @chanakyaKautilya: Google doesn't "control" anything. You control the way you use Google. I just don't understand this anti-Google sentiment when Google is what we make of it. jkrell was starred jkrell was unstarred Image of elevenbulls elevenbulls 07/10/09 Is there not a way to manage unknown callers? From the article, it sounds like the only way to manage callers not in your contacts is to check/uncheck which phone rings. I would like to allow all unknown callers to ring certain phones at certain times, as I can with contacts. Since unknown callers will include new people calling me for the first time who I want to talk to, plus junk/telemarketers, it would be nice to have an option between receiving all these calls and sending all of them to voicemail. elevenbulls was starred elevenbulls was unstarred Image of hanswr hanswr 07/10/09 I'm Assuming this service is available for USA/Canada residents only? hanswr was starred hanswr was unstarred Image of maltese maltese 07/10/09 Any comments re: iPhone transition? Is the voicemail a step back from visual voicemail (which I love, begrudgingly)? Any apps out there to bring GV to the iPhone?? maltese was starred maltese was unstarred Image of Chris Coonradt aka Pobregizmo Chris Coonradt aka Pobregizmo 07/10/09 The best advice I ever got was forwarding all my missed calls to google voice. I only really use it for the better voicemail/transcription. There are codes to send to your carrier to forward all missed calls to another number (your google voice number), then just set it not to ring your phone. Voila! All your voicemails are transcribed and texted to you! Chris Coonradt aka Pobregizmo was starred Chris Coonradt aka Pobregizmo was unstarred Image of jkrell jkrell 07/10/09 @Chris Coonradt aka Pobregizmo: Wouldn't that result in your phone never ringing? Like, ever? jkrell was starred jkrell was unstarred Image of Jeremy Glenn Lopez Jeremy Glenn Lopez 07/13/09 @jkrell: no. like forwarding calls if you don't pick up, so it goes to google voice instead of your old voicemail. Jeremy Glenn Lopez was starred Jeremy Glenn Lopez was unstarred Image of ericesque ericesque 07/10/09 for those of you that like twitter and a good challenge: So far there doesn't seem to be a good work around for setting up your Google Voice account as your twitter device/phone. A quick search of Google Voice help reveals that it may be due to GV not supporting short codes (the 40404 number in the US). IF anyone can figure out a work around, please submit it as a tip to lifehacker! ericesque was starred ericesque was unstarred Image of addicuss addicuss 07/10/09 For anyone having problems with their number: Hannie Google Employee 7/9/09 5:42 PM Hi everyone, We are aware that in some rare instances a Google number may not be reachable from certain phone carriers. We are working with these carriers to ensure that all routing information will be accurate and up to date. We expect the issue to be resolved shortly and we appreciate your patience if you happen to have been affected by this. If you have not been able to receive calls to your account from certain numbers, please fill out this form http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dHhqOXdJSC1Zbjc0LVVyQzJqcnY5Rmc6MA so that we could follow up with your specific number. Note: If you've already submitted your information about this issue through the 'Call can't be completed' article in the Help Center (http://www.google.com/support/voice/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=115142), you do not need to fill out the form above. We have your information and are investigating your case. Thanks, Hannie addicuss was starred addicuss was unstarred Image of kevjohn kevjohn 07/10/09 G. Voice is exactly what I need. I've been delaying on ordering business cards for my photo biz because I plan on switching my phone and carrier soon and have no idea if I'll be able to take my number with me. With a Voice number I won't have to worry about that. Now, where the heck is my invite Google?? kevjohn was starred kevjohn was unstarred Image of versatileninja versatileninja 07/10/09 I am so glad I signed up like 2-3 months ago. I totally forgot I had signed up! versatileninja was starred versatileninja was unstarred Image of addicuss addicuss 07/10/09 I love the idea of this.. I desperately want to use it. unfortunately its really flaky at the moment. My number can not be called from any verizon phones (what must be one of if not THE largest voice company in the world. It's a widespread problem. I put in a support request and its been a few days. Im hoping it gets fixed.. but if this thing will randomly work on some numbers and not all its basically useless. I mean even if theres a .0009% chance someone i give the number to wont be able to call me thats an issue. I mean how do i know if the job/hot girl/family member i gave my is ignoring me, or tried to call and got an error? Also while I know this is free... if google wants people to even consider porting numbers they need to turn over support requests much faster. I know its only been a few days but for any kind of phone company turn around is 24 hours. I know its a bit of an unfair comparison but still. addicuss was starred addicuss was unstarred Image of envador envador 07/10/09 I'm still waiting for mine. Been waiting since the days of Grand Central. But what's another few days/weeks right? Anyway, I've been watching my inbox ever since that public announcement: http://datecountdown.com/?d=6/25/2009&t=When+I+started+watching+my+Inbox+for+my+Google+Voice+Invite envador was starred envador was unstarred Image of uberben uberben 07/10/09 I got my invite yesterday, but when I went to sign up I got the "Not available in your country" message. Why must you taunt me, Google! uberben was starred uberben was unstarred Image of junyo junyo 07/10/09 "The first two can be mostly avoided with Google Voice apps for smartphones" BB's have GVDialer: http://www.gvdialer.com/pages/home.aspx junyo was starred junyo was unstarred Image of holocron holocron 07/10/09 Anyone know if/when they will be adding it as a feature for Google Apps? We have a small non-profit that used Google Apps for our email and such. I'd love to use this so that we can have a central number that people can actually call, rather than individual board member phones. holocron was starred holocron was unstarred Image of oboesqueaks oboesqueaks 07/10/09 I'm impatiently waiting for an invite. I really want a local number but don't want to pay AT&T to switch. And I'm tired of the damn telemarketers. oboesqueaks was starred oboesqueaks was unstarred Image of John_T John_T 07/10/09 I have a question about the service. It looks interesting to use. I have one number that I want to setup so that if persons dial this number, and I don't answer nothing happens with it, no taking of a message or forwarding it to another line. I want it to only be that if I answer the call goes through however if not picked up, then nothing happens. John_T was starred John_T was unstarred Image of davidj5684 davidj5684 07/10/09 @John_T: What would be the point of that? I don't get why you would want someone to call you and have it not do anything if you happen to be busy at the moment/ unavailable/ etc? Why wouldn't you want to know that you missed a call??? davidj5684 was starred davidj5684 was unstarred Image of d1gw33d d1gw33d 07/10/09 I'm rather baffled that I haven't received an invite yet... are they just sending out randomly? I signed up 2 diff. email addresses like 4-5 months ago. d1gw33d was starred d1gw33d was unstarred Image of InfoMofo InfoMofo 07/10/09 There is one major feature missing: international SMS. If I can't SMS people in other countries from this number, it severely limits my ability to make it my only externally facing number. Hopefully they will fix this soon. One minor annoyance is I still sometimes get voice mail on my old number... I think there is probably an AT&T setting to increase the number of rings or something, but I haven't really poked around too much. InfoMofo was starred InfoMofo was unstarred Image of jlarroulet jlarroulet 07/10/09 Got my invite yesterday, which is cool so I eagerly sign up only to find that, after registration, the GV website displays the message "the service is not available outside the US" bummer.... I guess I'll have to wait then jlarroulet was starred jlarroulet was unstarred Image of nka nka 07/10/09 Still waiting for an invite. Come to think of it, still waiting for Gmail to update the Accounts section to Accounts and Imports too. nka was starred nka was unstarred Image of James James 07/10/09 Nice writeup.... at least in terms of transitioning. This is really the first article i've spent time reading. That said, I'm still wondering what the real benefits are. Some of the features that I've read about are nifty, but don't seem to make me want to switch. James was starred James was unstarred Image of Mostro Mostro 07/10/09 I just got a GV invitation, but I'm in canada... any idea on how to make it work for me? Mostro was starred Mostro was unstarred Image of jkrell jkrell 07/10/09 @Mostro: Can't you just sign up for a US number? You don't need to use a country code for calling between the US and Canada, do you? jkrell was starred jkrell was unstarred Image of jkrell jkrell 07/10/09 Has anyone who has Google Voice and either has or has had in the past service through Vonage compared the latency of the two services? I would like to know how they compare. Once porting numbers is supported, I would like to cancel my Vonage account and transfer the number to Google Voice. Edited by jkrell at 07/10/09 7:24 AM jkrell was starred jkrell was unstarred Image of mattdonders mattdonders 07/10/09 Just got my invite yesterday -- this is exactly what I was looking for to transition to Google Voice. So far I am LOVING the service and how nifty it is. Its so cool to see both of my devices ring at once too. Thanks again LH. Edited by mattdonders at 07/10/09 5:56 AM mattdonders was starred mattdonders was unstarred Image of SpriteMV SpriteMV 07/10/09 I finally applied for a Google voice invite! I wasn't sure how useful it would be since I only have a cell phone and don't have any real utility to call routing. However, I'm always hesitant to give my cell phone number to companies that require a phone number for various reasons. Who knows where you number will end up... However, with the screening feature of GVoice, I'll have no problem giving them my new "dummy" number. SpriteMV was starred SpriteMV was unstarred Image of unojack unojack 07/23/09 @SpriteMV: exactly what I use it for! unojack was starred unojack was unstarred Show more comments (1) Show featured comments only Image of portero23 portero23 07/10/09 There's a Firefox add-on produced by a guy named Chad Smith that can be very useful. Phone numbers on web pages become clickable and will ring your phone number of choice through GV. Unfortunately, I've had mixed success with its functionality, but maybe with more user demand, we'll get a better product. Also available are iPhone/Touch downloads that integrate SMS and call functionality with your device's contact list. I think they've been mentioned on LH before. portero23 was starred portero23 was unstarred Image of 750 750 07/10/09 Today will be the day that I get my Google Voice invite. Today will be the day that I get my Google Voice invite. Today will be the day that I get my Google Voice invite. 750 was starred 750 was unstarred Image of Lightsout565 Lightsout565 07/10/09 Now if I could only use Google Voice, then this excessively long article might actually be worth a read. Edited by Lightsout565 at 07/10/09 5:24 AM Lightsout565 was starred Lightsout565 was unstarred Image of robinfrance robinfrance 07/10/09 I got my invitation last night. Google Voice would be great... except that I'm in Europe and it's only available in the States as yet. Anyone have the inside track on wider rollout plans? robinfrance was starred robinfrance was unstarred Image of SigmundTheSeaMonster SigmundTheSeaMonster 07/10/09 I've received my invitation and started SMS already with it (and having fun, as I picked an area code near a friend...now she is mad at me). Any ideas on the money counter? I now have $1.20 in green... SigmundTheSeaMonster was starred SigmundTheSeaMonster was unstarred Image of davezatz davezatz 07/10/09 I've had my phone number nearly ten years, first on a land line and then ported amongst the mobile carriers. I'm not sure I'm ready to fully commit to Google with a new number despite all their modern, powerful rules and filtering. Alhough (571) GIZMODO is quite easy to remember. ;) davezatz was starred davezatz was unstarred Image of TheFu TheFu 07/10/09 @davezatz: I felt the same way with GC 2+ years ago. Now that is the only number I give out and it is on my business cards. Relax, the water is fine. Come on in. BTW, I avoid using google while logged in everywhere else. Just GV is used. The service is that good. Really. TheFu was starred TheFu was unstarred Show more comments (0) Show featured comments only Image of arienh4 arienh4 07/10/09 I just got my invite, only to find out it isn't available in anywhere else than the US. I'm fairly sure I entered my email address to be informed when it was ready 'in my area'. arienh4 was starred arienh4 was unstarred Image of roman roman 07/10/09 I finally got my invite today, I had just given up hope! I'm really interested in the "power of 406." I've read a lot of users requesting to see a 406 number assigned to each person in GV. I think that's an awesome idea. Only way of figuring it out seems to be getting an SMS from that user. roman was starred roman was unstarred Image of askj113 wants a star! askj113 wants a star! 07/09/09 I have to say I was feeling very meh about it for the first few paragraphs, until the part about groups. That and the transcription seem to really be where it shines. Being able to have groups of numbers routed to different voicemails, or sent to different phones is great and seems like the best part. I almost feel like taking the plunge just because of the coolness factor of it all, but I realized that for someone who doesn't use the phone much it's more trouble than its worth, especially for a new product. I have a feeling, knowing google's influence, this stuff is going to become a lot more popular and easy to switch to and use in a couple more years. Also, google's address book looks like it might actually be becoming a contender for your main address book, just by virtue of google integrating with everything. Here's to hoping they actually put some time into fleshing out the fields you can fill out soon. Also grabbing facebook data would be amazing, but probably also a pipe dream. I can dream, right? askj113 wants a star! was starred askj113 wants a star! was unstarred Image of askj113 wants a star! askj113 wants a star! 07/09/09 @askj113: Is that something new with the commenting change? I can't break up my blocks of text? This was broken into separate paragraphs.... askj113 wants a star! was starred askj113 wants a star! was unstarred Image of ddoonie ddoonie 07/10/09 @askj113: A glitch i'm sure, you have to type '< br >' but no spaces... Edited by ddoonie at 07/10/09 4:36 AM ddoonie was starred ddoonie was unstarred Image of voxatrophia voxatrophia 07/09/09 Google Voice + Gizmo for free calls on my desktop. And Fring (with Gizmo) and GV Mobile on my iPhone for free text messaging, and no more worrying about minutes. (Although, until gets Push, it really only works if you have backgrounder, via jailbreak.) voxatrophia was starred voxatrophia was unstarred Image of digital_man digital_man 07/10/09 @voxatrophia: I use TruPhone on my iPhone as opposed to Fring. No push, but it still works pretty well. digital_man was starred digital_man was unstarred Image of EgbertSpork EgbertSpork 07/09/09 For those concerned with sms via your phone showing up as your GV number, Google Voice will send sms messages from someone to your phone and will show up as a different number. When replying to them, it will show up to them as your GV number. For blackberry users I highly suggest GV Dialer. Its a great app that will let you call from your phone as your GV number. its $9.99 to register it but def worth it. Edited at 12/31/69 4:00 PM EgbertSpork was starred EgbertSpork was unstarred Image of wheatdav wheatdav 07/09/09 say...if you call the 408 number you get when you receive a text message, your outgoing call will show your gv number, just like in text messages. texting from the web is straight up killer. my main gripe would have to be in inability to text without the web to a number without having already received a text (and still show your gv number). wheatdav was starred wheatdav was unstarred Image of Dilpickle1 Dilpickle1 07/09/09 I still have yet to get an invite, can anyone spare? Dilpickle1 was starred Dilpickle1 was unstarred Image of S.T. S.T. 07/09/09 GV's free calls to the lower 48 states is reason enough for me. S.T. was starred S.T. was unstarred Image of J-Mac J-Mac 07/09/09 I notice that here and in Google Groups people who are waiting for their G-Voice number are pretty rabid with anticipation! Be prepared to be a little underwhelmed. I have the service since the first week of GrandCentral's initial beta and all in all it is a fairly bland service with a couple of convenient features. But anyone "dying to get their number" stands the chance of being a little disappointed. It is a bit difficult to get everything configured in a way that doesn't screw up! Plus, while GrandCentral had the service it was pretty rock solid stable, but since Google picked it up there has been numerous outages where the voicemail isn't working - and of course you don't know that until someone asks why you aren't responding to their messages. Also, my recorded messages for voicemail were lost during several of the outages, making me have to record them all over again. So far after two years of use, I have had some convenience along with a lot of aggravation. Jim J-Mac was starred J-Mac was unstarred Image of ogoldberg ogoldberg 07/09/09 Google Voice Feature Request: I would like to be able to create a schedule for the caller ID option, so that I can utilize MyFaves during the day, but be able to see who's calling on my caller ID at night and on weekends. ogoldberg was starred ogoldberg was unstarred Image of jadn jadn 07/09/09 A bug I ran into is that in some cases you can't use Google Voice for conference calls. It doesn't transmit the DTMF tones correctly, so the conferencing service doesn't recognize your passcode. It's a known issue on the Google Voice Help forum and the general consensus was that it would be fixed soon (I haven't seen any indication that it's been fixed yet) http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/voice/thread?tid=38fc311fa7229831&hl=en I use Google Voice for outgoing calls to keep from using my outgoing minutes, so not being able to use it for hour long conference calls is a bummer. jadn was starred jadn was unstarred Image of 0icu812 0icu812 07/09/09 For Verizon subscribers you can forward your calls from your phone to your google voice number by dailing *72 and your phone number. They may still call your phone, but it'll ring all of your lines and when they leave a voicemail it'll be on google voice. Love this service. Still looking for more uses. Another win for google! 0icu812 was starred 0icu812 was unstarred Image of davidj5684 davidj5684 07/10/09 @0icu812: Question on that. I have unlimited "in network calling" so when other ppl on verizon call me if it forwards thru GV is the call still free for both of us? That is 1 thing I am debating still....Do I give my GV# to ALL people or have the main ppl I talk to on Verizon still call my verizon # directly? I guess I am asking if i "forward" to my GV does that happen "before" it rings or only after i dont answer on verizon cell??? It would be nice if it is still free after forwarding and still rings all my phones? i'm lost :( davidj5684 was starred davidj5684 was unstarred Image of 0icu812 0icu812 07/10/09 @davidj5684: I've been forwarding my calls from my cell to the land line at my house due to spotty cell coverage for a while and I've never seen any rise in the number of minutes used. To answer your question, it depends. If you Google Verizon star codes you'll see there are numerous options. Using *72 will immediately forward, there are other codes that will forward only before going to voice mail. I'm still trying to find a happy medium between fully porting my number over to Google Voice and attempting to get all my contacts to call me on a new #. 0icu812 was starred 0icu812 was unstarred Image of IndyTB IndyTB 07/09/09 I'm not currently an OOMA customer, but I noticed that they have a "google voice" extension that lets you (among other things) - specify your GV number as your outgoing caller ID number. IndyTB was starred IndyTB was unstarred Image of RaffaeleHedgehog RaffaeleHedgehog 07/09/09 It makes for a great voicemail system-- I've got all my missed calls fwding to my GV number, and give it out to folks I don't want to actually answer a call from. I have the GV app on my Android phone and can also check my voicemail from any web browser. Awesome. Plus funny transcriptions. But I'm not having GV's calls ring thru anywhere, and I'm not placing calls using it. Why? One reason is the latency issue. Makes for totally awkward conversations. The other, bigger, issue is the time it takes to place a call-- hit send, wait for it to dial GV, go through the menus, then ring a good ten or fifteen times before it gets picked up. Sometimes it never picks up at all, even on numbers that have voicemail. Just not usable currently for those reasons.... Edited at 12/31/69 4:00 PM RaffaeleHedgehog was starred RaffaeleHedgehog was unstarred Image of jkrell jkrell 07/09/09 I need this. I hope upping the pace means my invite(s) will come soon! jkrell was starred jkrell was unstarred Image of Wewtaco Wewtaco 07/09/09 @jkrell: Same here, I've been awaiting an invite for a while, although I seem to have bad luck getting invites. My friend asked for a Battlefield Heroes code 2 months after me and got it a week before me. Wewtaco was starred Wewtaco was unstarred Image of timmyjohnboy timmyjohnboy 7:06 PM I need this. I hope upping the pace means my invite(s) will come soon! timmyjohnboy was starred timmyjohnboy was unstarred Show all 63 comments Show only featured comments | Start a new discussion o 1 o 2 o next » o [1..50 of 74 threads] o loading comment page Click here to find out more! Los Angeles, 7:05 PM Mon Jul 27 21 posts in the last 24 hours AU | JP Suggest a post: tips@lifehacker.com Team Editor: Adam Pash Email | AIM | Twitter Senior Editor: Kevin Purdy Email | AIM | Twitter Weekend Editor: Jason Fitzpatrick Email | Twitter Contributing Editor: The How-To Geek Email | Twitter Azadeh Ensha Email | Twitter Founding Editor: Gina Trapani | Twitter Interns: Erin Schwendemann Email Rosa Golijan Email Lifehacker Shop Buy our new book! Upgrade Your Life SUBSCRIBE TO Lifehacker RSS New: Breaking news and daily top stories via email Subscribers" href="http://lifehacker.com/5311254/how-to-ease-your-transition-to-google-voice">tips to help ease the transition. Here are the tips covered; I hope they help:

Number switching – Have you ever changed phone numbers in the past and gone through the difficult task of getting your contacts to save and call your new number? Well, if you are to get the full advantages of Google Voice, people have GOT to start calling your ONE number! Well, the article gives some tips to help you in this transition period.
Believe it or not, there are some annoyances associated with Google Voice:
- Some text messaging issues
- Calling out – there’s a really cool trick you can do to save contacts in your cell phone but still call using your GV (Google Voice) number! It’s all in the article!
- In some instances, there may be a slight voice delay. There are some tips to help ease this pain.
Forming your groups – GV allows you to group different types of contacts together, such as family, friends, work, church, etc.
Tweaking call rules – From the horse’s mouth: “Here’s how to save money, avoid annoyances, and get more out of Google Voice’s custom calling rules.”

Of course, if you missed the prior post, you can also use GV to save money on outgoing calls on your cell phone!

Tell me, have you had the opportunity to try Google Voice? What are your thoughts? Can you add to the tips from Lifehacker.com?