Switched to Google Voice

Posted August 30, 2010

Today, I made it official.  I’m using Google Voice(GV) as my primary phone service.  I had been thinking about this for a while, but the recent addition to Gmail, where you can call and receive phone calls within Gmail, was the tipping point.  There are for sure positives and negatives to this move and there are some things people need to know when using GV.

First, for the positives:

• Now that I can answer and receive phone calls right from my browser, I will save my phone minutes when I do this.  Calling anywhere in the US and Canada is free until the end of the year and I’m pretty sure that what Google will charge will be pretty competitive.
• Free text messaging when I send text from my computer (which I’m in front of most of the day)
• Able to switch calls from one phone to another.  GV has this feature where you can switch from one phone to another while you are on a call.  For example, if I’m in the house but away from my computer or I am just walking in to the house and I’m on a phone, I can press the * key and have it switch to my computer.  The reverse is true too.  If I’m on the phone on my computer and I need to run out, I can switch the call to my cell phone and go out the door.
• Other Google features

Now the negatives:

• Mobile to mobile service.  If I call people through GV, I won’t get free Verizon to Verizon calling.  They won’t get it either.
• Friends and Family.  On my Verizon plan, I can call a certain amount of people (5 per line) for free.  In order for me to still get this, I’ll have to switch between my GV # and my Verizon #.  I haven’t found the feature to assign certain #’s to GV and certain #’s to my regular line on my Android phone.
• Managing multiple #’s and switching people.  Because of the above negatives, I’m won’t be using GV exclusively, but just as my main line.

Here are some things to know about using GV on Android:

• When you make or receive calls, you still get charged minutes.
• When writing text messages, that will still count against your text messaging.  (I’m not sure about receiving text messaging through GV.  I think it actually uses your data plan).

Of course, there are other concerns that people have.  Google does have a lot of info on me and there is some concern about privacy issues, but I just think that the positives and the convenience of having everything in one place is just something that I can’t pass up.  One thing that I am working on is making sure I have a backup of everything.  If Gmail is down or if I don’t have internet or cell access, then I don’t want to be left stranded.  Updates on my progress to come.