Using Google Voice and Loving It!

I jumped on the bandwagon of Google Voice a long time ago.  The original platform was called GrandCentral.  It worked great but stopped accepting new users once Google bought the company.  Now it has finally come out of beta as Google Voice.

I use this service specifically for business.  While I am in town all calls are routed to my cell phone.  When I go on vacation I can route them to anyone I want.  This saves me a lot of hassle and makes it easy for my employer to know that the phone is getting answered.

Google Voice is free and includes these great features:

- You get a phone number that can be forwarded to any telephone that you want.

- It includes voicemail so no matter where the number is being routed the caller gets the same voicemail message

-The voicemail will actually transcribe the message (more or less) and send it to you as a text message

- It has a call screening feature that lets you listen to the person leaving the message and then pick up the call if you want

- There is a call recoding feature that can be activated on the fly

- A call can be switched from a cell phone to a land line phone mid call without the other party ever noticing

- Ability to conference in up to four callers

- Caller ID

- A Do Not Disturb feature so that all calls are routed to voicemail

- Goog411 is integrated into the service so you get free directory assistance

Google is rolling this out in waves so it is best to get on the list now so you can get the service ASAP.

Tomorrow I will show you how to get low cost unlimited calling to your cell phone using Google Voice.