Google Voice

[Lee B]

I would appreciate some feedback from anyone who uses Google Voice  - Pros and Cons.

Please be specific 

Thanks in Advance

Lee

[Abby Normal]

I use it for both personal and business. You can have it forward calls to your cellphone or just take a message. I prefer to have it just take a message, because I want text messages going to my computer, for ease of saving attachments and messages to my computer. You can also send or reply to text messages with your computer.

You can make outgoing calls with your computer camera.

I also don't have to give clients my real cell number.

You can record a custom outgoing message too.

You can not be part of a conference call with a Voice number.

If only it would accept faxes, it would be almost perfect.

[Lee B]

Abby, do you use Google Business Voice or the free Google Personal Voice or both?

[Abby Normal]

The free one.

[mcbreck]

Wonder why you can't be part of a conference call. If you call into one does it just block you? Or you can't add people to your current phone call?

Moving to VOIP is so amazing. The ability to pick up your calls via your cell phone is absolutely game changing IMO. When I looked at Google Voice years ago that wasn't an option - that's nice.

[Abby Normal]

Also, you can make calls from your cellphone using your Google voice number to hide your real cellphone number from clients. It's like having a work phone and a personal phone, all in one phone.

[Abby Normal]

Which VOIP service are you using?

[mcbreck]

5 minutes ago, Abby Normal said:

Which VOIP service are you using?

I use RingCentral and have no complaints. RingCentral costs a little more than Google Voice / Business but not so much I'm worried about it. It's the taxes that jack up your fees.

[Abby Normal]

The conference call thing could have been due to the fact that I was using the internet to place the call and not cell service. I don't have great cell service at home so I place calls and send texts using the internet.

[mcbreck]

39 minutes ago, Abby Normal said:

The conference call thing could have been due to the fact that I was using the internet to place the call and not cell service. I don't have great cell service at home so I place calls and send texts using the internet.

I love that one also - being able to make calls over the internet for my cell phone. It allows me to get text messages when I'm out of the country. I also get text messages over RingCentral which is nice. Can't imagine going back to the old phone services of the 80's.

[Sara EA]

How much data does Google collect behind your back?  Anyone look at the Google Voice privacy policy?

[Eric]

11 hours ago, Sara EA said:

How much data does Google collect behind your back?  Anyone look at the Google Voice privacy policy?

Your phone number, the called phone number, the date and time of the calls, the content of your voicemail messages, the text messages sent through the service, etc.  I wouldn't characterize it as "behind your back" as the sole purpose of the service is to intercept, process, and forward your call information.

https://policies.google.com/technologies/voice?hl=en-US

[mcbreck]

Which phone company doesn't collect user information? When we had a landline, Southwestern Bell would send us a monthly bill showing all of the people we called long distance, when we called them and the duration of the call. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess they had all that data on local calls and didn't disclose it since they didn't bill for it.

 

Your cell phone company knows when and where you ping off any cell tower in the country / world.

 

We had a guy locally who was convicted because his car kept track of everywhere it was driven, speeds driven, when it was driven and sent to the manufacturer. The police used it to figure out where he buried his wife.

 

[Lee B]

I finally got it set up so that I can call directly using my computer's microphone and speaker. Took me awhile to figure it out.

Pretty neat

 

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

GV was my solution for many years. I now use two cell carriers, one phone, with the phone selecting the better connection no matter which number I use. It is more for connectivity and backup these days since we no longer use the business line for customer support. While I rarely use it, my phone is connected to my computer for security (walk away locking), and I can make and receive calls on the computer. I do allow wifi calling and sms.