The Truth About Google Voice
You've heard of Google Voice, right? It's the one-phone-number-to-rule-them-all service formerly known as GrandCentral, rumored to be going public any time now.
When that happens, you won't be able to swing a cat without seeing countless Google Voice stories. And you may well wonder: "Is this something I want?" Lifehacker does a solid job answering that question in, Google Voice Is Cool, But Do You Need It?
For example, "you might like Google Voice if you:"
Regularly use two or more phones: If you've heard about one feature of Google Voice, or its GrandCentral predecessor, this is it--and for good reason. Google excels at giving you one phone number for others to have, then letting you fine-tune which phones that number rings to an OCD level. If you want your wife to ring through to your work line between 9am and 5pm, but not your chatty, unemployed friend, you can do that. If you want your home landline to ring along with your cell during the hours your carrier charges for minutes, you can do that, too.
Needless to say, there's loads of useful information here for anyone new to -- or curious about -- Google Voice.
I've actually been a beta user for some time, but I just haven't bothered to use the service. Maybe it's because I have only two phone numbers to manage -- home and cell -- or because I rely a lot more on e-mail, SMS, and IM than I do the telephone.
What about you? Are you a Google Voice user? If so, tell us what you like -- and don't like -- about the service and how it helps your business.