Google Voice

Google Voice is a fantastic beta service by Google. Here's a quick video to give a brief explanation:

The first thing all my friends say is, "But I only have one phone line, so why would I want this?" I then start to list off all the other benefits of a Google Voice number, like how when you get a call you can choose to answer it, send it to voicemail, or send it to voicemail and listen in on the message. If you choose to send the call to voicemail it will then transcribe what the person says and then send it to you in an email and text message if you'd like.

The next part is what I love so much: free calls. Call your own Google Voice number from any phone you have set up on the account and you can call any number for free. So say you're at home and you want to call your sister in Seattle but it's only 3:40pm on a Tuesday afternoon so you won't get free minutes on your cell, no problem, go online to your account or call your Google Voice number, hit 2, then dial your sisters number and #. Then you will be connected for a free call.

I use Google Voicemail so when I can just give out one number to everyone: friends, colleagues, family, clients, someone who got my business card or maybe got my number from a friend. When people call I can place them into categories and down the road when I have a work phone or land line I'll never have to bother my friends with new numbers. I control who calls where and when they can reach me.

Say I go on vacation, I can set up a temporary number so all my calls go to my cell for the week. When I get back everything automatically goes back to normal. I can set up do not disturb times as well, so if I want to go to sleep and never get a call from anyone but certain emergency numbers between the hours of 11am and 8am, I just set it up!

To see a full feature list of the incredible and, as always, forward thinking Google Voice service, cheek it out at Google.com/googlevoice/about.