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99 Comments
- frontaxle, on 06/26/2009, -2/+31Coming soon: Google Smell.
- compwizrd, on 06/26/2009, -0/+21The text transcription of a voicemail is of interest to me, being profoundly hard of hearing.. I rarely use the phone, and when I do need a phone, it's to receive messages about various things.. My VoIP's voicemail emails voicemails to me, but they're still in audio format.. with google voice I could give out a GV number, and just use it as a glorified answering machine.... I'd like to see google expand the speech-to-text feature with a site much like Google Translate, where you could upload an audio file and have it automatically transcripted...
- mikewitt, on 06/26/2009, -2/+18I have had a Google voice account for a few months now (transferred over from GrandCentral), and I can say that it is a nice service. I can understand why there might be privacy issues, but really, for the most part, I'm not worried, and if I was, I probably wouldn't be talking on a cell phone anyways, or at the very least, I wouldn't be going through Google Voice.
As far as the concerns from the article go, I don't see Google opening it up to ads, or at the very least, no targeted ads, as I feel that phone calls are a bit more sensitive than emails, and come with a higher sense of privacy. If they launched targeted ads, I think there would be a backlash, and a dropoff in usage. (This also addresses the first con in the article, privacy)
As far as reliability, I haven't had any problems so far, although it is closed to a fairly small group of users.
The caller ID issues is a bit of a non-issue though. While it can be confusing, there are settings to choose wether to have the caller ID show your Google Voice phone number, or the callers; I have it set to have it show me the caller's phone number, and I rarely get confused, because when I pick up the phone, it informs me that I'm connected through Google Voice.
And the last issue, changing numbers, wasn't an issue. Because the phone number they give you is just to connect you to your regular phone number, I jsut started giving out my GrandCentral/Google Voice number instead of my cell phone number directly. If I know that a person wants to text me, I give them my cell phone number, but otherwise, I use my Google Voice number for everything. The changeover slowly happens, but it does work. Most of my calls go through Google Voice now.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the service, and I think most users won't think twice about the issues presented in the article, because most of the issues aren't grounded in reality. It's a great service that does exactly what it's supposed to, and it does it quite well. - tastic, on 06/26/2009, -1/+12These same criticisms can be made of almost any VOIP provider. Just FUD.
- Charlotte_Web, on 06/26/2009, -1/+10Thank goodness your mom still loves you!
- the1andonlycary, on 06/26/2009, -0/+9Con #4 is actually off-base. Google provides another method for masking your caller ID -- providing new numbers for your contacts. When you receive a text message at your google voice number, their text comes to your cell phone at a new number with a 406 area code. Then when you text message or call that number, it routes through google and forwards to that person using your google voice number as the caller ID.
I save all of those 406 numbers as pager numbers (since no one I know actually has a pager) and all I have to do is remember to select that number when calling out. - artificialgrey, on 06/26/2009, -0/+8As one of the Grandcentral users that got migrated over to Google Voice, I've seen how the voicemail transcription works and was rather impressed with it. Initially, like you, I thought it was going to suck rather badly.
- yunus, on 06/26/2009, -0/+7You don't understand the service. You still need your POTS line or cell phone, this is just a new number that you give out and google will transfer the calls to you. Your internet might go down but that won't affect your google voice account because you still answer the call on your phone not your computer.
- yunus, on 06/26/2009, -0/+6There are still plenty of cool features that you might like. Voicemail sent to my email is my favorite.
- yunus, on 06/26/2009, -0/+6My cellphone gets poor reception at my office. I get an email when I get a voicemail. Also if you have any desire to record calls this is a great service.
For example when you call Comcast customer service and you know there going to lie to you, you can now have a recording, just like they do for "quality and training purposes". - theaceoffire, on 06/26/2009, -0/+6I use it to force all unknown numbers to voicemail first so I can check for spam.
After I find spam, I give those numbers only the "The subscriber has cancled service" message. - chesterjosiah, on 06/26/2009, -0/+6As a current Google Voice user (migrated from GrandCentral), I use Google Voice even though I have only one number. I do this for two main reasons:
1 - Time savings. For me it's faster to read a text message or email than to listen to a voicemail. Especially if the caller has a lot of umms, uhhs, repeats himself/herself, or has long periods of silence.
2 - At times when it's difficult (or impossible) to listen to your voicemail but you are able to read an email. For example, you're in a meeting, don't want to use up minutes, left your phone at home etc. - outgregged, on 06/26/2009, -2/+7Not brought to you by Zicam.
- inactive, on 06/26/2009, -0/+5There's only two reasons for and against any online service.
For: It's easy and awesome
Against: They've just sold all your info to advertisers and the NSA. - the1andonlycary, on 06/26/2009, -0/+4You're welcome! Right now the only way to get that 406 number is to receive a text message from the person - but I'd expect to see more features regarding these numbers and more ways to get them in the future.
- jcroisant4, on 06/26/2009, -0/+4I actually like the idea of having a number to route unwanted callers to . . . That way I can tell all the peeps I have accounts with (i.e. BOA, AMEX, my mortgage co, Cable co, online retailer's, etc) that I have a new number . . . Give them my Google number, then route them to my VM. That way the bastards can call me all they want for their New Debt Insurance Special, New 0% Interest rates, and Other New Special Deals that tend to really miff me.
Right now I use a Skype number for those, but FREE is better than $6 per month.
It's also a nice idea to be able to route each caller based upon what number they are calling from. I'll most likely use the Google number as my primary, tell my friends it's my new number, and change my cell number. My cell number is 1 digit off from a near-by Walmart . . . MY GOD!
My only wish is that they can add a FAX service and allow for international forwarding . . . Those two items would really start rocking . . . I would love to Fax from my Gmail (I know you can do this with other services, but it would be nice to have it all under one roof). International forwarding would be nice as well, as I usually pick up a pre-paid sim when I travel, and having my friends and fam call me on the cheap while I'm out of town, would be really cool. - eldridgea, on 06/26/2009, -0/+4I love Google Voice.
I've do freelance computer work, so I use it as my "business" number.
It rings straight through to my cell, but I can turn it of if I don't want to deal with computer issues right then, and still receive personal calls
Also, it's nice to have a record of all my calls, especially SMS. I'd always get requests via text, and then never remember them, now it's like searching Gmail.
Since it's my "business" line, I'm usually in front of a computer when I need to make a call - making dialing with my Google Voice as the Caller ID easy. Also there is an app for my iPod Touch (and BB, and Android I think) that lets me call using my contacts list just like normal.
Also, integration with Gizmo as one on my phones is nice, now I can just use a SIP client at my PC, or on my iPod. - oda1, on 06/26/2009, -0/+4#1) What privacy? You're a digg user. Reading through your past comments, I can know everything there is to know about you.
#2) Your reliability is not a good reason to disclaim the service. - SkippyDoorknob, on 06/26/2009, -1/+5word of advice: be faithful to your girlfriend and you don't have to worry about her seeing your messages.
- yunus, on 06/26/2009, -1/+5Another thing to consider is cell minutes. I'm on ATT and recieve lots of calls from people on ATT and that doesn't cost me any minutes. If those same phones call my google voice number, it will cost me minutes. It's only a minor inconvience though as they can still call your real cell number for free.
Google has improved the service since it was grand central. That service had major echoing and delay's on the voice calls, I have not had those problems since I started using it again as Google Voice. - davidmess, on 06/26/2009, -0/+3http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en ...
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No humans will read the content of your email in order to target such advertisements or related information. Because the ads and related pages are matched to information that is of interest to you, we hope you'll find them relevant and useful.
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Your Privacy
Google does not and will never rent, sell or share information that personally identifies you for marketing purposes without your express permission. No email content or other personally identifiable information will be provided to advertisers. - inactive, on 06/26/2009, -0/+3No *****. Welcome to Google AdSense, it pulls out keywords from the page to serve ads. I can only assume you were being facetious.
- vuke69, on 06/26/2009, -0/+3Dude, that is f-ing awesome.
I have an account, and I really haven't used it much because of this issue. Thank you. - bloodhound01, on 06/26/2009, -2/+5I'm not going to use this because I only have 1 phone number!
- mrBitch, on 06/26/2009, -0/+3@ yunus, RE: " @ DarkShroud, You don't understand the service. You still need your POTS line or cell phone .. "
Yeah, but that's never stopped DarkShroud from making any of his previous posts ... - goutnout, on 06/26/2009, -1/+4I was excited by the voicemail transcription as well but, the transcription is done by voice recognition software and is usually pretty awful and if your caller has a accent forget it.
- SquareWheel, on 06/26/2009, -0/+3I ***** love Google.
- Eimi, on 06/26/2009, -1/+4Set your contacts phone number to "YourGoogleVoiceNumber"PP2P"theirNumber" and your phone will call GV, pause, press 2, pause, call them. Takes ~5 more seconds to make a call, and if you have your GV number set up on a friends and family plan (ie, verizon) all your calls are free.
- SkippyDoorknob, on 06/26/2009, -0/+3Yes, and Google will actually send an employee of their own to cover that shift instead of you.
- Gumphlumph, on 06/26/2009, -0/+3There's one major point to article didn't cover - the legality of recording a conversation without giving prior notification to the other party. This could leave users open to law suites for invasion of privacy . There's nothing illegal about the technology, but using it could land you in a lot of trouble.
- crimsonredmk, on 06/26/2009, -1/+4Buried for spam.
- inactive, on 06/26/2009, -0/+3they're = "they are"
their = possessive, as in his/her
So, how often do your co-workers ask you to "cover they are shift"?
Use what you have learned here, and propagate it throughout the internet. For the love of English. Before it's too late. - bradleyland, on 06/26/2009, -1/+4You've revealed your position. You're ***** now.
- litkaj, on 06/26/2009, -0/+3My GC account was migrated to GV a while back and all the VMs I've gotten that have been transcribed were either 100% on or only had one or two incorrect words. They give you an opportunity to notify them of any issues with the translation so it can only get better.
- ACiDGRiM, on 06/27/2009, -0/+2You're pretty screwed, I don't get Any of that, EVER
- wejmahtin, on 06/26/2009, -0/+2Yeah but I have more trust in the others in that their sole intention of providing voice services isn't to gleam more information about me to be sold as marketing material. Or even having the audio streams recorded and provided to the feds or some ***** like that.
- inactive, on 06/26/2009, -0/+2I agreed with everything you said until you linked to your blog. And for that, had to digg you down. Don't blogspam, especially if you have good points.
- Xavious85, on 06/26/2009, -0/+2And Al Gore will ask "Where is that noise coming from?!"
- digitalcole, on 06/26/2009, -0/+2I think I'll give it some time in the public hands before I jump in. Although It sounds like a cool idea.
- RobotBuddha, on 06/26/2009, -1/+3Depends a lot on the speaker. It handles 90% of the content from friends raised in the midwest perfectly. The only person I talk to with a southern accent though, can be counted on to give huge problems to the system. Transcriptions of his are almost unreadable.
- SkippyDoorknob, on 06/26/2009, -0/+2Everyone phone in the world will ring simultaneously. The resulting sound waves will trigger massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
- ookees, on 06/26/2009, -0/+2Con #4 is only partially true.
If you have the 406 sms # google assigns one of your contacts when they text you and if you call it, it will show the recipient your GV # on their caller ID. - mrBitch, on 06/26/2009, -1/+3You just fear what you don't understand...
- theaceoffire, on 06/26/2009, -0/+2So wait... if you get one of those "5 numbers any service free" options, then all your calls through google would be free...
- Xavious85, on 06/26/2009, -0/+2While these are all really cool features, what's going to happen when Skynet....er...I mean Google goes down or worse...turns against us!
- inactive, on 06/26/2009, -0/+2The entire farking internet is one big beta. So what's this reliability you speak of?
- ssttuu, on 06/26/2009, -1/+3Give it out to girls? Seriously, come on. The only voicemail they leave you is "get off my lawn".
- inactive, on 06/26/2009, -0/+2Doesn't seem to be a problem anymore as they canned SMS a few days ago, for technical reasons to be fixed or some ***** like that. Who know when or if it'll be back :P
- crimsonredmk, on 06/26/2009, -1/+2Eimi, didn't work for me. Dialing the GV number takes me to voicemail right away. I did it like this: "YourGoogleVoiceNumber"P"YourPIN"PP2P"NumberYouWanttoCall"#
Try that with all of your contacts though. :( - kvsnut, on 06/26/2009, -0/+1I have GV and had GC and have been using both for over a year (maybe 2) I like it but Fax functionality would rock
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