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Google Voice is a telecommunications service provided by Google, which allows users to do new and exciting things that have never been done with the telecommunications field before. Google Voice was launched on March 11, 2009, and is currently still only available for those who request an invitation. There are a lot of things you can do with Google Voice. One thing a user can do is select a phone number from a list of available numbers in that particular area code, and receive that phone number for free of charge. Then you can set it so inbound calls to this particular number are forwarded to other phones, such as your cell phone or your work phone, or your home phone. Phone calls through this service are free of charge, with the exception of small fees for international calling. Another feature of Google Voice, is that you can have it ring all of your phones, when someone calls your Google Voice phone number, that way if you're out and don't have your home phone nearby, you can pick up on your cell. Google Voice also offers features such as voicemail, call history, conference calling, call screening, the blocking of unwanted calls, and the ability to read voicemail messages in your email inbox, with the spoken word being converted to text. From here, you can also star certain voicemails, read them in any order you want, and save the important ones, and ignore unimportant ones. Other cool features of Google Voice include Free calls and SMS in the US and Canada, as well as free international SMS(text messaging). International calls go for as little as $0.02 per minute, being able to send, receive, and store text messages online, being able to set different voicemail messages for different incoming call numbers, etc. You can also get notifications of voicemail messages via SMS or email, and you can forward and download the voicemails into text form. A big controversy for Google Voice was its rejection from the Apple iPhone App Store, which came as a shock to many. The reason for removal and denial of the Google Voice application was that the application replaced certain functions of the iPhone. This created a huge controversy, and even got the FCC involved. AT&T has stated that they had no decision in whether or not the application was accepted into the app store or not, and that it was entirely Apple's decision. Google has stated that it does plan to continue to try and get its service for iPhone customers, hopefully by taking advantage of the online browser built into the IPhone, which would allow users to point their iPhone to a certain website, and use the service from there. John Stone recommends the following Youtube video for learning more about Google Voice here!
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google voice, voicemail to email, phone automation, google,
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