3 great things you never knew you could do with a free Internet phone number
April 16, 2014
3 great things you never knew you could do with a free
Internet phone number
If we’re being honest, phone calls haven’t changed much
in the last hundred years. Sure the hardware has improved from the old hand
crank models – we’ve had rotary, touch tone, cordless, cellular, smartphone.
But at its most basic level, someone calls your number and you pick up, or you
let a machine answer it and take a message.
That process is simple, but kind of limited. And if you
have several phones, such as a home land line, cellphone, and business phone,
it gets complicated checking all three and remembering who has which number.
That’s why a while back Google set out to upgrade the
entire phone experience with a service called Google Voice. I’m not sure if
it’s a marketing problem or what, but it hasn’t really taken off with the
general public. In fact, most people don’t even know what it does.
And that’s too bad, because it really is an amazing
service, especially since it’s free. Here are five things Google Voice does
that could change your (phone) life.
Before I get into specifics, here’s a quick overview of
what Google Voice does. Note that Google is rumored to be merging Voice’s
features with the more popular Google Hangouts later this year. At that time
this process could change.
When you sign up – click here for the Google Voice page –
Google gives you an account with a new phone number, or you can transfer an
existing number for a one-time fee. After the account is created, you can add
your existing phone to the account. Once that’s done, you can give your Google
Voice number to friends, family, clients and business, and Google acts like a
personal assistant checking voicemail, routing calls and much more.
Google Voice has a few different feature levels. You can
sign up for a Google Number account which gives you a new number and every
feature; Number Porting lets you use an existing phone number and every
feature; and Google Voice Lite gives you a new number but is just for voicemail
and International calling. There are also two exclusive options for Sprint
customers that tie more closely into your phone.
I’m going to be looking at all the features Voice has to
offer. If you don’t see some of these, you might be signed up for Google Voice
Lite. In that case, go to your account, click the Gear icon in the right corner
and choose Settings. Then on the Phones tab next to your number, click the “Get
a Google Voice number” link and follow the directions.
Note: There aren’t a lot of free phone numbers available
for some areas. Phoenix and its surrounding cities didn’t have any free numbers
when I checked, for example. So you might have to look in smaller cities or
other parts of the country.
So let’s go in-depth with three of the coolest features
you get with Google Voice, and I’ll quickly tell you a bunch of other features
you might like.
1. VOICEMAIL TRANSCRIPTS AND SAVING
I know what you’re thinking; voicemail is old hat. In
fact, it’s just a fancy version of the old cassette tape answering machines
from decades ago.
The trouble with it is, though, is listening to the
messages you get. Maybe the person left a 5 minute soliloquy and put the
call-back number at the very end – and then mumbled it. You can waste a lot of
time re-listening to messages to catch all the details.
And what happens when you occasionally save messages to
listen to later? You might end up with a dozen saved voicemails and not know
which is which. And what if you have several phones to check?
Google Voice lets you forward your voicemail to one
place. No matter how many phones you have, you can check them at the same time
from anywhere by calling your number or logging into your Google Voice account.
But that’s the just the tip of the iceberg. Google will
make text transcriptions of your messages and email or text them to you, so you
can see at a glance what the message is about.
Is the transcription perfect? No, and when it’s off the
guesses it makes can be wacky. But I can almost always get the gist, and I
can’t remember a time when the service didn’t get a recited phone number
correct. It’s highlighted, so you can just click on it and call the person
back. And if you want to listen to the audio it’s attached.
Here’s an explanation from Google:
You can also download an mp3 file of any voicemail you
want to save, which is great for special voicemails you don’t want to lose. And
you can add notes to voicemail, so you can remember why you saved it in the
first place, or important information without listening again.
Apple users will already be familiar with voicemail
transcriptions, but Google Voice brings it to every other type of phone as well
– even landlines.
2. CALL SCREENING
If you’re like me, you don’t pick up every time the phone
rings. You want to know who is calling first. That’s why Google includes Caller
ID and Call Screening.
Caller ID is self-explanatory, but Call Screening takes
it even further. If Google doesn’t recognize the number it will ask the caller
for their name.
When you pick up, Google will announce who is on the
phone. Then you can talk to the person (press 1), send the caller to voicemail
(press 2), listen in on the voicemail (press 2 and stay on the line) or talk to
the person and record the call (press 1 and then 4).
To turn call screening on and off, and choose what
options are available, go to your account, click the Gear icon and choose
Settings. Then go to the Calls tab.
Note: Google will notify the caller if you choose to
record the call. Otherwise you can get into trouble with wiretapping laws.
You’ll want to be careful using this feature in any case, as recording laws
vary from state to state.
3. CALL ROUTING AND BLOCKING
By default, when someone calls your Google number, it
will ring all the phones connected to the account. That way you can pick up no
matter where you are.
But what if you want to ring only certain phones? That’s
why Google Voice has smart call forwarding.
Go to your account, click the Gear icon and choose
Settings. Then go to the Groups & Circles tab. Here you can set what
happens to calls.
For example, you can set callers in your Friends group to
go to your mobile and home phones with no Call Screening and a custom voicemail
message if you don’t pick up. You can send anonymous callers right to voicemail
with a default voicemail message.
Oh, did I forget mention you can record as many custom
voicemail greetings as you want? Well, you can.
Groups and numbers are managed with Google Contacts,
which is linked in the left column of Google Voice.
Have some people you just don’t want to talk to? Google
lets you mark contacts as spam or you can block them completely. You can do
this by selecting a contact in Google Voice and clicking the Edit Settings
button. Then next to “When this contact calls you” choose an option.
Google also has a global spam filter, so numbers on
Google’s big list will go right to spam. It’s like a version of the government
Do Not Call list.
BONUS: OTHER COOL FEATURES
OK, there’s too many features of Google Voice to stick to
just three. So, quickly, here are some more you need to know about.
Don’t want to be disturbed at night, on weekends or some
other time? You can set when you want a phone to ring and when you want callers
to go right to voicemail. Under Settings, select the Phones tab, click the Edit
button on a phone and click the Advanced Settings link. Under Ring Schedule you
can choose a set or custom schedule.
Here’s a doozy of a feature that shows you how clever the
company can be: Did you take a call on your landline but wish you had picked up
your cell instead? The Switch phones option lets you hit * to ring your other
phones. Then you can pick up the phone you want to use and the call will switch
seamlessly. You can enable this in the Settings>>Calls tab.
Want to make International calls? Google offers
inexpensive International calling using a calling credit system.
You can also send and receive free text messages using
your Google Voice number. You can text and receive them on your computer as
well, which is a nice feature to have if your phone isn’t always by your side.
You can also get them forwarded to your email – and reply to them via email as
well.
However, there is a limit on the number of messages to
prevent abuse. So if you’re an avid texter, you might look into other free
texting options.
There’s even more, so play around with Google Voice and
see what works for you. And what do you have to lose? It’s free!
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