Sprint Offers Support for Google Voice
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, March 21, 2011 · 
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Sprint announced this morning that it will offer Google Voice on all of its handsets, while allowing customers to use their existing Sprint wireless numbers.
As a result, Sprint customers will be able to take advantage of all the features and benefits of Google Voice without the hassle and fees associated with porting their numbers. Sprint is the first and only carrier to offer this capability, which will be available soon on all Sprint CDMA phones.
Google Voice lets users manage up to six different devices through one phone number with intelligent call routing and advanced features such as call screening, blocking, recording and a searchable, transcribed archive of voicemails. Read more
Google Voice (Officially) Launches Number Porting
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, January 31, 2011 · ·
Just a few days after I reported on Google’s beta test of this new feature, the Internet giant officially launched a number porting service which allows a user to port his/her mobile number to Google Voice. At this time there is no mention of number porting for landline numbers.
Google charges $20 for the service, and the user may incur additional charges, including early termination fees, from his/her wireless carrier. Number Porting is currently available for existing Google Voice users and will become available to new users within the next few weeks.
Google Voice Enables Number Porting
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, January 24, 2011 · ·
Last week Google Voice quietly enabled a new feature: port your existing phone number to their service. The tech blog Engadget broke the story, noting that Google was charging $20 for the feature.
Google quickly fired back a response stating that number porting is still in beta mode. “We’re continually testing new features to enhance the user experience,” Google said. “For a limited amount of time, we’re making the Google Voice number porting process available to users. We don’t have any additional details to share at this time, but plan to offer this feature to all users in the near future.”
Although this service is still in beta testing – and there are conflicting reports if it will allow a user to port a landline number or only a mobile line – I question where Google is headed with this service. Read more
Google Voice Desktop App Preview
Posted by Kevin McGuire on Friday, July 2, 2010 · ·
Remember way back in October of 2009 when Google said “Google Voice is a free web application, one intended to supplement and enhance existing phone lines, not replace them.” And the way GV worked at the time made that seem plausible. After all, you couldn’t make calls directly from GV– it required that you entered the number you wanted to dial, then a number where it could call you to complete the connection. In April we learned that GV was testing a new desktop client. And today, a new TechCrunch video demonstrates this “unreleased” software, and makes one wonder about the definition of “supplement.” Video after the break. Read more
Google Voice Open to All
Posted by Kevin McGuire on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 · (2) ·
About a year ago, Google launched Google Voice, a service with cool features such as transcribed voice mail and call control. At that point, it was a limited preview, and required an invitation to join. In May, Google announced it was targeting students, allowing anyone with a .edu email address to have immediate access. Today, Google Voice is now open to anyone — well, anyone living in the United States that is.
“Over the past year, we’ve introduced a mobile web app, an integrated voicemail player in Gmail, the ability to use Google Voice with your existing number and more. Over a million of you are now actively using Google Voice, and many of the features released over the past year (like SMS to email and our Chrome extension) came as a result of your suggestions, so thanks!”
So head on over to Google Voice and try it out. Maybe it will spark some ideas of things you might offer to your customers, but at a minimum, you should see what your competition is up to.
Update: According to Bloomberg (and others), Frontier is suing Google Voice over a patent dispute. Stay tuned to see how this turns out!
Google Voice Going After Students
Posted by Kevin McGuire on Friday, May 14, 2010 · ·
Google is employing the time tested strategy of appealing to young, impressionable minds by announcing today that any students interested in the service need only submit their email address and receive a Google Voice (GV) invite within 24 hours. Non-students can also request invites, but personal experience suggests that it may take months before invites are processed. How do they confirm the requesters are students? Their email must end in “.edu”.
Google Voice, as the name implies, is the invitation only “voice” service from Google. While not entirely a voice service, GV attempts to be the “one number” that a customer will ever need. Incoming calls are handled by GV and distributed as the customer wants (e.g. ring home and cell at the same time, if incoming number is family, route only to cell, etc.), and if you switch any of your numbers, you only need to go into GV settings and update the information. And it comes with a suite of other services, including:
- SMS messages via email
- Block unwanted callers
- Transcribed voicemail online
- Low cost international calls
- Custom greetings for callers
Google Voice: Big Plans for 2010
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, January 4, 2010 · ·
Google is “just scratching the surface” with Google Voice, Bradley Horowitz, VP of product management, said to eWeek.com last week. In fact, the Internet giant plans to move aggressively next year to further blur the line between telephony and the Internet.
Google is gearing up to compete with Cisco and Microsoft in the unified communications market. As you might remember, Google recently acquired Gizmo5. The soft phone provider operates on open standards, and enables free VoIP calls over the Internet and inexpensive calls to landline and mobile phones. Read more