Welcome to Dooba Reviews

Google Voice Starts Sending Invitations

Author Thomas

Well I just received the invite that I’ve been waiting for to enable Google Voice.  If you’re not familiar with Google Voice, the following short animation will surly help and most likely peak your interest:

In a nutshell, here’s what Google Voice can do (given to me in my first voicemail from Google):

Welcome to Google Voice! Google Voice gives you a single phone number that rings all your phones, saves your voicemail online, and transcribes your voicemail to text. Other cool features include the ability to listen in on messages while they are being left and the ability to make low cost international calls. To start enjoying Google Voice, just give out your Google Voice number. You can record custom greetings for your favorite callers or block annoying callers by marking them as SPAM. Just click on the settings link at the top of your inbox. We hope you enjoy Google Voice.

Having a transcribed voicemail is awesome!  How many times do callers leave very long messages and you listen all the way through to make sure you don’t miss something?

A few notes and tips right off the bat as you start using Google Voice:

1. Choosing your number on Google Voice – I put in my area code and tried all sorts of word combinations to come up with a cool number, but none were available.  I then started to wonder if my area code was even open.  It took a little bit of searching online for a list of area codes that Google Voice accepts only to not find the list!  However, all was not lost.  I saw on the Google Voice help page that you can type in your area code AND/OR a number or letter combination.  If you type only the area code, you’ll get the list of numbers available.  I did that, and snatched up a number.
2. Setting up voice mail – Have your phone ready when you click add a phone because Google wants to place an automated call to verify your phone you’re using.  Once you’ve done that, you can set up your voice mail.  The connection quality didn’t seem all that great.  We’ll see if it was the connection or the service as I use it more.
3. Next Steps: Configuration - You’ll next want to visit the settings option once logged in to set the “Do not disturb” function, call screening, add phones, etc.  You’ll most likely stick with the defaults at first, but it’s good to know.

Notifications – I turned off the option to send a text message when I receive a new voicemail. Email is enough for me since I receive email on my phone anyway.

Call Screening – If you enable this option, callers that are not in your contact list will be required to state their name during their first call.

Call Presentation - If you turn off this options, calls can be answered by you without the “Press 1 to accept option”

If you leave the “Call Presentation” option turned on, you can do the following while an incoming call is ringing (an you pick up):

Press 1 - Will accept the call
Press 2 – Will send the call to voicemail
Press 3 - Will let you listen to the voicemail (if the caller leaves one) as it is being left
Press 4 – Allows you to accept the call but also record the call contents

Other basic options:

Want to change your Google Voice Number? Just go to Settings > Phones > and click the “Change” link next to your number.

Want to have different voicemail greetings depending on who called? Go to Settings > Groups

Want to change which calls get forward to which phones? Go to Settings > Groups

Below are more Google Voice videos for your viewing pleasure:

Google Voice Mobile.  You can install the Google Voice App on your Android Phone (or BlackBerry) which will give you the option to have all outgoing calls show to the receiver as your new Google Voice Number.  I installed the app and tested it out.  Works great.

Google Voice Conference Calling (how to)

The spam filter is great, but one of the best features is the ability to access voicemail on the web.

Bytheway, the service is free for calls in the continental US.  If you want to make an international call, check the rates.

It’s 2 cents/minute to call your buddies in France or the United Kingdom (if you’re calling a cell phone over there though, it’s a little more, so check first). If you want to go the other way way, calls to China are 2 cents/minute.

The service is a great idea for people in the workforce with multiple phones as well as a line of defense against unwanted calls.

You don’t have to deposit money to start using the free service, because, hey, it’s free.  In fact, my account started with 10 cents already in it.  That means I could call China for 5 minutes courtesy of Google Voice.  The great rate for international calls will make holding a skype phone connected to your computer not look so good.