Why pay for visual voicemail? Google gives it to you for free
This is one of those posts that I could write up on mettadore.com, because it seems techy, but that’s precisely the reason I’m writing it up here, because it’s not. This is something better suited to the general public, so here.
Jess and I recently got cell phones. After some initial difficulties with service we went with Verizon. Immediately after starting service, I noticed that Verizon was charging $4/month for a service they call “visual voicemail.”
For those who don’t know, visual voicemail is a “special service” where they record the voicemail, transcribe it into text, and store it in an email-like account that you can read, or play back, at will– without the need to call into your voicemail.
Hrm… sounds like the free service called Google Voice to me.
All sorts of win
Look, head over to the site if you don’t know what I’m talking about because I’m only going to skim the surface here.
The basic deal is that Google Voice lets you have:
- One number that is forwarded to multiple phones
- Recorded, transcribed voicemails that can be emailed to you.
- Different messages and different phone forwarding rules based on individual callers.
- SPAM protection for bad callers (can reject or automatically voicemail callers)
- Connection to your Google Contacts list
- You can also use it to call internationally, and can even send free SMS messages.
- Good integration with your Google Account.
- Hell, they will even give you a freakin’ phone number if you don’t have a cell.
In short, Google Voice is all sorts of win.
The Google Voice Interface
In fact, it’s so win, that I’ve had it for almost a year now. I have a phone number for my business that people could call that would forward to my home and to voicemail automatically. Now that I have a cell, it forwards to all three, and I can set it up to ring straight through to any one of them.
So, I sat there and asked Jessica “Why the hell would anyone pay Verizon an extra $4/month to have this stupid ‘visual voicemail’ when it’s basically a crappy subset of what Google gives you for free?”
Then I said “Well, I guess some people don’t know about Google Voice.”
She said “John, most people don’t know about Google Voice.”
The In Crowd
So, the deal is, I’m a consummate “early adopter.” I’m tied into tech, and tied into people who are tied into tech, so I end up knowing about techy stuff. That sort of puts me in the weird “in crowd” situation when, in reality, there’s really no crowd, and really no in either.
Anyway, whatever the reason, I’ve had Google Voice for a while in “tech time,” and hadn’t really thought about the fact that it’s still in the initial “invitation only” phase. And that’s the problem, I guess. Since it’s “invitation only,” you don’t get the kind of mainstream media coverage that would bring it to the not-ridiculously-geeky crowd.
But the mainstream not-ridiculously-geeky crowd needs to hear about it, so they stop spending $4/month on freakin’ Verizon crappy Visual Voicemail.
So, now, you can be part of the ridiculously-geeky crowd because invites! I haz dem!
I only have three, but that’s more than you need, right? And since there’s only about 3 people who read this blog, that works out perfectly. So, send me a message if:
- You’ll actually use it and won’t just sit on it, preventing someone else from using it.
- You have a Google Account (like Gmail, or even without the Gmail part), or are willing to get one. You need one to use the service.
- I know you. Sorry, but with 3 invites, I’m not really ready to dump them on anyone who does a search for “Google Voice.”
- You are not terrified of technology, specifically that nebulous “Cloud” everyone keeps freaking out about, because this is a Google service, people. That’s Cyberdyne Version 0.1, and Skynet is coming fast.
I’ll wait like a week or so. If I get more than three requests, I’ll draw at random (that’s fair, right?). If I get less than three, I’ll dump the extras on teh tweebers.
Seriously, it’s a great service, so I hope there are people out there who could use it well.
I’m John Metta, writer, hydrologist, programmer, Irish flute and banjo player, cyclist, brewer, and a digger of all things tech, and all around friendly guy. Nestled snugly in the Columbia River Gorge in a town called Hood River, I survey the world as my own personal playground. Connect with me 
So.. Could I foward the messages I hve to check from my work to google voice and not have to check them from my cell? That would be sweet. Does it have a personal use only limit?
Shannon,
That is exactly right. You give it a phone number, tell it to "use Google Voicemail on this phone" and Google magically forwards to whatever phone you want it to, or multiple phones in sequence (try this one, if nobody answers, try this one…) and then can dump to voicemail, transcribe it, and email it to you. Google also doesn't ever really have limits on "you can only use this for personal use." The basic deal here is that they are giving it to you for free because the more you use it, the better they can provide more services. I use my Google Voice number as a business number, it's fine.
The deal for you, Extra-time-in-Hawaii-because-you-wanted-an-iPhone girl
, is that AT&T apparently tried to pull the app from the app store and remove it from iPhones. They're pissed off at Google. Pretty sure that it's AT&T's doing and not Apple's, although Jobs has been pretty freakin' whiney lately too. Anyway, it might still be useful. You just won't have an app on your phone, you'd use the mobile web interface– or just forward everything to email.
Google voice is by invitation only at moment I think but I use a service called HulloMail for my BlackBerry which is available here and in the UK. I've had no issues with it and love the fact that I can see who has left me a message and listen to them in the order I want….
Awesome! I can has invite plz?
US only…