Google Voice now works with existing phone numbers

[Jos]

Google Voice is a free service that lets users combine work, home, mobile and any other phone under a single number for all of their incoming and outgoing communications. Among its highlights are free SMS messages and cheap long distance calls, as well as automated voicemail transcriptions, conference calling, and advanced call screening features.

The service has been getting plenty of buzz around the web, and rightly so. Its main drawback is that signing up for an account required you to pick a new phone number, and then pass that number around to everyone who’s likely to call you in order for it to be effective. That is no longer the case, however, as Google has now enabled users to keep their existing phone numbers and get some of the features Google Voice offers.

Going for this "lite" version will basically give you access to international calling and Google’s voicemail service -- including the ability to have them transcribed and placed online for later review or sharing with others. Meanwhile those using the Google-provided number will retain the full array of features that come with the service. The company has published a help page explaining the differences between the two options.

The service is still not widely available to the public. If you're not yet using Google Voice, you can request access here or ask a friend with a Google Voice account to send you an invitation.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/36748-google-voice-now-works-with-existing-phone-numbers.html

 

[Razerblade]

Sounds really useful, specially if you have a few numbers floating around!

 

[thewoosterisroot]

Sweet. I finally got an invite to Google voice a month ago or so . . . sadly I have not had time to take an in-depth look at it yet. It seems helpful enough . . . If I could get around to messing with it.

 

[elroacho72]

Well I wish I had an invite. But I can wait it all sounds great,really great if I can keep my number!

 

[ebolamonkey3]

Just signed up for this, still trying to get used to it. But if it sends you a message every time someone leaves a voicemail, does that count from your monthly quota if you don't have unlimited text?

 

[lynxon]

Wow that's pretty cool, especially seeing as how my phone likes to randomly stop working on me.....

 

[freedomthinker]

Man ... This really seems to be useful , Google FTW !

 

[Rig]

That sounds pretty good. In the UK whenever I get a new phone moving the number can take quite a while and once I had to go back to the phone company’s shops and go through it all again
Hopefull it'll be the end of that XD

 

[NightAngel79]

While I'm a big fan of google I dont think this service sounds very practical.

 

[JMMD]

Sounds like an interesting service but I'll wait until it's been thoroughly tested and rolled out to the mass market. Somehow I can see spammers or hackers having their way with this system.

 

[Clrabbit]

I use Google voice for one reason, my cell phone is out of another state, and I wanted a local phone number. It's really worked quite amazing for that.

Which is funny sense I'll quote.
"Its main drawback is that signing up for an account required you to pick a new phone number."

So now I have a local number for all my family & old friends to call and a local number for all my new friends, coworkers, and other to call.

 

[lesajm]

I love Google products. I wasn't aware of Google Voice. I will go check that out now. It is great that they now offer the option of keeping the same phone number. The reason we haven't switched from our local phone company is because our business is tied to our home number.

 

[SUSHRUKH]

Just signed up for this, still trying to get used to it.