Comments on: Meet Google, Your Phone Company

By: Bill-N-DC

Bill-N-DC — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 19:53:31 +0000

How is it free exactly? You still have to pay for the so-called “dumb pipe,” n’est-ce pas? You have to use either the company’s voice or data network, unless you are on Wi-Fi. and you can’t be on Wi-Fi all the time.

By: UK Telephone Systems Helper

UK Telephone Systems Helper — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:27:06 +0000

Will this still be viable? I thought google were giving up on the google phone. It would allow them to play a less risky place in the market though.

By: miami photographer

miami photographer — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 07:22:15 +0000

I’m interested in Google Voice as a SMS alternative. My family is on Verizon for three phones. We need to switch. When is it available?

By: Lorraine

Lorraine — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:10:13 +0000

LOL. do we really think we have privacy? I think that that concept left the earth a long time ago.

By: DW Nelson

DW Nelson — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:51:18 +0000

True Paul, but the trick is that Verizon Wireless gives me 10 friends and family numbers (link:http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/splash/friendsandfamily.jsp)
that are not charged airtime.

So, by placing my G-voice number in my circle, I’ve cut a significant number of billable minutes. My bill just looks like all calls go to/from my G-voice number.

By: ike

ike — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:47:39 +0000

please how long did it take you to get your invite and when did you sign up, i’m still waiting for my invite i just wanted to know how long it will take to get mine, i signed up for an invite about 2 weeks ago. Thank you.

By: Clarence Neal Boyer

Clarence Neal Boyer — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:01:05 +0000

Google phone

By: Zahara

Zahara — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:46:10 +0000

My tmobile g1 looks almost exactly like that. It’s really cool, I love it. It even tells me who a voicemail is from if I have one. text messages scroll at the top. Voice clarity is great. You can chose between using the physical keyboard or on screen keyboard at any time. Best part about it… unlike the iphone, we get updates for free, instead of having to buy a whole new phone.

By: Avazed

Avazed — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:20:23 +0000

Very interesting concept, linking all your numbers to one place. In the long run, people who want to call you shouldn’t worry about which number to use or which device to call (your mobile or home or office), they should be calling a person, not a device. So there should only be one number per person for life, and we should be able to decide which device should ring depending on where we are at any given time! Google is getting us one step closer to that by linking all our current phones to just one number…

But the thing that Google hasn’t been able to do though, is to link people’s *old* phone numbers to the google number. Or their old emails, or skype IDs, or all the other online ID’s. Ideally, we would want to get our one and only google number to “replace” all those other bulky or outdated contact alternatives too… Btw, http://www.avakit.com is a great help with that, highly recommended!

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:00:38 +0000

I just got my invite to Google Voice! I’m pretty anxious to try the service. I was bummed when I got locked out of beta testing.

By: LawyerN

LawyerN — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:00:10 +0000

There are many laws and societal understandings surrounding phone calls. At what point does a text message with voice, or SMS/voicemail, or SIP data conversation, or whatever it’s called when the data bits are exchanged between 2 or more people, when does it become a “phone call”. I am saying this because it’s not an issue of paying … we will be paying don’t deny it … the issue is to whom we will be paying. The more see google (secret govt agency people) or other firm drop one cost there will be another firm finding ways to increase cost. For example, I can very easily see NY State creating taxes for the data bits that enter the state. Or our country for data bits entering our country. Their might even be a new international organization that sets the rates and has it’s own legal arm to enforce it’s decisions. You think I’m crazy … If you said 100 years ago that man would fly 1/2 way round the world in airplane that takes 20 hours … it’s not crazy it’s forward thinking.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:37:37 +0000

Google voice rules the world.

Check out my use of google voice: 805-768-4521 http://bit.ly/oBsDJ

By: Karl

Karl — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:04:55 +0000

My doubt is how this is entirely free when there is a PSTN call involved ( a call to a fixed landline) ? Who is paying for that call ??

By: Karl

Karl — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:53:12 +0000

Can somebody please explain how they manage to make this free ??? Lets take the following cenarios:

1) someone calls my GV number (I assume caller pays that call…?). GV redirects to my cell phone – how is this redirect free, or who pays for this ?? Is this a new phone call which is joined with the 1st one ??

2) someone calls my GV number (I assume caller pays that call…?). GV redirects to my fixed PSTN line. – how is this redirect free, or who pays for this ??

3) someone calls my GV number (I assume caller pays that call…?). GV phone redirects to my number which is a Vonage Voip number. Ok, this one is free.

4) I make a call using my GV number, to a mobile phone number – this call is entirely free for me but not for the receiving party ??

By: tom

tom — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:38:52 +0000

typically you pay airtime for callback(the way GV works) even if the number you are calling is busy or unavailable. this is another major problem for users who do not have unlimited voice minutes.

i saw a few news reports about this on TV yesterday. everytime it was falsely reported as being a ‘free phone service’ talk along the lines of ‘no longer having to pay a cell phone bill’ were used by the newscasters.

By: Maha

Maha — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:49:54 +0000

Google on its way to give some tough time to the operators and VoIP services ..