Google Voice is an amazing tool. Too many people don’t understand the benefits of it or why they should use it. Here, I will explain some key benefits in my experience.
One phone number forever
With a Google Voice number, that can be your main phone number that you give out to people… forever. Because it doesn’t rely on you sticking with a cell phone carrier, or porting it over to another carrier. Instead, you simply hook up whatever phones you have (home, office, cell, etc.) and if you ever switch cell phone numbers, you just change it in the Google Voice settings instead of having to tell everyone you know that your number changed.
Always be available to answer a call
When someone calls your Google Voice number, you can make it so that every phone you have hooked up to it rings simultaneously. Whichever one you pick up is the one the call connects to and the other phones stop ringing… it’s pretty fun.
Oh, but if there are times of the day you don’t want to be available (say, in the middle of the night), you can configure times when calls will go straight to voicemail.
Transcribed voicemails
No more listening to voicemails with a pen and paper to write down the person’s name and number. Now, it gets delivered straight to your inbox.
Quickly place calls without touching your phone
There are so many applications and browser extensions that are available to streamline Google Voice on your computer. My favorite is the Google Chrome extension for Google Voice. From there, I can read and write texts, read my voicemails, and place calls simply by starting to type a persons name, choosing which phone to call from, and then instantly my phone rings, I pick it up, and it’s ringing the person I’m calling. I am so done with punching in phone numbers on my office phone.
Personalized voicemail greetings
You can create custom voicemail greetings and assign them to specific contact groups. This way, when my wife calls and I don’t answer, she can get a voicemail greeting that is a little more personal and intimate than I would want anyone else to hear.
Smartphone Integration
Google Voice has an app available to both iPhone and Android. While the iPhone app gets the job done, the seamless integration on the Android app where the default dialer uses Google Voice to make calls,… it’s just brilliant!
Port your mobile number
Recently, Google Announced that it is offering mobile number porting to your Google Voice account. This is great news for most people who know that their cell phone number is the one that everybody knows and it too valuable to ever change. So, with this new option, now you really can keep it forever, but now you’re free to switch phones and carriers any time with no regard to your phone number.
