Google Voice

[Baja_Brewer]

I've been using Skype for years. After I graduated high school I lived in Belgium for a year, and now I'm at school in Canada. As can be expected, it is expensive to make calls from these places to the US and vice versa. Fortunately, due to the VIOP revolution, I was able to set myself up with phone a phone number and unlimited calling with Skype In and Skype Out to make calling me, and placing phone calls, cheap and painless. (My parents couldn't get Skype for PC to PC calling as most of rural VT is stuck with dial-up *gasp*)

I've been exploring other options in the VIOP world recently, as I would like to be able to do away with my cell-phone at school. The major downfall with canceling a cell phone is that I would lose my ability to text(SMS). I imagine some of you will understand the importance of being able to text, and others of you...may not. Its and age vs interest in gadgetry subject.

Anyway, I recently learned of Google Voice, which is still in its early stage of being released. I was wondering if any of you had any experience with it and would care to share. I'm also using this as an opportunity to attempt to solicit an invitation, if you have one you'd be willing to share, please PM me!

Any other input on sending/receiving SMS, or texts, with or without a carrier based phone would be interesting to hear.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I send texts without a carrier based phone service ALL the time on the cheap.

It's called a letter.

Sorry, had to go there and can't help otherwise. Long distance charges SUCK! My wife calls home in M'sia all the time to talk to family and friends. Least expensive option I have found to date is Cox Digital at .35 a minute.

 

[rsmith179]

I actually work for a company that hosts Ventrilo servers. If you're not a gamer, you probably don't know about Ventrilo. Anyways, it's a VoIP program designed to have MULTIPLE people on at the same time. A conference call essentially. I have a little brother over in Germany and LD charges are INSANE. I just use the Ventrilo server to talk to him. I can have me, my brother, and any family members that also want to talk be online for almost nothing. We're all in a voice chat room and can all talk at the same time. I seriously went from spending $25-50/month on long distance to about $2.00/month for my server. Definately worth the money!

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Thanks Gila, you're a life-saver. How could I forget letter's with postage nearing $0.50?!?

I don't know whether members of google voice can invite others, like when gmail was launched, or if you have to wait for the official invite from the site (which I signed up for...)

I tend to get way into stuff like this... I make semi-complicated set-ups to save myself hassle... here's what I'd likely do. I'd get a VT google voice number, while keeping my skype number. I'd give that (google voice) number to people so they could call or text it while having all calls routed to my skype In too. The way google voice will be working is that you can set it to ring certain telephone numbers based on who is calling (its kinda like a routing service) After dropping my cell phone I'd get an iPod touch, since I'm always within wireless internet service at when at school/in my apt, on which I would set-up the Skype App, and get a plug-in microphone (do iPhone earbud microphones work on iPod touches?) or hopefully the new iPod touch will have a mic built in. Then whatever texts/calls I recieved I could manage and respond using that. After about 5 months of not paying cell phone bills, my iPod touch would be payed off, and I could continue to use my skype/google voice services ANYWHERE I receive WIFI, at school, in the US, w/e.

 

[weirdboy]

I have a google voice account. I don't have any invites to give away just yet, but so far the service seems OK. If you have a gmail account, the browser GUI is almost exactly the same. To be honest, I haven't used it much because I've already got a phone number that everybody knows, and there's no sense in switching.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Cool! I overboard with these technologies...so far I havent switched my number (other than back and forth for the summer) for about 3 years, so my family is pretty happy with me. Google Voice just seems to be the kind of solution I need.

I do have a gmail account and I love it. Weirdboy, if you happen to get invites soon and have some to spare, think of me! Also, how soon after you requested an invite did you receive it?

 

[mattmcl]

I can't wait to get onto Google Voice. I put my name in months ago and haven't heard from them yet...

 

[dataz722]

Thanks Gila, you're a life-saver. How could I forget letter's with postage nearing $0.50?!?

I don't know whether members of google voice can invite others, like when gmail was launched, or if you have to wait for the official invite from the site (which I signed up for...)

I tend to get way into stuff like this... I make semi-complicated set-ups to save myself hassle... here's what I'd likely do. I'd get a VT google voice number, while keeping my skype number. I'd give that (google voice) number to people so they could call or text it while having all calls routed to my skype In too. The way google voice will be working is that you can set it to ring certain telephone numbers based on who is calling (its kinda like a routing service) After dropping my cell phone I'd get an iPod touch, since I'm always within wireless internet service at when at school/in my apt, on which I would set-up the Skype App, and get a plug-in microphone (do iPhone earbud microphones work on iPod touches?) or hopefully the new iPod touch will have a mic built in. Then whatever texts/calls I recieved I could manage and respond using that. After about 5 months of not paying cell phone bills, my iPod touch would be payed off, and I could continue to use my skype/google voice services ANYWHERE I receive WIFI, at school, in the US, w/e.

There would be no point in giving out two different numbers for text or voice. Just give out the google number and set it so it forwards the call to your skype number.

I just signed up for it a few days ago to use as a business line on my cell phone. The only call I have received yet was telemarketing. Not quite sure how they got that number.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

There would be no point in giving out two different numbers for text or voice. Just give out the google number and set it so it forwards the call to your skype number.

Yeah, thats what I meant I'd do. Ive found that this stuff is kinda complicated to get going, but once you have it set its awesome

 

[hostileNabusive]

I just got my invite a few days ago after only a couple weeks! I haven't had any free time but should relatively soon, if this thread is still alive I'll post back with some thoughts!

 

[purechaos]

I have an account to, 1 thing I read on slickdeals was people using the google # as a way to have 'unlimited' cellphone minutes using a 'my favs' or 'my circle' cellphone plan.

The problem being that caller I'd doesn't work as it shows GV #. If u went this route you could have a very cheap plan with text messaging.

I haven't really used my acct either.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Still trying to get one. I noticed some invites selling for a dollar on ebay, and I've wasted a dollar on dumber things before, so I purchased one. For some reason my paypal link isn't putting me through for the purchase so I'll have to wait til it starts working again to see if its legit...

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Alright, so not that anyone cares, but I set it up. It actually has some really neat features. It will/does take a while to get set up if you want it to be functional, but once you have it going its fine. I'm updating/editing all of my gmail contacts (rather, those I actually converse with day to day) so that I have numbers and everything in there.

In response to my "use an ipod touch for texting", I'll be borrowing my girlfriend's little sister's iPod touch before the end of the summer to test on my wireless connection to see how it interfaces. From what I recently read, the Google Voice app has been shot down, but there are ways around that. End of summer is a good time to make a number switch in its entirety and finality for me... I need to think on this more and play with it a bit...

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Oh, and for people who are interested in google voice, but don't know much about it, this is something I just learned but didnt know before hand: To start a call you tell it a the number (or contact) that you wish to call, and a phone to ring for you to make the call. So if I'm at a friends house, I can pull up google voice, tell it to call Istanbul and ring their house. When I hit connect, their house phone will ring, I pick up, google voice then puts the call through to Istanbul and it counts as an incoming call on the home phone...

What this means for me: I maintain my skype-in number, place all calls through that, answer skype-in using the skype app on an ipod touch, the calls are then put through to the number I'm calling and the number that shows up is my google voice number, to avoid confusing anyone.

You may say, this is too much of a hassle, you're a cheap ass. I don't really care. This type hassle is insignificant, in my eyes, and I like my gadgets....

 

[nealf]

I just got my invite this morning, looking forward to trying it out.

 

[Gregg]

I just got my invite this morning, looking forward to trying it out.

Does anyone happen to have any invites? I've been trying to get one but no luck. I have a bunch of Google Wave invites if anyone is interested as well.

 

[yermej]

I have two Voice invites to give out.

PM me your email address if you want one. First come, first served.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Update what I started talking about here:

I ended up buying myself an unlocked HTC G1 at full retail value. I have a blank sim card that I put into it. I've been operating on wifi at home and at school, leaving the phone in airplane mode except for when I want to turn on bluetooth. Recently methods have come out so that I can you can download an app (SIPdroid) and set up your google voice number to get incoming (free) calls on wifi! I love it.

 

[nealmc]

Does anyone have any more Google Voice invites? If so, I'd be overjoyed to take one off of your hands!! nealmc(at) g mail

 

[klyph]

I have a GV account, but they didn't allocate any numbers in the Alaska area code, so I don't have a google number, but I do have the voicemail setup to transcribe my voice messages into text messages, and I can check my voicemail online.

I too have an HTC G1, and I could integrate everything if google would just get some 907 numbers...

But no I don't have any invites yet.

 

[CrazyJames]

They dont have Canadian numbers either.

So I opted for a phone number in las vegas. (Just had to get someone with a US IP address to register for me) Now if I want to make free calls I just have google voice call my cellphone and their number at the same time.

Most of the people I know in the states have free calling in the USofA so it works out.

 

[klyph]

I've been considering just getting a Washington state number.

 

[Julohan]

If anyone has invites available, I would like one, please.

 

[llazy_llama]

I tend to get way into stuff like this... I make semi-complicated set-ups to save myself hassle... here's what I'd likely do. I'd get a VT google voice number, while keeping my skype number. I'd give that (google voice) number to people so they could call or text it while having all calls routed to my skype In too. The way google voice will be working is that you can set it to ring certain telephone numbers based on who is calling (its kinda like a routing service) After dropping my cell phone I'd get an iPod touch, since I'm always within wireless internet service at when at school/in my apt, on which I would set-up the Skype App, and get a plug-in microphone (do iPhone earbud microphones work on iPod touches?) or hopefully the new iPod touch will have a mic built in. Then whatever texts/calls I recieved I could manage and respond using that. After about 5 months of not paying cell phone bills, my iPod touch would be payed off, and I could continue to use my skype/google voice services ANYWHERE I receive WIFI, at school, in the US, w/e.

The iPod Touch does not have a built in mic, but any headset or earbud/mic combo will work, as long as it just has the one input/output jack.

Also, you can get both the Skype app, and Textfree, which is an app that lets you send/recieve SMS messages without needing a cell number (works via email). As a handy bonus, you can get an app like Trillian that hooks into your internet text message accounts (Gmail Chat, Yahoo!, MSN, ICQ, etc...).

Yeah, I sort of love my iPod touch. :rockin:

 

[Grimster]

If anyone has invites available, I would like one, please.

PM me your email address I think I have 2 left.

 

[Julohan]

PM me your email address I think I have 2 left.

Someone already sent me one. Thanks anyways. I played around with it a bit, its pretty impressive.

 

[Lefty]

Would anyone possibly still have an invite to spare? I know it's a long shot and an old post. I would really appreciate it.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Would anyone possibly still have an invite to spare? I know it's a long shot and an old post. I would really appreciate it.

PM sent

 

[BraveSirRobin]

This looks pretty interesting. I'm a big fan of what google puts out so if anybody has an invite left (I know I'm reaching) I'd be happy to take it off your hands.

 

[kevabar]

how can you tell if you have invites to offer?

 

[Baja_Brewer]

lower left side of screen, right below your call credit. I'm all tapped out.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

Gonna bump this cause I just noticed that you can now create a GV account without an invitation (dunno if it is for a limited time or not)!!

Go to voice.google.com to login with your gmail or google account, or create a new account. I love Google Voice!

 

[Lefty]

They have opened it up for everyone inside the US.