Why Google Voice Hasn’t Won (Yet)
March 23rd, 2009, 7:15pm by Mike
Google made big news a couple years ago with their purchase of GrandCentral, after which they did … nothing. Until a couple weeks ago, when they announced Google Voice, the evolution of GrandCentral. So what?
I’ve had a GrandCentral number for a couple of years. Its key feature has always been the ability to use one number, and set what phones ring when that number is dialed (even on a caller-by-caller basis). I mainly use it for 2 things: (1) to give to people I don’t want to give my mobile number to, like service people, who might still need to get in touch with me by cell phone, and (2) for work people who might need to reach me whether I’m at my desk or on my mobile phone. In fact, my GC number is what I put on the corporate intranet as my mobile number, so as not to put my actual mobile number all over the place. If I am ever forced to get a company-sponsored phone, I’ll just tie that into my GC number. To complete our telecommunications situation description — we haven’t had a landline in about 5 years, and recently we’ve been using Skype for times when our cell phones weren’t the best idea (like international calls or conference calls for work).
So, when I heard about the bells and whistles of Google Voice (like free voicemail transcription, free domestic calling, cheap international calling), I thought it was the end of Skype.
But the killer feature that Skype still has is that it actually lets you make and receive calls through the computer. As far as I can tell, Google Voice doesn’t. You can place a call “for free” by putting in a phone number, and telling GV which phone to ring (e.g., “mobile,” “work,” etc), and that’s great. But without a landline, you’ll be using mobile minutes to actually talk. No good, that. Needless to say, for the (admittedly few) international calls I make, it’s no good for that, either.
Also, I’m not quite ready to throw all my contacts up on Google (and, reader, you should be worrying about me, and your other friends, putting your phone numbers up on Google!) — I’d rather have some integration with my computer’s Address Book. Or my iPhone’s, which brings me to the fact that…
The other thing that Google Voice sorely lacks is iPhone integration. GrandDialer was a program that did two things: integrated with your iPhone contacts, and set your outgoing caller ID number to your GrandCentral number (key if you’re trying not to give out your cell phone number). When you dialed through GrandDialer, it would connect via the iPhone’s data connection, then ring your phone when the call was being placed. Brilliant. Google’s current mobile website for Google Voice is OK, but definitely suboptimal. Thankfully, it sounds like another independent developer is taking up the mantle and writing a similar app for Google Voice.
Hopefully we’ll see the whole thing grow, with Google opening it up a bit to outside developers. Anybody else tinkering with Google Voice? Any thoughts?
March 23rd, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Interestingly, Google wants to offer you the opportunity to port your number to Google Voice sometime soon, as well as taking it with you when you go.