Infidel Edition
12-04-2013, 10:02 AM
Inspired to share another cool tool~ :beer:
I had posted about Verizon being a &(*^ about my upgrade and Brasscatz had mentioned using xfinity when he travels abroad. And it reminded me of an AWESOME (and FREE) google tool.
Google Voice:bacondance:
I’ve used it for a couple years now and have had little issue with the features I use. Which are:
*Voicemail Transcription – when anyone calls my cell phone, my google voice answers it and takes a message – then transcribes it and sends me a text message.
…or to an email if you prefer…
-no, it’s not perfect. But it’s close enough that I can usually tell what’s going on. For example, the caller might say, “Hey. This is Bob returning your call.” And I’ll get a text message (and voice mail icon) saying, “Jay. This Robert turning your call.”
-it’s usually not that off, but you get the idea. And if I really can’t follow what they’re saying, I can click on the voicemail icon and listen to the message.
…Plus, I can get my messages from any internet connection, and I can also save or forward those calls as needed. ~ and can call similar to Skype from my computer via my GoogleVoice = so the call recipient’s caller ID will show the same # as if I called and bounce from ~
*One Number – I used to use this when I tried to sell real estate. Basically, you have a google voice phone #. You can go into your account settings and tell that to forward calls from that # to any number of other phone numbers.
- for example, if my wife calls my google voice #, it will forward to my cell AND my office desk phone. Effectively, she may think she’s calling me at work, but I’m really working on my jeep at a friend’s house (yes, it does work well :rolleye0012:).
- or, you can set it to screen callers so:
…if my unit calls (ie-important call :patriot:), my cell, my office, my home, my ~ whatever other phone I have ~ will ring. And the 1st to pick it up will answer the call.
…if my mother-in-law calls :smiley-scared003:, NO PHONE WILL RING and it will go to voice mail. And I’ll just get a text message.
* And my favorite, call bouncing – I can call my google voice (which recognizes my phone) and I can press 1 for English ~ ‘er, I mean to call another phone #.
- Since my Google Voice is on my Friends and Family plan, I effectively get free unlimited voice calls to anywhere in North America. And only pennies to other countries.
- This only works if your google voice isn’t ported to your phone and you set it up as its own #.
… which means, when I get a call through my google voice, my cell’s caller ID gives me the google voice #. That’s a PITA, but otherwise, EVEN THOUGH IT’S ON MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY ~ Verizon decided they can charge minutes!
…the work around is to have 2 google voice #’s (they are free). 1 for general use calling as noted above. And the other for call bouncing!
The only downside I’ve had is that sometimes, I’ve had to re-connect my cell to my googlevoice # to get the voice message.
If nothing else, it’s free. It takes a couple days turnaround to set it up. At least back when I set mine up… You have to request the service. Then it sends you an “accepted” email where you confirm you are real / and the turn around there was 3 days for me.
Defiantly worth checking out.
** and as an added ‘quirk’, you can chose a # from pretty much anywhere. So if you live in Montana, but want someone to think you’re from … I don’t know, Las Vegas?, you can choose a Las Vegas #.
…. Which also means you can start stocking people and they’ll never figure it out because the calls are from Texas and they know your Creepy Arse lives in Vermont…
:D Just saying
I had posted about Verizon being a &(*^ about my upgrade and Brasscatz had mentioned using xfinity when he travels abroad. And it reminded me of an AWESOME (and FREE) google tool.
Google Voice:bacondance:
I’ve used it for a couple years now and have had little issue with the features I use. Which are:
*Voicemail Transcription – when anyone calls my cell phone, my google voice answers it and takes a message – then transcribes it and sends me a text message.
…or to an email if you prefer…
-no, it’s not perfect. But it’s close enough that I can usually tell what’s going on. For example, the caller might say, “Hey. This is Bob returning your call.” And I’ll get a text message (and voice mail icon) saying, “Jay. This Robert turning your call.”
-it’s usually not that off, but you get the idea. And if I really can’t follow what they’re saying, I can click on the voicemail icon and listen to the message.
…Plus, I can get my messages from any internet connection, and I can also save or forward those calls as needed. ~ and can call similar to Skype from my computer via my GoogleVoice = so the call recipient’s caller ID will show the same # as if I called and bounce from ~
*One Number – I used to use this when I tried to sell real estate. Basically, you have a google voice phone #. You can go into your account settings and tell that to forward calls from that # to any number of other phone numbers.
- for example, if my wife calls my google voice #, it will forward to my cell AND my office desk phone. Effectively, she may think she’s calling me at work, but I’m really working on my jeep at a friend’s house (yes, it does work well :rolleye0012:).
- or, you can set it to screen callers so:
…if my unit calls (ie-important call :patriot:), my cell, my office, my home, my ~ whatever other phone I have ~ will ring. And the 1st to pick it up will answer the call.
…if my mother-in-law calls :smiley-scared003:, NO PHONE WILL RING and it will go to voice mail. And I’ll just get a text message.
* And my favorite, call bouncing – I can call my google voice (which recognizes my phone) and I can press 1 for English ~ ‘er, I mean to call another phone #.
- Since my Google Voice is on my Friends and Family plan, I effectively get free unlimited voice calls to anywhere in North America. And only pennies to other countries.
- This only works if your google voice isn’t ported to your phone and you set it up as its own #.
… which means, when I get a call through my google voice, my cell’s caller ID gives me the google voice #. That’s a PITA, but otherwise, EVEN THOUGH IT’S ON MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY ~ Verizon decided they can charge minutes!
…the work around is to have 2 google voice #’s (they are free). 1 for general use calling as noted above. And the other for call bouncing!
The only downside I’ve had is that sometimes, I’ve had to re-connect my cell to my googlevoice # to get the voice message.
If nothing else, it’s free. It takes a couple days turnaround to set it up. At least back when I set mine up… You have to request the service. Then it sends you an “accepted” email where you confirm you are real / and the turn around there was 3 days for me.
Defiantly worth checking out.
** and as an added ‘quirk’, you can chose a # from pretty much anywhere. So if you live in Montana, but want someone to think you’re from … I don’t know, Las Vegas?, you can choose a Las Vegas #.
…. Which also means you can start stocking people and they’ll never figure it out because the calls are from Texas and they know your Creepy Arse lives in Vermont…
:D Just saying