Google Voice Lets You Use Your Own Phone Number
Posted on October 27, 2009 |
Google Voice, the phone management service the search giant launched the invite-only service earlier this year, has gotten some rave reviews, as well as its share of controversy. You can route calls to various of your phones--cell, work, home landline, whatever--to one number, as well as get voicemail and even view rough transcripts of voicemails.
But the big obstacle was the need to get a new number from Google Voice; you couldn't use an existing number, such as your cell phone's, to use the services. On Oct. 27, Google is announcing that you now will be able to use your existing cell phone number with some of Google Voice's services: online voicemail, automated text transcripts, and custom voicemail greetings.
Technically, your cell number isn't getting ported to Google Voice, but the upshot is that you won't have to ask friends and colleagues to call a new number. For me, at least, that was one reason I haven't yet dived into Google Voice. And you will still need to get a new Google Voice number to use all the services, such as call screening and recording.
Google's blog post, along with a video, provides more details:
