Google Voice is a telephone service that provides call forwarding and voice mail, voice and text messaging, and international and US call termination for Google Account customers in the U.S. and Canada. This service was launched by Google on March 11, 2009, after the company obtained the GrandCentral service.
Google Voice provides a US phone number, selected by the user of the number available in the selected area code, free for each user account. Calls to this number are forwarded to the phone number each user must have configured in the web portal of the account. Multiple destinations can be defined that ring simultaneously for incoming calls. The establishment of the service requires a United States phone number. A user can answer and receive calls on one of the phones that ring as configured on the web portal. During a call received, the user can switch between configured phones.
Users in the U.S. can make outgoing calls to domestic and international destinations. Calls can be started from one of the configured phones, as well as from mobile device apps, or from the account portal. Starting August 2011, users in many other countries can also make outbound calls from web-based applications to domestic and international phone numbers.
Many other Google Voice services - such as voicemail, free text messaging, call history, conference calls, call screening, unwanted call blocking and voice transcription to voicemail text messages - are also available to US citizens. In terms of product integration, transcription and audio voice messages, missed call notifications, and/or text messages can optionally be forwarded to the user's preferred email account. In addition, text messages can be sent and received via a familiar email or IM interface by reading and writing text messages in numbers in Google Talk (PC-to-Phone text messages). Google Voice multi-way videoconferencing (with support for document sharing) is now integrated with Google Hangouts.
This service is configured and managed by users in a web-based app, organized after Google email service, Gmail, or with Android and iOS apps on smartphones or tablets. Google Voice currently provides free PC-to-phone calls in the United States and Canada, and PC-to-PC voice and video calls worldwide between users of the Google Hangouts browser plugin (available for Windows, Intel-based Mac OS X and Linux ).
Almost all domestic and outgoing calls to the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii) and Canada are currently free from the US and Canada, and $ 0.01 per minute from elsewhere. International calls are billed according to the schedule posted on the Google Voice website.
The end of 2009, Google Voice has about 1.4 million users, of which 570,000 use the service 7 days a week. This number increased sharply after Google transitioned its Google Voice service from "invite only" to become available to all Gmail customers in the United States. A Wired blog post cites a 3.5 million figure in 2013.
Google Account customers in most countries other than the US and Canada can only access the call termination service through integration with Google Hangouts.
Video Google Voice
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Google provides free PC-to-PC voice calls worldwide. As described above, Google Voice users in many countries can make cheap calls to international phone numbers, and can now also make free PC-to-phone calls in the United States and Canada. Vincent Paquet, GrandCentral's co-founder who is a senior product manager at Google, said in 2009 that he expects Google Voice's domestic service to remain free due to very low operating costs and, "We can generate enough revenue from international calls to support the service." A few years after this prediction, the service remains free.
Local Google Voice phone numbers for incoming calls are currently only available to users in the United States. Users can select one US phone number from different area codes. Incoming calls to a number can ring simultaneously between a user-configured phone or Google Talk account feature. Based on a call number, or contact group (for example, Family, Friends, Work), or at day time (for example, turning off your home phone during business hours and routing calls to a mobile or business number), individual numbers can be configured to ring. The service also features voice mail with automatic indexable voice mail transcription, accessible via web browser, e-mail, or by phone. Google Voice provides automatic blocking of known numbers, for example, telemarketers, the ability to redirect channels in mid-calls, distinguishing voice messages based on callers, SMS (Short Message Service), and call recording.
Previously, Gizmo5 customers, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) service vendors acquired by Google, were allowed to forward calls to their Gizmo service that could be answered using free computer applications, or web apps or SIP-based phone hardware. Google suspended Gizmo5 service on April 3, 2011.
There are several competing virtual number services, such as eVoice. The private numbering service has been available in the UK since 1993, similar to the AT & T True Connections 500 service offered in the 1990s in the United States. The AT & T service requires direct involvement from AT & T to modify the list of phone numbers, while Google services can be user configurable on web applications.
The original voice of GrandCentral and Google Voice belonging to artist and voice actress, Laurie Burke [1], but has been replaced by a recording by Kiki Baessell, a Googler who has no experience in voice broadcasting, but was chosen for his pleasant and intimate voice.
Maps Google Voice
History
Origin
GrandCentral, founded in 2005 by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet with funding by Minor Ventures, was acquired by Google on July 2, 2007, for US $ 95 million through transactions led by Miles Agha. While Grand Central users may continue to use the service after purchase, new users are not accepted, and Google makes no public statements about their plans for the service. On March 11, 2009, service management revealed that the team had been working on it during that period, apparently in secret, and that it was being renamed "Google Voice". That's to keep most of the functionality that was originally offered at GrandCentral and add new features.
Google transition
Google Voice was launched on March 11, 2009, based on GrandCentral, with new features, including voice mail transcripts and SMS management. However, the GrandCentral Ringback Tone feature is not redirected to Google Voice. Google switches the old GrandCentral account to Google Voice and announces that the service will begin accepting new members "within a few weeks" of the announcement. On June 25, 2009, NBC's Today Show stated that Google Voice will be available nationwide on that day. Google confirmed this in a Twitter message stating: "Google Voice on NBC Today Show. Invitations to people on the reservation list start out today." Expansion was initially limited to users who queued in the invite list. Users with a paid balance also receive a limited number of invite opportunities.
On July 1, 2009, Google Voice provided an option for users to change their service phone number at a cost of $ 10 US.
On September 15th, 2009, GrandCentral's call service was discontinued. Customers using the website can still sign in to the site to retrieve old messages and data. After discontinuing GrandCentral phone service, users who have not moved to Google Voice are still advised to upgrade their account to Google Voice.
Acquisition of Gizmo5
On November 12, 2009, Google announced that it had acquired Gizmo5 with a reported US $ 30 million in cash. The main effect of this announcement is that Gizmo5 suspends new enrollments pending Google's relaunch. Google reportedly works on desktop applications, although rumors also circulate that the project has been canceled for browser-based solutions. On August 26, 2010, a Gmail account with Google Voice was given the function to make and receive calls. The Google Voice product manager, Vincent Paquet, confirmed that this function was added through technological assistance received after the acquisition of Gizmo5. In 2011, the Gizmo5 site closed its services to its registered members. Until January 2012, the website is no longer available.
Open availability
On June 22, 2010, Google Voice canceled the terms for invitation to become a subscriber, and this service is available to anyone in the U.S. with a Google account.
Disclaimer from app store iPhone
On July 27, 2009, Apple Inc. rejected the Google Voice application that Google had submitted six weeks earlier. Other apps built for use with Google Voice, such as GVdialer, GV Mobile, and VoiceCentral, have been removed from the App Store. Apple stated that the reason for rejection and removal is that this app replaces certain iPhone functionality and features.
A Google spokesperson released this statement on this issue:
We work hard to bring Google apps to a number of mobile platforms, including iPhone. Apple Inc. disapproved of the Google Voice app we submitted six weeks ago to the Apple App Store. We will continue to work to bring our services to iPhone users - for example, by leveraging progress in the mobile browser.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has opened an investigation into Google Voice rejection for iPhone. "The FCC asked why Apple rejected the Google Voice app for iPhone and removed the associated 'third-party apps' from its store." The FCC has also asked Google to send a letter describing the implementation of Google Voice. "The request is part of a broader investigation by the commission on an exclusive offer between mobile phone operators and handset manufacturers for hot phones."
In their response to the FCC, Google stated that the Google Voice app uses the operator's voice network to make phone calls, eliminating the misconception that it is a Voice over Internet Protocol app. AT & T claims that they have no role in approval or rejection of the Google Voice app. Apple states that they do not reject the app but continue to review it. One argument against allowing the Google Voice app on iPhone is that they are worried that it replaces the iPhone user interface with their own; But many dialers and messaging apps are available from the app store.
As a result of the rejection of the Apple Store, Google released the Google Voice iPhone app as a web app in January 2010, and certain applications such as GV Mobile are available via Cydia on Jailbroken iPhone.
In September 2010, Sean Kovacs, the maker of GV Mobile , announced on its Twitter that Apple has received back the app, and has since been available for purchase at the Apple App Store. This is the second Google Voice service app available on Apple's official app store for a year and a half, released just a day after "GV Connect" is available.
In November 2010, the official Google Voice iPhone app is available on the App Store in the United States, but is still not available in other countries.
Google Hangouts
As of September 2014, certain Google Voice features are integrated into the Google Hangouts app, an instant messaging client, which is a replacement for Google Talk.
2017 update
In January 2017, Google made its first significant update to Google Voice in about five years for Android, iOS, and the Web. User interface overhauled with Material Design. Groups and MMS photos are natively supported in Voice, independent of Hangouts integration. Voice mail transcription for Spain was introduced, and Google promised to provide updates and new features.
Features
Google Voice features, much of which is retained from GrandCentral, including:
- One Google forwarding number to all users phones
- Unlimited free calls and free SMS in the US and Canada, up to three hours of individual length.
- Call international phone numbers with rates starting from US $ 0.01 per minute
- Call filtering. Caller announcements based on their number or with automatic identification requests for blocked numbers
- Listen to a person's recording of a voicemail before taking a call (press 2 when answering, * to "fetch")
- Block calls from specified numbers
- Block calls from numbers identified by Google as telemarketers
- Send, receive and save SMS/MMS online
- Answer incoming calls on any configured phone
- Call routing. Selection of the phone should ring based on the number or time of the call.
- Ring all user-defined phones simultaneously, divert calls to the answered phone.
- Voice mail transcripts. Read an online voicemail message
- Listen to online voicemail/via app or from phone call to your account
- Notice voicemail messages via email or SMS
- Personal greeting based on call number
- Forward or download voicemails
- Conference call (press 5 when answering the call)
- Online call and record recording (press 4 during a call)
- Switch your phone during call
- View web inbox from phone/phone
- Customize preferences for contacts by group
- Start and receive calls via VoIP
- Ability to change your number with cost
- Ability to port your mobile number at a cost of
- Specifies an existing phone number instead of a Google Voice number in the initial settings for use with restricted functions, such as some voicemail functions and uses a voicemail system for a user's phone number (mobile devices only).
Although many customers in countries beside the United States have been overrun by Google Voice services, these features are reduced and customers are often billed for calls to their own countries. The current Google Voice call-to-phone call only works for calls to the United States and Canada or for domestic or international calls from the United States and Canada; Google plans to apply this to other countries, but the time period has not been released yet. U.S. phone number required to get a Google Voice phone number to divert incoming calls.
Caller ID
As a call forwarding service, Google Voice also forwards the caller ID identification (CLID or caller ID ) of incoming calls to the user's phone service. A user can choose whether to display the caller's CLID, or their Google Voice number, while receiving calls through the service.
Google Voice uses a caller's Google Voice number as a CLID on outgoing calls when a user calls by calling a user's Google Voice number and using the service menu option, or when a web-based account portal is used for a call. With the introduction of the Google Voice app on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry phones, Google Voice users can instantly make calls from the Google Voice app with their Google Voice number as the outgoing CLID.
Mobile phone app
The Google Voice app for Android and iOS can automatically place outgoing calls and text through the user's Google Voice service. They will also manage the text and incoming calls as per the user's wishes. This allows Google Voice customers to send and receive free text messages on their mobile phone without paying for SMS packages or incurring service charges from their mobile carrier, as long as all text is sent and received via someone's Google Voice number and not the number provided by the mobile phone company.
While the Google Voice iPhone app is not available outside the United States, some other Google Voice clients exist for users outside the US. For example, the Android GrooVe IP client offers this.
Google Voice does not officially support SMS to phone numbers outside the United States. Starting June 1, 2010 Google intentionally blocks international text, with a view to reintroducing services once the billing system is available.
Integration into Gmail and Google Talk
When Google Voice is offered during beta testing, Gmail Labs offers add-ons so users can listen to voicemails in their Gmail inbox. Since August 26, 2010, U.S. Gmail users can make calls to US, Canada and international destinations from within Gmail. Calls to US and Canadian phone numbers are free, while the cost of calls to international destinations starts at 1 cent per minute. This is possible with the help of voice and video chat plugins for web browsers to connect to cameras, microphones and speakers installed in the computer.
Users can also choose to have their text messages, transcribe voicemail (including audio attachments), and/or missed calls forwarded to their Gmail accounts. A forwarded text message email can be replied to like a regular email. SMS-enabled phones from contacts can also be added to a user's Gmail address book or a Google Talk friend list so that text conversations can be started and continued through this interface.
Limitations
No emergency call
Google Voice calls itself an "enhanced call management application" and is therefore "unable to make or receive emergency service calls." Trying to dial 911 in the US indicates that the number is invalid.
Unlimited domestic SMS
Google Voice can not receive SMS messages from Apple iCloud Keychain.
The international text delivery service is limited
Google Voice supports text messaging to phone numbers in the U.S. and Canada, but users can receive text messages from anywhere in the world.
VoIP Service
Google Voice enables Voice Over IP (VoIP) connections through Google Talk using XMPP signaling, but does not offer direct interoperability with other VoIP networks. However, it has been reported that at some time some users may receive a call with their Google Voice account through the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).
Third-party devices
Hardware manufacturers such as Obihai Technology have created devices that allow home users to use conventional cable phones to place and receive calls through their broadband connections through Google Voice, as well as other service providers.
Google Voice stopped support for some XMPP services in May 2014, disrupting services for third-party apps. Affected vendors include Talkatone, GrooveIP and Obihai. Obihai initially recommended its users to switch to a competitor provider but returned with official Google Voice support for its hardware analog phone adapter on September 11, 2014.
Software manufacturers offer apps, such as "GVJack" The PCPhoneSoft.com App that changes the magicJack dongle to use Google Voice. GVJackApp for magicJack and GVMate Phone Adapter provide independent signals and continue to work (using Google Hangouts) after support for XMPP is stopped.
Call forwarding and voicemail
If the dialed phone is disconnected within 25 seconds, the call will be diverted to Google Voice voicemail. Users who want a call to be picked up by their home, office or voicemail system on their cellular phone or answering machine must turn off call screening in Google Voice and ensure that their mobile voicemail or answering machine picks up before 25 seconds.
Support
Google Voice does not provide direct phone support contact numbers. However, users can access the Google Voice Help Center FAQ, and use the free Google Group official Google Group product forum for support.
Partners and infrastructure
Google Voice partners that provide phone numbers, call termination, call routing and other infrastructure include:
- Level 3 Communication
- Global Crossing
- Broadvox Communications
- Bandwidth.com
- Pac-West Telecom
- The basis for international outbound calls
- Neustar
In 2009, Google reserved 1 million phone numbers with alleged Level 3 Communications for Google Voice.
Disputes between AT & amp; T and Google about call blocking
AT & T appealed to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to require Google (as it requires a POTS provider) to allow calls to high-end destinations, typically rural independent phone companies at wholesale prices up to ten times above the national average. Google responds that it is not required to allow this call.
See also
- Bandwidth.com
- Burner (mobile app)
- Caller ID spoofing
- Comparison of VoIP software
- Level 3 Communication
- The telephone network is publicly redirected
- PrivatePhone
- Pumping traffic
References
External links
- Official website
- "Google Voice", and an explanation video from Google
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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