Google Voice

Google Voice is a telephony service that provides call forwarding and voicemail services, voice and text messaging, as well as U.S. and international call termination services for Google Account customers in the U.S. and Canada (Google Account customers in most other countries may only access the call termination services through the integration with google hangouts).

On July 1, 2009, Google Voice provided the option for users to change their service phone number for a U.S. $10 fee.On September 15, 2009, GrandCentral calling services were discontinued. Subscribers who used the website could still log into the site to retrieve old messages and data.

After termination of GrandCentral phone services, users who haven’t moved over to Google Voice were still advised to upgrade their account to Google Voice. Calls to this number are forwarded to telephone numbers that each user must configure in the account web portal.

What you can do with Google Voice from your computer or mobile phone read your voicemail and search through it like email Personalize voicemail greetings for family and friends.
Make international calls at low rates Get protected from spam calls, block unwanted callers, and screen calls before answering To offer these services, Google Voice saves and processes your
call, text, and voicemail information.

Google Voice also gives you a Web interface to your phones and services. Among other things, that means you can manage voice messages online, filing and archiving them much like Gmail. It allows you to customize greetings by the caller and by the group.

You can also dial from any of your associated phones using a Web interface or helper program. If you have numbers in Google Contacts, Google Voice offers some powerful speed-dialing tools. (Google Contacts can be synced
with OS X’s Address Book and the iPhone.)

The service also allows you to record calls (after you’ve received permission from the other party, of course); it can automatically generate transcripts, too. One final benefit: Google Voice offers cheap international
calling and free SMS.