Google Voice

[asava]

Does anyone use this with regularity? Pros? Cons?

[highway61]

I use it, and there are some things I like about it.  You can choose a number.  My phone number spells out goEMAW, so it is easy for me to remember.  I give my GV number to people I don't really want to talk to, like my credit card company and all the other services I have that require a phone number.

The voice mail feature is great.  If somebody leaves me a voicemail, I get an email with a transcript of the voicemail immediatly.  So I don't have to waste my time calling in and listening to some stupid message, I can just delete the thing in a second or two.

I also have an app called Groove IP that uses your GV number to make VOIP calls for free.  I do this because I have a limited number of minutes on my cell phone plan.  The call quality isn't great so I don't use it when I call people I like, but it works great if you are calling your credit card company or something. 

I can't really think of any cons.  Worst case scenario is you don't really think it is very valuable, but it is free so the only thing you lost is the 15 minutes it takes to set up.

[michigancat]

I use it as my primary line. Only con is you can't send mms and you can only receive them from Sprint customers. Obviously a big con.

Pros? Can call from anywhere with an internet connection on any computer without using plan minutes. you can text from your computer through Google voice, or have texts sent to your email that you can reply to in the email chain. Can have your number ring a different phone at specific times, so sometimes I'll forward it to my work phone. Can check voice mails online or through gmail, and the email includes a transcript. can use an app like groove ip to make calls from your phone with just wifi, which is great if you live in a place with poor service.

overall, I'd give it a c+ just because of the mms. everything else is great.

[michigancat]

it's also real easy to block callers.

[Christer]

I ported over my main number to Google Voice but it was pretty easy for me since I am on Sprint. I like it a lot but am not sure how useful it would be if I didn't have the Sprint integration. Replying to texts on my computer/tablet/phone/whatever is pretty awesome. Can set different voicemail recordings for different groups of people. Google Voice still can't handle MMS, which is the main complaint.

[Dugout DickStone]

How about sending pictures of your genetalia?

[Christer]

How about sending pictures of your genetalia?

I use gmail for that

[ednksu]

I don't like how it fails to stack conversations from contacts. 

[asava]

I use it as my primary line. Only con is you can't send mms and you can only receive them from Sprint customers. Obviously a big con.

Pros? Can call from anywhere with an internet connection on any computer without using plan minutes. you can text from your computer through Google voice, or have texts sent to your email that you can reply to in the email chain. Can have your number ring a different phone at specific times, so sometimes I'll forward it to my work phone. Can check voice mails online or through gmail, and the email includes a transcript. can use an app like groove ip to make calls from your phone with just wifi, which is great if you live in a place with poor service.

overall, I'd give it a c+ just because of the mms. everything else is great.

didn't realize that about the MMS. good to know.

[michigancat]

The MMS thing really is astounding. google voice basically has said nothing about it since they announced Sprint integration in 2011. Half the threads on the help forums are basically "when do we get MMS" and google never replies at all. What's worst about it is the sender doesn't know that their MMS doesn't go through - it just goes into nothing.

[yoga-like_abana]

what about republic wireless, has anyone used it?

[michigancat]

what about republic wireless, has anyone used it?

I don't think it's much of a deal. Just get a better phone and use t. mobile's 100 minute contract free plan with grooveIP.

[highway61]

what about republic wireless, has anyone used it?

It's an incredible deal, $20 for unlimited talk, text, and web.  I have a friend that has it and says it works pretty good.  Call quality is just a little worse than regular cellular, but it is acceptable.  One downside is I don't think it does MMS either.

I currently have the tmobile plan of 100 minutes for $30 a month, but Tmobile's coverage if you aren't in a city is pretty lousy.  Republic wireless uses the sprint network so it should be much better.  The only thing stopping me from switching to RW is that they only offer 1 phone, and it is pretty mediocre.  When they come out with a better phone I will probably make the switch.

[GCJayhawker]

I wasn't a huge fan of Google voice.  To each their own though.

[ChiComCat]

I used it for communication with my employees.  Had a really shitty one that would text me (which I would constantly tell my employees not to do) and make up bad excuses.  Saved google transcripts of these texts/voicemails really made the firing process efficient.

[michigancat]

what about republic wireless, has anyone used it?

It's an incredible deal, $20 for unlimited talk, text, and web.  I have a friend that has it and says it works pretty good.  Call quality is just a little worse than regular cellular, but it is acceptable.  One downside is I don't think it does MMS either.

I currently have the tmobile plan of 100 minutes for $30 a month, but Tmobile's coverage if you aren't in a city is pretty lousy.  Republic wireless uses the sprint network so it should be much better.  The only thing stopping me from switching to RW is that they only offer 1 phone, and it is pretty mediocre.  When they come out with a better phone I will probably make the switch.

sprint's coverage outside of a city is pretty lousy (assuming no roaming). (I'm on virgin, which also uses Sprint towers.)

[michigancat]

I used it for communication with my employees.  Had a really shitty one that would text me (which I would constantly tell my employees not to do) and make up bad excuses.  Saved google transcripts of these texts/voicemails really made the firing process efficient.

oh yeah, the ability to save and search texts is great. I use it to find addresses and stuff all the time.

[highway61]

what about republic wireless, has anyone used it?

It's an incredible deal, $20 for unlimited talk, text, and web.  I have a friend that has it and says it works pretty good.  Call quality is just a little worse than regular cellular, but it is acceptable.  One downside is I don't think it does MMS either.

I currently have the tmobile plan of 100 minutes for $30 a month, but Tmobile's coverage if you aren't in a city is pretty lousy.  Republic wireless uses the sprint network so it should be much better.  The only thing stopping me from switching to RW is that they only offer 1 phone, and it is pretty mediocre.  When they come out with a better phone I will probably make the switch.

sprint's coverage outside of a city is pretty lousy (assuming no roaming). (I'm on virgin, which also uses Sprint towers.)

I had heard that RW users could use Verizon towers as a backup to Sprint.  I cannot be sure of this though.

[michigancat]

what about republic wireless, has anyone used it?

It's an incredible deal, $20 for unlimited talk, text, and web.  I have a friend that has it and says it works pretty good.  Call quality is just a little worse than regular cellular, but it is acceptable.  One downside is I don't think it does MMS either.

I currently have the tmobile plan of 100 minutes for $30 a month, but Tmobile's coverage if you aren't in a city is pretty lousy.  Republic wireless uses the sprint network so it should be much better.  The only thing stopping me from switching to RW is that they only offer 1 phone, and it is pretty mediocre.  When they come out with a better phone I will probably make the switch.

sprint's coverage outside of a city is pretty lousy (assuming no roaming). (I'm on virgin, which also uses Sprint towers.)

I had heard that RW users could use Verizon towers as a backup to Sprint.  I cannot be sure of this though.

It doesn't look like it.

http://www.republicwireless.com/frequently-asked-questions

[Catchacold]

what about republic wireless, has anyone used it?

It's an incredible deal, $20 for unlimited talk, text, and web.  I have a friend that has it and says it works pretty good.  Call quality is just a little worse than regular cellular, but it is acceptable.  One downside is I don't think it does MMS either.

I currently have the tmobile plan of 100 minutes for $30 a month, but Tmobile's coverage if you aren't in a city is pretty lousy.  Republic wireless uses the sprint network so it should be much better.  The only thing stopping me from switching to RW is that they only offer 1 phone, and it is pretty mediocre.  When they come out with a better phone I will probably make the switch.

sprint's coverage outside of a city is pretty lousy (assuming no roaming). (I'm on virgin, which also uses Sprint towers.)

I had heard that RW users could use Verizon towers as a backup to Sprint.  I cannot be sure of this though.

I tested RW for a bit, yes the roaming is included for voice+data. But the phone isn't great, and the call quality wasn't good over wifi.

I'm now using ting, which ends up cheaper than RW since I'm a pretty light user and around wifi most of the time. Much better phone options (4G). Voice roaming, but no data roaming.

[Rams]

we use it in our office, but only as a voicemail feature.  it's great because we have our phone set up at work to automatically forward to our google voice number after so many rings. then we can have it either ring to mine and my business partner's cell phone at the same time or go straight to voice mail.  once it's in voice mail, we can either use the app and get the voice mails right on both of our cell phones or have them emailed to us with the mp3 attached. it's great that all of our voice mails are archived and saved.  the best part is that we both immediately get our voice mails no matter where we are.

[asava]

we use it in our office, but only as a voicemail feature.  it's great because we have our phone set up at work to automatically forward to our google voice number after so many rings. then we can have it either ring to mine and my business partner's cell phone at the same time or go straight to voice mail.  once it's in voice mail, we can either use the app and get the voice mails right on both of our cell phones or have them emailed to us with the mp3 attached. it's great that all of our voice mails are archived and saved.  the best part is that we both immediately get our voice mails no matter where we are.

is there a certain setting that allows you to forward to voicemail after a certain number of rings?

[Rams]

we use it in our office, but only as a voicemail feature.  it's great because we have our phone set up at work to automatically forward to our google voice number after so many rings. then we can have it either ring to mine and my business partner's cell phone at the same time or go straight to voice mail.  once it's in voice mail, we can either use the app and get the voice mails right on both of our cell phones or have them emailed to us with the mp3 attached. it's great that all of our voice mails are archived and saved.  the best part is that we both immediately get our voice mails no matter where we are.

is there a certain setting that allows you to forward to voicemail after a certain number of rings?

well, you can set the amount of time it rings (or number of rings...I don't remember) before it goes to voice mail, but we give out our normal office number to clients.  then we had to call our phone company and have all calls automatically forwarded to our google voice number after so many seconds of ringing.  then we just set our google voice to "do not disturb" and right when it gets forwarded it goes straight to the google voice mail.