I have used Googlevoice for about six months. Because of friends/ business/ family etc in Kentucky, where I moved from, I still have my long-time cell phone # from Kentucky; and now, with my Googlevoice phone # I now have a local area code 352 number that people can call, or from which I can make calls, that still rings to my cell phone; so both Kentucky and local calls come to my single cell phone.
I can also, by first accessing my Googlevoice phone #, place calls from my Kentucky cell phone that show a local 352 phone # calling, so that my local friends, etc, here in The Villages see my local, 352 phone # when I am calling them (even though I am using my out of state cell phone to place the call).
The other great thing is that ATT, my cell phone service provider, has an 'A-list' feature that allows you to list ten phone #s on your account for the calls between that number and your ATT cell phone to be free of any minutes charges. I have 'A-listed' on my ATT cell phone plan my Googlevoice phone # and that now means that any time I receive calls to my Googlevoice phone # (or make calls from my Googlevoice 352 area code phone #, using my Kentucky ATT cell phone) there is no minutes charge. This is saving me lots of minutes charges; in fact, I was able to lower my rate plan because of this, since I am now using so many fewer charged minutes on my cell phone.
It does take a few extra steps to actually place a call from my cell phone from my local Googlevoice phone #, but the convenience, and savings, of having all of this functionality on a single phone makes it, to me, worth it; and it has, like anything else, just become a habit that I do without thinking about it. I put my Googlevoice phone # on a speed-dial button on my cell phone, which makes it a little faster to use it when making calls.
The other thing I like about Googlevoice is that any voice mails people leave on my local Googlevoice phone # appear as text messages on my cell phone, as well as being audio voice messages.
|