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Call from your own number on Google Voice
By siliconindia
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Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 22:59 IST |
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San Francisco: In a move that can broaden the appeal of the nascent and controversial service by Google, the company has introduced a new feature that will allow consumers to use its Google Voice service without switching to a special phone number.
Google Voice offers a variety of voicemail management features, including unlimited storage and text transcription of voicemail messages. Until now, using Google Voice required adopting a special Google phone number, reports Reuters. The new feature allows people to retain their existing phone numbers. The service also allows users to make low-priced international calls by routing portions of the call over Google's infrastructure and the internet.
Google also announced that new users of its service will be able to have the calls that they don't answer forwarded to a special Google Voice electronic mailbox, essentially bypassing the voicemail provided by their phone carriers. Craig Walker, a Group Product Manager for Real Time Communications at Google, said the company will provide users with a special code for their phone which forwards unanswered calls to a Google-maintained voice mailbox. Walker said the call-forwarding feature does not require striking any deals with the phone carriers.
Google Voice, which was launched in March this year, is available to a limited number of people who have received invitations from Google or from other Google Voice users. Walker said the company hopes to make the service open to the general public relatively soon, though he would not specify when. He also declined to say how many people use Google Voice, but said the company has been pleased with the numbers.
The product has earned positive reviews as well as some amount of controversy. Google has said that Apple rejected the Google Voice application for the iPhone, while Apple has maintained that it is still studying the software. The dispute has drawn the attention of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). And earlier this month, lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives called on the FCC to investigate reports cited by AT&T, that Google Voice was blocking expensive calls to phone numbers in certain rural areas in order to cut down on expenses.