Image by marcopako  via Flickr

Unless you are a new (or inattentive) reader, you are aware that Google is my boyfriend.  I love anything and everything Google.  I have Gmail, I use Google docs with regularity, and I even have Google Wave, despite not really understanding the ins and outs, or the usefulness.

Taking the place at the top of my list of favorites is Google Voice.

Google Voice is what came from a marriage between Google and GrandCentral.  My brother told me about GrandCentral a long time ago, and I checked it out but I didn’t really see what the point was, so I didn’t sign up.  When his number converted to a Google Voice number, I was super-jealous, and put myself on the very long waiting list.

Once I got my own Google Voice number, I wasn’t really sure what to do next.  Everyone has my home and cell numbers, so it’s not like I really NEEDED a Google Voice number.  Of course, an application is only useful if you use it, and in the course of learning more, I’ve learned how to make it work for me.

Here is what is working for me.  I hope these are tips that will make it work for you:

1.  Voicemail. I recently noticed that I can set up Google Voice voicemail as my default voicemail on my cell phone.  Now when someone calls me, they get my Google voicemail instead of my Sprint voicemail.  This is useful to me because I live in the sticks, and often my cell phone doesn’t ring because of the poor network out here.  So I would get a call that didn’t ring through, but just a notification “new voicemail.”  With the Google voicemail, I get a transcription of the voicemail message.  It takes the guesswork out of who called and what they wanted.

2.  Call history. Any calls made to my Google Voice number are logged in history, even if they don’t leave a message.

3.  Blocking calls. Tired of sales calls?  You can go into call history and choose “block” and if that number calls back, they get a message saying the number has been disconnected.  No more annoying calls!

The Google Voice app on my Blackberry lets me make calls from my cell phone to someone else and the caller ID will show my GV number.  You can even send free SMS messages from the application, or from the website.

I feel like I have much more control over my phone now.  Thanks, boyfriend.

(Yes, this really will connect you to me – you don’t need Google Voice to use it, and standard phone charges may apply.  IOW, I am not responsible for your super high phone bill, k?)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Google Voice: Now 50% Booty Call-ier (manolith.com)