Google Voice Grabs 1 Million Phone Numbers 198
alphadogg writes "Google has reserved 1 million phone numbers with Level 3, signaling that it may finally be ready to roll out its long-anticipated Google Voice service. The free service, announced in March, lets users unify their phone numbers, allowing them to have a single number through Google Voice that rings a call through to all their phones. Sources could not say when the 1 million numbers may be assigned. Level 3 has been supplying Google with phone numbers since the introduction of Google Voice, so the 1 million numbers are an indication Google is close to adding a significant number of users. A public launch has been anticipated since Google said in March the service would be 'open to new users soon.' One early user said: 'I've only been using Google Voice for a few months, but it's completely changed the way I use voicemail and communicate... When it goes public, I think the rush to grab Google Voice numbers is going to be stunning. I know some of my friends check the Google Voice page almost every day to see when they can grab a number and get started using it.'"
I'm waiting.... (Score:3, Interesting)
for this for my G1. I'm surprised this wasn't included, even though it's in closed beta. PF Voicemail Fusion works ok, but youmail is horrible for the G1. Google Voice already has an android app, so I can't wait!
Where are the Telco's Lawyers (Score:3, Interesting)
Queue Dr. Evil '1 million phone numbers... MMUUUAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH!'
It certainly sounds like a big number, but it isn't. What I am wondering is what the Telco execs are doing about it.
A little history for ./ The telco's stuck it to Vonage two different ways.
1. whisper campaign in the equity markets claiming Vonage didn't own the value-drivers in their business. 100% bunk. Amazon doesn't own the 'tubes' that connect to their service, has fantastical valuations. With Vonage, it *is* a very big problem??? But equity manager ran with it and hammered Vonage.
2. Patent litigation. Especially bad and ridiculously obvious patents were used to extract the Telco's vig. (hint, look up the word vigorish)
Google's much more well-capitalized and swimming in the deep end of Telco waters if they attempt to unify POTS/wireless with VOIP. When will Telco exec's send the legal dogs after Google?
Lame anecdotal evidence (Score:2, Interesting)
"I know some of my friends check the Google Voice page almost every day to see when they can grab a number and get started using it."
And I have friends who have never heard of Google Voice and completely lack the technical understanding to want to use it. I hate it when people use anecdotal evidence to suggest how great or grand something is going to be.
Most of my friends actually have just one phone (their cell) to their name anyway. While I see some of the features being semi-useful for a single-phone user, many require one to be at their computer, or at least have a smart phone, thus eliminating their usefulness in a large variety of circumstances.
Abuse (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Oh, that's just great... (Score:5, Interesting)
Now telemarketers, religious freaks, and campaign-donation guys will be able to find me no matter where I am.
I am a Google voice user.
Zero automated telemarketing calls get through to me. The system defaults to requiring callers with previously unseen caller-id's to state their name before it will even ring my real phone(s). No automated system knows how to do that so far.
Even if a real person calls and does get past the name prompt, I can "answer" the phone by sending the call to voice-mail and listening in, the way you can with a real physical answering machine.
I am also able to blacklist specific caller-id numbers to either go directly to voice-mail or to play the "this number has been disconnected" recording and tone pattern.
Worst case, I can also configure all unknown caller-id numbers to go directly to voice-mail too.
Since signing up with GrandCentral a year or two ago (the predecessor company that google purchased) my annoying call rate has gone to zero.
Re:How big is the market? (Score:5, Interesting)
Nearly universally, everyone who I know in their mid 20s - early 30s don't have a landline
The same used be be true for me, but now my parents, aunts and uncles, former teachers, etc. have all switched. I would say that nearly every person I know 15-62 have switched solely to cell phones in place of home phones. The two people I know with a home phone, my grandfather (85) and grandmother (82) switched to Vonage over two years ago to the complete surprise of the entire family. Reason they gave "It's a fixed monthly cost that works for what they need."
I really think the traditional home phone line could be dead in a decade or so.
Re:I overheard you talking aboutâ¦. (Score:3, Interesting)
Just as long as Verizon, Skype, and AT&T take for whatever purpose they want. The same laws apply to everyone.
Its not the conversation content you'll have to worry about (that's protected from interception by all but the NSA). Its whom you call, or calls you. That data has been for sale for a decade or so.
Re:I'm waiting.... (Score:4, Interesting)
I ended up giving my real number to anyone that mattered. I still use my Google Voice number for anything online or calls/text messages that I potentially want to screen. It's a great service but it didn't work for me as an every day number.
Re:I'm waiting.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Will it work when my nets die? Or with 911? (Score:3, Interesting)
A VOIP app to bypass the phone number altogether... that would change the world.
But the question remains: where's the revenue?
Re:Oh, that's just great... (Score:2, Interesting)
Haha why the hell is this "interesting"??
Does EVERYONE here blindly trust google?! (Score:3, Interesting)
They own your primary e-mail address, route your telephone conversations, facilitate your mailing list, keep track of your calendar, engineer your cell phone platform, access maps for you, host your videos, and answer any question you could have about anything through their search engine.
First question: Do you really think they are funded by ad revenue? How many ads have you clicked on since you started surfing the web?
Second question: What is more profitable, providing free web services, or selling personal data they have been harvesting for years, many times tied to an IP, MAC, Username, and the identity created by the consistencies of your browsing habits?
Re:What happens when Google Voice is down? Privacy (Score:3, Interesting)
Not sure where the bad attitude is coming from, I never suggested that these things *do* happen, just asking about the potential for them to happen. And my first question was just that, a question, if it absolutely relies on google's service to route your call through.
Additionally, it introduces ANOTHER variable of service into the mix. Now I rely on my telco to work, with this, I rely on my telco AND Google to work.
And Google's track record with gmail being up and down in my own personal experience is not great. Nothing major, but every so often its down for a minutes.
But my main concern is what would happen if they just decide to stop developing this service? Is it easy to go back to straight telco? I relied on Google Notebook quite heavily and a few months ago they just stopped developing it.
I want to use this service, I'm just asking questions about concerns that I have before deciding to use it or not.
You kind of came off as a bit dickish, and i'm not sure how it was warranted.
Re:Will it work when my nets die? Or with 911? (Score:3, Interesting)
There may be other things they are doing, like selling aggregate statistics about calling patterns, and they may also be collecting some tariffs for call completion--though I think that would be a wash with their model--but I think, primarily, what they get out of it is data.
Google has made no secret that their mission is to help organize and distribute the world's data. Before, they were limited to text and images. Then came video, now they've got phone conversations.
I'm in the "Google's not sinister" camp, although I don't believe it's exactly altruism. I think they do this stuff because they can, because it's cool, because they get value out of using it themselves, and because it helps further their mission.
They may find a way to monetize it further with premium features, but for the moment, because they can afford to do so, I'd be surprised if anything like that came out of the gate.
Re:I wonder.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I'm waiting.... (Score:3, Interesting)
It's fantastic. I now have instant junk call filtering - I just send to voice on my cellphone and the caller get the disconnect signal after a ring or two.
My friends all get custom greetings before leaving voice mail, and I receive an email as soon as they do. Also, I can play back my messages in the order I want without using airtime.
Plus I can play with all the other cool Google Voice features as needed. I love Google Voice - so what if they have a deal with the NSA to screen all my calls...