Goodbye, Google Voice 166
itwbennett writes "The trouble with Google Voice is that the way we use phones has changed — and it hasn't kept up with the times: 'Fewer people have a mobile phone and a business line and a home line that might make One Number For All so. Text message costs (which are actually close to nothing) are almost always bundled into contract costs. Automatic voice transcription, while still a mean feat, is no longer such a magic trick,' writes Kevin Purdy in a blog post explaining why he's breaking up with Google Voice. The main problem is that, despite some very cool features, Google Voice doesn't play well with others — even apps in its own family. And it doesn't look as though that's going to get better anytime soon." I've been very happy with Google Voice for a few years now, and one reason is the transcribed voice messages, which may get hilariously garbled sometimes, but are almost always correct enough to be useful.
Horrible Headline: google voice still around (Score:5, Informative)
Google Voice is not being phased out (yet) by google.
This is just some doosh on itworld ranting about junk on his blog.
WTF? (Score:5, Informative)
Google Voice still being actively developed (Score:5, Informative)
Some of the complaints in this blog were mentioned in a post by a google employee 4.5 months ago:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+N... [google.com]
... rest assured, weâ(TM)re working to support SMS messages for all Google Voice phone numbers ... we are listening and working hard to make this happen, but we need to work with carriers and this can take some time.
It will take some time before Google Voice is fully integrated into Hangouts, and we appreciate your patience along the way.ï
there is also mention of third-party apps which, on android, use various methods to achieve VOIP through Google Voice on the handset, which isnt a feature that Google Voice currently allows (it must route your call via an actual phone call).. these apps have been warned that they will be no longer to do that by May 15th of this year..
im guessing that we will be seeing some changes to Google Voice in the coming few months... maybe even things that make this itworld blog post seem kind of silly.
(disclosure: been using google voice since its first year, wish it could be better... 'breaking up' with it over the stuff in TFA is silly, some of those gripes are silly)
Re:Backdoor details (Score:2, Informative)
As a backdoor user, here is how to do it. The only cavot is you can not dial out with the desk phone hardware.
Step one. Get a free SIP account. There are several providers, pick one. A SIP account will have an account looking like an email address/ User at provider format.
Step 2. Get a free or paid DID (direct inward dial) phone number. This gives GV a number to forward to. Link it to your SIP account.
Step 3. Get a SIP client, either a softphone for free or a ATA/IP phone. Connect it to your SIP account.
Now you have a number GV can call. This works well for international travel. Take your IP phone with you. Family can call on your local GV number. Google forwards to the local IP Call number to link to a plain SIP VOIP call that you can take worldwide.
Re:A reason to really like Google Voice (Score:4, Informative)
The Obihai boxes (I have one which I use for Google Voice) use XMPP for Google Voice.
Google is killing XMPP support and the Obi boxes will no longer directly support Google Voice at that point.
Fortunately, the Obi boxes also do standard SIP. You can get a SIP account from a VOIP provider and a DID. Point your Google Voice number at the DID and you'll get incoming calls.
For outgoing calls, most decent VOIP providers will allow you to set your outgoing caller ID after verifying that the number is valid.
It's not free, but it works and it's relatively inexpensive.
Re:Horrible Headline: google voice still around (Score:4, Informative)
This headline is so dangerously bad that it makes me want to tag slashdot as a troll.
Seriously, this is so bad lawyers can get involved. Some editor needs to go fix it.