[Digory]

After GV went down during business hours once, I realized I needed to control the number. It's more expensive than free, but worth it.

You can port out a GV number to any telecom provider for a small fee, including any of the big SIP/VoIP providers. They'll usually provide voicemail and dirt cheap rates -- but not VM transcription.

[mkaziz]

Got any recommendations?

[Digory]

Ward Mundy's nerdvittles blog had a recent overview of the SIP/VoIP market. [0] Looks like he currently recommends Vitelity, VoIP.ms, or CallCentric.

Ward's PBX in a Flash projects (business class features on a raspberry pi or in the cloud) are also fun if you really want to go down a rabbit hole.

[0] http://nerdvittles.com/?p=26128