[cypherpunks01]

What point is Google Voice at now, usability-wise?

I used it in 2010 and it was slow to make outgoing calls and had some limitations as far as text messaging from the gv number. There were also some concerns about its general reliability.

Is anyone using it fulltime now and happy with it?

[THE_PUN_STOPS]

I use it exclusively, and it is perfect for me, mostly. I can text from any of my android devices, or any device with an internet connection almost entirely reliably. Here's the foibles though:

* No extended MMS support AT ALL. This means no pictures, no participating in group messages from iphone users, and most critically, all text messages sent or received over 160 characters aren't automatically concatenated like on the iphone and in the stock android messaging app, but instead chopped up into several 160 character messages.

* Quirky reliability. It's been getting slowly better, but there are small issues occasionally that are pretty rage-inducing. For example, before February of 2012, there was no queuing for SMS messages. If you tried to send a message and it failed, (which happens a lot) too bad, you got to try again. So when they did implement it, (way after the introduction of the product, I might add) it was slow and argumentative as to which messages actually got sent out and when.

* Product support. Lusting after a basic new feature for GV? Having an issue where some messages are duplicated 4 times and sent to everyone in your address book with the same first name as the recipient? (it happened to me. The solution was to name problem contacts things like John1, John2, etc. until an unspecified update fixed it) Just curious about the future of the product? Too bad. You will be lucky to get a minor update a year later which addresses a complementary issue or concern. No amount of support questions, bug reports, emails, or even community outrage will get anything out of Google concerning GV. It took them months to update it to the ICS app standards, and they did so without any warning or response to users who had been begging Google to fix the buggy Gingerbread/Froyo-imbued app since Honeycomb had come out. For some reason Google is hell-bent on being tight lipped on this particular product and none of its users have any idea if it will even continue existing for the foreseeable future. Now that Google has used it to datamine a bunch of voicemails for transcription data, it feels like we're just along for the ride on this product that we rely on every day.

[josh2600]

Mms is not practical to support because of the absurd implementation in the us. Emailing a picture is easy, but making an investment in an mmsc at a time when mmsc use is being deprecated makes no sense (unless it takes 20 years to be deprecated).

Google has to keep their costs down since GV doesn't make any money. You're not paying for the calls, you can't really complain about the quality. If you care about quality, setup a really simple PBX with call forwarding and connect it to flow route. Better quality and under a penny per minute.

Google isn't going to devote time to fixing the existing GV product, they want a new GV product, but there are infrastructure integration problems within google (grandcentral had a robust telephony stack but I imagine elgoog had quite the time integrating their switch into the infrastructure fabric 'google-ifying'). They likely see no benefit to improving the old platform as its just a loss leader, and increasing use of GV increases the losses. It's an almost Faustian bargain; buy Grandcentral, control the patents for VM transcription with an iron fist and never innovate.

It's both terrible and strategically correct in a view of absolute profits and losses (one that google admittedly rarely operates in).

[justincormack]

Multiple concatenated SMS messages are not MMS, should be able to be done without full MMS support at all. Even old Nokia phones years ago had that supported.

[THE_PUN_STOPS]

You're right, it should. But Google Voice doesn't do it.

[drivebyacct2]

yeah, Google Voice handles this fine. I often type small novels and it chops them up for me.

[auctiontheory]

Plus: I'm relatively comfortable distributing my GV number widely, since I know I can selectively block calls to it in a way that I can't with my iPhone (cell number).

Minus: My GV calls have noticeably lower voice quality.

[drivebyacct2]

>Minus: My GV calls have noticeably lower voice quality.

I don't mind or notice the quality of the voice but I can notice a tiny bit higher latency that can make a conversation slightly disorienting if you're having some fast rapid in depth conversation I guess.

[Ricapar]

I got my GV number back in 2008-2009ish.. Not 100% sure on the exact date, but I've had it for a while.

I didn't start using it full-time at first, since I had an old flip-phone and there really wasn't much value added by having another number to make calls from.

Once I got an Android Phone, I started trying to use it a bit more. Started out really... "raw" would be a good word. The GV app on Android was pretty poor at first. Push notifications wouldn't go down half the time, and you wouldn't know you got a text until several hours later.

Today though - it's my full-time number, and none of my friends have my carrier-assigned cell phone number. Everything is through Google Voice. The app has greatly improved.

I also have a problem with my phone being dead half the time. If I have my GMail open though - calls get redirected to there, and I can answer from my computer.

There is also an extension for Chrome that'll "ding" when you get a text or missed call. Makes for really quick and easy replies to text messages.

[Axsuul]

I depend on Google Voice--so much in fact that my next phone will probably be Android since it handles it natively. Being able to reply to SMS messages from within your browser (or even better, Chrome extension) is just so nice and convenient and solves a major pain point of mine. Also, it's very useful for blocking calls (ladies, where you at?) or for fun, have customized voicemail greetings to specific groups of people or to your girlfriend.

[TheSilentMan]

The only limitation that annoys me is the lack of MMS support, but my GV number is still the only number anybody has for me.

[niggler]

I originally used google voice as a really quick way to get a phone number while setting up a business, but later moved the number to a dedicated cell phone.

I still use it in that capacity, given that they don't give more than 1 year clarity (every year they only extend their assurance by 1 year)

[blankenship]

I’ve found it useful for a catch-all incoming number (e.g. my wife has a studio/storefront with a Google Voice number so when anyone calls it rings her cellphone with the Shop name in it). We use it exclusively for business-related things.

[myko]

I use it full time but the inability to handle MMS is a real pain point. I maintain separate phone numbers just so people can group message me.

[drivebyacct2]

>Is anyone using it fulltime now and happy with it?

Yes. I exclusively use it. The Messaging (SMS) app is disabled on my phone, I don't pay for SMS service and my friends and family only know my Google Voice number.

The only usability issue I've had wasn't even a problem for me. My Mom's RAZR was slow to receive messages through her Google Voice number. Amazingly that went away when it got updated to ICS/JB.

Taking calls through Gmail (I have a bluetooth headset I use anyway, I get lazy from holding up my phone) and sending/receiving SMSs from any browser is great too.