Is The Telephone Obsolete?

Google Gmail calls: calling time on the telephone? - Telegraph.   While I wait on the Droid Incredible 2.2 update, so that I can watch NFL games on flash, I have been playing around with the Google Voice add-on to GMail. Amazing. I have been annoying friends and family with calls; I set up my little Bluetooth earpiece to intercept sound and send voice instead of the computer speaker and mike, and it works great. But, the coolest thing is that any Google Voice call rings my home phone, both cell phones, and sends transcriptions and voice messages to my computer and to my Gmail. It won't be long before Google Voice is my only phone, and the Business lines that cost a fortune go the way of the dinosaur. It's a new world of communication, and you need to check it out.

Comments

[Jonathan Locker]

As an attorney I have also been "testing" Google Voice, and I really like it.

My only questions is: Do you own your number?

With the local phone company, as long as you pay your bill, no one can take that number away from you. And a phone number printed on cards, letterhead, websites, etc. is very valuable.

I have not found anything in writing indicating if you own your Google Voice number, or if you can ever own it. That would be my only concern.

[Rick Georges]

Good question. Google leases the number and "owns" it to the extent that they control it. However, Google wouldn't be in business long if they started stealing numbers. And, you can port the number to any other service that supports it. So, I am not that worried. Hell, the local phone company can screw up your number just as well. I am still marketing with my old phone numbers; Google Voice is an add-on.
Rick

[mljucmj]

I have not used a business land-line for years: Vonage (ugh, got rid of that), Skype, Magic Jack, and now I'm trying Google. I do pay a small monthly price for email transcriptions of voice mails. But maybe Google will resolve that too.