Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Google Voice

Soon Sprint May Not Be The Carrier To Integrate Google Voice

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 04:15:57 +0000

Soon Sprint may no longer be the only carrier that supports Google Voice integration. “We are having discussions with other carriers about this,” stated Google Voice Group Product Manager Vincent Paquet in an interview with CNET. However he declined to list what other carriers are interested. Paquet said that Google’s partnership with Sprint has been successful.

Google Voice gives users access to the visual voicemail which you can read on the phone or online. Personalized greetings and cheaper international calls are some of the other perks. Sprint does not charge $20 for porting their numbers to Google Voice.

“Sprint integration has worked really well,” stated Paquet. “We have, since Day One, had a steady stream of people signing up for it.”

Google+ Circles Gets Added To Google Voices

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:59:00 +0000

Google has announced today that there is a new feature in Google Voice to help you keep your contacts organized. Google+ Circles are being added to Google Voice. Circles in Google Voice will allow you to manager your callers. You can customize your Circle Settings by visiting the Groups & Circles tabs in your Google Voice settings.

“Calls from your ‘Creepers’ circle can be sent straight to Voicemail, only your ‘College Buddies’ circle will hear you rap your voicemail greeting, or you can set your ‘Family’ circle to only ring your mobile phone,” stated Google Voice software engineer Tom Ford.

Google Updates iPhone App To Support Sprint, Multi-Recipient Texting, and Dialer Copy-and-Paste

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:19:19 +0000

Google has updated the Google Voice iPhone application. The Google Voice iPhone update is now up-to-date with its sister Android app. The new version of Google Voice has multi-recipient texting, contact autocomplete, support for Sprint, multi-line text entry field, and a 1-touch dialer copy-and-paste. The Google Voice Android app has been able to perform multi-recipient texting for over a month. Sprint Google Voice iPhone users will now be able to send all calls to the native dialer when the phone is integrated with the service. [TNW]

Now You Can Port Your Mobile Number To Google Voice [VIDEO]

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:26:21 +0000

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced that you can now port your existing mobile number to Google Voice. To set it up, log in to your Google Voice account and click the Settings page. From there click on the Change/Port option next to the Google Voice number. Porting your phone number to Google Voice costs $20 and can be completed within 24 hours. However you may incur early termination charges based on what your current wireless carrier charges. You may want to double-check whether your contract terms have expired or not. After your phone number is ported over, then your mobile service plan will be canceled. You can see a video demo of the service above.

Google Voice Testing Out Number Porting

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:22:49 +0000

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is testing out a number porting feature on Google Voice. This makes screening calls and managing multiple phone numbers very easy. Number porting is currently only available for a small number of users since it is in test mode.

“We’re continually testing new features to enhance the user experience. For a limited amount of time, we’re making the Google Voice number porting process available to users. We don’t have any additional details to share at this time, but plan to offer this feature to all users in the near future,” said Google in a statement.

Giving your phone number to Google may be a tough experience because you have to pay $20 to Google and you may have to pay an early termination fee depending on your current phone provider. If you are a newbie using Google Voice, it may be confusing to use initially. You also have to get used to one number ringing multiple phone numbers.

Google Voice Now Works On The iPad and iPod Touch

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:17:53 +0000

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced that Google Voice now works on the iPod Touch and the iPad. Even though you cannot use the iPad or iPod Touch as a phone, you can use it for initiating a call with your phone. This feature is called Click2Call.

To get started, click on the “Call” button on the Google Voice application. Then select which phones you want to ring. Google Voice will call all of them. Below is a list of some of the other improvements made on the app:

- When you enable Push Notifications, we will automatically disable Text forwarding for you, so you won’t receive multiple notifications.
- Want some quiet time? You can send all callers straight to voicemail by turning on Do not disturb in the Settings tab.
- We made it easier for you to place calls from the address book by adding a dedicated Contacts button to the Dialer tab.
- Sending text messages is now more streamlined since you don’t need to press the OK button anymore.

[Google Voice Blog]

Google Voice Is Now On The Apple App Store

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 23:04:31 +0000

After 16 months of dealing with Apple, Google has released the Google Voice application for the App Store. Google submitted this application a year and a half ago, but decided not to accept it. Apple also rejected third-party apps that have Google Voice functionality too.

Eventually the government had to get involved where both parties had to disclose their relationship with each other and with carriers. Apple said that they did not like the Google Voice application because it was too similar to the functionality on the iPhone.

The Google Voice application is free and it lets you make calls right from the app. When you dial a number, it automatically appears on the iPhone Phone application and makes the call from your Google Voice number.

When you receive a call to your Google Voice number, it will come in to your regular Phone app. YOu can also send and receive text messages from the application. And you can also listen to your Google Voice phone numbers through the app. The Google Voice application lets you access the phone contact list and it makes it easy to call them using Quick Dial Contacts.

[Google Voice Blog]

Apple Approves A Google Voice-Powered App

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 19:47:50 +0000

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has approved an application that is powered by Google Voice. This is interesting because Apple approved Google Voice applications at first, but then pulled them off later. This was because these applications were “duplicating features that the iPhone comes with,” such as the Dialer, SMS, etc.

Now Apple is starting to approve Google Voice-powered applications again. The latest Google Voice-powered application approved is called GV Connect, which is currently selling for $2.99. Phone calls, SMS, and voicemail is supported on this app for Google Voice.

[MobileCrunch]

Google Engineer David Barksdale Fired For Tapping Into Google Voice Call Logs

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 06:35:17 +0000

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) engineer David Barksdale was fired for stalking and spying on Google users and abusing his power. Barksdale spied on four underage teenagers for months before Google was notified about the abuse.

Barksdale accessed user accounts and violated the privacy of four minor Google users. Barksdale met the kids at a technology group in the Seattle area. Barksdale worked as a Site Reliability Engineer at Google’s Kirkland, Washington office. Eventually Barksdale was fired in July 2010.

Barksdale tapped into call logs from Google Voice after a boy refused to tell Barksdale the name of his new girlfriend according to Gawker. Barksdale retrieved the phone number using Google Voice and threatened the boy that he would call her.

Apparently Barksdale violated the privacy of other users by accessing contact lists and chat transcripts. After Barksdale was blocked on Google Talk by one of the engineers, he unblocked himself. “My gut read on the situation was that there wasn’t any strong sexual predatory behavior, just a lot of violating people’s personal privacy,” stated the Gawker source.

[Gawker]

Voice and Video Chat Services Now Integrated With Gmail

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:09:54 +0000

Voice and video chat services have been integrated in to Gmail. All you need is an Internet connection, computer microphone, and speakers. Users that talk to each other must be logged into Gmail at the same time as well.

Calls to the U.S. and Canada are free for the rest of the year. Calls to other countries are available at low rates. Calls to the U.K., France, China, Japan, and Germany are as little as $0.02 per minute.

To make a phone call through Gmail, click on “call phone” at the top of the chat list. Dial a number or enter a contact’s name through Gmail.

If you already have a Google Voice number, calls made from Gmail will display that number as the outbound caller ID number. You can also receive calls to that number from within Gmail as well.

[Gmail Blog]