
Why my friends hate Google Voice - kevruger
http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20040294-85.html
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nollidge
Sounds like Google Voice isn't the problem, so much as her switching between
various phones a lot. If she wasn't, they'd have, at most, two numbers to
contend with: the GV number, and the carrier number.

~~~
glenjamin
The main issue seems to be that the people she talks to have no way to
identify which of the various numbers she contacts them from is the Google
Voice number.

~~~
stcredzero
I have the same difficulty she desribes. It would help if Google Voice was
consistent about how it presented caller ID numbers to people I called. It
should be the case, that if I call _through Google Voice_ , I get presented as
_calling from my GV number_. That would make it easy for my friends, as they
could just hit my call on their Recent Calls list like they do for everyone
else.

Google Voice doesn't present caller ID consistently. Sometimes, it comes
across as "Unknown." To reach some of my friends who won't answer an "Unknown"
call, this means I am forced to call directly from another number of mine,
which creates a habitually attractive call-back option (Recent calls) what
won't have my Google Voice number.

In short: Google Voice still has a long way to go!

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busted
Her friends don't hate Google Voice, they hate that she doesn't use it enough.

Google Voice is the exact solution to her problem, but since she only
SOMETIMES uses it for outgoing calls and texts, it completely loses its
purpose. This she blames on the tediousness of using the GV app. Sorry but at
the moment that's the price you have to pay if you want to test 10 smartphones
and be able to be reached on one number (for free!).

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robinhowlett
I've used GV with my iPhone 4, HTC EVO 4G and HTC Hero. Also with SkypeIn/Out
numbers.

Mirrors my experience, especially on iPhone: freezes often, messages can be
delayed, unreliable voice service, voicemail transcription is rarely accurate.
As soon as there is a problem and I have to switch to my carrier number, and
confusion exists again.

I also run into the problem stcredzero describes; showing up as "Unknown",
forcing me to move back to carrier number.

In short the biggest benefit I get from GV is actually the Chrome extension
where I can send SMS messages very quickly and play voicemails (the
transcription is usually useless) - really wish Apple would acknowledge that
tying your phone to a browser is really powerful.

I've switched to giving out my GV number professionally and using my carrier
number for close friends and family.

That vanity number is just not worth it.

Disclaimer: I am not an idiot and I understand how GV works.

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smokey_the_bear
My fiance and I write mobile apps together, so we have a pile of iphones and
androids, and one Google Voice number that rings them all. It's like a
throwback to when a family just had one household line. Except sometimes we're
not together so we both have to guess who should answer based on the caller
ID.

Even worse, all of our text messages go only to my email inbox. Luckily, we
get fewer than five a month.

It does really annoy our friends, but most have figured it out after two years
of this setup. Mostly we just communicate via email and gchat.

It is pretty crazy when the phone rings at home though, Gizmo goes off on both
our computers, the landline and two extensions start ringing, and the three
mobile phones.

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wh-uws
Why does it take so long for Google Voice messages to come to your phone? I've
waited all the way from 30 minutes to 4 hours to receive one message.

~~~
peterwwillis
That, and the dependence on a stable data connection to initiate a call, and
sometimes DTMF (dialpad) doesn't work with automated systems (reproducible, so
i'm not crazy). To alleviate the slow messaging sometimes i'll use GV's SMS
gateway which for some reason is faster than texting with the GV app itself.

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andrenotgiant
I was lucky to adopt Google Voice when I was coming back to live in the US
after a long stint in the UK.

I had abandoned my old phone number, and now no one even knows my new Carrier-
assigned phone number, I LOVE it because there is never any information that
is ONLY available on my phone.

For example, if I left my phone somewhere, I can still see all my missed calls
and texts.

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mdonahoe
What does the supply of phone numbers look like?

Imagine if Google assigned Google Voice numbers for all of my contacts, even
if that person wasn't on Google Voice yet. Then I can program that number into
my normal phone to reach that contact. Google gets a call from my phone to
that number, and initiates a call from my google voice number to my friend's
actual number.

Does that make sense?

~~~
ydant
They sort of do already -

[http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/07/faster-dialing-
with...](http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/07/faster-dialing-with-google-
voice-on.html)

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KeithMajhor
During the brief period in which I used Google Voice on my Samsung Epic 4G, I
noticed poor audio quality.

~~~
erikpukinskis
Yeah, the audio quality when using the VOIP on wifi (which I think you need an
old gizmo5 account to do?) is terrible. But I haven't noticed any difference
using the standard callback method.

As far as I know, it shouldn't really be any different, as Google isn't
brokering the actual audio... they're just connecting you using your existing
network. I've certainly never noticed any difference on Verizon.

~~~
sabat
_which I think you need an old gizmo5 account to do?_

Not anymore. You can do VOIP calls through a browser, and I do them with my
iPhone using the Talkatone app (free). (Ironic that this is through GV but
Google's GV app doesn't support VOIP calls; someone else had to implement
that.)

