Is this call forwarding, or is there a SIP client on the smartphone handset (or, presumably, other real SIP phones)?
The SMS features look great. The biggest problem with Google Voice is that Google essentially seems to not care about the product, and really hasn't since they bought it.
Agree with you on the Google not caring about the product at all. I am so dependent on Google Voice right now to the extent that I don't even know my real number. But Google's approach to Voice is scaring me more with every passing month and year. I even switched to Sprint because they have carrier integration with Voice but even that is a half-hearted integration:
- Text messages arrive after random delays.
- My outgoing number switches to the Sprint number if I am on call roaming.
- When I am logged in to gmail on my computer, it is always unpredictable where it is going to route my incoming call - to my phone or to gmail.
- Some services don't consider the Google Voice number to be a valid number (for e.g. I had problems recently trying to get FiOS to recognize my Google Voice number)
"The biggest problem with Google Voice is that Google essentially seems to not care about the product"
But it works and does what it's supposed to, no? At least that's my experience. Is there actually a problem with the service, or do you just have a feeling that it won't last, or something?
There are definite problems with the service. Problems that don't surface once you dug in and started using it for a while with people knowing only your GV number.
1) Inbound texts occasionally arrive late or not at all.
2) Google Voice Android App sometimes breaks silently so you can't receive
calls or texts until you relaunch the app.
3) Sometimes you can't make outgoing calls through the GV android app.
4) MMS messages sent to you are rejected. Neither you nor the
sending party are notified that anything went awry.
5) No confirmation that your text has been sent.
Sometimes GV lets you know that it failed, sometimes it doesn't show up in your
conversation but has actually gone out.
Additionally there are missing features:
1) A bunch of non-google services don't recognize GV numbers as valid and
will not accept it as a phone number.
2) MMS sending and receiving.
3) International texting.
4) Android App with clear semantics what constitutes a conversation and a
clear history of what you sent and received.
I should add that these issues have existed for a long while and there has been no communication from Google about resolutions to them. Not sure if there is any development going on the backend, but the android app development hasn't moved in the past year.
Other than that, it is a great service at the price of 0 dollars and non-trivial frustration.
I've been using it since it was GrandCentral, and in all that time the only issue I've had with it is the lack of MMS. Which is a big issue, don't get me wrong.
It works for some things. There is still no MMS (for most people), and the text messaging still isn't properly integrated into Android[1]. I still use it, but these issues are major annoyances, and haven't been fixed after several years.
[1] Yes, I realize that it can be set as the default app for sending texts. Unfortunately this does not make third party texting apps work with it. What should be possible is to use it as the underlying text message provider, just like my carrier would be without Google Voice. Then all of the regular apps that know how to send/receive text messages would work with it seamlessly.
It mostly works, most of the time. It still doesn't do stuff I really want (SIP client on the phone), does stuff I hate (stupid integration with gmail), and for weeks at a time, loses some calls, is late with SMS, has horrible audio quality, etc.
Less reliable than gmail, which is already below the reliability I want for a major communications channel.
I still use google voice for a personal number that I mainly give to spammers, but I'd never use it for business, and I've been finding myself just giving my cellphone (or work SIP number) to people.
I'm also concerned google will kill the product, but as long as I can port, that's a lesser issue. (If I can't port, I'd be incensed, though)
The voicemail transcription (works, for US english accentless people) and SMS forwarding (which doesn't work) are the things which keep me on google voice, vs. just running my own SIP. I'll look at Sendhub, either directly or as a voicemail forwarding number.
What I really want is a SIP url I can point calls to and get voicemail transcriptions back as email or something. I'd probably pay $10-20/mo for that for <50 calls.
SendHub does premium voicemail transcription (as in it actually works) and you can access them on your phone. You can forward both calls and texts to another number. Email forwarding coming soon.
You can port your GV number to SendHub. Ping me at ash [at] sendhub.com and I'll give you a free upgrade so you can do the port and also use our vm transcription.
To get over 1000 minutes, this would cost >$100/month. I'm not sure why it should cost more than a mobile plan for that. The pricing plans need a lot of work, IMO.
I understand your concern here, we're looking into it more at present. The main reason for our current pricing is that it also includes unlimited texting. Watch this space, I expect we'll start offering more voice minutes on the paid plans very soon.
This is really cool. I've been waiting for a way to give all of my employees their own virtual phone number, and since almost all of them have iPhones anyways, this looks great!
Would love to see an Android App for this (I have a Nexus). Anyone know what their current plans are for the droid ecosystem?
$50 for 750 minutes sounds a bit expensive, especially considering how cheap Google Voice is. I know that it is a little premium with better support but a regular cell phone service probably has unlimited minutes for $50/month.
* I am assuming incoming calls are also billed.
Also, is there an option for international calls? I don't see any pricing info for international calls.
I'm looking for a serious alternative to Google Voice and this almost fits the bill, but expensive. As someone mentioned a SIP option would be great too.
I was just looking at Line2 which looks like it has more features and better pricing. Anybody tried any of these services? Can they reliably replace a phone?
From talking to users, we find people prefer SendHub because of the reliability and customer support. Also, SendHub has a free plan and for businesses we make it easy to get control of your employees communication, while keeping costs down.
Do you have any novelty numbers available? like 0000 or other easy to remember ones?
We're using GoogleVoice for our company now, but it's not ideal, especially the limitation that a phone can only be connected to one GoogleVoice number.
We try our best with vanity numbers - we can see if we can find you good one (and people are usually pretty happy) but otherwise you can also port in any number you own to SendHub.
You can select an area code but specific number selection isn't something a lot of people have asked for, although I do understand the desire. If you're looking for a specific number, we're always happy to change the numbers on premium accounts and if you ping me I'll give you a coupon for a free upgrade: ash [at] sendhub dot com.
Coming soon, the problem is that MMS is not really standard and a lot of platform providers don't support, so it's a little more complex than it seems.
The SMS features look great. The biggest problem with Google Voice is that Google essentially seems to not care about the product, and really hasn't since they bought it.