Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
I use Google voice as my main number. When I'm at my desktop in the office, I use the Google Chrome talk plugin and phone dialer app as my phone, both for incoming outgoing. I have Google voice set up to ring other phones, like my cell, so I give out my Google voice number as my mobile. This is handy for when I happen to be somewhere where I don't have enough bandwidth to use the GrooveIP voip Android app to receive calls; the regular cell voice line rings me. Google voice is not perfect, but it's pretty damn good. Now that I've said something good about Google, let me reiterate that the part of Google that is responsible for the Nexus 4, and for Android for the Nexus are a lying bunch of bastards. There are thousands of complaints about broken wifi and bluetooth on the Nexus 4, but if you were to call the Google toll-free Device Support number right now, they'd still tell you that There are no known issues with the Nexus 4. Being evil. --Doug --Doug On Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 9:43 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote: After the great tales of Doug and Android/Nexus, and seeing sigs w/ GV numbers .. I thought I'd ask for those of us (not me yet) who use GV could give us a glimpse into that future. Just as Doug has taken the phone to its logical conclusion: Its the internet stupid sort of thing .. maybe we all ought to think about GV and internet-only (data-only) services. In other words .. how close _are_ we to data-only services for phone, TV, etc? I finally switched from DSL to Cable, urged on by the idea of data-only TV, landline and so on (thanks Gil). Speed test (http://www.speedtest.net/) showed seriously shocking differences between DSD Cable: *ping ms down Mbps up **Mbps* *DSL: 69 1.470.60* *Cable:43 35.325.73* So what _are_ our experiences with GV? Can we cut that cord? -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com -- *Doug Roberts d...@parrot-farm.net* *http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins*http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins * http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins 505-455-7333 - Office 505-672-8213 - Mobile* FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
Doug: thanks, very clear. Couple of questions: - Is it pretty easy to setup and use? - If you give up your landline, can you transfer it to GV so you don't loose it? - How comfortable are you that Google will continue the service? -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
Hey Owen, - GV is very easy to use, there is a talk plugin for the Chrome browser (implied: you have to use the Chrome browser) which provides a nice little phone dialer app. What I like about the app is that it is integrated with your Google contacts, so looking up somebody's number is slick. Also, the calls are crystal clear. Sometimes, rarely, a call will drop, but not often enough to be a major issue. - For the cell phone there is the GrooveIP Google voice Android app. I don't know if there is an IOS equivalent. - Don't know about transferring your landline number. Maybe you can do that. - I don't trust Google to not fuck this up. They are a huge dysfunctional rich-kid bully. Spoiled, too. Arrogant, as well. And tone deaf to the concept of customer (referring now to their paying customers, as compared to people how use their free stuff, although they seem pretty tone deaf to folks using their free stuff as well.) --Doug On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 10:34 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote: Doug: thanks, very clear. Couple of questions: - Is it pretty easy to setup and use? - If you give up your landline, can you transfer it to GV so you don't loose it? - How comfortable are you that Google will continue the service? -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com -- *Doug Roberts d...@parrot-farm.net* *http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins*http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins * http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins 505-455-7333 - Office 505-672-8213 - Mobile* FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
Google Voice is living on borrowed time. If the Guardian's analysis is correct (linkhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/22/google-keep-services-closed?INTCMP=SRCH), we could have expected Google to kill it off about two weeks ago on 3/9/2013. But until they do, I'll carry on using it for my 2¢ per minute calls to the UK. —R FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
One could argue that Google Voice has become a core service, like email, from which they reap information harvested from its users. I'd surprised if it were not a growing service, given the continued growth of the mobile industry. --Doug On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 11:33 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote: Bingo: this was my concern, that GV would go the way of Reader. But if it's easy to transfer to another VoIP service, then having Google abandon GV would be less a blow, but certainly a hassle. -- Owen On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 11:25 AM, Robert Holmes rob...@robertholmes.orgwrote: Google Voice is living on borrowed time. If the Guardian's analysis is correct (linkhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/22/google-keep-services-closed?INTCMP=SRCH), we could have expected Google to kill it off about two weeks ago on 3/9/2013. But until they do, I'll carry on using it for my 2¢ per minute calls to the UK. —R FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com -- *Doug Roberts d...@parrot-farm.net* *http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins*http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins * http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins 505-455-7333 - Office 505-672-8213 - Mobile* FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
Owen,I'm looking at doing something similar.Evidently you have to transfer your land line to a cell # first, then you can transfer that to GV.Go figure.-Jim Original Message Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice From: Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net Date: Fri, March 22, 2013 10:34 am To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group friam@redfish.com Doug: thanks, very clear.Couple of questions:- Is it pretty easy to setup and use? - If you give up your landline, can you transfer it to GV so you don't loose it?- How comfortable are you that Google will continue the service? -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
That's what I'd expect as well. It is such a useful service that even cheapskates like me would pay for it. But don't tell those bastards at Google I said so. --Doug On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 12:00 PM, Roger Critchlow r...@elf.org wrote: The free US long distance service associated with Google Voice is a bonus feature that's been extended each year, but could go to a paid model any year now. -- rec -- On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 11:53 AM, Douglas Roberts d...@parrot-farm.netwrote: One could argue that Google Voice has become a core service, like email, from which they reap information harvested from its users. I'd surprised if it were not a growing service, given the continued growth of the mobile industry. --Doug On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 11:33 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.netwrote: Bingo: this was my concern, that GV would go the way of Reader. But if it's easy to transfer to another VoIP service, then having Google abandon GV would be less a blow, but certainly a hassle. -- Owen On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 11:25 AM, Robert Holmes rob...@robertholmes.org wrote: Google Voice is living on borrowed time. If the Guardian's analysis is correct (linkhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/22/google-keep-services-closed?INTCMP=SRCH), we could have expected Google to kill it off about two weeks ago on 3/9/2013. But until they do, I'll carry on using it for my 2¢ per minute calls to the UK. —R FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com -- *Doug Roberts d...@parrot-farm.net* *http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins*http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins * http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins 505-455-7333 - Office 505-672-8213 - Mobile* FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com -- *Doug Roberts d...@parrot-farm.net* *http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins*http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins * http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins 505-455-7333 - Office 505-672-8213 - Mobile* FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
I moved my business number to GV over a year ago... it rings through to my cell unless my cell is off, out of range or I deliberately stop forwarding it temporarily. It instead then fields my voicemail which it (attempts to) transcribe into both e-mail and text for my cell. My house is in uber-marginal cell range and even with the Wilson Electronics repeater I set up, sometimes (atmospheric conditions, cell tower fluctuations, semis on the highway between me and the cell tower?) I only get enough signal for the phone to ring and/or text messages to sneak in/out but can't answer or call out effectively. (too) many of my driving areas are also marginal (as Guerin at least can attest) so a lot of my cell calls are a parody of can you hear me now?. This mostly works for me as I *rarely* want to talk to anyone real-time anyway... I'd rather get the indication they had called, maybe even field their question/statement and then e-mail, text or (occasionally) call them back with an answer or a followup. Most of my family, friends, colleagues *also* prefer e-mail/text to phone. I have 2-3 people who I know I can call and they will pick up (albeit after screening caller ID), depending on the time of day... these are in fact the few people I actually *want* to talk to real time. For these calls I make sure I am somewhere with good cell coverage. Awkward since that doesn't include *home*. I don't use GV to answer or call out... I'm not sure why, I guess because I was already used to using Skype for this which is somewhere between free and cheap. I used Skype very effectively for international calling for 3 weeks this summer while I was in Europe... as long as I had good WiFi I was amazed at the ease/quality... I think I spent less than $20 on Skype charges the entire time... the only thing they couldn't fix was time-zone skew... oh well! I have used Skype (and Viber) to call out on my mobile as well, but generally if I have the WiFi to do that I also have the GSM and on an unlimited voice/text plan that is just fine. The biggest problem I have with this setup is that when *calling* people there is no way to make the caller ID reflect my GV number, but rather whatever cell number I have at the time. I'm on my second one since I switched (juggling T-mo against ATT) and it is confusing to some people who don't recognize my new(er) number yet... but as I expect with them, I just leave a message or shoot them a txt and wait for them to get back to ME, possibly on another band. We are definitely in a communication inversion right now with things changing chaotically or at least dramatically all the time. Neither of my daughters has had a land line in years, my mother is now on a cell phone, my wife doesn't answer *any* phones anyway, and I dropped *my* office landline a while back then my home landline just a few months ago. If GV goes away, I'm not precisely sure what I will do in response... I haven't surveyed the options for my style of use. It is the centralized routing, voicemail and transcription that I enjoy. And I'm ashamed to admit, the price... free for basic services very cheap for the few calls I make out from it. My Calvanist background makes me feel that I shouldn't expect anything for free and I should certainly not bitch about it if it isn't up to my expectation (see Gift Horse) and should expect there to be a hidden hook (think Google mining/assembling my personal information and using/selling it) somewhere. - Steve Hey Owen, - GV is very easy to use, there is a talk plugin for the Chrome browser (implied: you have to use the Chrome browser) which provides a nice little phone dialer app. What I like about the app is that it is integrated with your Google contacts, so looking up somebody's number is slick. Also, the calls are crystal clear. Sometimes, rarely, a call will drop, but not often enough to be a major issue. - For the cell phone there is the GrooveIP Google voice Android app. I don't know if there is an IOS equivalent. - Don't know about transferring your landline number. Maybe you can do that. - I don't trust Google to not fuck this up. They are a huge dysfunctional rich-kid bully. Spoiled, too. Arrogant, as well. And tone deaf to the concept of customer (referring now to their paying customers, as compared to people how use their free stuff, although they seem pretty tone deaf to folks using their free stuff as well.) --Doug On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 10:34 AM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net mailto:o...@backspaces.net wrote: Doug: thanks, very clear. Couple of questions: - Is it pretty easy to setup and use? - If you give up your landline, can you transfer it to GV so you don't loose it? - How comfortable are you that Google will continue the service? -- Owen FRIAM Applied
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
It occurs to me that some of us may not have tried speed test. I always get a grin when I see it pissing all over our network! Burning man? Sure. Pissing man? Hmm.. [image: Inline image 1] -- Owen On Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 9:43 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote: After the great tales of Doug and Android/Nexus, and seeing sigs w/ GV numbers .. I thought I'd ask for those of us (not me yet) who use GV could give us a glimpse into that future. Just as Doug has taken the phone to its logical conclusion: Its the internet stupid sort of thing .. maybe we all ought to think about GV and internet-only (data-only) services. In other words .. how close _are_ we to data-only services for phone, TV, etc? I finally switched from DSL to Cable, urged on by the idea of data-only TV, landline and so on (thanks Gil). Speed test (http://www.speedtest.net/) showed seriously shocking differences between DSD Cable: *ping ms down Mbps up **Mbps* *DSL: 69 1.470.60* *Cable:43 35.325.73* So what _are_ our experiences with GV? Can we cut that cord? -- Owen image.jpeg FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
[FRIAM] Google Voice
Does anyone use Google Voice? Could you share your experiences? Which options you use? How's it work? For folks not familiar with GV, its a stunt that lets you manage your phone number(s) somewhat like you do for DNS: one number for *you* not your devices. And it works for wifi calling too so it lets you even include your ipod as a phone! .. I think .. thus the question to the groups. -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
I have a Google Voice number (see below). It seems to work. I've never tried it for anything more complex than receiving calls. One interesting (if often laughable feature) is that it takes voice-mail messages and forwards them to you as email text -- or at least what its voice recognition system thinks is the equivalent text. It's often so mangled I often can't figure out what it's trying to say. *-- Russ Abbott* *_* *** Professor, Computer Science* * California State University, Los Angeles* * Google voice: 747-*999-5105 Google+: https://plus.google.com/114865618166480775623/ * vita: *http://sites.google.com/site/russabbott/ *_* On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 2:27 PM, Owen Densmore o...@backspaces.net wrote: Does anyone use Google Voice? Could you share your experiences? Which options you use? How's it work? For folks not familiar with GV, its a stunt that lets you manage your phone number(s) somewhat like you do for DNS: one number for *you* not your devices. And it works for wifi calling too so it lets you even include your ipod as a phone! .. I think .. thus the question to the groups. -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
I tried the Google Number sometime ago. Google Number is just a phone number that you can give others so that when people call that number, you can answer it by using any other phones you have already have. Personally, I don't find this feature very useful. But for people who travels a lot, and for those who receive a lot of long distance calls, it may save their friends some money, because you can choose an area code for your Google Number different from where you live in. Bin On Jun 19, 2010, at 1:59 PM, Owen Densmore wrote: I just got my invite to google voice, and wondered about the second option: get a new google number that rings all your phones. Does anyone have any experience with this? Recommendations? WebKit016.png -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
It's pretty brilliant stuff. Don't think of it as a phone service, a la Skype. Think of it as a manager for all your telephoney. For example, you no longer have to worry about phone number portability; give out your Google voice number, and route it wherever you wish. Change carriers? Change numbers? Doesn't matter. Use it to cover your calls; it will, for example, go into Do Not Disturb mode or announce callers and let you listen as they leave a message before you decide to pick up. Even better: it runs voice mails through voice recognition and emails and/or txts the results to you. This is as bad as most voice recognition, but surprisingly effective: if you know who's calling and SOME of what they are saying you generally have a good idea about what's going on. Maybe the most fun, though, is that it allows you to handle SMS/TXTing from your web browser. Recommended. cjf Christopher J. Feola President, nextPression Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cjfeola -Original Message- From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Owen Densmore Sent: Saturday, June 19, 2010 3:00 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group; SFx Discuss Subject: [FRIAM] Google Voice I just got my invite to google voice, and wondered about the second option: get a new google number that rings all your phones. Does anyone have any experience with this? Recommendations? FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
Re: [FRIAM] Google Voice
So is there any reason NOT to get the google number (second option)? I.e. Is the second option simply additional features rather than different ones? One thing I'd like is a european number so that when traveling, european friends can call me cheaply. Hmm .. Better do a bit more research! Owen I am an iPad, resistance is futile! On Jun 19, 2010, at 2:10 PM, Bin Hu hubin.k...@gmail.com wrote: I tried the Google Number sometime ago. Google Number is just a phone number that you can give others so that when people call that number, you can answer it by using any other phones you have already have. Personally, I don't find this feature very useful. But for people who travels a lot, and for those who receive a lot of long distance calls, it may save their friends some money, because you can choose an area code for your Google Number different from where you live in. Bin On Jun 19, 2010, at 1:59 PM, Owen Densmore wrote: I just got my invite to google voice, and wondered about the second option: get a new google number that rings all your phones. Does anyone have any experience with this? Recommendations? WebKit016.png -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
[FRIAM] Google Voice Local Search
I've been using this on the road for the last week and have to say its slick! http://labs.google.com/goog411/ I admit I've mainly used it to find starbucks, but hey, when you're sleepy and need some speed, it sure works well. It even will send you a text message with the phone number and address. Very handy. -- Owen FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
