[ED-TECH] Google Voice - free long-distance, plus more

Ed-Tech list members,

Google Voice is now available for anyone with an email address that ends with .edu. Go to http://www.google.com/googlevoice/students.html to request an "invite." It will be sent to you within 24 hours.

The primary services offered by Google Voice, that I think may make it worth your while, are listed below.

1. You can get free long distance calls. Do you have friends and family that you call and would like to talk to for free? The process will seem strange at first. You go to your COMPUTER and specify the number you want to call and the number you want to call from. So if I am at work I specify that I want to call from my office phone. When I submit the form, almost instantly my office phone rings. This is Google Voice calling me. When I answer the phone, I hear a ring tone. This is Google Voice calling the other number. So the conversation takes place between two regular telephones. It is just set up on the computer. No charge, at least in the US. This is unlike Skype, where you need to call from the computer and have a headset connected to the computer to participate in the call.

2. You can get a number in most any area code, providing a local call for anyone in that area code. I created mine in the Miami area code, since I give it to everyone and most people calling me are local. But if I wanted, I could get an area code in Mississippi, where I have some close friends, or in Pennsylvania where my 94 year old father lives. Then people in that area code could call me using a local number. NOTE: you only get to pick one area code, so think about where you want it to be before setting up your account.

3. Your Google Voice number can be configured to ring any combination of different telephones. My phone number, below, is my Goggle Voice number. If you call that number, the phone on my desk, my cell phone, and my telephone at home all ring. Whichever one I answer, I will be talking to you. You can quickly change these from a web page. So I can add my home phone when i get home, and remove it when I leave, quickly and easily.

4. Messages left in you voice mail box, are converted to text and emailed to you. Now, the speech to text conversion is not perfect, but you can easily get a feel for what the message was about. So, if I am in a meeting and unable to take a call, and the caller leaves a message (most people don't, I have found), I get an email message that I can read to see what the call was about. If important, I can excuse myself from the meeting and call the person back, almost instantly.

5. (I turned off this feature, but some people really like it.) Google Voice can have people identify themselves so that you can hear the person's name before you connect with him or her. You hear the name and then decide whether to take the call or send it to the voice mail system. This can allow you to filter out telemarketers, surveys, or people you don't want to talk with.

And there is even more.

Normally you request an invite and it could be months before you get in. At the moment they have a special page for anyone with an edu email address. Well, it looks like they are directing it to students, but here is no way for them to know why you have an edu address. So if you act now, you can get an invite within 24 hours of requesting it.

Go to http://www.google.com/googlevoice/students.html to request your invite. Use your edu address and a link to get started will be sent to your edu account within 24 hours.

For more information on Google Voice, google "Google Voice guide" and check some of the links that are returned.


Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>, 786-250-2255


Begin forwarded message:

From: "Vilberg, William R." <bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>>
Date: May 16, 2010 5:42:26 AM EDT
To: "Vilberg, William R." <bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>>
Subject: Google Voice for Students

http://www.google.com/googlevoice/students.html


Bill Vilberg - bill.vilberg@miami.edu<mailto:bill.vilberg@miami.edu>, 786-250-2255