In an attempt to strengthen its foothold in telecom industry, Google has extended Voice’s voice mail feature to existing cell phone numbers.
Google Voice, launched in March, has helped users connect all of their phone numbers to Google Voice number and handle calls and messages through a Web site.
To access the service, the users had to ensure that all the contacts call them on the Goggle number. Once the contact calls, all the phone numbers, home, office, mobile phone, start ringing and the user can decide which one to pick.
In case the user misses a call, the voice mail facility records the messages, transcribes them, and sends an e-mail notifying that the message has been recorded.
The service has been appreciated, but the usage has been limited as many people are not ready to change their phone numbers.
Voice mail service via conditional call forwarding service
Addressing this hesitation on part of users to adopt the service, Google has relaxed the required and extended the service to existing cell phone users.
Starting today, Voice mail feature will be available on cell phones of existing Voice users. The new users have the option to sign up for Google phone number and all voice features or opt for voice mail feature on their cell phones.
The voice feature will be offered through cell phone's conditional call forwarding service, which diverts call to a specified number when it goes unanswered.
Google will not charge anything for the service but the cellular carriers may charge for their service.
Users’ reactions
Majority of the end users have welcomed the latest initiative by Google and voiced their approval through blogs and forums etc.
A user named Ryan Willis posted his view on mashable.com, saying “This is awesome! Go Google.”
Another user named Michele stated on the same discussion forum, “This is great - I was hoping google would do this. Thank you.”
“Yeah, this has pretty much always been possible, but Google has made it easier to do so. Hopefully Sprint will stop charging for the conditional forwarding soon though,” commented a user named Joe H on engadget.com.
Another user named pika2000 posted his view on the same site, “I love Google voice. The only problem is when a machine is calling, and started talking while the voice mail had not started recording, resulting in a voice mail containing only the last part of the message.”
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