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Google Voice Grabs 1 Million Phone Numbers
alphadogg writes "Google has reserved 1 million phone numbers with Level 3, signaling that it may finally be ready to roll out its long-anticipated Google Voice service. The free service, announced in March, lets users unify their phone numbers, allowing them to have a single number through Google Voice that rings a call through to all their phones. Sources could not say when the 1 million numbers may be assigned. Level 3 has been supplying Google with phone numbers since the introduction of Google Voice, so the 1 million numbers are an indication Google is close to adding a significant number of users. A public launch has been anticipated since Google said in March the service would be 'open to new users soon.' One early user said: 'I've only been using Google Voice for a few months, but it's completely changed the way I use voicemail and communicate... When it goes public, I think the rush to grab Google Voice numbers is going to be stunning. I know some of my friends check the Google Voice page almost every day to see when they can grab a number and get started using it.'"
... how long it will be before we see a civil or criminal suit arising from a competitor, user or law-enforcement looking for a user.
There is a war going on for your mind.
for this for my G1. I'm surprised this wasn't included, even though it's in closed beta. PF Voicemail Fusion works ok, but youmail is horrible for the G1. Google Voice already has an android app, so I can't wait!
It seems to me that the same people that would be all for a techy solution like this are the very same people who are unlikely to even own a landline. Nearly universally, everyone who I know in their mid 20s - early 30s don't have a landline and have only one number - their cellphone.
I can see a market for this for intense businessmen who might have 2 lines at home, a private line at work, and another line at their second home. But is there a demand from the tech savy young google user?
Now telemarketers, religious freaks, and campaign-donation guys will be able to find me no matter where I am.
I wonder if we'll be able to register that line on the DNC list.
Queue Dr. Evil '1 million phone numbers... MMUUUAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH!'
It certainly sounds like a big number, but it isn't. What I am wondering is what the Telco execs are doing about it.
A little history for ./ The telco's stuck it to Vonage two different ways.
1. whisper campaign in the equity markets claiming Vonage didn't own the value-drivers in their business. 100% bunk. Amazon doesn't own the 'tubes' that connect to their service, has fantastical valuations. With Vonage, it *is* a very big problem??? But equity manager ran with it and hammered Vonage.
2. Patent litigation. Especially bad and ridiculously obvious patents were used to extract the Telco's vig. (hint, look up the word vigorish)
Google's much more well-capitalized and swimming in the deep end of Telco waters if they attempt to unify POTS/wireless with VOIP. When will Telco exec's send the legal dogs after Google?
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
One reason I never liked other net phone services is that you can't dial 911 and when my computer reboots, or decides to explode, my phone dies;
Vonage (VoIP) understands 911 just fine, though yes, no computer, no phone. But there are many people who have no land line at all, instead using only cell...
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
"I know some of my friends check the Google Voice page almost every day to see when they can grab a number and get started using it."
And I have friends who have never heard of Google Voice and completely lack the technical understanding to want to use it. I hate it when people use anecdotal evidence to suggest how great or grand something is going to be.
Most of my friends actually have just one phone (their cell) to their name anyway. While I see some of the features being semi-useful for a single-phone user, many require one to be at their computer, or at least have a smart phone, thus eliminating their usefulness in a large variety of circumstances.
But then I realized the cable was blue, so I only gave it one star. I hate blue.
I only give my mobile number out sparingly. I tell most people to call my land line. I do this because I don't want to be accessible to every one all the time. Most calls can wait. If I had this service it would mean more relatives calling me up while driving to tell me to go on line and look at some random news story. Right now, I think I'll stick with having two numbers.
We are the Borg...
How do they prevent abuse? Say unifying Pizza Express with someone's landline - or Sarah Palin with PETA... and so on
Oh yeah, it's 867-530-niiiiiii-eeee-iii-een.
The CB App. What's your 20?
...it bother you when people do that?
If Google has a number shortage, it's kind of odd that they don't let people transfer their existing numbers to Google Voice. That would probably free up a lot of the numbers they already have.
I have a Google Voice number, and if I could transfer my existing number into it, I would do so.
This isn't a net phone, per se; it's a phone abstraction. A number that lives out there in the phone cloud, which you point to whatever number(s) you wish to receive calls at. You can still dial directly out from your cell phone, home phone, office phone, whatever. 911 is based on the number you're calling from. However, if you want your GVoice number to show up on caller ID, you would instead initiate the call from the GVoice web site or the android/iphone app. In other words, as long as you've got a working phone, you've got 911. The use of GVoice doesn't change that at all.
The CB App. What's your 20?
could someone indicate how this works? are there privacy issues involved? can google 'monitor' my activity (cell use, numbers coming in and out)? can they sell the data? what about international laws? does my privacy fall under american law (google location) or my own country's law? seems to me people are too quick to embrace 'services' now without questioning what it is they are giving up in return.
How long before Google starts listening in on your conversations so that is can target ads?
Cell phone network operators have a federal mandate or something to provide 911 and emergency GPS even for non-paying "customers."
I've tried Vonage and Comcast Digital Voice and would not rely on VoIP if my life or a loved one's was at stake. However, if that were all I had access to at the time I would fall back on the old adage "something is better than nothing."
Give me a Qwest POTS for stability and reliability. Give me VoIP and cellular for mobility.
"Be prepared, son. That's my motto. Be prepared." --Joe Hallenbeck
... immensely.
"Call Record - Record calls and store them online"
In a lot of places, both parties must be notified if the call is being recorded. I wonder what controls they put in place for this.
Will they just text you the ads?
My webcomic
...t.
A VOIP app to bypass the phone number altogether... that would change the world.
But the question remains: where's the revenue?
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
...subject comment trolls then if it bothers you. Your bother is troll food.
music lover since 1969
I just want to add that you can initiate a call from your phone directly. You can call your own Google number and then press "2" to dial out to a new number (including international) and end with a "#" to start ringing. I now have a few international numbers on speed dial on my cell phone (I have bought some google credit for this), the entries are in the format:
my_google_number p 2 p destiantion_number #
note that "p" inserts a ~2 second pause on most dialers.
To get this working seamlessly you need to go to your account settings and disable PIN entry for mail box and use caller ID instead to identify your cell phone as authorized to go straight in. If you don't want to do that you need to include the right pauses and pin dialing codes in that example above.
The above may be a joke - but I used to sell this kind of technology years ago (just before the 2001 bubble burst).
I concluded then that the reason for the failure of the company I worked for was that we were competing with cell phones. Find me Follow me, One Number, etc, however you market the service ultimately you are adding a layer of complexity and hassle when 90% of the phone calls will be coming to your cellphone anyways.
There's nothing here that hasn't been done by unified communications software and providers before. Of course Google has a name and cachet, but my prediction is that for most the current cell phone/voicemail solution will continue to endure.
The rock, the vulture, and the chain
What if you are out camping, and someone leave you a really really long and whiny voice mail, Have you ever wanted to just read it in text? What if the only unlimited call plan available to you cost more then you can afford? Don't you want it to forward to other phone like land line / office phone? What if you don't want to answer every call? Never ever wanted having the ability to just delete unwanted robo call if they don't pass a simple test? What if you are waiting for a really important call and you want no interruption except that call? Etc etc. Show me a cell phone that can do all those without extra cost and I would agree.
When will supposedly global companies, especially Internet-based ones, provide global services instead of USA-specific ones?
Just curious, if you are using a Google Voice number as your "one number to rule them all", and the service is down, what happens? Even if it goes down temporarily (as Gmail does constantly, ahem) does that mean incoming calls cant get to you?
Also, since Google is obviously able to hijack the voice audio, what's to say they aren't listening to / recording calls? I realize they "aren't evil" but, still.
I like the concept of this service, but don't want to have my incoming calls relying on Google's service to make it through.
THE MAGIC WORDS ARE SQUEAMISH OSSIFRAGE
So why do people care? First time I saw a commercial service that offered that was ca. 10 years ago. Several services like that are still around, but none of them have managed to convince enough people that it matters to actually make it big.
TSIA. HAND!
Kid-proof tablet..
Having dealt with Vonage's crappy customer service, particular when cancelling a "no contract plan", I'd have to say that the Telcos had little to worry about. I thought that the local telco was the worst it could get *until* I tried Vonage.
Did you know that they don't have a phone number for their disputes department, and then you must send them a letter to some address in nowhere USA within X (I believe 14) days of the issue/cancellation? A *phone* company that doesn't have a number for a major department... imagine that.
So will they just get their own area code? Say 466 and start all numbers with 4 (yes that's GOOG).
Just curious, if you are using a Google Voice number as your "one number to rule them all", and the service is down, what happens? Even if it goes down temporarily (as Gmail does constantly, ahem) does that mean incoming calls cant get to you?
It's likely that the same thing happens as when a regular phone service goes down. The caller hears a tone telling them the call couldn't be routed and they can decide if they want to call you later.
Currently, you have no evidence to say Google will be any better or worse than a regular phone carrier on the PSTN, most of whom regularly manage 99.999% uptime (due to large capital expenditure on redundant hardware - something that Google can definitely afford).
Also, since Google is obviously able to hijack the voice audio, what's to say they aren't listening to / recording calls? I realize they "aren't evil" but, still.
I like the concept of this service, but don't want to have my incoming calls relying on Google's service to make it through.
All existing phone companies can have downtime and can hijack/record your phone connection.
You have no evidence that Google - or rather, the company GrandCentral, which Google bought - will be incompetent or malevolent in running a phone service.
AT&T already do hijack phone connections at the behest of the US government. Google, on the other hand, told the government to get lost when it asked them to provide search histories of people searching for porn. Which one has a better track record?
Does my bum look big in this?
It's still running on a cell network though ;) If you can trust a cell phone on a digital network then whats the difference when a different processor on the phone encodes the data to send it out?
A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
I'm sure any calls between Google VOIP customers will be VOIP on the backend. I'm sure they'll integrate it into Google Talk as well, and then your end could be totally VOIP, and if the other party uses Google Talk it would be VOIP end-to-end. Further, if they're smart, they'll let you use your SIP-based "hard" phones with the service as well.
Second, ENUM is already standard that allows you to use DNS to direct your calls wherever you want (voice or fax - see fax could just go direct from mail server to mail server over SMTP, and if not available use the traditional number). However, guess who has to implement ENUM? The local telco providers who have been assigned numbers have to implement it - and guess what, none of the traditional Bell companies have done that or will do that anytime soon because it allows you to bypass their services and control how your number is called. I could see Google changing all this (at least between VOIP-enabled providers). TPC has tried to make this happen, but really it needs to be done at your service-provider level so you don't have to manage DNS: http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac123/ac147/archived_issues/ipj_5-2/enum.html.
Regarding revenue, I'm sure it'll be the same as Google Apps. Free for certain features, pay for other. Perhaps Google will make it free for all at first, get folks hooked, and then pay.
Competing in the corporate world will be hard, however. All of these features I've heard of, you can do with a Cisco CallManager/Unity platform. One-reach number forwarding, listening to calls as the caller leaves the message (plus telling the system to take the call, which prompts the person calling with, "Your party can take your call now, please stand by," and then two-way voice goes through), per-number-filtering (profiles, etc.), initiating calls from your cell's smart-app (this is really SIP, and what occurs is Google would place a call out to your cell and the party you wish to call at the same time, presenting you with the caller's number on your callerid, and presenting them with your Google number on their callerid, thus "masking" the phone you calling from), text to speed (read your email to you), speech to text (convert speech to text), fax to email, email to fax, SIP VOIP to your telco so no need for a PRI or analog trunks. All that, and you don't have to worry about Google turning "evil."
However, I, as a small business owner, I cannot afford the hardware and licensing to do this. I'd love to pay Google for such a feature without a huge capital investment. I'm sure others would too.
Further, if Google's smart-app running on the phones do this right, you'll be able to seamlessly transfer a call that you answered on you cell on your desk (plus all the other features). In the Cisco world, you just hang up the cell call and it's still there for 2 seconds and you can pick it up on your desk. Or, if you were on your desk and needed to step away, you just press "Mobile" and the system dials your cell (but the desk call isn't affected at all) and as soon as you hang up your desk phone the two-way audio cuts through on your cell. While on a traditional phone system you could just transfer your call to your cell, the advantage is you can drop back to your desk phone (or any other office phone that you log into) without having to transfer it from your cell (thus tying up two voice paths and running up your cell minutes).
Anyway, it is cool tech, and I'm glad to see Google bringing it to the masses.
Vonage is selling a service that requires another service sold by someone else to work, you're right on that. I counter that there is no business problem with that: I can name you two businesses that work splendidly that way: console game companies, and car part makers. Both require that somebody else do well selling something (a compatible console, a car) and nobody thinks that because they "don't own the value-drivers" they are dead.
Anyway, "Wall Street value" and "real life value" of a company never line up except in extraordinary coincidences. "Wall street value" is completely driven by speculation about the progress of *the share price* and not on the progress of *the company*.
You're not old until regret takes the place of your dreams.
I know the reason many folks keep a standard POTS line in the house is that even during a power outage, an analog POTS phone will still work. Cellular will also work, until your battery dies (unless you have a generator or alternate source of power).
Support a true independent artist - Leila Lopez
This is a good reply to a poorly reasoned response.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
They own your primary e-mail address, route your telephone conversations, facilitate your mailing list, keep track of your calendar, engineer your cell phone platform, access maps for you, host your videos, and answer any question you could have about anything through their search engine.
First question: Do you really think they are funded by ad revenue? How many ads have you clicked on since you started surfing the web?
Second question: What is more profitable, providing free web services, or selling personal data they have been harvesting for years, many times tied to an IP, MAC, Username, and the identity created by the consistencies of your browsing habits?
Not sure where the bad attitude is coming from, I never suggested that these things *do* happen, just asking about the potential for them to happen. And my first question was just that, a question, if it absolutely relies on google's service to route your call through.
Additionally, it introduces ANOTHER variable of service into the mix. Now I rely on my telco to work, with this, I rely on my telco AND Google to work.
And Google's track record with gmail being up and down in my own personal experience is not great. Nothing major, but every so often its down for a minutes.
But my main concern is what would happen if they just decide to stop developing this service? Is it easy to go back to straight telco? I relied on Google Notebook quite heavily and a few months ago they just stopped developing it.
I want to use this service, I'm just asking questions about concerns that I have before deciding to use it or not.
You kind of came off as a bit dickish, and i'm not sure how it was warranted.
THE MAGIC WORDS ARE SQUEAMISH OSSIFRAGE
There may be other things they are doing, like selling aggregate statistics about calling patterns, and they may also be collecting some tariffs for call completion--though I think that would be a wash with their model--but I think, primarily, what they get out of it is data.
Google has made no secret that their mission is to help organize and distribute the world's data. Before, they were limited to text and images. Then came video, now they've got phone conversations.
I'm in the "Google's not sinister" camp, although I don't believe it's exactly altruism. I think they do this stuff because they can, because it's cool, because they get value out of using it themselves, and because it helps further their mission.
They may find a way to monetize it further with premium features, but for the moment, because they can afford to do so, I'd be surprised if anything like that came out of the gate.
The CB App. What's your 20?
Further, if Google's smart-app running on the phones do this right, you'll be able to seamlessly transfer a call that you answered on you cell on your desk (plus all the other features).
You can actually do this. Say you have your cell, home and office phones listed in your account. If you're on a GVoice call on your cell, when you get to one of the other phones, you can hit * (I think) and it causes the other phones to ring. Pick it up and you can hang up the cell phone and keep going where you left off.
The CB App. What's your 20?
Last I checked there were some area codes not available. Now when I try to check Google no longer has the list available. Anyone know where the list is hidden?
I am so happy! I can have Google Email, Google Android, and Google Voice, Google Docs, and Google Search! Maybe we can have Google Credit and Google Medical soon so Google can have ALL of my information at a touch of a button!
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-09-17-n72.html
Why is it that so many people cheer the arrival of the next Google service and then in the same breath mutter about privacy and invasive government. So what happens when the federal government owns 60% of Google? I mean...the last administration bought some banks and this one bought a car maker so none of that "it can't happen" bullshit.
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
"Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
Think to yourself - why would a company with this goal want to offer telephony services?
Are you really sure this is a good idea? Laws about wiretapping are relatively clear-cut, but they may not cover this. Which is a privacy hole you can drive the space shuttle through.
The only feature I really want here is smarter call blocking, which my current Vonage phone doesn't supply. I otherwise quite like the Vonage service though-- but rather than use a bolt-on solution like Google Voice would probably choose to change VoIP provider to one that does have better screening features. Temporarily, I've set up an Asterisk server that I'm using to answer my Vonage calls and apply some screening, but I'd rather not have to run my own server 24/7 just for decent blocking. I could use Google Voice instead, but frankly, if the expectation of decent blocking features is raised enough to push Vonage off it's duff on such features, that would work for me as well. The problem with Google Voice is you apparently can't apply number portability to it and have it use an existing phone number (or maybe I'm wrong about that?)-- if that were an option I might consider it.
Also, is there any chance that Google Voice will be able to include non-PSTN phone networks like Skype or Voxalot, bypassing the VoIP to PSTN charges? Or make it available via their own DIY VoIP provider service? If I could 1) port my phone number to Google Voice and 2) point my Linksys ATA at them, that would eliminate several middle-men...
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Little companies like tollfreeforwarding.com have been quietly doing the same things all along.
Well looks like the article was correct, just got my invite and was able to setup my google voice account. Yeah!
But the question remains: where's the revenue?
For Google Voice, it's in international calling. You get $1 credit for them with your account, after that it's up to these rates. (Anywhere from a cent to about 30 cents per minute.)
So what happens if it rings my home phone and my mobile and a relative picks up at home ? Does that mean I am basically going to have to pick one or the other for the google voice number to connect to, in which case it will have to be the mobile. And the point is... ?
Since signing up [...] my annoying call rate has gone to zero.
This, and other benefits of Google Voice I've heard throughout this thread seems to tell me one thing:
The features of Google Voice coming into existing only now (really, two years ago is still "now", considering the lifetime of the telephone system) is damning evidence that the innovation speed at the telecom companies is absolutely glacial.
What's the highest-impact innovation in the telephony space in the last ten years? Many would agree that it's the iPhone. What does it tell you about the telecoms that the biggest innovation in their field is not made by them, the telecoms?
Google bought youtube. They also bought Grand Central, GV's precursor.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.