Earlier this week, I sent email to family and friends, and posted a note on Facebook, breaking the news. After a good run with Google Voice, almost two years I think, we are splitting up. Don’t fret. It was an amicable split. In fact, we’re still friends, though, and may even come back together to work on my photography project.
Jokes aside, it was a tough decision for me to jettison my Google Voice number in favor of my underlying Verizon Wireless digits. What made me switch, you ask? Well, there were a number of connectivity issues that were nagging me, but the straw that broke my camel’s back was, surprisingly, no MMS. (picture and video messaging for the uninitiated). So often, people would say, “Did you see the picture I sent you?” Uhh…nope, I would reply. For a while, I the dots were not connecting for me. Oh…you sent me a picture in a text message. That’s why I didn’t get it. Now, for a while I simply thought, “Why not just email the picture to me?” It can be done with smartphones or basic feature phones. Of course, that’s asking the sender to remember my special, limited, Google Voice MMS needs. After catching up with a friend on Monday at a baseball game, only to learn that I was missing all the pictures he sent via text that I decided the novelty of having one number that can reach me anywhere, and free text messaging, was not worth missing what people had to share. While it may seem trivial, the lack of support for MMS started to become a drag.
Again, my decision was not quite a knee-jerk reaction on Monday. For a couple of months, I was experiencing some connectivity issues with Google Voice. Far too often, I would bang out a text message in a hurry only to find that the message did not go through. That’s not all. I also noticed an increase of missed calls. My phone would sit silent, and then I would get an email notifying me that I missed a call. Wait! What? My phone was sitting right next to me. Why didn’t it ring? Now, if this happened every once and a while, I would not be phased. Unfortunately, the frequency of missed calls had risen to an unacceptable level. Oh…the voicemail transcription is terrible, I mean really bad. However, I do like the visual voicemail display, allowing you to skip to specific messages quickly.
I don’t want to paint the picture that everything with Google Voice was bad. I loved that I can sit at my computer, and the phone rings on my desktop. Or, conversely, I can make calls from my computer, or anywhere else I am, and the person I’m calling sees my Google Voice number on his/her Caller ID. That’s pretty cool. My wife has found Google Voice particularly useful for her business. She has two lines. For her, having a Google Voice number means that she can have the main number answered no matter where her staff is sitting. Following that example, I think that I will retain my Google Voice number for my photography business.
If you’ve been sitting on the fence about getting a Google Voice number, please don’t let my rant disuade you. Google Voice can be a great tool. Just ask yourself whether sending and receiving pictures and video in text messages is important.
Sidebar: I am really surprised that Sprint paired up with Google Voice, when it’s widely known that there is no support for MMS. From what I’ve been reading, a number of Sprint customers are not happy about this missing feature.
If you move around a lot, or have a bunch of different phone numbers, Google Voice can really be great. The draw for me was only having to give people one number and they can reach me anywhere (at my discretion, of course). Funnily enough, though, most of us have our mobile phones with us all the time. It’s a question of convenience. Sometimes, it’s more convenient to have the mobile phone tucked in a bag, and have calls ring in my office. It’s a little more discrete to have the office phone to your ear than your mobile phone. I would be remiss if I didn’t share a benefit that a number of my single friends enjoy with Google Voice, particularly women. I’ve heard a number of people say that they give out their Google Voice numbers when the meet people. It serves as a screening device. If they become interested, or more connected, the person gets “the real” number. It’s actually makes a lot of sense to me.
So, hopefully I didn’t turn you around if you had your heart set on picking up a Google Voice number. I’ve nudged several friends to get GV numbers over the years, and wouldn’t ask them to join me on reverting to their wireless carrier-assigned numbers. If you have questions about Google Voice, I am more than happy to answer them.