Google Voice

Score7.9 out of 10

220 Reviews and Ratings

What is Google Voice?

Google Voice is a free IP telephony service that provides users with one phone number that can be forwarded to multiple phones or devices. It includes features such as call forwarding, voicemail translation, text messaging, and voice calls. Fees may apply for international calling.

Categories & Use Cases

VoIP

Call recording
Automatic recording of inbound and outbound calls
Category average: 8.4
Instant messaging
Users are able to communicate via chat, either one-on-one or in a group message, through an instant messaging or chat tool.
Category average: 8.9
Message alerts
Receive SMS and email message notifications for voice and fax messages
Category average: 8.6

Mobile app for Android
Android app
Category average: 7.8
Directory of employee names
Voice directory of all employees for self-service dialing
Category average: 8.3
User templates
Create and apply batch configurations to multiple users at once
Category average: 7.5

Verified User

Professional in Legal (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Google Voice for additional VOIP mobile numbers to avoid purchasing company phones and to avoid employees' giving out personal phone numbers to outside contacts, clients, vendors, etc. Google Voice enables additional communication while being a free service, so long as a person already has a device that Google Voice calls and texts can be routed to.

Pros

Free phone number
Free calls
Free messaging

Cons

Some connectivity issues in terms of not ringing a phone consisitently
Delays in texts on occasion

Return on Investment

Makes communication more seamless
Allows people to have phone numbers that are separate from their personal phone number without buying a new device
Almost all benefit with no cost

Other Software Used

WhatsApp Business

Andrew Voirol View profile

Founder in Corporate at The Social Diner LLC (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

This had for many years served as a line of communication when others failed. It also was a great integration for other Google or Alphabet products in the past, depending on the time you read this review each product has had its own iteration of naming conventions and integrations. This also helped reduce spam and unsolicited calls, as well as allowing us to do better call tracking and measurement than traditional phone or cellular solutions would provide.

Pros

Worked well with iOS
Provided reasonably good transcription
Allowed for accurate caller identification

Cons

There has not been much innovation since the initial release.
It doesn't handle SMS well.
It does not natively integrate with CRM without legacy complication
It is not supported by Google as it once was
Call Recording is non-existent
Call-Tree or Virtual Auto-Attendant needs are not available

Return on Investment

This has been a service that I could have up and running in minutes, and time has been an asset that a price cannot be put on.
There are a number of businesses, services, and organizations that do not recognize Google Voice as a primary business phone number.

Alternatives Considered

Avaya Cloud Office, OpenPhone, RingCentral Contact Center and (EOL) Cisco CloudCenter

Other Software Used

Google Workspace Essentials, Dropbox Business, HelloSign

Loren Piel View profile

In-House Counsel in Legal at Kendall Auto Group (1001-5000 employees employees)

Pros

My Google Voice calls come directly to my mobile phone and my computer.
Text messages can be sent to my Google Voice number and are forwarded to me as email messages.
Google Voice allows for direct client contact without a receptionist or assistant taking calls and relating messages.
Voicemail helps make sure I get my client's messages promptly when I’m not available.
Transcripts of voicemail messages are emailed to me allowing me to have a record of the message without keeping all of the recorded voicemail messages.

Cons

Voicemail transcripts are very helpful but the transcription is sometimes not as accurate as I’d like.
Some voicemail messages are unable to be transcribed.
Voicemail transcripts have my first name misspelled. It should be able to take the correct spelling from my account.

Return on Investment

My use of Google Voice doesn’t have any cost associated with it. For all intents and purposes, it has no negative impact on my overhead.
There are available features which I haven’t explored or needed but it’s good to know there’s more functionality as my business needs change.
It’s very stable. I have never had an outage of which I was aware.

Arkadip Kundu View profile

Doing a BootCamp in Engineering at DigitalSherpa.AI (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Google voice or Google voice assistant is mostly use to search in google for the important things for our project work.
By only writing and typing most of the time it did not work.
So voice assistant in the business helps to save a significant amount of time for communication.
That saving time is also use for other productive works.

Pros

Assistance with voice technology
Voice assistance
Artificial intelligence technology with voice
Verbal communication

Cons

Delaying a split of a second of time to deliver messages.
Voice vibartion problem
Easy to understand assistant

Return on Investment

Good for Fluent english speaker
As a way of verbal communication.
Be on the path in the overall communicative world.
Ulto the mark to have a small businesses.

Usability

Roberto Abreu View profile

Information Technology Recruiter in Human Resources at Park Hudson International (11-50 employees employees)

Pros

Easy user interface
Integrated very well across my Google products such as Gmail
Exceptional call forwarding

Cons

I would love to see Google Voice become an independent service provider. It only works well if there is a phone number attached from the major telecom companies. Since it is VOIP it should work with simple internet not reliant on mobile USA carriers.
Google Voice should be able to receive voice calls directly from the app as it once did using Hangouts. Now calls must get forwarded if I am traveling out of the country.

Return on Investment

The fact that Google Voice is integrated across all my devices is superb. I can easily access its services from multiple platforms. Its integration of calendar status is a great feature that routes calls when out of office or past working hours sending to voicemail or call forwarding. This impacts overall business objectives since most of employees are in meetings or away from desk and can easily pick things back up with ease.
The fact that you can call from other UC applications is great. The transcribe function is spot on and if you are away from your desk you can receive transcribed voice messages from your email. This helps you stay on beat with important missed calls.

Alternatives Considered

Skype for Business (formerly Lync) and now part of Microsoft Teams

Other Software Used

Skype for Business (formerly Lync), now part of Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp Business, Discord

Avaya IP Office

RingEX

Microsoft Teams

Google Voice

What is Google Voice?

Categories & Use Cases

Key Features

Top Performing Features

Call recording

Instant messaging

Message alerts

Areas for Improvement

Mobile app for Android

Directory of employee names

User templates

Reviews

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Other Software Used

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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Alternatives Considered

Other Software Used

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Return on Investment

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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Usability

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Alternatives Considered

Other Software Used

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