Google Voice Allowing Phone Number Changes – For $10

I logged into my Google Voice account to change a phone number and I noticed a ‘Change Number’ option next to my current Google voice number. I signed up for Grand Central a few years ago and I was issued a phone number in the 229 area code (Albany, GA)- which was not local to Atlanta, GA.

I clicked the link and was informed for a one time fee of $10 (via Google Checkout) I could change my number!

During the selection, I was able to select an area code and a 'phrase’ that Google would search for in the available numbers (such as area code 404 and ‘STFU’). It returned a number I was happy with so I approved the $10 charge- and now I have a new number! :o)

The old number stays active for 90 days- just in case someone is still using it.

Now if Google Voice will just add in Fax capabilities (and open up to the general public).

Skydeck and Google Voice

I chanced upon the skydeck service- which provides several very useful features for your cell phone: voicemail speech to text, online call/text logging, contact backup and a VoIP client (in the premium version)- to name a few of the prevalent ones. One very useful feature for me was unknown caller ID lookup.

During the setup wizard, the skydeck client is installed on your phone (via SMS link). The software detects the type of phone you are using and installs the appropriate client; this worked on both my personal T-Mobile G1 and my work Blackberry Storm with no issues.

The client allows the phone to communicate with the Skydeck service and transfer information about incoming/outgoing calls. It also can log into your online carrier account (if you allow it to by providing your cell phone number and password) to pull more detailed information on your calls.

They have added ‘Google Voice Mash-up’ instructions for using Google Talk as external email for the the free client; giving speech-to-text (via Google transcriptions) to the Skydeck basic client (the premium is $14.95/month). This also allows the use of the filtering/screening rules through Google Talk as you will be using it as your primary cell voicemail. This scenario is great if you have a large volume of calls on your cell phone and you need to keep detailed logs/history (say if you are in sales/support).

The Skydeck software will determine the carrier your phone is on (Verizon, in this case) and provide setup instructions specific for that carrier:

During testing I would call my cell phone and it would ring 8-10 times before finally going to voicemail and transcribing the message; 4-5 rings on the phone and an additional 4-5 rings once it was forwarded to Google Talk. Turning on ‘Do Not Disturb’ under the Google Talk options screens forwards all calls to voicemail and reduces this to 5-6 rings before reaching voicemail.

Another very discouraging issue I found is that T-Mobile FlexPay plans do not allow any forwarding for voicemail; which makes these services useless for my personal cell phone.