I have had a Google Voice number since it was in it’s original form as GrandCentral. I even gave away GrandCentral number invites to my readers here.
At that time GrandCentral did not have a local number for me in my area. Even though the number was the same area code as my place it still was a long distance call. This prevented me from giving it out to my local friends.
After Google acquiring Grand Central and thy have re-incarnated it as Google Voice, I started looking at this service I hardly used with renewed interest.
The ability to make calls from a Gmail like interface, send/receive SMS, get a transcribed voicemail or listening to voicemail right from the web were really exciting possibilities! Plus, the ability to just give out one number to everyone and don’t worry about changing cell phone or home phone numbers is just plain heavenly!
Even though it’s not a huge deal, I didn’t like it that I didn’t have a ‘local’ number.
Google Voice service now allows us to change our Google Voice number. We just pay a one-time charge of $10 for changing your number.
To change your number, login to Google Voice. Go to Settings -> Phones. You will see a small link ‘Change‘ next to your Google Voice number.
In the number change screen, you can filter available numbers in your area code to see if you can find a fancy number to pick. You are paying $10 so you might as well make it count by picking a number you like.
You see only 5 numbers at a time, so be prepared to spend some time scrolling and writing down possible numbers. When you have made up your mind, you don’t have to scroll again but just search the number you picked and pick it.
My new Google Voice number was active in a few minutes and the my old number will stay active for another 3 months! Isn’t that great?
Google Voice Resources
Here are a few Google Voice articles I found interesting and useful
- GV Mobile – Free Google Voice iPhone App [Rejected by Apple – Available in Cydia]
- How To Make Free Calls From Your Computer With Google Voice
- How to SMS with Google Voice from Any Mobile Phone
- How to Ease Your Transition to Google Voice
Google Voice is a service that is still in invite-only stage. You can apply for a Google Voice invitation here but as you can imagine the wait can be pretty long.
If Google starts giving out invites to current Google Voice users like the early Gmail days, be assured I’d give out invites here. You can get those updates via our RSS feed or via Twitter.
I’m curious why there is a charge at all.
Google is already giving free numbers to all new users. Why not let a user switch for free? It’s not like someone at Google has to actually look at and approve the change- it’s all done by computers.
I can sign up for several Google Voice accounts and get a bunch of numbers without paying anything.
Charging just seems completely arbitrary- if they want to make it difficult to change- just allow one change a year or some other such limit.
Mark,
Great points. I guess they want to emphasize the fact that it is ‘one number for life’. 🙂 Now that I have gotten my number I don’t plan on changing it.
what they need to do is unpin GV from Gmail then we can just trade them they will make a mint charging $10 for a new #
but i cannot complain i have been with GC/GV since 2006 and its great