Google voice (grand central) - stable enough to use as primary number?

[swbsam]

I've been a grand central user since they launched years ago and had a few instances when call forwarding wouldn't work. It wasn't the norm but it did happen.

Now I have 3 phones, two of which are brand new (new landline and new cellphone to compliment my work phone), and am about to make my rounds, emailing friends and family my new number(s).

Is google voice stable enough for me to just give out my google voice number (and set up forwarding on my new devices, of course), or is the forwarding feature still buggy?

SMS in particular - are texts always forwarded or is it still hit or miss? I know its a new feature.

 

[sourceninja]

I use google voice and it works well. However I do get some feedback from businesses that it just rings fast busy. I haven't figured that out yet. Otherwise it works great.

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: sourceninja
I use google voice and it works well. However I do get some feedback from businesses that it just rings fast busy. I haven't figured that out yet. Otherwise it works great.

Yep, that used to happen back in the grand central days. Wonder what causes the fast busy, maybe we're both just very popular

 

[Codewiz]

Never had a problem.

 

[Ramma2]

I see that it is by invite only, do you guys have invites to hand out?

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: Ramma2
I see that it is by invite only, do you guys have invites to hand out?

I don't have any invites, sorry

 

[lokiju]

I wish I could port my cell number to it and get a new number for my cell.

Would be so nice to get all the advantages of Google Voice but keep my number everyone knows.

 

[Ramma2]

Originally posted by: lokiju
I wish I could port my cell number to it and get a new number for my cell.

Would be so nice to get all the advantages of Google Voice but keep my number everyone knows.

Couldn't you set up some sort of call forwarding?

 

[jiggahertz]

Works OK except when SMS is forwarded the senders number isn't retained in the From field. Makes it kind of annoying if you're texting back and forth.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: Ramma2

Originally posted by: lokiju
I wish I could port my cell number to it and get a new number for my cell.

Would be so nice to get all the advantages of Google Voice but keep my number everyone knows.

Couldn't you set up some sort of call forwarding?

Not sure how well that'd work.

Have my cell forward all calls to my google voice that would then send all calls to my cell that would then send all calls back to my google voice?

 

[McCarthy]

Don't know, quit caring after this forever Beta Google Product made me feel foolish for asking for invites.

 

[rudeguy]

I signed up for this the other day. I have no idea what to do with it.

Any ideas?

 

[Modelworks]

If you have a cell + voip I think you are okay. I would never use VOIP as my only means of calling from home. There is just too much that can go wrong.

 

[torpid]

It has gone down maybe 2-3 times in the several years I've had it. It did take me a while to get SMS working with google voice, but otherwise I'm quite pleased with it.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Originally posted by: NSFW
I signed up for this the other day. I have no idea what to do with it.

Any ideas?

Only practical purpose for myself is to be able to give out my google voice number when I order stuff, buy things off Craigslist, or any other time I don't want someone to have my permanent number.
If I ever have a problem with a caller down the road, it costs $10 to change your google voice number.
Impractical reason to have it is that with the Igoogle widget I can send sms msgs right from my homepage instead of having to pull out the phone. This is impractical because I get less work done when my wife and I are texting back and forth all day and with this widget thing It'll likely get worse