I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I hate the telephone. I hate being interrupted when I’m in the middle of writing. I can’t stand mobile phones, although I use them, and I’ve gotten sick and tired of buying both new landline and mobile phones every other year. Those are some of the reasons why I think Google releasing Google Voice for everyone — well everyone in the U.S. — is great news.
It’s also great news for anyone who wants free — that’s free as in beer — control of their telephone communications. Google Voice is a free Web-based application that gives you control over all your various phone numbers — work, home, mobile, you name it — from a single, central phone number. And it includes most of the features of a PBX (Private Branch Exchange): call forwarding, voice mail, call recording.
I’ve been lucky enough to be using Google Voice for over a year, and I’m thrilled it’s free for most people now. I’ve wanted to get my friends on it ever since I first used it, and now I can.