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Hands-on: Google Voice's new voice mail service
Updated 10/28/09 at 11 a.m. PT with a tip about checking voice mail from your cell phone.
Setting up Google Voice voice mail online.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)On Tuesday, Google took another step toward bringing Google Voice to the masses, fulfilling the wishes of those who are curious enough to try Google's brand of visual voice mail, but either too jealous of their mobile number to give it up for a Google Voice number, or too weary to go through the hassle of training family and friends on a new number.
Google now lets you access some key features in the Google Voice service using the number you've always had, and no longer forces you to sign up for a new Google Voice phone number. How? Google Voice can now take advantage of what's called conditional call forwarding. I tried out the new feature today with success, and have some tips to share.
With Google Voice in charge of your missed calls, callers are directed to your Google Voice in-box instead of to the voice mail box that your carrier operates. There, friends can leave a message after hearing the greeting you recorded online. You, for your part, can listen to messages online or from your phone, in any order you'd like.
As promised, setup was easy for this existing Google Voice user. In the Settings menu, under the Phone tab, click "Activate Google voice mail for this phone" next to any phone that you've associated with your account. Then, select your carrier (U.S.-only for now) and dial the string of numbers and symbols you see into your phone. Then dial the number. This sets up call forwarding. While many high-end feature phones and smartphones do have separate menu settings for call forwarding, Google's method of entering the forwarding code is faster and removes the guesswork.
New users have slightly more setup involved. You'll first choose if you want to use your own number or sign up for a new Google Voice account. Then you'll need to enter your Google Account credentials or register an account before setting up your phone.
Using the conditional forwarding service is brainless; whomever calls you hears your Google Voice recording, which you can set up online. You may want to tinker in the settings to forward calls straight to voice mail, or else you could annoy callers with a full ring-through to your mobile voice mail and another ring through to the recorded number. However, leave the setting in its default mode and friends may be able to track you down on other numbers associated with your Google Voice number, if you use Google's number and not your own mobile number.
Forwarding options can cut the time it takes for a caller to get to voice mail, or maybe track you down.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)To send a call straight to voice mail, go to the Phone tab in the Settings menu of your online Google Voice account. Click Edit, then click to see advanced settings. At the bottom is a call-forwarding option that you can switch to send straight to your recording.
If you use the call forwarding option from your cell phone, checking voice mail isn't entirely straightforward. If you're forwarding to a Google Voice number, you'll need to dial your new phone number from your handset in order to get to your in-box options. This is because Google now presides over your messages, not your carrier. Google provides a separate access number for those using their own mobile numbers to access Google's visual voice mail, which you'll get when you sign up for an account.
Using Google's call forwarding is an obvious draw for new users, but existing Google Voice users can also benefit. Turning on voice mail for associated phone joins voice messages left on your cell phone to the Google Voice messages in your in-box online if a friend slips up and calls the old number instead of the new Google Voice number.
New users opting to keep their number should know that they'll lose access to some key Google Voice features, including call forwarding to multiple cell phones and landlines, call screening, call recording, call blocking, and conference calling. Google doesn't allowing upgrading from an account that uses your own phone to a Google voice number yet, but being able to make the switch is in Google's plans. So is the ability to one day port over your own mobile number to Google Voice's full-fledged service.
There are two other points new users should know. First, Google isn't the only service offering free visual voice mail with custom recordings and online management. You Mail has been doing this for some time, and it also has native in-box applications for smartphones like BlackBerry, Android, and iPhone (Google Voice has a native app for Android, plus third-party developer apps for some mobile platforms, like Palm WebOS). In addition, YouMail is already generally available, whereas Google Voice is invite-only. Google will undoubtedly get native management apps for mobile phones in the future, and will scale its service for the giddy multitudes, but if you're not ready to take the plunge with a Google Voice number now, you can still shop around.
Google Voice's machine transcription is inconsistent at best.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Second, Google Voice for both types of users employs machine transcription to turn your voice messages into text. The upside is that machine transcription is free. The downside is that it is inconsistent at best and useless at worst. It has typically misrecognized most names (including mine), slang, or fast-paced speech. Read-outs are often nonsensical. While Google acknowledges the imperfections, the company also maintains that in most cases you can make out a message's gist. My experience has been opposite.
Users who want more reliable human transcription can subscribe to a premium service like the one YouMail has. Voice-to-text transcription is a premium service that Google will also likely incorporate once Google Voice is truly off the ground, but for now the machine transcription remains for me an amusement rather than a help. Having said that, poor voice-to-text is not at all a dealbreaker for using Google Voice as a whole.
Google Voice is currently available in the U.S. to closed beta users, and to those who receive invites from friends already using the service.
Jessica Dolcourt reviews the latest and greatest smartphone apps, in addition to a healthy dose of Windows software. E-mail Jessica and follow her on Twitter. 
Like you I find that GV voicemail transcription ranges between mediocre and useless. If someone recites a telephone number or address, it is always unusable (even a 75% transcription rate isn't adequate for such matters and it usually isn't that high). It's even worse for longer messages since you spend more time trying to decipher the transcription versus listening to the recorded message.
Oh well, it was a nice idea. Maybe in a couple years it might be truly useful.
I admit that I am not a big Google fan. I get the impression that they data mine the crap out of each Google user for all it's worth. A lot of people seem excited about Google Voice and are having fits because Apple didn't approve it for the App Store, etc., etc. etc.
I would seriously appreciate it it someone would explain to me what's so great about this thing. What am I missing?
2) transcription sent to you via text or email to any number of devices
3) a new number you can give out at your discretion, or post on your website via widget
4) call screening
5) custom greetings for groups or individual ppl
6) its free
that's about it. none of them are SUPER compelling i guess if you already pay for an iphone, but as a winmo user i like having visual voicemail, but most importantly i like getting transcripts via text message as poorly transcribed as they are, but i LOVE that feature.
One number that rings all your phones. Your house phone, your mobile phone, your work phone, etc. What phones ring can be customized based on the time of day, the day of the week, and the caller.
FREE calling to anywhere in the US and Canada, from your phone, or ANY phone that can dial your Google number, and has a # key.
FREE, unlimited SMS that can even be used even when your mobile phone is inaccessible/off/dead/etc, or even if your service is terminated.
Customizable greetings. Have one voicemail greeting for Mom and Dad, one for the boss, one for your girl, one for this circle of friends, one for your creepy ex, etc.
The ability to check your visual voicemail at a computer.
The ability to share/post voicemail with links, and even embed codes.
The ability to see who called you, even when your phone was turned off, or service was terminated.
The ability to (legally) record calls to the same system that manages your voicemail.
The ability to block numbers.
The ability to screen callers with restricted, unknown, or unfamiliar numbers, by prompting them to state their names.
Surprisingly inexpensive international calls, from any phone that can dial your GV number.
It's FREE FREE FREE.
Now, I don't know how many of these features that AT&T or your iPhone offer, but not everyone can afford an iPhone. Not everyone can afford the ridiculous prices of AT&T Wireless. I'm using my Google Voice number with my $15/mo house phone, with an actual phone that is older than I am, and my $40/mo U.S. Cellular number, with an old clamshell UX245.
Yes, you may have all these features and more, with your very expensive mobile phone plan. Maybe you don't have to worry about changing your number, because you're planning on never moving out of the area. Maybe you don't have to worry about being able to pay next month's phone bill. But you see, if all these things are true, then you're NOT part of the target audience for Google Voice.
Killer App! ;)
I would like it if I could just port my mobile number over, but I doubt if I ever will now. The GV number I have ends in SEXY which is super easy to remember. :-P
Thanks for the response. I guess I can see that if your voice plan didn't include visual voice mail, it would be nice to add that. When I got the iPhone, I disconnected my landline and had that number transferred to the iPhone. I sure wouldn't want to have to get a new number at this point, so that keeping-your-old-number feature is good. Otherwise, it looks to me like GV just isn't worth the trouble in my case.
You are BETTER off downloading Vonage app so that you can make free calls via 3G or wifi. Furthermore, with Vonage app, you can make international calls at much less fee using either iPhone, Touch, or RIMM phones.
By the way, current Vonage app only allows you to make outgoing calls at this time. A full blown app will be release where you can make and receive calls via Vonage app on 3G or wifi for free domestic calls. Therefore, you can downgrade your calling plan for less money.
Try it. It's AT&T worst nightmare!
You are BETTER off downloading Vonage app so that you can make free calls via 3G or wifi. Furthermore, with Vonage app, you can make international calls at much less fee using either iPhone, Touch, or RIMM phones.
By the way, current Vonage app only allows you to make outgoing calls at this time. A full blown app will be release where you can make and receive calls via Vonage app on 3G or wifi for free domestic calls. Therefore, you can downgrade your calling plan for less money.
Try it. It's AT&T worst nightmare!
Also I have the T-Mobile G1 and I've tried some of the visual voice mail applications. They have all been a big disappointment. Setting up Google Voice was the easiest of the lot.
As for the text transcriptions, sure they're not the best, but it's better than nothing. All of the transcriptions I've received I've at least been able to tell if it's something I think I need to reply to immediately or if it can wait. Google is good enough to make the text that it is unsure of a little lighter than the rest so when checking on the web you already know what Google didn't understand.
Google Voice apps for smart phone platforms other than Android would certainly help GV users listen to messages out of order.
- by FidoSit October 28, 2009 9:43 PM PDT
- GV's automated transcription is, most of the time for most people, imperfect but useful. The problem is that when it's wrong, it's not like a human's error - it's laughable or misleading. Business users in particular will reject this level of service.
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- by J-Do October 29, 2009 3:08 PM PDT
- This is interesting--human transcription services abound, and not only for voice mail. E-mail dictation services also employ people. MyCaption for BlackBerry is one example. Beyond accuracy, there's also the issue of privacy. How badly do you need accurate e-mail or voice mail that you're willing to let a third party overhear? Do we count transcribers as deaf ears, or do they factor in to privacy concerns? As usual, it depends on individual preferences.
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(30 Comments)Unfortunately, there is no quick fix. Large-vocabulary speaker-independent over-the-phone continuous speech is the biggest challenge for automated speech recognizers. It has been improving in the research labs at about 1.5% accuracy per year for the past 10 years. But it's still only at about 85% accuracy overall. And the non-automated solution that uses human reviewers/editors is far too expensive (minimum 15c cost per message, 25c retail) for even Google to absorb. Would you pay that? (If so, try Phonetag or Talk2Us.)
Google Voice transcription will not improve significantly. Like it or lump it.