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Google Voice App Just Killed the Telcos and Skype

by Jorge Escobar on July 15, 2009

Forget Google Wave; The Google Voice Application for Android and Blackberry (with an iPhone version on the way) will be the communications revolution that will engrain Google into our daily lives.

Om Malik puts it right: Meet Google, Your Phone Company.

Why is it that revolutionary? It’s all in one little dialogue that pops up when you’re setting up your phone, which has three options (I will change the order for dramatic purposes):

  • Do not use Google Voice for any calls (Acees Google Voice messages only)
  • Only use Google Voice for international calls (Get low-priced international call rates)
  • Use Google Voice for all calls (Display your Google Voice number as called ID)

Yes, the last option means that your mobile line becomes the least important part of your cell phone. It’s just the dumb pipe to connect you to Google Voice. If I were to port my cell phone number to Google Voice (which will be an option soon) I would be able to switch phone companies without any regret, because Google Voice is now my main switchboard.

Skype is also affected, as any calls I make that are international, can be “trapped” by the application and rerouted through Google Voice, with rates that are similar to Skype’s and very good call quality.

This is all seamless. You still dial numbers as you normally do. The Google Voice application is smart to take it from there.

You can also send free SMS messages from the application, which means I can cancel my SMS plan as of today.

This is really a big hit to the whole telecommunications ecosystem. Google has just become your telephone company.

androidgooglevoice

Update: Here’s the official Google Blog announcement about it, as well as a video explaining how the app works.

Tagged as: business, googlevoice, mobile

60 Comments 8 Comments 17 Tweets

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Google Voice on your iPhone, BlackBerry or Android Smartphone
July 16, 2009 at 11:29 pm

{ 85 comments… read them below or add one }

Tyson Key July 15, 2009 at 4:21 pm

For what it’s worth, 3 have been offering free-of-charge prepaid UMTS/HSDPA-only SIM cards in the UK, and a gimmick where users can apply a balance to their account (not sure if it’s once a month, or once only) and then make an "unlimited" number of Skype calls from a client on their mobile phone. Not sure what the catch is, though.

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Tyson Key July 15, 2009 at 4:21 pm

For what it’s worth, 3 have been offering free-of-charge prepaid UMTS/HSDPA-only SIM cards and a gimmick where users can apply a balance to their account (not sure if it’s once a month, or once only) and then make an "unlimited" number of Skype calls from a client on their mobile phone. Not sure what the catch is, though.

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Charbax July 15, 2009 at 4:22 pm

$20 per month data plans that I know of Tchibo in Germany, Oister/Telia/Telenor/3/Fullrate/CallMe in Denmark/Sweden/Norway, UK has lots of sub-£20 prepaid-only data plans I am sure

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Charbax July 15, 2009 at 4:22 pm

$20 per month data plans that I know of Tchibo in Germany, Oister/Telia/Telenor/3/Fullrate/CallMe in Denmark/Sweden/Norway, UK has lots of sub-£20 prepaid-only-no-contract data plans I am sure. Soon enough, with more competition, there will be unlocked $100 Android phones available, no contracts needed.

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Tyson Key July 15, 2009 at 5:33 pm

Hmm, if only this was available in the UK…

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Ciaoenrico July 15, 2009 at 5:39 pm

I’ve always been perplexed that I could do so much with my phone, but the actual calling people part remained the most expensive element of my plan. So glad to see this! Maybe we’ll eventually be able to have these phones without any carrier plan at all!

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Matthew DeVries July 15, 2009 at 6:17 pm

Odd things that Voice can do that blow my mind because Android can – When sending SMS, it won’t auto upcase new sentences, it doesn’t automatically add a period on double spacing. There is no symbol and emoticon menus.

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Matthew DeVries July 15, 2009 at 6:17 pm

Odd things that Voice can do that blow my mind because Android can – When sending SMS, it won’t auto upcase new sentences, it doesn’t automatically add a period on double spacing. There is no symbol and emoticon menus.

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Christian Burns July 15, 2009 at 7:30 pm

Google Voice will call both parties and connect a call. In the US that is free, but in many other parts of the world the caller pays. So that functionality will be US only.

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Dave July 15, 2009 at 10:56 pm

Just got my Google Voice invitation and signed up. Transcribed voicemail is very nice!

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Ryo July 16, 2009 at 1:17 am

I think the phone companies oversea can breathe free for another second. Google Voice is still not available outside the US.

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.LAG liked that July 16, 2009 at 1:25 am

…I’m still trying to get my head around what it is really. personal voice mail system. one-stop shop for all my electronic communications services, another monthly bill awaiting me, or just one more in-box to add to my info-overload. i’ll figure out if it works for me, or not, in due time.

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.LAG liked that July 16, 2009 at 1:25 am

…I’m still trying to get my head around what it is really. personal voice mail system? one-stop shop for all my electronic communications services? another monthly bill awaiting me? or just one more in-box to add to my info-overload? i’ll figure out if it works for me, or not, in due time.

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Mike Chelen July 16, 2009 at 1:29 am

personal voice mail system. if used in addition to cell provider voicemail it can be one more in-box, or it can be a replacement, with greater web integration

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.LAG liked that July 16, 2009 at 2:11 am

@Mike …interesting way of looking at it. i’m signed up, i’ll definitely looking at it closely.

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Charlie Anzman July 16, 2009 at 2:18 am

Using it since Grand Central. The voice-to-text is excellent

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Andrew C July 16, 2009 at 2:43 am

I hope to join the glorious future if/when Google Voice ever comes to Canada.

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A Mitchell July 16, 2009 at 5:41 am

In call center terms, this provides each user with a UAN (universal access number) powered by an off-premises soft switch.When will holders of US land lines be able to transfer those numbers into Google Voice? This year maybe?

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Seeker July 17, 2009 at 1:38 pm

Try this voxox.com

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adistantsecond July 19, 2009 at 11:22 am

It’s too bad that it only works either through an already existing phone line/SMS plan or through the internet. Which means either you have to pay your original coverage fee or you’ll only be covered in Starbucks and at home which kind of negates the benefits you get from having a cell phone in the first place. Unless they expand the 3G network though that still means you’ll have to pay the data plan and I’m guessing that not too many telcos let you pay only for the data plan.

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saxindustries July 19, 2009 at 12:30 pm

Answer: not really. You need *some* kind of existing phone service to use it. You could conceivably use it for free from a computer only, using Gizmo5. Good luck with that.

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tiaz July 19, 2009 at 2:53 pm

I’m in the beta and it is awesome. Basically even if the only thing it accomplishes is to make all the cool features it brings out mainstream I will regard it as a success.

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tiaz July 19, 2009 at 2:54 pm

And if it takes off, that will change soon as people realize they are paying for a voice connection they aren’t using. Then telcos will cry that voice is just data and we should all pay the same, leading to the interesting question of why data was $25/mo but voice was $40/mo back in the day. Attentive citizens will die in fits of irony.

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IOIOOIIOIO July 19, 2009 at 3:19 pm

Voice is data with a higher QoS/UpTime agreement, and thus costs more?

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thequux July 19, 2009 at 4:06 pm

My understanding from using the app is that in gvoice mode, it only uses the data plan to negotiate the initial connection. After that, it’s entirely on voice. Given that Android (or at least my phone) supports GPRS, Edge, and 3G, I have internet accessibility everywhere, so there’s no issues with connections. Also, the point is not to cut the telcos out of the loop. It’s to remove their massive bargaining chip of number portability. With voice, you get a number that’s not tied in any way to the telco, so you can switch phones/plans/numbers at will.

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greenrd July 19, 2009 at 6:07 pm

Thanks for the informative post! I hope it comes to the UK soon.

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screechyd July 19, 2009 at 10:01 pm

After reading this, I thought of something. I just got the invitation, and setup my number and got the blackberry app. I’m in the process of distributing my new number and all that. Once I start using GV Exclusively, instead of my Verizon number, Could I put my GV number as part of my "5 numbers" that Verizon gives me for free, then lower my voice plan to something with ridiculously less minutes, since the only number I would be actually calling would be my GV number, which would then route to whatever number I’m actually calling? Does that make sense? Is that how it would work?

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Jorge Escobar July 20, 2009 at 6:06 pm

I wonder how JS-Kit’s Echo will compete with them?

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