Google Voice – Functionality Update

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Greg Simmons

Back in mid-2009 I posted about Google Voice as a new tool for ministry.  Since that time I’ve had a chance to try new functions and configurations and read what others have had to say about GVoice as a potential tool for churches, ministries and individuals.

So, since July, what has changed?  What have I learned?

Changes

• Google continues to roll out additional local numbers for more communities.

• The SMS functionality has been enhanced.  Users can now send the same message to multiple recipients at one time.  Simply separate each number with a comma.

• Voicemail to text transcription has continued to improve.

New things I’ve learned or discovered

Working with Chase Livingston, another CTM contributor (aka @chaselivingston – why we don’t have a contributor profile for him is still unknown), we have discovered some cool Google Contacts / Voice integration capabilities.  Would you like to have a number with selective call acceptance – as in, only the numbers you want to get through are able to reach you?  Then Google Voice can do that for you.  Here’s the simple method to accomplish that.

• First, you will need to spend some time going through your Google Contacts and doing some contact management maintenance.  The easiest thing to do is create groups (Family, friends, CTM, co-workers, etc) and add the appropriate contacts to each group.

• Next, under Settings in your Google Voice account, select the <Groups> tab and determine how you want calls from members of each group to be routed.  This is where you can be really creative.  Each group can route to a different number with a separate voicemail greeting. It is also possible to set a group to go straight to a voicemail message.

• Then, after spending time cleaning up contacts, creating groups and defining call routing, go to <Phones> under your Google Voice Settings and uncheck every number that you have set up.  That’s right UNCHECK all of the numbers.

It’s DONE!

Now, only numbers in your Google Contacts will be routed to the appropriate number or voicemail message.  If a number isn’t in your Google Contacts, then that call is automatically routed to the default voicemail greeting for your GVoice number.

Call Widget Goodies

Call Widgets are really cool.   Under Settings, go to the <Call Widgets> tab.   Here, you will be able to create as many easily embeddable Call Widgets as you need for Websites, Blogs, Facebook pages, anywhere you can embed the code.

Each Call Widget can be customized to route to any number you have set up in Google Voice.  Even better, each widget can route to a different voice mail greeting.

I have two different widgets set up HERE and HERE with different routing characteristics and voicemail. In fact, one routes only to voicemail at this time.

So…get going!  Play around with the functionality and learn new ways you can use Google Voice for your church, ministry or personal use.

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