Google Voice

If you're in a work environment where you could benefit from a work phone, this is the tool for you. It allows you to have an independent phone number to be reached at, without the need to carry a second device. I believe this tool is invaluable for salespeople or professionals that interact with customers on a regular basis.

I like the support forums because of their powerful search features, but the Google-backed Support team is weak as it relies almost entirely on the forums. But in general, there haven't been many a situation when either the forum or a quick search on the internet didn't yield the answer we were searching for.

Google Voice has been invaluable for us in our effort to provide exceptional customer service. With Google Voice, we have been able to increase our customer interactions while reducing the wait time to reach a live person on our team. We couldn't be more pleased with the way things have worked out since implementing Google Voice.

This would be a great choice for small business or a new company that doesn't have legacy hardware to migrate/provision. Google has a BYO device policy so it's up to you to source equipment, get it provisioned, and configure them on your network. Support is minimal, so if you're inexperienced with provisioning desk phones or configuring VLAN's, etc. this might be a challenge. Not a problem for an experienced administrator except for not being able to access the phone web interface after being provisioned... perhaps this is intentional on Google's part to increase security, but it creates a deployment headache for a large organization that requires the technician to manually input the network settings on each phone after provisioning. Google Voice really shines on the mobile side, as this is where the soft phone has matured over the years. With GSuite it creates a convenient option for an SMB to add-on phone service with the email provider they (may) already have with dead-simple integration and deployment. Service is reliable, so long as your Wi-Fi network is up to the QoS needs of VoIP, and if it's not there is an option to use your carrier's service in place of your Wi-Fi for incoming/outgoing calls and texts. Google also offers a basic automated attendant and call routing which is unavailable with the free version.

I give them a 6/10 because while they are well-intentioned and answer the phone if you have complex technical issues or questions they may not be able to help you. To be fair this may have just been my experience, but IMHO I think google should choose a new company for their tech support or start doing it themselves.

I plan on keeping it so long as it meets the needs and cost requirements of the organization.

Google voice is great when you want to have a separate phone number for different functions of life/business. I really like the fact that I can get email/txt message notifications concerning calls and voicemails.

I'm a big fan of Google and the products that they innovate. I will use Google Voice for as long as they keep it alive.

It's pretty straightforward to get it set up to your taste.

They have a solid track-record for making sure that you can use their product the way they intended.

Most Google products including Google Voice are pretty intuitive.

It works particularly well for one-on-one collaborations, but not as well for group projects. When for example, you work with the VP of IT on implementing a new solution for the department, it's great, but when you talk to her entire team, it can be convoluted as everyone is trying to put in their two cents.

It can definitely help us in a lot of ways, especially concerning customer care and new employee adjustment when we acquire a new office far away, but I don't think we use it to its full potential just yet.

It is a pretty seamless program to transfer to, even for people who either have little experience with these programs or people who were stuck on Skype

The support staff are experts at what they do - not only this, but they have wonderful people skills and are a joy to work with!

It's very easy for someone who is not familiar with these types of programs, and it's just sophisticated enough to cover what we need it to do without needing to go to another vendor