Sams teach yourself Google Voice in 10 minutes

216 Pages·2010·5.383 MB·English

by  Conner, Nancy

Nancy Conner
SamsTeachYourself
Google
Voice
in 10 Minutes
800 East 96th Street,Indianapolis,Indiana 46240
Sams Teach Yourself Google Voice in 10 Minutes Associate
Copyright © 2010 by Pearson Education,Inc. Publisher
All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, Greg Wiegand
stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted by any means,elec-
Acquisitions
tronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,without
Editor
written permission from the publisher. No patent liability is
assumed with respect to the use of the information contained Michelle
herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the prepara- Newcomb
tion of this book,the publisher and author assume no responsibil-
ity for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for dam- Development
ages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. Editor
Charlotte
ISBN-13: 978-0-672-33308-8
ISBN-10: 0-672-33308-2 Kughen
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file. Managing
Printed in the United States on America Editor
First Printing May 2010 Sandra
Schroeder
Trademarks
All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks Project Editor
or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Sams
Seth Kerney
Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use
of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the Copy Editor
validity of any trademark or service mark.
Language
Warning and Disclaimer Logistics
Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and
as accurate as possible,but no warranty or fitness is implied. The Indexer
information provided is on an “as is” basis. The author and the Erika Millen
publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any per-
son or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the Proofreader
information contained in this book. Dan Knott
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Technical Editor
Sams Publishing offers excellent discounts on this book when
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Contents
Introduction 1
What’s in This Book ................................................................1
What You’ll Need ....................................................................2
Conventions Used in This Book................................................3
Where to Go From Here............................................................4
1 Welcome to Google Voice 5
What’s in Google Voice? ..........................................................5
How Google Voice Works........................................................19
Summary..............................................................................22
2 Signing Up and Getting Started 23
Requesting an Invitation ........................................................23
Congratulations! You’ve Been Invited!......................................25
Setting Up Your Google Voice Account ....................................31
Signing Up for a Google Voice Phone Number..........................32
Signing Up for Google Voice with an Existing Mobile
Phone Number......................................................................35
The Google Voice Inbox..........................................................37
Inviting Others to Google Voice ..............................................38
Adding Phones to Google Voice ..............................................39
Removing Phones from Google Voice......................................41
Converting a Google Voice Mobile Account to a Full Google
Voice Account........................................................................41
Using Keyboard Shortcuts......................................................42
Summary..............................................................................44
3 Making a Call 45
Making Google Voice Calls ....................................................46
Working with Contacts............................................................57
Summary..............................................................................64
iv Sams Teach Yourself Google Voice in 10 Minutes
4 Answering a Call 65
Receiving Calls......................................................................65
Screening Your Calls with ListenIn..........................................72
Recording a Call....................................................................72
Forwarding Calls....................................................................74
Avoiding Unwanted Calls........................................................78
Summary..............................................................................82
5 Using Voicemail 83
Welcome to Google Voicemail ................................................83
Receiving Voicemail on the Web..............................................85
Receiving Voicemail on a Phone..............................................90
Recording a Greeting..............................................................92
Adding Notes to Voicemail......................................................96
Sharing Your Voicemail ..........................................................98
Sending All Calls to Voicemail ..............................................100
Turning Off Transcriptions ....................................................101
Summary............................................................................102
6 Working with Contacts and Groups 103
Personalizing Contacts ........................................................103
All About Groups..................................................................109
Summary............................................................................118
7 Text Messaging 119
Sending a Text Message......................................................119
Receiving Text Messages......................................................125
What’s That 406 Area Code?................................................131
Blocking Unwanted Text Messages........................................132
Reporting Text Messages as Spam ......................................133
Summary............................................................................135
Contents v
8 Going Mobile 137
Getting Calls on a Mobile Phone ..........................................137
Making Calls from a Mobile Phone........................................144
Using the Google Voice Mobile Site ......................................149
Summary............................................................................156
9 Billing and International Calls 157
Making International Calls....................................................157
Billing ................................................................................165
Summary............................................................................176
10 Troubleshooting Google Voice 177
Making It Easier for Others to Call You..................................177
Solving Access Issues..........................................................179
Fixing Voicemail and SMS Issues..........................................185
Troubleshooting Call Issues..................................................188
Posting to the Help Forum....................................................194
Emailing Google Voice..........................................................195
Summary............................................................................196
Index 197
About the Author
Nancy Connerwrites and edits technology books from her home in
central New York state. Her recent publications include books on Google
Docs and Google Apps. Nancy has also worked as a medievalist,a high
school teacher,and a corporate trainer. She enjoys reading mystery novels
and listening obsessively to opera.
Dedication
To Steve (and he knows exactly why).
Acknowledgments
The book you’re holding is the result of many people’s hard work. Thanks
to Michelle Newcomb for discussing the original idea for this book and
keeping me on track throughout its writing. Thanks also to Charlotte
Kughen for guidance as I wrote,to Christian Kenyeres for a conscientious
and thorough technical review,and to Chrissy White for making sure all
my i’s were dotted and t’s crossed. Seth Kerney did a terrific job of over-
seeing the process of turning a manuscript into a book.
We Want to Hear from You!
As the reader of this book,youare our most important critic and commen-
tator. We value your opinion and want to know what we’re doing right,
what we could do better,what areas you’d like to see us publish in,and
any other words of wisdom you’re willing to pass our way.
As an associate publisher for Sams Publishing,I welcome your com-
ments. You can email or write me directly to let me know what you did or
didn’t like about this book—as well as what we can do to make our books
better.
Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to the
topic of this book. We do have a User Services group,however,where I
will forward specific technical questions related to the book.
When you write,please be sure to include this book’s title and author as
well as your name,email address,and phone number. I will carefully
review your comments and share them with the author and editors who
worked on the book.
Email: [email protected]
Mail: Greg Wiegand
Associate Publisher
Sams Publishing
800 East 96th Street
Indianapolis,IN 46240 USA
Reader Services
Visit our website and register this book at www.samspublishing.com/
register for convenient access to any updates,downloads,or errata that
might be available for this book.
Introduction
Welcome to Google Voice,your complete phone management system.
Google Voice lets you manage incoming calls—specifying where to send
them (you can ring up to six phones for a single incoming call)—and
make free calls in the United States and Canada (and very cheap interna-
tional calls). But that’s just the beginning of this feature-rich system.
Google Voice has dozens of features,which is terrific if you’ve got serious
phone requirements,but you shouldn’t let all of those features intimidate
you if your needs are more limited. Google Voice provides you with a
smorgasbord of choices,but you can start with the most popular and then
dig into what else is available when you have time.
What’s in This Book
This book gives you a guided tour of Google Voice,from setting up to
making and receiving calls to using advanced features like call forwarding
and custom voicemail greetings. You see what’s available in Google Voice
so that you can make choices about what you want and need.
Google Voice offers you tons of options,which are all covered in this
book:
. Making calls (for free in the U.S. and Canada)
. Getting voicemail alerts sent to your mobile phone
. Forwarding calls to up to six phones
. Reading transcripts of your voicemails
. Getting a free Google phone number
. Storing contact information
. Listening as people record voicemail for you
. Making inexpensive international calls