So to say I have been derelict in this blog is an understatement, but I wanted to give an update on my Google Voice project. It has worked great. As advertised, calls flow seamlessly from one number to the next.  If anything, it is a little too seamless, as I can't tell if the caller is calling the Google Voice number or my cell phone (it is a little easier to tell at my desk phone -- and, of course, it is obvious when I am sitting at my desk if both phones are ringing or just my smartphone). The voicemail transcription is fluky ...  it never gets it completely right, and often is far enough off that it is hard to tell what is meant, but at least I can see the phone number someone leaves without retrieving the message.

Transferring to other staff also works great. I can even make call routing changes from my smartphone when I am on the go.

All and all, it is definitely worth what I paid for it (which was, of course, nothing). Two big thumbs up!

Using Google Voice for Emergency Risk Communication

So after attending the Utah State Public Information Officers Conference, my big take away this year I wanted to try was Google Voice.  It is a free service of Google, that essentially uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) to allow you to register a phone number, and manage them via the web (please excuse me, telephony experts, if I confuse the technology and how it actually works -- I am a great one for utilizing technology without always being able to construct and program it myself).  I should also add that I have been using this just under two weeks at this point, so if I seem a little vague on some of the functions, that would be why.

Why Go to the Effort?  If you have a team that "shares" and emergency or "on call" phone, plus carries their own personal lines, this eliminates both the expense and the hassle.  

If you are a single deep position (such as myself) with designate back-ups that fill in when you know you will be unavailable (ie, on vacation, at a training, etc.), you can register their numbers in a matter of moments and push calls to them. I believe their is also a function to "schedule" which number is on call when, but I haven't tried to play with such a feature as yet.

The there is the whole phone "ringing off the hook."  We have all been, there, when a "small" event happens and you are trying to fend off multiple callers.  At the conference, a presenter talked about when a major event happened, and his phone became useless with all the incoming callers.  With Google Voice, you "push" all incoming callers to a designate Joint Information Center Call Taker, and you get your phone back.

The Basics:  You have to have a phone number to register it with, but then you can register any number of other numbers.  I believe Google Voice can use one of these numbers for its number, but that defeats the second purpose to use this in my mind (if you own your own small business, I can see using an existing published number as being important).  But Google Voice can also assign you a new number.  These seem to be kind of limited (there was one available locally for me to choose), but after all, it is free.

As for assigning existing phone numbers, this can be you own numbers (in my case, my office and my mobile numbers), a group of numbers from your teams members (if you are fortunate to have several on your communications team, or as in my case, I am primary with a couple people I can call on as back-up when I know I will be unavailable), or any variation.  I have not found a "upper limit" but I haven't really expanded it that far as yet.

How it Functions:  To call from my office (and have it show up on your destinations Caller ID), I have to log into Google Voice and tell it to call (it calls my office number, and then the number I want to call).  That is a little annoying, but not that big of a deal.  From my mobile  phone, I just call and when I hit "send" a little screen comes up to say "Call With (or without) Google Voice?".  Either way, it comes up from the caller ID of the Google Voice number.  You can, really, call from the regular numbers, but that defeats the purpose in my mind.

Some other Benefits:  Google Voice has its own voice mail attached, and will actually try and send a transcript of the voice mail.  It doesn't seem to do it for every voice mail (maybe it is only the ones going into the Google Voice System), and it isn't a very good transcription (typical voice recognition problems), but it could be kind of nice in certain situations.

Texts come into this phone as well.

Hassles:  Only problems so far -- as I mentioned, calling from the landline is slightly annoying (if you want the Caller ID to show Google Voice number).  But I also had to have my phone guys reprogram my office phone, because voice mail was picking up faster than Google Voice's voice mail.  When that happened, callers would leave a message on my landline (which then doesn't notify me I have a message until I get back to the office, but I can see I missed a call).  As I am notorious for not checking voice mail when out of the office (after all, that's why I have a mobile phone), it defeated the purpose in my mind.

Google Voice provides a weird code and instructions for how to go in and change your mobile phone providers voice mail (although, I have found if you call my mobile phone number directly, it has to ring like 8 times before voice mail eventually picks up).

How it is going so far:  As mentioned, I played with it about two weeks before "publishing" the number. The Utah Department of Public Safety PIOs have been using it more like 6 months, and they are liking it. I "officially" published the new number today, so will give any updates that seem relevant as they come along.

So that's my 2-1-1 on using Google Voice.