Comments on: Beware the Ides of May: It’s Hammertime for Google Voice

By: ward

ward — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 17:55:08 +0000

Be advised that Google has added a new wrinkle to Google Voice. You can review the details and possible fixes here.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 27 May 2014 02:30:09 +0000

Looks like it is Ring.to , a service of bandwidth.com. I tested my login there and I can see my bandwidth.com assigned number

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 26 May 2014 20:21:25 +0000

May 26th and just made a call from GV , so it appears to be still worrking but took the precaution of forwarding my GV number to my IPKall number of many years On an additional Note My Groove IP Lite android app was updated and now gives me free calling via bandwidth.com instead of Google voice , and it even allowed me to select a new number from bandwidth.com for free. The remaining question is how to use the bandwidth.com/GrooveIPLite account on an IP PBX. [WM: As you may know, Bandwidth.com sold off their commercial SIP trunking business to Schmooze Com. While I'm not privy to the contract, I'd be surprised if it didn't include a "no compete" clause of some shape or form. Whether the Groove IP code could be "reengineered" by someone else to support Asterisk is an interesting question. Time will tell.]

By: p2pvoice

p2pvoice — Fri, 16 May 2014 22:57:17 +0000

FYI: I just signed up with Vestalink to try it out. Their 2-year is no longer $60 or $89.99. It’s $99.99! I sent an email to support with a reference to your article and got the following response:"Our prices went up on 5/15/2014."

From what I read, I do like a lot about their service. However, their overage rate for pay-as-you-go plans is 3 cents/min (also the U.S. per minute rate) and their international rates are much higher than the competition.

By: Pedro Gonzalez

Pedro Gonzalez — Thu, 08 May 2014 08:05:01 +0000

How about ring.to as a free solution for forwarding incoming calls to any phone number (pretty much like GV) plus free calls with some work.

Can you tell us where do you think Bandwidth is going with ring.to?

By: JD

JD — Fri, 02 May 2014 18:51:19 +0000

This is a looming PR disaster for Google. Twice to three times the number of people who are aware of the XMPP shutoff, aren’t aware of the shutoff. When a few hundred thousand people’s phones don’t work on May 15th, don’t you think they are going to be mad? You betya they will be! And they will be mad at big G. I don’t know about you, but I have never received one email from Google saying that changes were going to occur to my GV account on May 15th. I realize it’s free but don’t you think it wise to send out an official announcement and not rely on word of mouth from a product manager’s blog post? My read of comments over at the GV support forum is that people have really embraced their GV numbers personally and for business as well and are very concerned about the upcoming changes. It doesn’t matter whether people shouldn’t expect anything from a free product or not, the expectation is there. There could be a real watershed moment for Google come May 15th and what concerns me even more, they are either ignoring this or don’t really care.

By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 01 May 2014 20:02:12 +0000

At least one GV-VOIP solution provider says they will not be affected by the end of XMPP. There's every hope that this means an Asterisk plugin can be built which directly engages "Gangouts". I'm disappointed how you're guiding the conversation so fatalistically toward the end of GV. Your own product owes it's popularity to GV integration. It's the reason I've used and enthusiastically recommended your product for years. Without GV integration, I should just point my ATAs directly at a new SIP provider. GV will just ring that number as an extension, and it will work like it did with Gizmo5. Please consider staying in the GV game. I've invested a lot of time and effort supporting your product. [WM: Hey, don't shoot the messenger. This wasn't our idea. It was Google's. We are watching the (commercial) GVJack App with interest. It was released yesterday! If I'm not mistaken, it also requires an always-on Windows XP(SP2)/Vista/7/8 computer (min. spec. 2Ghz CPU and 2GB RAM). It would be foolish to place all your bets on that "solution" just yet. An Asterisk-based Hangouts interface is probably 6-12 months away assuming it ever happens at all given the current focus on Asterisk 12. There also are still some major shortcomings in the Google+ Hangouts platform as are documented by the GVJack App developers here. Thus, some planning for May 15 is warranted. If you choose to believe that a SIP connection to an ATA can replace the functionality of PBX in a Flash and Incredible PBX, then you might be just as happy using Hangouts directly. To each his own.]

By: Harold

Harold — Thu, 01 May 2014 18:02:21 +0000

vMobile sounds exciting. I just bought a Nexus 5 cellphone with plans to switch to Ting.com (Sprint re-seller, $6/month each device, similar per-minute price, but no WiFi phone & no Asterisk integration). When vMobile supports the Nexus 5 I will definitely consider switching.