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Google Inc. gives away a lot of good stuff for free.

That struck me last year when I downloaded the free Google Maps app to my “smart” phone. It turned the phone into a handy navigation system and killed my desire to buy a $100 standalone GPS unit.

So I was intrigued to try Google Voice. That is a service that gives you one phone number that connects to all of your phones. It additionally manages your voice and text messages and gives you a way to prepare cheap or free worldly calls. It comes as a downloadable application for cell phones and as a Web-based program.

The program has the potential to upend the business of phone calls — or at least you might get that impression from the hubbub surrounding it. Apple Inc. has held up approving Google Voice for use on the iPhone, and the Federal Communications Commission jumped in to ask why.

But I don’t get the hype. Google Voice hasn’t changed my world.

I used the free Web-based system, although the app is available on BlackBerry phones and devices that use Google’s Android operating system. considering of the hefty cost of rolling the service out, for now it’s available on an invitation-only, first-come, first-served basis. I asked to be included last month the same way as anyone else and got an invite a few days later.

I picked a new Google Voice phone number, linked it to my mobile phone, and was off to the races. For now, you can’t use your existing phone number as the one you manage through Google Voice, although allowing such “number portability” is something the company is considering.

Google Voice offers discounted phone calls much like inexpensive phone cards that require you to signal a toll-free number and enter codes before you dial someone. The advantage…

Original post by dhiram