There’s always something to howl about.

Google Voice: Ready for Primetime?

Greg’s written: “The trouble with free software, is that you don’t really explore what you’re getting with it.” When I read that, I thought, “True, but…” The “but” being Google, a company whose free products I’ve (mostly) explored to death, even when they’re not very good. I’m looking at you, Google Docs.

When Google announced that it was entering the telephony business with Google Voice, I was excited, and applied for an “invitation” that came in July in the midst of preparing to take the North Carolina Bar. I couldn’t seriously play with it until August. But now I’ve spent two months with it, and here’s my take: I’m not sure Google Voice is ready for primetime.

Here’s how it works: At sign up, a user selects a phone number. That number can become the new primary number, which the user gives out to family, friends, clients, and so on. Google Voice allows the user to set which phones will ring when people call the Google Voice number. (Outside callers have no idea they’re calling a Google Voice number. To them it’s just another phone number.)

The setup was a cinch. Within a few minutes I was up and running with a new phone number that now rings my cell phone, but could also ring an office phone and home phone all at the same time.

Eric Bramlett has posted about Google Voice’s killer feature: Voicemail Transcription. Since I spend a good deal of time in court, where answering a phone will get you tossed out by an annoyed sheriff’s deputy, being able to glance down at my iPhone to read a voicemail that’s been transcribed for me is fantastic. Even if the transcription is not perfect, getting the gist of the voicemail without having to leave the courtroom saves a ton of time.

I’ve found transcriptions to be marginal at best, but still good enough to give me a sense of the message. Maybe it’s the southern accent that Google has not yet nailed, but Google still has a ways to go.

There are other nifty features: the ability to route calls to specific phones, assign phone numbers to groups that can be handled in various ways (send certain groups straight to voicemail or assign certain voicemail greetings to certain groups), or send telemarketers to an “Out of Service” message. I could imagine still other cool features that don’t seem to be terribly hard to implement: the ability to create a voice tree that allows callers to select who at your Google Voice number they’d like to reach.

But here’s my major concern: Call quality. When a caller calls you on your Google Voice number, his call is routed through Google’s servers, the same servers that handle the transcription, routing, and other features. This routing seems to generate some distortion or latency on the line. Most of the time the latency is imperceptible. Callers don’t notice a thing. But sometimes the delays are noticeable. Callers experience echoes, lags, or distortions.

Because I like the features, I really want to make my Google Voice number my primary phone number for my business. But I’m not sure whether I can put up with (or have my clients put up with) questionable call quality when they try to reach me.

I’d love to be convinced of Google Voice’s awesomeness. So If you’re using Google Voice regularly as part of your work or business, please leave your feedback, good or bad, in the comments.