Heading off to college usually means packing up the car and saying goodbye to your family and friends, so the Google Voice team put together a bunch of ways to make it cheaper and easier to stay in touch while you’re on campus. We also thought back to our own days living in dorms and cramming in the library to create a list of student-friendly tips for getting the most out of your phone while you’re away at school.


1. Save your money for something better than minutes

• Send unlimited text messages for free--from your phone or the web
• Make free long distance calls in the US and to Canada with Gmail
• Call friends studying abroad or call home if you’re an international student for as little as 2 cents/minute

2. Use your phone the way you actually want to

• Setup a free Google Voice number that will ring all of your phones at once (dorm phone, cell phone, Gmail, etc.) so you never miss a call (a number that stays with you even if you forget to pay your bill or change cell phone provider)
• Get voicemail transcriptions via email and text during class
• Enable do not disturb to send your calls directly to voicemail when you want to sleep in on the weekends or need to get some studying done

3. Make calls when your phone can’t
Calling in Gmail makes it possible to call phones from right inside of your Gmail account. This makes a super handy alternative to your mobile phone for things like:

• Calling from dorm rooms with non-existent cell phone reception
• Locating a mobile phone that is buried in the couch
• Ordering a pizza when your phone battery is dead

Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager

Mobile is all about getting super fast access to what you’re looking for and Google Voice is no exception. So, today we’re releasing an update to the Android app, which gives you immediate access to your Google Voice Inbox and settings via two new home screen widgets.

The Google Voice Inbox widget brings your most recent voicemails and text messages to your home screen. You can now quickly flip though messages in your Inbox with the widget, and selecting any message preview will open it in the Google Voice app.



The Settings widget gives you quick access to four handy features.

Get instant access to the full Google Voice app by clicking the Google Voice icon.




Quickly compose and send free text messages.




Change your dialing preferences on the fly. You can have your phone use Google Voice in four different ways, depending on your calling preference.



Select Do Not Disturb and all calls to your Google number will be sent straight to Voicemail.



Plus, your credit balance is displayed so you know when it’s time to add a quarter or two.

The widgets can be used together or individually, and are part of the new Google Voice app, available for download from Android Market today. To add the widgets to a home screen panel, press the menu button from the home screen and select “Add>Widgets>Google Voice Inbox or Google Voice Settings.” You will need a valid Google Voice account to use them, and Google Voice is available free to anyone in the US.

Posted by Marcus Foster, Product Manager

Google Voice lets you take charge of your telephony experience, giving you one number that rings all your phones. But what if you’re not around to answer any of them?

Starting today, whenever you miss a call, you can see a notification in your Google Voice inbox, or receive an email notification, or both.

This setting can be turned on and off from the Calls tab in the Settings menu.

Last week, we launched Google Voice in Gmail to let you make calls right from your computer. The uptake has been amazing and 10,000,000 calls later, we wanted to offer some tips and tricks on how you, as a loyal Google Voice user, can unlock additional features when you setup Gmail to receive calls with your Google Voice number. If you haven’t already hooked it up, go to Google Voice, click on settings and check the box next to Google Chat in your list of forwarding phones.

Now, you’ll be able to make and receive calls to your Google Voice number right in Gmail. Plus, you’ll have access to a bunch of handy features, like:

Call screening
Not sure who’s calling you? Instead of hitting “Answer” or “Ignore” when you get a call in Gmail, click the “Screen” button. The caller will be sent to your voicemail and you can listen in while they leave you a message. If you decide you want to take the call, just click “Join” at any time to pick up.