in beta and will be opening up in a few weeks. here are the features of the free service: https://www.google.com/voice/about#

looks to be pretty cool. and it has visual voice mail . . . they automatically transcribe any message you get, which is available on the site or it can be emailed or SMSed to you.

call screening is pretty cool as well. i sort of have this on my phone now for blocked calls, but Google will allow it on all calls where you don't know the caller. it works like this -- the first time someone calls they are asked to record their name, which is given to you while they wait on hold. if you don't want to talk then they get a message saying you weren't available. you can then set a script to run every time they call so you never hear from them again if they were spam, etc.

i think i'll get the cheapest home phone service i can find and then have us switch to Google Voice for the calls we make. i just need them to let me sign up.

That looks pretty sweet. I just signed up my email address.

I get emails containing messages (audio) via Vonage. Actually, it goes to my wife's email account since she is the one who deals with the phone bill. I think that you can have them sent to your cell phone as well. Not that important to me, though.

audio only? the Google version transcribes the audio for you, fwiw.

You can elect to have the text as well. My wife likes the audio option.

I reserved a number long ago so it's good to hear the launch is near. I'll be checking my email anxiously now.

Every time I see that TV ad with the VM popping up on the cell phone as a text message, I think, oh goody, she's driving and reading TMs!

My wife obsesses over battery strength. She's good at calling and asking that I call her back and then turning off her cell phone. I don't think she even knows how to retrieve a TM.

Ha! My wife thinks cell phone charging is an annual thing.

this article notes that it's 25 cents per message, though . . . and that they software they use isn't very good.

http://i.gizmodo.com/282847/vonage-visual-voice-mail-hands-on-verdict-mixed-success

Google is free and apparently they have better software which they've been using when people call the free GOOG411 information service that's been around a few years.

Seems very reliable to us - no problems. I don't know about the charge. I don't deal with that bill.

Gaaahhh. I can't believe I'm saying this, but that's just too much technology for me. I tried this years ago before Google bought them. Just wasn't for me.

You're gettin' old, JD.
Gotta learn to keep up!