talk or google voice search . grandcentral redirects here . for other uses see grand central . google voice screenshot google voice running in the browser developer s google initial release march 11 2009 ; 7 years ago 2009 03 11 platform web android ios website www.google.com voice google voice is a telephony service that provides call forwarding and voicemail services voice and text messaging as well as u.s. and international call termination services for google account customers . 1 the service was launched by google 2 on march 11 2009 after the company had acquired the service grandcentral . google voice provides a u.s. telephone number chosen by the user from available numbers in selected area codes free of charge to each user account . calls to this number are forwarded to telephone numbers that each user must configure in the account web portal . multiple destinations may be specified that ring simultaneously for incoming calls . service establishment requires a united states telephone number . a user may answer and receive calls on any of the ringing phones as configured in the web portal . during a received call the user may switch between the configured telephones . 3 users in the u.s. update may place outbound calls to domestic and international destinations . calls may be initiated from any of the configured telephones as well as from a mobile device app or from the account portal . 3 as of august 2011 users in many other countries also may place outbound calls from the web based application to domestic and international phone numbers . 4 many other google voice services such as voicemail free text messaging call history conference calling call screening blocking of unwanted calls and voice transcription to text of voicemail messages are also available to u.s. residents update . 5 in terms of product integration transcribed and audio voicemails missed call notifications and or text messages can optionally be forwarded to an email account of the user s choice . additionally text messages can be sent and received via the familiar email or im interface by reading and writing text messages in gmail or by adding contact s phone numbers in google talk respectively pc to phone texting . google voice multi way videoconferencing with support for document sharing is now integrated with google hangouts . 6 the service is configured and maintained by the user in a web based application styled after google s e mail service gmail or with android and ios apps on smart phones or tablets . google voice currently update provides free pc to phone calling within the united states and canada and pc to pc voice and video calling worldwide between users of the google hangouts browser plugin available for windows intel based mac os x and linux . 7 almost all domestic and outbound calls to the united states including alaska and hawaii and canada 8 9 10 are currently update free from the u.s. and canada and 0.01 per minute from everywhere else . 11 international calls are billed according to a schedule posted on the google voice website . 12 as of october 2009 update google voice had approximately 1.4 million users of which 570 000 used the service 7 days a week . 13 this number has risen markedly since google made the transition of its google voice service from invitation only to be available to all gmail subscribers in the united states . a wired blog post quoted a figure of 3.5 million in 2013 . 14 contents 1 overview 2 history 2.1 origin 2.2 google transition 2.3 gizmo5 acquisition 2.4 open availability 2.5 rejection from the iphone app store 2.6 google hangouts integration 3 features 3.1 caller line identification 3.2 mobile phone applications 3.3 integration into gmail google talk 3.4 integration into google hangouts 4 limitations 4.1 no emergency calling 4.2 limited mms 4.3 limited domestic sms 4.4 limited international texting service 4.5 voip services 4.6 third party devices 4.7 call forwarding and voicemail 5 support 6 partners and infrastructure 7 dispute between at & t and google about call blocking 8 see also 9 references 10 external links overview edit this article needs to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . may 2016 google provides free pc to pc voice calling worldwide . as described above google voice users in many countries may make low cost calls to international phone numbers and currently update may also make free pc to phone calls within the united states and canada . vincent paquet a co founder of grandcentral who became a senior product manager at google said in 2009 that he expected google voice domestic service to remain free because the cost of operation is so low and we can generate enough revenue from international calling to support the service . 15 several years after this prediction the service remains free of charge . a google voice local phone number for incoming calls is currently update available only for users in the united states . 16 users may select a single u.s. phone number from various area codes . incoming calls to the number may ring simultaneously any of the user s configured phones or the account s google talk feature . based on the calling number or contact group e.g. family friends work or on time of day e.g. disabling a home phone during business hours and routing calls to mobile or business number individual numbers may be configured to ring . the service also features voicemail with indexable automated voicemail transcription accessible via a web browser e mail or by phone . google voice provides automatic blocking of known numbers e.g. telemarketers the ability to switch lines in mid call differentiated voice mail greetings based on caller short message service sms forwarding and call recording . previously customers of gizmo5 a session initiation protocol sip service vendor acquired by google were allowed to forward calls to their gizmo service which may be answered using a free computer application or a web application or sip based telephone hardware . 17 google discontinued gizmo5 service on april 3 2011 . there are several competing virtual number services . personal numbering services have been available in the united kingdom since 1993 similar to the at & t true connections 500 service offered in the 1990s in the united states . at & t s service required the direct involvement of at & t to change the phone number list while the google service is user configurable on the web application . the original voice of grandcentral and google voice belonged to actress and voice over artist laurie burke 1 but has been replaced with recordings by kiki baessell a googler who had no experience in professional voice overs but was chosen because of her pleasant familiar voice . 18 history edit origin edit grandcentral founded in 2005 by craig walker and vincent paquet with funding by minor ventures was acquired by google on july 2 2007 for us 95 million in a transaction led by miles agha . although grand central users were able to continue to use the service after the purchase new users were not accepted and google made no public statements about their plans for the service . 3 on march 11 2009 the management of the service revealed that the team had been working on it throughout that period apparently in secret 3 and that it was being rebranded google voice . 19 it was to keep most of the functionality originally offered in grandcentral and add new features . 20 21 google transition edit grandcentrals closing message grandcentral s closing message that was sent to all users 0 26 ; ogg vorbis 392 kb problems playing this file see media help . google voice was launched on march 11 2009 based on grandcentral with new features including voicemail transcriptions and sms managing . google transitioned former grandcentral accounts to google voice 19 and announced that the service would start accepting new members within weeks of the announcement . 3 19 on june 25 2009 nbc s today show stated that google voice would be available nationwide on that day . 22 google confirmed this in a twitter message stating google voice on nbc today show . invites to people on reservations list starting to go out today . 23 the expansion was at first limited to users queued 24 on the invitation list . 25 users with paid in balances also received a limited number of invitation opportunities . on july 1 2009 google voice provided the option for users to change their service phone number for a u.s. 10 fee . 26 on september 15 2009 grandcentral calling services were discontinued . subscribers who used the website could still log into the site to retrieve old messages and data . 27 after termination of grandcentral phone services users who haven t moved over to google voice were still advised to upgrade their account to google voice . 28 gizmo5 acquisition edit on november 12 2009 google announced that it had acquired gizmo5 29 for a reported u.s. 30 million in cash . 30 a major effect of this announcement was that gizmo5 suspended new signups pending re launch by google . 31 google was reported to be working on a desktop application though rumors also circulated that the project had been scrapped in favor of a browser based solution . 32 on august 26 2010 gmail accounts with google voice were given a function to make and receive calls . google voice product manager vincent paquet confirmed that this function was added through the help of the technology received after the gizmo5 acquisition . 33 in 2011 the gizmo5 site closed service to its registered members . as of january 2012 the website is no longer available . open availability edit on june 22 2010 google voice dropped the requirement for invitations to become a subscriber and the service became available to anyone in the usa with a google account . 34 rejection from the iphone app store edit on july 27 2009 apple inc. rejected a google voice app that had been submitted by google six weeks earlier . other apps created for use with google voice such as gvdialer gv mobile and voicecentral were removed from the app store . apple states that the reason for the rejection and removals is that these apps replaced certain iphone functions and features . a google spokesman released this statement on the matter 35 we work hard to bring google applications to a number of mobile platforms including the iphone . apple inc. did not approve the google voice application we submitted six weeks ago to the apple app store . we will continue to work to bring our services to iphone users for example by taking advantage of advances in mobile browsers . the federal communications commission fcc has opened an inquiry regarding the rejection of google voice for the iphone . the fcc asked why apple rejected the google voice application for the iphone and removed related third party applications from its store . the fcc has also requested google to submit a letter describing the application of google voice . the request is part of a broader ranging inquiry by the commission on exclusive deals between cell phone carriers and handset manufacturers for hot phones . 36 in their response to the fcc google stated that the google voice application uses the carrier s voice network to place phone calls 37 dispelling misconceptions that it is a voice over internet protocol application . at & t stated that they had no role in approval or rejection of the google voice application . 38 apple stated that they had not rejected the application but were continuing to examine it . 39 one argument against allowing the google voice