Google Voice rolls out new message service

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhuanet)-- Google Inc. has introduced a new feature that will let you use its Google Voice service with one Google-supplied phone number to manage calls on several phones.

Google said late Monday that new users of its service will be able to have the calls that they don't answer forwarded to a special Google Voice electronic mailbox, essentially bypassing the voicemail provided by their phone carriers.

Google Voice offers a variety of voicemail management features, including unlimited storage and text transcription of voicemail messages.

Google Voice was created to tie all of a subscriber's phone numbers — home, work, cellphone, etc. — into one new Google Voice number. Using Google Voice requires adopting a special Google phone number from Google Voice.

The new feature allows people to retain their existing phone numbers.

Once your contacts start calling the new number, all the phones ring, and you get to choose which one you want to pick up. Voice mail is tied into all of the phones, with transcripts and a visual index by Google of all the calls that have come in.

The Voice service, which was launched in March, is available to a limited number of people who have received invitations from Google or from other Google Voice users.