Google Voice: Free VOIP, Voicemail, Forwarding and More

Google unveiled another killer app today in Google Voice, a VoIP suite that, like most of its other apps, costs nothing. Some might recognize the call forwarding features as the resurrection of GrandCentral, which Google purchased in July 2007 and closed to new sign-ups shortly thereafter to inegrate with Google’s own systems. Google Voice adds plenty of new features. High on the list is free calls to all U.S. numbers (international calls incur a fee), but the voicemail transcript and drag-and-drop conference call creation tools are nice as well. Other features include SMS sending and receiving, voicemail screening and personalized greetings. The service is available now for existing GrandCentral users, with support for the masses coming later this month. I’m stoked. [Google Voice via GigaOM]