Google Voice public launch buzz remains high

Google reserved 1 million phone numbers with Level 3 last month, ramping up speculation that the long-awaited public launch of its Google Voice service was imminent. It was widely rumored that Google Voice, which is the product of Google's acquisition of GrandCentral, would go live this past Thursday, June 18, but Google Voice Product Manager Craig Walker dispelled those rumors via Twitter [1]. The site currently remains in a private beta test, but Walker said the engineering team was "cranking 24-7" to get the product ready as soon as possible.

When it eventually leaves private beta (restricted to previous GrandCentral users), Google Voice also is likely to come with number portability, according to a TechCrunch story [2], which would make switching to the service very easy for people who want to keep their current number. The service offers a single phone number that will route incoming calls according to whatever number the recipient has selected or who the caller is.

For more:
- see the Network World article here [1]
- see the TechCrunch post here [2]

Related articles
Google Voice - The return of GrandCentral [3]
Ooma adds Google Voice support [4]