Google Voice ok for business use? Or what else?

They won't guarantee functionality, and they don't have support personnel available. ... and it might go away someday, just like any number of other services Google has mothballed. I'd find out what the number-portability rules are around Google Voice, just to make sure I had an exit strategy in place, and if they looked like I could transfer my number if I had to, I'd just go ahead with it.

There are other virtual phone systems out there. I decided to go with Grasshopper.com for my small organization. Regarding porting Google Voice numbers in the future, I've heard anecdotally that it takes a significant amount of time to happen. Maybe it was just that person, but if you're relying on it to run your business, that may be something to keep in mind.

I think it depends what you mean by "for business use". I have a google voice number I use as my "local number", mostly for work. I'll also use that number any time I want to control, as you say, when people call me, how voicemail happens (I love the email voicemail feature), etc. It's not the main number for a business that I run. If I don't get a call for some reason, it's not a big deal. I'm not using it as a number for customers to rely on or my primary way of doing business. Now, would I use google voice as the primary point of contact for a customer facing business? No.

My experience with Google voice is that it works 90% of the time. Is that good enough for you?

I use GV exclusively. I have two numbers actually. I have ported a number to it, never from it. The port went as smooth as a baby's bottom. I count on it and have not yet been let down. The one thing that does bother me is that they have not really been adding features or focusing on it at all. I would love for them to add MMS.

I've used Google Voice since the GrandCentral days (maybe 2005?). I use it all day, everyday and it's solid for my needs. I do worry that they may mothball it.

I use Google Voice for my work as a freelance journalist, which I do as a one-person business (My Real Name LLC). I would be in trouble if the Google Voice service crashed when I was on deadline, but it would not kill me -- I could still fall back on email and my personal phone number. If you can say the same, go ahead and use it. If you can't, you should probably think twice.

I use Google Voice as a work number on my cell phone. I've been using it for years and have had NO problems with it.

I use Google Voice for my voicemail, as well as a number that I give out when I have to provide a number for shipping from online retailers, a number to put on my website, etc. I used to use its recording function to record interviews, but after it failed to save an entire hour's interview (as I recall, this happened to me twice, and others have reported similar problems), I stopped using it for that. Every so often Google Voice seems to go down, because every couple of months I get a voice message on my actual cell provider's voicemail system, rather than on Google Voice voicemail, and then I have to disable Google Voice voicemail temporarily to get to that message, then reenable it. But it's been worth it for me to use it for my voicemail because of the free transcription. The transcriptions aren't very good, but they're good enough that I can get the gist of a voice message before I actually listen to it. I also like the fact that if I want, I can download MP3s of my voice messages, making them portable/exportable in a way that they wouldn't be from my cell provider.