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Have been looking for an alternative to Google Voice for years. I have been completely unable to find something that does all of the following: 1) allows me to

Have been looking for an alternative to Google Voice for years. I have been completely unable to find something that does all of the following: 1) allows me to recieve texts to my computer and my phone at the same time for a reasonable price (twilio is much too expensive to use for personal use) 2) MMS, group texting 3) "transparent" call forwarding, essentially by spoofing CID's 4) speech to text voicemail from a single phone number. A full blown VoIP system like FreePBX comes closer than anything else, but still falls quite short. If anyone has any insight into this that would be amazing.

davidmr 8y ago
I’m in the same boat. I’ll be moving from the US to the UK shortly, and my options for what to do to keep my US number (and keep it functional while I’m in the UK) are pretty limited outside of google voice. Especially since, as you noted, Twilio isn’t really priced for personal use. GV isn’t bad, it’s just my absolute last resort given how capricious Google seems to be with these non-core services.
- bpye 8y ago
  I had a US number with Fi and I think you might be surprised when you move. I still have my Fi number as a Google Voice number however without any other US number Google won't let me receive calls. I can still make them at least, and SMS through the Google Voice app works.
gtdawg 8y ago
Also in the same boat here. I've enjoyed the SMS searching, typing out SMS texts via actual computer keyboard, location flexibility of GV, and being able to make calls from the same number without needing the cell glued to my head. I've heard of apps like Grasshopper and have most features I'm looking for at a steep cost for personal use ($30/month minimum) plus the cell phone plan already being paid for. If I'm going to invest in a migration of my main communications platform, I'd rather have the majority of the features self-hosted and rely on the external provider like Twilio for the PSTN/SMS/MMS integration.

davidmr 8y ago

I’m in the same boat. I’ll be moving from the US to the UK shortly, and my options for what to do to keep my US number (and keep it functional while I’m in the UK) are pretty limited outside of google voice. Especially since, as you noted, Twilio isn’t really priced for personal use. GV isn’t bad, it’s just my absolute last resort given how capricious Google seems to be with these non-core services.

bpye 8y ago
I had a US number with Fi and I think you might be surprised when you move. I still have my Fi number as a Google Voice number however without any other US number Google won't let me receive calls. I can still make them at least, and SMS through the Google Voice app works.

gtdawg 8y ago

Also in the same boat here. I've enjoyed the SMS searching, typing out SMS texts via actual computer keyboard, location flexibility of GV, and being able to make calls from the same number without needing the cell glued to my head. I've heard of apps like Grasshopper and have most features I'm looking for at a steep cost for personal use ($30/month minimum) plus the cell phone plan already being paid for. If I'm going to invest in a migration of my main communications platform, I'd rather have the majority of the features self-hosted and rely on the external provider like Twilio for the PSTN/SMS/MMS integration.