Reliability of SMS using Google Voice

[joshteran]

I'm looking for ways to reduce my phone bill, and ideally I would get rid of my unlimited text plan. Yet, I have heard that SMS messages sent through GV aren't as speedy or reliable as those sent through your carrier. I've read that it often takes up to 5 minutes to receive a text message after one is sent to you. If I'm in the middle of a "texting conversation" I don't want to have to wait 5 minutes to receive a reply to one of my texts..

Is this true? Or does Google Voice SMS work like a charm and I should just drop my $20 a month text plan?

 

[Dragoro]

Yeah theres bout a 5 min delay, although some have reported shorter. I use it and no problems for me.

 

[mwolf]

I use it and it works pretty good. The only thing it is missing is picture messaging. Hopefully google will be adding that soon...

 

[MisterEff]

You receive the message instantly but the app takes like 5 minutes to refresh. I send txts through it on my computer and they get there quick

 

[NeuroNY]

I was just looking into this myself. I'm sure this has been mentioned elsewhere, but it looks like the Google Voice app pulls data rather than having data pushed to it. So you only get an SMS notification during the 5/10/15 min. refresh interval that you've specified. One way around this, is to set Google Voice to send you an email to your Gmail. Since this is push email, it arrives at about the same time as a normal sms message. And, the great thing is that, when you reply to the email, it sends a text back to the owner. I'm still figuring out whether this workaround is worth it for me, but it would be a savings of $10-$20 a month.

 

[ItalianScallion]

If you go into Google Voice settings on the web (not the app), you have the option of forwarding SMS to email. I'm normally notified much sooner with this enabled.

 

[JoeC]

The answer to that is a little complicated, but I'll try to simplify it.

The Google Voice application itself, has a checking interval of things in the GV inbox. The preference for that is setup in the settings of the app. If you don't force your own refresh within the application, you won't be notified of a new SMS message until the interval time of the app is reached. This is a classic "pull" technology, which Google has not yet integrated into the rest of its push applications that are fully synchronized.

Now, in order to mitigate that, one has two options to force the GV SMS messages to a push notification, making it a push. Both are settings within the GV website. One, forward all SMS to your phone (within the advanced phone settings in the GV website); or forward all SMS to GMail (within the voicemail and SMS settings in the GV website). Choosing the former option STILL USES YOUR MESSAGING PLAN. Choosing the latter uses the Google sync. of your GMail as a gateway to have a conversation of texting "through" GMail.

There's no perfect solution yet, but if you want to save the $20 or so for messaging, you have to get used to the little work-arounds.

One other thing to note...GV only does SMS and not MMS. So, the messaging plan via your carrier includes all messages (text and multimedia), so keep that in mind if you're a big MMS user. If people are sending you multimedia messages (photos, music, videos), they would have to use your native cell # anyway.

Think about which way is best for you.

 

[Deleted User]

I use it and it works pretty good. The only thing it is missing is picture messaging. Hopefully google will be adding that soon...

Can be achieved by sending a gmail message with the picture attached to that.

I find it completely fascinating how many people are willing to pay $.20/$.25/message or pay for a plan for messaging when email and Instant Messaging have been free since their inception.

It's like the world is going back in time.

I see no benefit to texting over email or IM. What is the benefit and why is it worth paying more byte for byte than NASA pays to send/receive data to/from the Hubble Telescope?

Space scientist says texting is four times more expensive than receiving scientific data from space

 

[mwolf]

Can be achieved by sending a gmail message with the picture attached to that.

I find it completely fascinating how many people are willing to pay $.20/$.25/message or pay for a plan for messaging when email and Instant Messaging have been free since their inception.

It's like the world is going back in time.

I see no benefit to texting over email or IM. What is the benefit and why is it worth paying more byte for byte than NASA pays to send/receive data to/from the Hubble Telescope?

Space scientist says texting is four times more expensive than receiving scientific data from space

Not everyone has smart phones and they can't read/send email via their phone. I agree that text costs are way over priced, but this is the current solution that works for everyone.

 

[Deleted User]

Smartphones are dirt cheap. You can get the Droid Eris for less than $100. Unlimited text plans, which is how most people go, is $30/month (for a shared one). For that, you get your data plan.

Spend $100, get a good phone, and pay the same amount for month but add the ability to email, IM, surf the web, watch youtube, stream video, google maps, all of it.

I just don't get why people spend the same amount of money to send 160 character messages back and forth to each other. I really don't understand it at all.

 

[FireChief]

Joe has the best understanding of Google Voice as does anyone here..

Read what he says on the subject..

If you go into Google Voice settings on the web (not the app), you have the option of forwarding SMS to email. I'm normally notified much sooner with this enabled.

The above quote is true for me also..

I will add:

If you use TEXTING a LOT with a lot of different people, and 'carry on' conversations regularly, and with other folks who don't have Google Voice, or Google Talk, THEN, in my opinion, you will NOT FIND Google Voice a suitable replacement for your carrier texting plan..

 

[zoukis05]

Smartphones are dirt cheap. You can get the Droid Eris for less than $100. Unlimited text plans, which is how most people go, is $30/month (for a shared one). For that, you get your data plan.

Spend $100, get a good phone, and pay the same amount for month but add the ability to email, IM, surf the web, watch youtube, stream video, google maps, all of it.

I just don't get why people spend the same amount of money to send 160 character messages back and forth to each other. I really don't understand it at all.

Try teaching a non-tech-savvy person to use a smart phone, not all can grasp it. Some people just can't handle anything more than a regular dumb phone.
Also, not everyone checks their email frequently enough. I have multiple friends with iPhones, and if I email them, I won't get a response for at least 2 hours.