How effective is Google Voice?

[Jason K.]

Does anyone use Google Voice? Can anyone provide an opinion?

Is it just me or is the initial connect message they have when you call the #, "Google Voice is attempting to connect you to ___ ____ (name)" a bit cheesy/non-professional?

I do want to answer my calls/leads, but I'm not about to post my cell phone all over the place for everyone to see.

Advice?

[Stephanie T.]

I use Google Voice and love it. It's great to have a number to broadcast that isn't your personal number. One really nice feature is that you can listen to your caller as they are leaving a voicemail message and, if you want to, you press a button and can speak to them. I also like the fact that I can use my Blackberry to make calls that show my GV number. You have to download the app to get this capability.

As for the announcement you mentioned, you can turn that off in the settings.