Google Voice is a (mostly) cost-free service from Google that gives subscribers a host of handy features, including:
- a single phone number in an area code that you choose that can be used for incoming calls that ring any or all of your phones, plus for outgoing calls from any or all of your phones
- free voicemail that transcribes your messages to text and delivers them as MP3 to selectable destinations
- cost-free calling to US numbers, plus Canada
- super-cheap calling to international numbers
- cost-free text messages
To subscribe, you need an invitation, and invitations have been scarce. But in this post on the Official Google Blog- Google Voice invites for students– Google announces that they are delivering invitations to students upon request- you just need a .edu email address.
As a Google Voice user (who ran out of invites a long time ago), I recommend it.