Well, thanks to the assistance of regular American commenters Sue and Delmer, I’ve at least been able to play experiment with it.

Delmer from Ohio left a voicemail on my Google Voice number (276) 546-7390.

GV has this neat transcription feature. I received an email telling me that a message had been left, with the following text:

Hey Michael, This is Debra Wells from Ohio. Just separately for all the other down there, you know. Hello why it i just replied email and a minute ago and thought I’d go ahead and give you a call when your Google Voice. It’s a 2:45. Here in the morning all that with the time setback. It’s now a 1:45. But in any case, I’m gonna go to bed, so you’re welcome to call me, but at your leisure. If you could call me right away. I’m gonna be groggy. Anyway, talk to you later. Bye.

There were obviously a couple of glitches there, but it was a pretty good effort.

Delmer speaks clearly, with a mellifluous accent. I like the way he says “leesure” for leisure.

But if Google can’t transcribe his voice 95 percent accurately, what hope is there for an Australian? Maybe that’s why GV hasn’t been released here yet.

I then sent an SMS to Sue in Pennsylvania, who replied to the GV number. Again, I received an email alert of the message.

For a free service it’s very good.

Unfortunately, I can’t use it to call anyone, but I can receive phone calls and send and receive SMS.

Google Voice gives you one number for all your phones — a number that is tied to you, not to a device or a location. Google Voice seeks to simplify the way phones are used, making using voicemail as easy as email.

Google Voice works with mobile phones, desk phones, work phones, and VoIP lines. There’s nothing to download, upload, or install, and you don’t have to make or take calls using a computer.

Google Voice will let you define which phones ring, based on who’s calling. It also makes transcripts of voicemail messages.

I like the feature whereby calls can be recorded as well.

So how did I get it?

First of all download Invisible Browsing software. It’s free for three days. I’ve already uninstalled the program.

It enables you to use an American proxy server to give your browser a US IP address.

Second, register at Sipgate for a free account to gain a United States phone number. You need this for Google Voice verification.

Sipgate itself looks very interesting. “Sipgate One” is a fully-functional phone service. It replaces an existing line or adds a second line at no cost. It comes with a free phone number, voicemail and fax capabilities.

My Sipgate number is (707) 356-0946. The area code is from California and includes such places as Napa, Sebastopol, Vallejo, Benicia, Fairfield, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Fort Bragg, Crescent City, Eureka, Clearlake, Vacaville and Ukiah.

I don’t know how to pronounce Ukiah, but it sounds like a nice place. In 1996 it was voted the sixth best American town to live in.

Equipped with a Sipgate number and an invitation to join Google Voice, click on the invitation link while using Invisible Browser set to an American proxy server and follow the prompts.

You will also need the Sipgate desktop software to receive the call.

My Google Voice number is (276) 546-7390. The area code is from Virginia, including such places as Bristol, which has the state border running down the middle of its main street and Galax, which is famous for the Old Fiddlers Convention.

Now that I have a Google Voice number I’ve got no idea what to do with it. Could be handy if I visit the States, I suppose.

Checking out call charges, I saw it only costs three cents a minute to dial Australia.

I rang my home number from Google Voice and it connected via the Sipgate software. Sound quality was okay, but there was a terrible delay.

Sometimes I SMS staff if they’re out of the office on a job.

Many people are addicted to SMS though. My 15-year-old daughter sends dozens a day, mostly to the one person (I think).

Schools have banned them from classrooms and it’s illegal to use a mobile phone while driving.

Italian Bishops have urged young people to give up texting on Fridays during Lent.

No SMS will allow young people to “detox from the virtual world and get back in touch with themselves,” Monsignor Benito Cocchi was quoted as saying.

English freelance journalist Judith Woods picked up the theme in a column for The Telegraph, discussing her effort to replace text messaging with phone calls.

Most don’t like it. Some reported reactions:

“Is your phone broken?”

“You could have just texted me, you know.”

“Have you got post-natal depression?”

“Sorry, I have to go. You’re being weird. This isn’t a good time. Text me.”

Text messaging is an antisocial means of communication. It’s one on one, but lacks any intimacy.

It’s intrusive in that it’s visible to others who might be wishing to actually speak with the texter.

Woods quotes psychology author Laura James, who says it’s all about control.

“When you phone someone up, or talk to them in person, they can’t control when or where the conversation is happening, or what’s being discussed, and we’ve all grown used to having that control. The upshot is that we’re losing the ability to make time for one another.”

I use SMS as a tool. Others use it as a core means of communication; that’s the problem, I think.

TSA Telco Group has been contracted by Telstra to win back customers who have switched to a new telco.

There are claims the company ignores the Do Not Call register and employees pose as Telstra staff.

I haven’t had any experience of this particular group, but the allegations don’t surprise me.

I experienced harassment when my mobile phone plan was coming towards the end.

Telstra (or contracted telemarketers) rang me nearly a dozen times in less than a fortnight. I was on holidays at Mandurah and on the first few occasions I asked them to send me information in the mail.

One person told me that would happen and another told me it was not possible.

I lost patience and asked several times to be removed from the list.

Regarding the fresh claims, “Telstra spokesman Peter Taylor said he did not believe the company was doing anything untoward. He invited people with problems to call Telstra on 132200.”

Honestly, what good would that do? You’d be placed on hold for 20 minutes, leave a message and no action would be taken.

I recommend contacting the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).

Anyhow, my brain turned full circle to the topic of penfriends.

Remember them? Young readers probably have no idea what I’m talking about.

I had some penfriends in the 80s, before mobile phones and email, including one in Iceland. Vegemite triggered my recollection of her because I sent her some once, and she sent me dried fish in reply (apparently that’s the big thing in Iceland).

Her name was Amelia Graves and if she reads this, courtesy of Google, I’d love to hear from her.

We met over the telephone when I was 21 in 1988. My mate Damien and I had enjoyed a few drinks one night and decided to randomly dial overseas phone numbers. We were at his house, so he was paying for it and I never saw the bill

We tried to think of exotic faraway places and somehow chose the Faroe Islands. The first couple of people we spoke to didn’t know English, so we gave up that idea and tried Iceland.

Amelia not only spoke English very well; she humoured us with good conversation and we became friends.

Her father was American, hence the name and the command of English.

We exchanged letters for a year or more before I moved away and lost contact.

I had earlier met a Zimbabwean girl in Alice Springs and we became penfriends when she lived for a while in England and later returned to Zimbabwe. I visited her there in 1991 and we caught up with each other again last year when I found she was living in Kalgoorlie.

My life was enriched by these experiences. It is possible to make friends through blogging, but instant electronic communications are nowhere near as intimate as a letter.

“Millions of mobile owners who pay upfront for their service allow call credits to expire,” the paper says.

Pre-paid phones make up more than half the national mobile phone market.

We bought pre-paid phones for the kids and encountered this problem. Kathleen uses all her credit (quickly) but Michael doesn’t come close. Most of the plans expire in 30 or 60 days, which simply isn’t enough time.

The rip-off extends beyond pre-paid plans though. So-called member plans are just as bad.

I had one for years at a minimum of $30 per month which included $30 or thereabouts of calls. I paid that amount whether I made the calls or not.

Most months I didn’t make $30 worth of calls.

If the $1 billion pre-paid windfall for telcos is an accurate figure, add that much again I reckon for cream on member plans.

There must be millions more generated from people who commit to handset deals only to upgrade before the plan expires.

All this makes the mobile phone sector highly profitable. That’s a bit sad really, in my opinion.

Landlines have historically been an essential communications tool and the internet has made the world a global village.

I suppose I could do without a landline if I had wireless internet and a mobile phone, but in essence the mobile phone is a luxury item. Most of us could carry on our lives without one.

Huge profits are being generated from people sending mindless text messages to each other and committing to phone plans they don’t need and don’t fully utilise.

That turned out to be the case. Whether it’s true, or whether release numbers were deliberately restricted, I can’t be sure.

There were none for sale in Mount Gambier, apparently. In Melbourne, only selected stores were stocking them. Some people queued for hours to get one.

Reports today said some people were unhappy with number porting delays from Telstra to Optus. they had an iPhone, but they couldn’t use it.

I’m an early adopter of gadgets and take an interest in new ones when they come out.

I’ve got no interest in buying an iPhone though. I’m still happy with the JasJam, even though it’s a little clunky. It synchronises nicely with my Outlook contacts and calendar at work, gives me email access on the road and has Microsoft programs should I ever need to use them while mobile.

I was burnt buying a previous phone for its camera capability. It had some amazing number of megapixels, zoom and flash, but wasn’t intuitive to use in terms of focus, zoom and saving copies.

The iPhone fad will pass.

1. Sending group emails to people who don’t really need to know;
2. Attaching large files;
3. Sending an email to someone in the same room about a mundane matter;
4. Asking to be notified when the email is deleted;
5. Phoning to see if the email was received (true)!

MacNevin said the rapid growth of email means that many organisations and individuals have forgotten the business guidelines for written communication, sending, receiving and filing of mail.

“People feel compelled to reply to emails even with just a ‘thanks’ adding to the overwhelming number of emails people receive. A simple ‘NRN’ (no reply necessary) can reduce the overload significantly,” she said.

Before email came along I was a big memo writer. The information conveyed and requests made were precise. In most cases, immediate action was not required. I wasn’t very good at filing memos though.

That’s why I find email useful for retaining a written copy of semi-important things which would otherwise not be recorded, like: did I really approve that request for leave? Scan Outlook to find the answer.

Email demands attention and I agree we’ve become slaves to it. I like MacNevin’s idea to tag emails with NRN if appropriate, and will implement that in my workplace.

As a means of personal communication, I’ve observed that text messaging has overtaken email among young people.

I go through periods when I tweet regularly and then I do nothing for a week.

For such an inactive and boring tweeter I was surprised to find that 15 followers had jumped on my bandwagon in the past few weeks.

As Jessica points out, it’s not easy to block spam followers, who appear to be peddling nothing more than links.

At least I have now disabled the email notification, which was starting to become a right pain.

“For a service this popular, better native blocking tools should be a no-brainer. Hopefully they will be before the spam really catches on,” Jessica writes.

Not being a big twit (is that the correct term?), I can’t complain as much as some others who must be really feeling the nuisance value of this, but I agree the management system should be improved.