Use Your Google Voice as a Long-Lasting, Far-Reaching Emergency Contact Number [Clever Uses]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5621911/use-your-google-voice-as-a-long+lasting-far+reaching-emergency-contact-number

We've discussed how Google Voice makes a useful emergency contact number, but Michael at jammer(six) reminds us that, even if you don't use Voice as your primary number, you can use it as an emergency number for others to call you.

Background photo by Steve Snodgrass.

Google Voice is useful enough to have for its voicemail features alone, and if you haven't started using Voice as your primary phone number (it is rather difficult to get your friends to start using a new number), its advanced features can still be useful. Michael explains how to use it as your number for emergency contact:

One of the big things that they ask for at the beginning of the school year is emergency contact information. The problem with this is that, if your phone number changes, you'll have to change your emergency info all over town.

Enter Google Voice. . .You'll no longer have to provide you home, cell, and work numbers. You can just give your Google Voice number and set it up to ring all of your phones at once.

Not only that, but you can use it to ring multiple people (such as both you and your spouse), or prompt a different ringtone so you know something's an emergency before you even take it out of your pocket (you'd need to make sure Voice is set to come up on your caller ID as your Google Voice number, not the caller's, to do this though). Got any of your own clever uses for Google Voice? Share them in the comments.

Google Voice as an Emergency Contact Number [via #tips]