June 5th, 2012Top Story Phone-ify Your Computer for Considerably Improved At-Home Calls and Texts By Whitson Gordon Click to view You know what's absurd? When you're sitting at your computer, decide you want to text a friend, and abandon your full keyboard to send that text on your phone. Or how about when you're at your computer, your phone rings, and you have to go on a frenzied, impromptu scavenger hunt for where you last left the thing. Your phone is great at being a phone, but what you may not realize is that your computer is also a really good phone, and you can switch between the two seamlessly, all with one number. Here's how. Your phone can do a lot of things that even your computer can't do, but in many ways your computer is actually better at being a phone than your little touch-friendly, pocketable device. You can send text messages with a full keyboard, make hands-free calls without swapping devices, and you never have to worry about reception. With a simple setup, you can seamlessly use either your phone or computer to place or answer calls and send or receive texts, so as long as you're home, you never have to pick your phone up to answer a call or text. The crux of this whole system is Google Voice, which acts as the perfect bridge between your phone and your computer. On its own, Google Voice is great, but combined with a few other services, extensions, and apps, it can be phenomenal, letting you use your computer for all the same telephony that you already use your phone for. If you haven't already signed up for Google Voice, sign up now, then come back and go through the steps below. You'll be glad you did. If you're outside of the US or don't want to switch to Google Voice, you have a few alternatives (which we'll mention as we go through the process), but they won't be quite as seamless. Lastly, you may want to grab yourself an external microphone for your computer. If you have one built-in, it'll work fine, but it won't sound quite as good as your phone will. It can be as simple as the small mic shown in the video above or as big as the photo on the right, which I have on a stand that swivels to the side of my desk when not in use. It isn't required, but it will make your calls sound a little bit better. You may or may not also want headphones to eliminate echo, though I haven't found this to be a huge problem as long as I keep the volume low. Step Zero: Sign Up for and Set Up Google Voice If you haven't already signed up for GVoice, you need to do that first. You can make your transition really easy by porting your number, so none of your friends have to learn a new number. You can also download the Google Voice app for Android or iOS, though jailbroken iOS users can also use this nifty tweak to get Google Voice support in the default Messages app. Of course, if you have a non-smartphone, Google Voice works great with that too. Step One: Set Up Calling from Your PC Now that you've got Voice ready to go, you're ready to get your computer in the mix. There are a ton of VOIP providers out there that let you make phone calls from your computer, but Google actually has one built-in to Gmail. Once you've got Google Voice up and running, you can head to Google Voice's settings and above your regular cellphone number, you should see an option for forwarding calls to Google Chat. Check that box, and make sure you're signed into Chat in Gmail. Whenever someone calls your number, both your cellphone and Gmail will ring. If you're in front of your computer, you can just pick the call right up from Gmail and use your microphone to talk. I'm not a huge fan of Gmail calling, if only because it requires me to be signed into Chat all the time and have Gmail open in a browser window whenever I'm home. If you feel the same way, you might try using reliable ol' Skype instead. It takes a bit more work to play nicely with Google Voice (and it'll cost you a few bucks a year), but once you set it up it will be very seamless. You can make calls right from your browser, and any time someone calls your number, both your cellphone and Skype will ring, so you can pick it up on your computer and talk to them with your mic. The last thing you may want to consider is a browser extension, like Google's Voice extension for Chrome or the unnoficial Google Voice extension for Firefox. You'll not only be able to see recent calls and texts right from your toolbar, but it'll also detect phone numbers on web pages and make them clickable. So, if you're on Yelp finding a restaurant to order some take out, you can just click on their phone number to call them on your computer right then and there. It doesn't get much more convenient than that. Step Two: Set Up Text Messaging From Your PC Texting is much more straightforward than calling. Essentially, whenever you're at home, you can send SMS messages right from Google Voice's webapp with no hassle. However, if you want to make the experience a little better, there are a few things you can do. Chrome users should definitely install the official Google Voice extension, which lets you view your inbox and send text messages without having to visit the webapp. You should also check out the GoogleVoiceGrowl user script if you're a Growl user, since it'll give you desktop notifications whenever you have a new message. Mac users should instead get GrowlVoice, which is a fantastic menu bar app that gives you both Growl notifications and quick access to your inbox. Alternatives to Google Voice Like we said before, Google Voice is by far the best way to make this system work. But, for those of you that don't want to use Google Voice (or can't), you still have a few options. There aren't any perfect Google Voice clones out there, but if we had to pick one replacement, it'd be PhoneBooth. Like Google Voice, you get a new number that you can forward to as many phones as you want, get transcribed voicemail, and connect to a VOIP phone like Skype to make calls from your computer. You won't be able to port your number or make international calls, unfortunately, and you only have a set number of minutes for the free service, but most people should be just fine with it. As far as text messages go, if you aren't a Google Voice user, you should check out DeskSMS for Android and jailbroken iPhone. DeskSMS allows you to send text messages right from your favorite IM client, saving you from using that tiny keyboard when you're sitting at your desk. That's all it takes. Once you're done, you should be rid of all the annoyances that come with a cellphone and have much more convenient texting and calling. Got any other tips for making the process smoother? Let us know about them in the comments. Title image remixed from DryIcons.

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