My brother in Jersey has absolutely horrible cell service in his home, and he only has his cell. Many times he will go outside for a smoke while we chat as I have trouble understanding him as the phone breaks up. He does have an Android powered smart phone, so I decided to start testing with some VOIP apps, as then the calls would go through the internet instead, hopefully bypassing bad signal. I tried a few others that worked well, but with a short delay or the app itself a bit bloated.

This morning I decided to sign up for Google Voice. It's easy to join as it's connected to your Gmail account. You can port your number, but I chose the option to give me a new number within my area code. It called my cell to verify that I was the owner, and then gave me the new number. I then installed the app on my cell, and configured it which was quite easy. Now when I choose to call someone through my contact list, it asks if I want to use the regular cell or Google Voice. I tested several times and it works great. Not sure if I will keep it though. But for my brother, or anyone else in an area with bad reception, but a good internet connection - this may be a good answer.

And it's all free! And not that I would utilize it, but you can receive voice mails and texts on your "new number" too, which will then be able to be read or listened to from your phone, and from logging into Google Voice on a computer.