Many of us who use Google Voice have been wondering if Google even remembers they own this product. We have not been forgotten. In fact, here is mention of Google's plans from last spring:
https://plus.google.com/106636280351174936240/posts/DG6h32BWaQW
With more recent changes in Hangouts, they are slowly merging the two. There was an update describing some changes at the end of October:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+NikhylSinghal/posts/MjyncJEbzxK
In May of 2014, Google is locking down Voice and barring 3rd party apps from accessing it. This means that GrooVeIP, Spare Phone, and Talkatone, as well as other 3rd party apps, will probably cease to function at that time. This is bad news for people who make use of these services. They never worked very well for me anyway. Skype was better, and you can still use Skype as a workaround because it does not access the Voice app directly. However, I still feel like the most reliable solution is to use the T-Mobile prepaid $30 plan and add a few extra dollars if you are going to use more than 100 minutes.
The good news is that Google Voice will start supporting MMS sometime in the next few months. In fact, T-Mobile already supports it. I shared a photo via messaging by texting from my cell phone number to my Voice number, and I received a text message in Google Voice saying, "MMS Received," and then the actual picture showed up in my Gmail. This is a great improvement for me. I have in the past had friends complain about not being able to text me a photo. Now they can!
Speaking of Skype, I will probably be ordering a Nexus 5 in the next month or so. I really want LTE support, and the better battery life. Once I have it, I will give Skype another try. I am hoping that with the LTE connection, the new phone will be able to perform well with Skype. Right now I don't know if T-Mobile even has decent LTE coverage in my area. But we shall see...
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