Now that I’ve found my Google Voice, mind if I sing a little tune?

Any day now, Google Voice — an application that integrates voice mail, phone service and e-mail — will be released to the general public. As someone who has tested Voice since its introduction, here’s my advice to travelers: Get your number as soon as you can.

Google Voice is a personal communication hub. Incoming calls can be routed to a phone, cell phone or transcribed and sent as an e-mail. (The predecessor to Voice was, appropriately, called Grand Central.)

The application is so feature-rich, I’m not even going to bother trying to describe everything it does — except to say that like almost everything else Google does, it’s free.

For example, here’s how to route calls to your phones.

To say that Voice has the potential to change the way you think of the phone would be no understatement.

The ability to check your voice mail messages from any PC (something that used to be the exclusive domain of corporations with million-dollar IT budgets) is liberating. You can also screen your phone calls or send them straight to voice mail, which can be really useful when you’re on the road with an iffy cell phone connection or out of the country, trying to avoid usurious roaming charges.

But my favorite Google Voice feature is the ability to transcribe your voice mails into text. It is also my least favorite.

Let’s just say the technology is less than perfect. When it works, it’s a beautiful thing. When it doesn’t, it’s hilarious.

Here are a few messages that landed in my “in” box recently:

hi chris my name is neil i’m a freak the return your page i was gonna send you an email but i don’t think i have an actor

Nothing kinky going on here. The message from Neil said he was a frequent reader of my page, but that he doesn’t have an accurate e-mail address for me.

hi christopher this is mary recruitment hide emailed you back on april the twentieth about prances cruises

No, Mary’s last name isn’t “recruitment” and there’s no prances cruise line.

hey chris it’s in the that i just want to give you head

Actually, that was from a colleague who was calling with the completely honorable intention of giving me a heads-up on a story I was expecting.

I like Google Voice for the way it makes travel easier, but I think I’ll keep it for the laughs.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

Tagged as: APPLICATION, GOOGLE VOICE, PHONE, TRANSCRIBE

4 comments