Justin Brady doesn’t see much need for a landline telephone anymore.

When he found out about Google Inc.’s free Google Voice service in 2009, he didn’t hesitate to sign up.

“It’s a pretty convenient little service, and it’s hard to argue with free, right?” said Brady, owner of Test of Time Design LLC.

He’s not the only small business owner in Des Moines to find value in the service. Google Voice allows users to sign up for a phone number that can be used either through their computer online or through their mobile phone. Small business owners say they have found a variety of uses for the service, and some have used it to replace a traditional landline hookup for their business.

Google Voice essentially works as a switchboard. When somebody calls the Google number, the call can be re-routed to multiple mobile phones. Businesses have also found use in the system’s features, such as the ability to turn the line off during non-business hours and the ability to leave customized voice messages for different clients.

As someone wearing many hats, Brady said he has found the service to be especially useful when he’s on the go. He doesn’t necessarily want to give out his cellphone number to clients, but wants somebody at his business to be easily accessible at all times during working hours. With Google Voice, the call goes through to his cellphone and the cellphones of his contractors. If one person can’t answer, chances are someone else can.

“Because we’re working remotely, and I’m all over the place, not everything can be handled by a centralized brick-and-mortar location,” Brady said. “It’s just convenient for me that way. It’s not sending people to some dead voicemail box somewhere in a closet. It’s always an active line that’s going to a person, whether they can answer it at that very second or not.”

Others who run small businesses have similar stories.

Nathan Wright, founder of Lava Row Inc., started using the service about a year ago when his company expanded to three employees. It made sense to have a centralized line for the business, but not to pay for a landline.

“Our use of it is pretty simple, and it’s really just to solve a need of being reachable, especially if I’m in a meeting or someone is speaking when someone calls, then one of the other two of us can pick up,” Wright said.

As owners of a small business, Muffins ‘n Such LLC, based out of their home, Jonathan and Amy Kort set up a Google Voice account so they wouldn’t have to give out their personal cellphone numbers for the business.

Nabeel Meghji, principal of Heartland 2 Africa LLC, said his five-person organization has utilized Google Voice as part of the larger free “suite of products” that Google offers for small businesses, including its calender service and its documents service that includes products similar to those offered on Microsoft Office – except for free.

The only disadvantage he has found is there is no way to transfer calls. Though the call goes through to everyone on staff, the only way to forward a phone call is to physically hand off the phone.

Still, “I think it has a lot of value for small business, especially when you have to keep your costs low and also make it so it brings value to you,” Meghji said. “The whole portability part is really good for us.”

The service is free for now, though it’s unclear how much it could cost in the future. Regardless, Brady anticipates continuing to use it even if he has to pay.

“It gives us complete control and flexibility over the phone that no one has been able to do before,” he said.

It’s unclear how if Google Inc. will charge for the service in the future, but currently Google Voice is free to set up; there are minimal fees for some features, such as a customized phone number.

Why Businesses use it

• CUSTOMER SERVICE
Businesses can have the number routed to multiple lines so that when a client calls the central number, whoever is connected to that number will get a ring on their mobile phone. “If my customers call the work line, they can always get a person, whether it’s me or somebody else,” said Justin Brady of Test of Time Design LLC.

• PORTABILITY
“You don’t have to be physically at your office or at your desk to take voicemails and phone calls,” said Nabeel Meghji of Heartland 2 Africa LLC. For small business owners on the move, this can make life a lot easier, Brady added.

• BEAT THE SYSTEM
If a user’s regular mobile phone contract charges for outgoing calls but allows incoming for free, Google Voice can help circumvent the system. When making an outgoing call, “you can do it through the website or you can call directly through your phone. If you set it up right, Google will call you, and if you answer, it will call the person and connect you both,” Brady said.

• TURN IT OFF
The line can be shut off during non-working hours. That way, business calls don’t have to interrupt evening plans, and clients can’t call at odd hours of the night. “One of the reasons we picked it is we didn’t want to give out our personal phone numbers for our business,” said Amy Kort of Muffins ‘n Such LLC.

• VOICEMAIL
Google will roughly transcribe voicemails into text files that can be quickly read online, though users say the feature has a hard time accurately transcribing the words. • CUSTOMIZATION

Users can set up different voicemail greetings for different callers, giving businesses the ability to customize greetings for specific clients.