There is a big fuss this week in all the places that track new phone services about Google Voice. Most of the buzz is positive but a few have noticed the negatives. First off, the service is actually only available to CURRENT subscribers to GrandCentral, the service Google bought two years ago which has been closed to new users ever since. But what nobody is saying is that it is actually only open to SOME of even those users. In other words, this is even more beta than most of Google’s offerings.

Second, there is actually nothing new at all in the ‘new’ service. Everything on offer is already available elsewhere. To be fair Google is making some services available for free for the first time (voicemail transcription for example) and is combining services in a good way. But there is nothing earthshaking here.

What does Google Voice really offer? The core of the service is unchanged – it is a system that gives you a new number that acts as a switchboard for all your calls. Give it out to everybody, then tell the service who friends, family, business, etc. calls are and give the service rules about how they can reach you. Family get the mobile phone every time, people you don’t know get voicemail every time, etc. You can also conference call on the fly, record calls, transfer calls and screen calls. There are new lower international rates (but no actual prices are yet given). In other words, Google is starting to catch up to the slew of existing rivals in the space, led by Skype (which already offers almost everything Google is planning, plus more – transcription is the only part missing).

In fact, nobody seems to have noticed that quite a lot of people are NOT going to want the new Google services. Think about it. Do you really want a transcribed copy of every phone call sitting on Google’s servers forever? Wiretapping laws? What wiretap?

More seriously, there are a lot of great uses for the service – and getting a transcription of selected phone calls would be a huge boon for many serious business calls – a straightforward record of agreements, etc. But it is far too early to tell if this service will work out in practice.