Google is launching Google Voice, a telecommunication service that was born out of Grand Central (which Google acquired almost two years ago).  As one of the beta testers of GC, I have been enjoying the free service which aims to simplify your communication by creating one phone number to connect to everything.

The basic idea around GrandCentral is one phone number for all your phones, for life. As we change jobs, homes and cell phones, there are a lot of phone numbers to keep track of, and keeping everyone up to date with your most recent phone number...

There are many excellent features, such as filtering calls based on contact lists, sending telemarketers directly to voicemail, SMS-forwarding, and even voicemail transcription:

The challenge with using Google Voice is similar to the problem of adopting any great new technology services: getting people to change their old habits.  Does Google Voice offer enough value that users will go through all of their contacts and change their phone number (from their personal cell, for example) to a new service?  Try it out and let me know what you think: 609-NIGHTS-9