Google Voice and MMS. Those two words have never went together. They’ve always been separate entities. Even when Google and Sprint introduced their plan for integration, there was little MMS ability which many users (in America at least) still use on a daily basis. However, that all changes today.
Google has announced that T-Mobile will start to allow MMS messages sent to their users’ Google Voice number. When a T-Mobile user sends an MMS to a Google Voice user, the message will be forwarded to that user’s Gmail inbox. I know what you’re thinking. I agree completely. It still isn’t what we want, but it is a slow, glacial start. Why do I say Glacial? Well, dear reader, Sprint and Google introduced that feature back on October 14th, 2011. 2 years later, and we have another carrier on board. Bravo, Google.
You see, that is 2 of the 4 big carriers. You see why I italicized the word allow up there? Well, that’s because the carrier has to sign off on allowing MMS to be sent to a Google Voice number. We still have 2 more (AT&T and Verizon), and God help us if we ever get those two on board. (What about MVNOs?) Sure, this is definitely great news, but by the time the largest carriers in America allow users this feature, will MMS/SMS still rule the Americas?
By the way, there’s still absolutely no mention of Google Voice going international so this is still strictly a U.S. only feature.
Source: Alex Wiesen
About Derek Lockovich
I work in Network Services. I love music and play a little guitar. Android is my favorite mobile OS, and it always will be as long as Google keeps pushing out fantastic products. The Nexus 4 is my smartphone and will soon be upgraded to a Nexus 5.