Google Voice vs Pinger for PC (Windows 7)

Question

I have a buddy who is going through a very rough time financially. He currently does not have a phone but does have a laptop with wifi access. I have been looking for a way to help him get a free or very cheap working phone number that he can use from his computer until he gets back on his feet. He needs to be able to make and receive calls and texts and needs voicemail, preferably for free.

So, from what I have found, Pinger and Google Voice should both get the job done. I haven't used Google Voice in years and have only used Pinger on a mobile device, so I am unsure of which service would be better on a laptop (running Windows 7) or if there are other services out there that would top either of them.

If anybody has any experience with these services or any similar services, I would appreciate any advice that you could give regarding the pros and cons of each and ultimately which one would be ideal for this situation.

Thanks in advance; I look forward to reading your responses.

(I really have no idea which tags to include, so if you read this and know of more appropriate tags, please edit this post to include them)

Answer 1

I am a avid Google voice user and would recommend it. Of course this would all be based on the assumption he already uses gmail (or is willing to). You can call from either your gmail or Google voice interface, texting and VM will be handled from your Google Voice interface. In Google voice check the setting that sends calls to your Google chat and it will ring the PC when the Google voice # is called. This is a seamless solution, when he does get a phone he can still have his outbound calls show his Google voice number (smart phone needed), and inbond to the new phone will be under the Google voice number as well. You can get all this for the low low price of free with a PC and internet connection.