Tuesday, August 27, 2013

T-Mobile now allows MMS messaging to Google Voice users

It has been an extremely long and slow road for Google Voice. Google first launched Google Voice about three and a half years ago in March 2009, and since then has been constantly working with carriers to add support for MMS as well as bringing Voice to international markets. Well, today Voice is getting a bit closer on the MMS front with better support from T-Mobile.

As yet, the only way for a Google Voice user to receive an MMS was if it were sent by a Sprint user. Supposedly, if a Sprint user were to send an MMS to a Google Voice user, it would be routed to Gmail. Of course, in practice it hasn't always work that well. Today, a Google employee, Alex Wiesen, has said that the same support is coming to messages originating from T-Mobile users. The Google+ post said:

We’re happy to announce this week another step towards improving MMS support for Google Voice. T-Mobile has allowed MMS messages from their users to be sent to Google Voice users. Similar to MMS messages from Sprint users, these messages will appear in Gmail, and you can be notified of the message via SMS. We continue to work with other carriers to broaden support for messaging and bring MMS to Hangouts. More good things are coming!

Of course, all of this is talking about MMS being received by Google Voice users and not on a way for GV users to send an MMS, which is currently impossible. Perhaps Google is waiting until Verizon and AT&T add support for the service before doing so. It may even be that Google can't really add support for sending MMS until those carriers are on board.

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