Google just announced today (or yesterday?) that you can now have Google Voice’s voicemail replace your cell phone’s voicemail.

http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/google-voice-with-your-existing-number.html

What this means is you can now have all of your voicemails handled by one service provider.  This feature only works with cell phones (most US carriers supported) but not landlines, VoIP or SIP phones yet.

I switched my iPhone voicemail over to Google Voice today for a trial period.  I’ll see if I like it and report back.  My first attempt wasn’t perfect – it took nearly four additional rings after I ignored a test call for Google Voice to pick up.  A total of eight rings is way too much for most callers to wait to leave a message.

One important thing to note – you will most likely have to pay airtime for the call while it is RINGING and inside of your Google Voice mailbox.  You’re not going to get something for free :).