Gizmodo
The GrandCentral service gives you a way to ring all your phones (up to six) from a single number. When a caller dials the free number GrandCentral gives you, all your phones ring and it's up to you to decide which one you want to answer. If you're at home, pick it up with your landline, and if you're out, pick it up with your cell.
Other cool features: caller and visual ID, listening to people as they leave voicemails, MP3 ringtones for the callers, call blocking (YES!), call recording, and voicemail storage. The free trial only gives you 100 minutes a month, and it's $14.99 for the premium version. Best yet, you can pick your own area code, so you can establish a presence in various parts of the country.
Product Page [GrandCentral via Lifehacker]
Comments
Far out. That is a pretty awesome idea.
I'm sure they'll let you switch destination phones when you lose your phone, change provider or staff too.
Magic.
Why this would be of interest to Gizmodo readers: Since they own at least six cellphones apiece already, they switch them to Vibrate, place strategically, and have them all ring at once.
I suppose the only real problem with this plan is that, though small, cell phones are not yet small enough.
Oh please.... MCI offered one number service 10 years ago. So did AT&T. Both shut them down as unprofitable.
How do I know? I used to work for the company that made the system that did the one number service.
That company is also out of business...
There's a ton of (small) companies out there that still offer the service. (Ureach comes to mind.)
It's great idea until you realize you don't need it. You just have to tell people your cell phone number, and IT follows you around. (Not a bunch of phone calls.)
Wonderful! I just moved and would've gone cell-only, except my apartment building requires that the intercom system be connected to a local number. I kept my old cell phone number so that everyone (especially people who were helping me move) would be able to contact me, so I'm paying $20/month for Qwest to lease me a line for the sole purpose of working with my intercom system. Now I can have a local alias to my cell phone. Even $15 a month is cheaper.
Dufus: just because a company sold blew it doesn't mean it won't work. There's more to a company than the product. The telcos most likely killed it off because it wasn't profitable enough, not because it wasn't profitable.
There's a good chance this will succeed. Indeffinately free is a nice feature.
You know, the 100 minutes a month could actually have some intereting uses as a screening system. Much the way I use forwarding emails to avoid spam, I could definitely see people (women) using this as safty mechanism. They could give out there phone number, but if the person turns out to be a stalking freak, you just kill the forwarding service for the number you gave him, while keeping your normal, real number.
what about outgoing calls? the recieving end caller id will not display your one number?!?!
vonage has the same deal i use it and love my phone service 14.99 plus tax 500 minutes plus make up your number if you don't like the one you have. check it out yourself!
I just read my own post and I sound illiterate as hell. Appologies to anyone who suffered through that.
See what happens when I don't get coffee?
I use most of these features (especially multiple phone rings, a.k.a. "SimulRing") with my Vonage line. It's really nice to hand out one number to people and have them able to reach me whereever.
This service seems awfully expensive at $14.99 with unlimited minutes. Vonage, for reference, is $14.99 for 500 minutes or $24.99 unlimited, plus you get a phone line. No call blocking, though.
It was great until I realized the only number available when I enter my zip is at least 500 miles away in Broaddus, Texas. (no numbers available for my area code)
I have some invites available.
Start a discussion:
Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?