The ScooterBlog

I was lucky enough recently to get a chance to try GrandCentral, which is now a Google property (seems like anything worth anything on the ‘net ends up in their hands at this point). The purpose of the app is very simple … it gives you a phone number that acts as a convergence of all of your other phone numbers (actually, a total of six, if you have that many). You use your same phones with this new number, and you have full control of everything.

On the surface, this seems like a solution waiting for a problem. What’s wrong with your current numbers, feature laden as they likely are? Well, they change. You may be trying a new service out (Skype or some other VoIP), or you work many different places (or live many different places). GrandCentral gives you that one constant number while every other number around you can change. This of course was a bigger deal before the days of phone number portability, but as the process isn’t foolproof (or necessarily easy) to do now, this provides a nice solution.

Having a constant phone number is really only the added benefit of what this does. The other nice thing? Complete call routing. When someone calls you, you can program the site to call as many (or as few) of your numbers as you would like, and it’s configurable all the way down to individual callers. The same goes for voice mail (which is all visual, like the iPhone) … you can have special messages for certain callers, groups, or one universal message as a whole. Oh yes, and when the telemarketers call? It has a spam filter which you can enable which will act like your line has been disconnected, you can send those callers straight to voicemail, or just filter their calls. In other words, you have full power of your phone, not the other way around.

You can even record phone calls (all legal … it plays a message noting this fact when you hit the button), great for customer service fiascos, and can also use a feature that allows you to switch phones (as in, different phone-number phones) mid call! If you get home and want to turn the cell phone off, you can easily swap the call to your home phone, problem solved.

The other pro for some cell phone users? When you use GrandCentral to make a call, since their service calls you, it’s always an incoming call (from your number). If you get free incoming calls, it’s a way to cut your cell phone usage WAY down. Have a MyFaves type setup? Add your GrandCentral number, get every call you make with it for free!

Surely, there must be a disadvantage somewhere, and there is. It takes a lot of setup, and someone who is not computer savvy is going to struggle with getting this setup. GrandCentral has great features that anyone can use, but it’s definitely positioned to the hardcore user who wants full control of everything phone wise. Thus, I love it, some people I know wouldn’t.