GrandCentral: The New Way to Use Your Phones

GrandCentral: The New Way to Use Your Phones

Great article in the New York Times this week about Grand Central.com (how is it that domain was not already taken?) personal phone number service, who's motto is "One Number For Life". Click on title for link to Grand Central.

At first I thought this service would be superfluous for me, since I only have one number, my mobile. Yet as a traveler, who might occasionally use VoIp, or foreign sim cards, I realize this could simplify things even for me.

David Pogue lists some of the features offered by Grand Central:
Be warned, however: GrandCentral offers a huge list of additional features that aren’t so simple. If you’re not careful, GrandCentral can turn into a full-blown hobby. For example:

CALLER NAMING Every GrandCentral caller is announced by name when you answer the phone. (“Call from Ethel Murgatroid.”)

How does it know the name? Sometimes Caller ID supplies it. GrandCentral also knows every name in your online address book, which can import your contacts from Yahoo, Gmail or your e-mail program.

Callers not in these categories are asked to state their names the first time they call. On subsequent calls, GrandCentral recognizes them.

LISTEN IN For what may be the first time in cellphone history, you can listen to a message someone is leaving, just as you can on a home answering machine.

Your phone rings and displays the usual Caller ID information. You answer it. But before you can even say “Hello,” GrandCentral’s recording lady tells you the caller’s name, and then offers four ways to handle the call: “Press 1 to accept, 2 to send to voice mail, 3 to listen in on voice mail, or 4 to accept and record the call.” Your callers have no clue that all this is going on; they hear only the usual ringing sound.

If you press 3, the call goes directly to voice mail — but you get to listen in. If you feel that the caller deserves your immediate attention, you can press * to pick up the call.

This subtle feature can save you time, cellular minutes and, in certain cases of conflict-avoidance, emotional distress.

RECORD THE CALL Hitting 4 during a call begins recording it; GrandCentral then treats the recording as a voice mail message. Here again, you can immortalize the historic calls of your life, or just create a replayable record of driving directions. GrandCentral notes that laws in some states require both parties to know that a call is being recorded.

RINGBACK MUSIC This bizarre little feature is evidently popular with young cellphone users in Europe, but is still rare in the United States. It lets you replace the ringing sounds the caller hears while waiting for you to answer (what Lily Tomlin would describe as “one ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingys”) with music—in GrandCentral’s case, any MP3 file of your choice.

This does imbue your own personal phone with a certain corporate, Muzakish feel. But hey — who wouldn’t want to seem more European?

CUSTOMIZE GREETINGS Control freaks, rejoice. You can actually record a different voice mail greeting for each person in your address book: “Hi, sugarcheeks” for your sweetheart; “Can’t take your call right now, I’m out looking for a better job” for your mother.

You can also specify, on a per person basis, which of your phones ring, which ringback music plays and whether the call goes directly to voice mail.

Finally, you can tell GrandCentral to answer certain people’s calls with the classic three-tone “The number you have dialed is no longer in service” message. Telestalkers, bill collectors and ex-lovers come to mind. Never has technology been so deliciously evil.

SWITCH LINES Anytime during a call, you can press the * key to make all of your phones ring again, so that you can pick up on a different phone in midconversation, unbeknownst to the person on the other end. For example, if you’re heading out the door, you can switch a landline call to your cellphone — or as you arrive home, a cell call to a landline, in order to save airtime minutes.

PHONE SPAM FILTERS GrandCentral maintains a database of telemarketer numbers that is constantly updated by reports from its own subscribers. Your phones don’t even ring when a telemarketer in that database tries to reach you.

QUICK CHANGES With a quick click at GrandCentral.com, you can direct all calls to voice mail when you don’t want to be disturbed; direct all calls to a new, temporary number (like a hotel); or prevent your home line from ringing during work hours.

WEB BUTTONS You can install a “call me” button on your Web site — a great, free way to field calls from your eBay, MySpace or dating-service Web page without actually posting your phone number.

I would encourage you to read the whole article. It is excellent!

This is definitely something every nomad needs.