I’ve got a Grand Central phone number
Sep 8, 2007 Uncategorized
Okay this actually happened last week but I received an invitation from Google to participate in their private beta test for Grand Central.
If you’re not familiar with Grand Central, it’s Google’s newly acquired “one phone number for life” service and it’s FREAKING AWESOME!
I try not to get too hyped up about anything but this service honestly rocks. Basically GC lets me choose a new phone number in any location. Then, I link all my current phone numbers to my GC account. Next, I import my contacts into GC and give each one a category like, “Family”, “Work”, “Friends” or “Others”. Now I can create group-wide rules like, “route all calls from ‘work’ to my office phone” or “route all calls from ‘family’ to all my phones.”
After doing all this, I had my wife call my new number from her cell phone and guess what happened? My cell phone, work phone, and home phone all rang at the same time (give or take a second or two). When I picked up my cell phone, the others stopped ringing. And better yet, I can press “*” and my other phone will start ringing again. That way, I can transfer a call from…say…my cell phone to my home phone.
If an unrecognized caller calls my number, the system prompts them to say their name. Then my phone rings and gives me four options:
- Press “1″ to accept the call.
- Press “2″ to send it to voice-mail.
- Press “3″ to send it to voice-mail AND listen in (you can take the call at any moment).
- Press “4″ to block the call.
Got someone you really aren’t in the mood to talk to right now? Send ‘em to voice mail. (They won’t know if you rejected the call or if you just weren’t available to answer it.) This is also a great tool against telemarketers. If you get a call from a telemarketer, just block ‘em and they won’t be able to call again. (There’s even a nifty little setting where you can set specific callers to get an “I’m sorry, this number is no longer in service” message…great for ex-girlfriends.)
I’m loving this service and would recommend that everyone request an invitation. In fact, if you’re really persuasive in your comments, I might even share one of my invitations with you 
. Have a great day.
I’ve got a Grand Central phone number
Sep 8, 2007 Uncategorized
Okay this actually happened last week but I received an invitation from Google to participate in their private beta test for Grand Central.
If you’re not familiar with Grand Central, it’s Google’s newly acquired “one phone number for life” service and it’s FREAKING AWESOME!
I try not to get too hyped up about anything but this service honestly rocks. Basically GC lets me choose a new phone number in any location. Then, I link all my current phone numbers to my GC account. Next, I import my contacts into GC and give each one a category like, “Family”, “Work”, “Friends” or “Others”. Now I can create group-wide rules like, “route all calls from ‘work’ to my office phone” or “route all calls from ‘family’ to all my phones.”
After doing all this, I had my wife call my new number from her cell phone and guess what happened? My cell phone, work phone, and home phone all rang at the same time (give or take a second or two). When I picked up my cell phone, the others stopped ringing. And better yet, I can press “*” and my other phone will start ringing again. That way, I can transfer a call from…say…my cell phone to my home phone.
If an unrecognized caller calls my number, the system prompts them to say their name. Then my phone rings and gives me four options:
- Press “1″ to accept the call.
- Press “2″ to send it to voice-mail.
- Press “3″ to send it to voice-mail AND listen in (you can take the call at any moment).
- Press “4″ to block the call.
Got someone you really aren’t in the mood to talk to right now? Send ‘em to voice mail. (They won’t know if you rejected the call or if you just weren’t available to answer it.) This is also a great tool against telemarketers. If you get a call from a telemarketer, just block ‘em and they won’t be able to call again. (There’s even a nifty little setting where you can set specific callers to get an “I’m sorry, this number is no longer in service” message…great for ex-girlfriends.)
I’m loving this service and would recommend that everyone request an invitation. In fact, if you’re really persuasive in your comments, I might even share one of my invitations with you . Have a great day.
