Making Free Phone Calls With Google's GrandCentral

andrewmin writes with an enthusiastic pitch for Google's closed-beta call-aggregation service called GrandCentral, for which we non-beta-testers can at least reserve a number. Specifically, he's using GrandCentral in combination with Gizmo5 to make free VoiP calls. Excerpted: "Most of the time, I'm at my computer. Or near it. And if I had an internet device like a Nokia N810 or an iPod Touch, I'd have it with me 24/7. And since most of the time I'm at a place where there's a WiFi network, it makes sense for me to use VoIP rather than a regular phone line. ... I'm talking about making and receiving calls that are completely free (that is, $0.00/minute) forever (that is, no 30-day demo) for as much as you want (that is, no 30-day trial or five hour/week limit)."

Comments

VoIP+WiFi=mobile phone?

[Hunter-Killer]

And since most of the time I'm at a place where there's a WiFi network, it makes sense for me to use VoIP rather than a regular phone line. As someone who hates cell phones, I used a softphone (reaching back to an Asterisk server) on my laptop for a few months. Anytime I used WiFi outside my house (campus network or coffee-shop style coverage) I had nothing but problems: garbled communication, one side of the conversation not hearing anything, etc. Almost completely unusable--you know service is bad when it makes cell phone quality look fantastic in comparison.

Anyway, Grand Central may be a replacement for a land-line phone, but I think Andrew is being a bit optimistic about the adequacy of using it as a "mobile" phone.

Re:VoIP+WiFi=mobile phone?

[seidojohn]

This apparently isn't designed to replace cell phones or land lines. From what I understand from TFA:

1. Give GrandCentral all your phone numbers (Home, Cell, Work, etc.)
2. Tell GrandCentral when you will be around each phone
3. Tell all your contacts you have a new phone number, and give them your GrandCentral one
4a. Someone calls at a time which you told GrandCentral you would be at work, so your work phone rings.
4b. Someone calls when you're on your lunch break, out of the office, and your cell phone rings.
4c. Someone calls when you're at home, and both your cell phone and land-line ring.
4... Repeat for whatever configuration you have set up.

From TFA:

With GrandCentral, you get:
All your calls through a single number. Add your other numbers to your GrandCentral account and then make your own rules for how and when your phones ring.
All your voicemails in one place, saved for as long as you want. If you don't answer a GrandCentral call, your callers will be sent to your GrandCentral voicemail. You can then check messages by calling your GrandCentral number, by logging into your account, or by checking the GrandCentral notification email.
Handy features that work the same way across all your phones:
*ListenIn as callers leave you a message
* Record calls on the fly so you never have to fumble for a pen again
* Switch phones mid-call without your caller knowing
* Block annoying callers at will
* Record custom greetings for different caller or groups of callers
Later in TFA:

To use GrandCentral, you just need a touch-tone phone and a Flash-enabled browser. Visit the About Adobe Flash Player page to find your version of Flash or confirm that your already downloaded it.
Also this:

Note: GrandCentral won't charge you for these calls; however, if you use a cell phone, regular cell phone airtime charges may apply
Sorry for so many quotes, but if people won't look at the website they're commenting on, perhaps they'll read this... ;)

Re:VoIP+WiFi=mobile phone?

[a.ameri]

As part time Asterisk developer let me second the parent.

Not only VoIP, but any real-time application is useless on nearly all current implementations of 802.x due to two major reseason:

* Response time is too high irrespective of bandwidth. Lag is not acceptable in situations where you can't buffer. Your YouTube playback will not suffer because even a tiny buffer can eliminate the problem, but you can't buffer RT applications.

* Most importantly, the concept of QoS, while theoretically feasible on 802.x, is completely absent from the current implementation. I have heard but I'm yet to see a real Wifi device with QoS. Without QoS, VoIP sucks.

And then, there is also the issue of enhanced emergency services compliance, or what's in US called E911. In Australia where I live, most VoIP providers either completely block calling '000' (our emergency service number) or require you to submit a physical address for your static IP and REMAIN in that location.

To sum it all up, if you're holding your breath for VoIP on Wifi, dream on. I've tested various VoIP clients (from the top of the market Siemens and Snom IP phones with Wifi to softphones like Counter path, etc) using various VoIP servers (Asterisk, Cisco, Nortel, etc.) using various UDP protocols (SIP, AIX2, H.323, Skinny etc.) and it DOESN'T WORK(TM).

Until we have full end-to-end QoS support on wireless networks, or something like WiMAX which promises to drastically lower response time and lag, VoIP on wireless will remain a toy for geeks to play with and nothing more.

Re:Not available outside the US ...

[urcreepyneighbor]

So much for 95% of the world ... So fucking what?!

I don't go to Japanese sites expecting freebies from Japanese companies for my American ass.

If it is in Google's interest to offer this product/service to <insert your country>, they will.

It's like the Japanese video game market. A ton of crap gets dumped in the Japanese market, because most of the companies are a) in Japan, b) it's cheaper and easier to test a new game in a local market - before potentially pissing away money on a failure.

Re:FreeWorldDialup, Asterisk and IPKall

[mrbluze]

http://www.freeworlddialup.com/ [freeworlddialup.com] Gives anyone a free phone number forever, globally, and you can dial to and from most VOIP services.

That just doesn't have the same feeling of excitement as getting up at 2am in the pouring rain, going to a telephone booth with a 555 timer chip and piezo, making freaking calls with your computer next to you plugged into the 12V socket of your car, then posting abusive messages anonymously on your favourite BBS. And all for free, man!

Re:Damn it!

[Jardine]

Yeah, but how about 876-5309 ?

PEnnsylvania 6-5000. And get off my lawn.

Re:Only Free?!? PAY US for info harvested from cal

[quickgold192]

Gmail *does* pay you - with a free email account.