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GrandCentral Reborn As Google Voice

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the probably-should-try-that-out-again dept.

Some anonymous person wrote in to say that Google has relaunched and rebranded GrandCentral as "Google Voice." The article says it will "revolutionize telephones. It unifies your phone numbers, transcribes your voice mail, blocks telemarketers and elevates text messages to first-class communication citizens." Sadly, the voicemail didn't integrate very nicely w/ my phone back in the day, so I guess I should give it a shot.

9 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Can't wait by oodaloop · · Score: 5, Informative

    I signed up to be notified when it's available to new users.

    https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/

    --
    Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    1. Re:Can't wait by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Informative

      While that's cool I find the "alarm" function on my phone a bit easier...

      Probably more reliable too - SMS is like email - there's no guarantee in how long it'll take to get to the destination (or if it even gets there at all). The day you need your SMS-alarm to wake you up, is probably the day the SMS network gets slightly overloaded. (I've seen SMS' take days to arrive, and have heard of the oddball SMS duplication - where the same SMS was stuck in the system, and the recipient kept getting it twice an hour for 3 days straight).

  2. Pleasing Apple by MacColossus · · Score: 4, Informative

    Maybe Google gave it up for undisclosed cash to Apple since they are using the same term for a new type of multicore support in Snow Leopard. Eric Schmidt sits on Apple's board. Crazier things have happened.

    1. Re:Pleasing Apple by JustinOpinion · · Score: 4, Informative

      Maybe Google gave [up the term "GrandCentral"] for undisclosed cash to Apple since they are using the same term for a new type of multicore support in Snow Leopard

      I think this has more to do with branding. Google likes to put their name in products they take over. "GrandCentral" doesn't sound like a Google product. "Google Voice" does (and tells you roughly what it's all about). When Google bought Keyhole, they re-branded the product "Google Earth".

      In fact take a look at this list of Google acquisitions. Most of them were re-branded by Google, and most of the new names contain "Google" in them (with limited exceptions, like AdSense, which has a strong brand of its own).

      For something like YouTube, they didn't change the name since it already had a strong brand and following. But GrandCentral? It didn't have a huge following or mindshare. So rebranding it just makes sense. I doubt Apple had anything to do with it.

  3. Free features by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Last I heard all their features were free, but I kinda felt bad because I knew the ones I liked could disappear at any time because that was what they said the plan was after they left beta.
    All features would be free during the beta, and then they said the "core" ones would be free after that with the rest being paid.

  4. Re:Another so called "Revolution"? Yeah ok ... by LordKronos · · Score: 4, Informative

    Really? I didn't know that steam powered cassette based answerphones would let you listen in on a voicemail to your home line even though you were in the office. Like they always say...you learn something new every day.

    What I DO NOT want is a phone service that gives me a friggin "select from the following options" load of BS when I lift up the receiver

    Good news. If you had RTFA you would have read the part where it says this is optional.

  5. Re:Still can't port your existing number by DragonTHC · · Score: 3, Informative

    The whole point is to not have to give out your real number!

    I've been using grand central for about a year. I love it. It allows me to keep my cell number private.

    I also use the G1 Central app for android. It is the best solution out there.

    --
    They're using their grammar skills there.
  6. Re:Wish they would use ANI instead of CID by lefiz · · Score: 5, Informative
    I'm not quite sure why this is modded as funny, since CallerID and ANI ("Automatic Number Identification") are actually two separate elements of a call as noted above. ANI is a built in signaling component of SS7 that generally cannot be modified by the calling party. See definition here.

    Still, although ANI may not be "spoofable," it can be manipulated or uninformative. For example, any call placed from any phone in my office carries a general company ANI even though the call could be originated from any of hundreds of phone numbers owned by the firm. We also have off-premise extensions (OPXs) that connect to the office PBX via SIP. Calls placed from those OPXs have the same ANI as calls made from the physical office, which would be deleterious if a call was placed to 911 from one of these phone. (We have implemented a safety workaround for this, but the point still stands.)

  7. Re:GrandCentral is spam filtering for your phone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    " I was growing to hate that phone. We get maybe 2 legit calls on that phone a month, the rest are all telemarketers, a dozen a day sometimes, almost always between 6:00pm-9:00pm. It was driving me nuts.

    So why didn't you sign up with the Do Not Call Registry?

    Also, you can record the "sit" tones - the 3-tone "number not in service" tones that you hear - onto your answering machine, and the telemarketers predictive auto-dialer will hang up. As an added bonus, if someone calls you long-distance, they can still (on some systems) talk for free for a minute or two (any more than that and they'll get nailed for phone fraud, same as any other phone phreak).