Tue 2 Oct 2007
Now you can have one number of life…. a phone number that is not tied to a device or operator. It is tied to you. How can this happen? The answer is GrandCentral from Google.
For those who don’t know, Google has just acquired Central 4 months ago. I signed up for their service a few days after the acquisition. Unfortunately, the beta service has not been widely open. Today, I received an email from GrandCentral saying that I can now sign up to their service. 
Note that the service is still not publicly open yet; so you may not be able to sign up immediately.
What can we do with GrandCentral?
- One number. The first and most used feature is one number for life. Even if later you change your operator, you can keep your number. It’s yours forever.
- RingShare. It supports ringback tone, a feature that allows the caller listen custom sound that we choose.
- PhoneSpam. It is possible to block suspected spam callers.
- Greetings. You can record your personal voicemail greetings to your caller.
- Visual Voice mail. You can visit GrandCentral web site, http://m.grandcentral.com from your mobile device and check voice mail visually.
- and many more.
Bonus Links (other services from Google)
- Google and Your S60 Phones (Part I) - Google Web Services
- Google and Your S60 Phones (Part II) - Google SMS Service
- Google and Your S60 Phones (Part III) - YouTube
- Google and Your S60 Phones (Part IV) - GOOG-411
- Featured Freeware - Google Maps for Mobile
- Featured Freeware - GMail Application For Mobile
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October 3rd, 2007 at 2:57 am
Not being funny, but aren’t all these extra features, block callers etc, available on any symbian and windows mobile. And as for 1 number; in the UK, and I thought most of europe, there is a set time limit between a few days(eg. Italy) to a few weeks (eg. UK) that operators have to stick too when porting numbers between operators. As in, you always keep your number, there is laws allowing for it with time limits to stop u getting mucked about. Failing that u can use skype with a redirection to any mobile.
I am not sure what the situation is in the USA though?
October 3rd, 2007 at 6:45 am
You are right that some of the features are already part of Symbian OS phones. However, one number for life is for sure not available. Again, you can use other services, such as Skype or Truphone (http://www.s60tips.com/2007/09/06/featured-freeware-truphone/) to get call forwarding.
I believe ringback tones is not available on Symbian OS phones either (unless the operator support it).
October 4th, 2007 at 11:33 am
I think this seems like a great feature that google is implementing.
tho is it only for people in the united states atm? i mean i can reserve a number but will you have to be located in the states to use this?
plus i want to add that i really like this blog, alot
October 4th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
@Slipurson: You are right. Currently only US number is available. Google mentioned that they’re expanding to international number.
For me, although I live in Canada, I have no problem using GrandCentral; but this is because US and Canada share the same prefix number (+1).
Also note that you can forward your call from GrandCentral to Gizmo…