GrandCentral - One Free Phone Number For Life

Published 9/30/07 (Modified 3/9/11)
By MoneyBlueBook

I think Google's GrandCentral slogan should be straight out of the Lord of the Rings - One Number to rule them all, One Number to find them, One Number to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. Well I guess everything except for the darkness part. :)

If you've been trying to find a way to organize multiple phone numbers or just want an extra free number from a particular area code, then you might want to take a look at what GrandCentral has to offer. When you sign up for a free GrandCentral account, you are provided a free custom phone number that is not tied to a particular cell phone plan or location. The idea is that you use this one phone number as your primary phone number even when you switch jobs or move.

When someone calls you on the number you created through GrandCentral, the incoming call is routed to any one of your phones. The call can even be set to go directly to voicemail, where messages are saved for as long as you want.

Use It As a Separate Business Number

I'm currently running a home business and I use my GrandCentral phone number as my business line. For my purposes it's a lot easier and more cost efficient than buying another phone or paying for an expanded phone plan. Business calls are sent to my GrandCentral number but it can still ring my regular cell phone. The caller ID setting will let me know that it is a business call and I can obviously handle the call in the appropriate business fashion. I like how GrandCentral offers many customizable functions. If you don't want to handle certain calls, you can set it so that those calls are automatically send to voicemail.

Neat GrandCentral Functions

Some of the cool and interesting features that your GrandCentral phone number account includes:

1. The ability to re-route different Caller ID's to different sources. If you want business calls re-routed differently, you can have it forwarded to a landline for example. If you want personal calls sent to your cell phone, you can do that too.
2. A voice mail box that will save your messages forever. This is handy because many regular phone carriers usually delete messages after a certain amount of time has passed.
3. An online WebCall button that you can put on your website and have phone calls routed to your personal phone line.
4. The ability to listen in and interrupt a voicemail as it is being recorded by the caller.
5. A call recording function that allows you to save your actual phone conversations.

You Have to Receive A Grand Central Invite Email to Join

GrandCentral currently still remains in beta test mode. Everything works fine but you can only join if you receive a Grand Central invitation link from a current user. I wish I could give GrandCentral invitations out but there are too many people that would want one and not enough invitations to go around. My suggestion is to buy one from eBay. You can easily get one for less than a dollar.