VOIP etc > Voice Over IP - VOIP > VOIP Tech Chat > So - Describe how you are USING GrandCentral...

So - Describe how you are USING GrandCentral...

I ported my SR household number to Vonage. So far so good, except it's lacking most of the calling features of SR...namely, selective call blocking. The number can be forwarded to GrandCentral, but GC doesn't relate the incoming caller ID with numbers in the address book and, hence, all the cool features of GC don't work with forwarded calls (at least from Vonage). To get around this, I've given my new GC number only to family and close friends. Any calls coming in from Vonage are considered "other" and will go straight to voice mail, while the people I've given the GC number to will be forwarded to two places: my cell and my new MagicJack, which rings on my home cordless phone system. My plan is after my two free months with Vonage are up, to downgrade to the $14.99 plan and use the MJ for most calls...which will come out cheaper than the $24.99 Vonage plan. I'm hoping GC will eventually allow number porting...in which case I'll port my Vonage number. If that doesn't happen in the next few months, I'll start giving out the GC number to everyone and eventually phase out Vonage. I want to keep Vonage around at least long enough to feel good that GC and MJ will be viable long-term (not that Vonage is necessarily viable long-term, but I like having options). I still have the Vonage router set up so that I can quickly hook a phone to it if needed, and plug in the fax machine on the rare occasions that I need to send a fax. (I also still have my SR router set up with a phone hooked to it, just out of curiosity re when it will actually stop working.)

I think GC is totally cool...one great thing I discovered last night is the mobile app that gives you "visual voice mail" and lets you control everything from your cell phone. It's really nice to have all my voice mail in one place...I'm going to test forwarding my business numbers there as well.

reply to ImSeeker
Is there any way to setup Grandcentral to use a traditional answering machine? My wife wants to keep it.

reply to ImSeeker
Used to have SR. Now I'm using MagicJack and GrandCentral. The Grandcentral number is forwarded to my MJ. I've had an answering machine on my SR account telling people that my number has changed and giving them my new Grandcentral number, which I plan on having for a long time.

Domestic calls are free with MJ. For international, I'm using OneSuite.

I also use GC to ring my cell phone when I'm out.

reply to ImSeeker
Grand Central to MagicJack and Gizmo Project

Two incoming lines, one outgoing with unlimited long distance and can change providers at anytime.

$40/year
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Vote for Ron Paul in the Republican Primaries

Well I now have a MJ and the nearest was a Vegas # so I took a GC # for a local Salt Lake # and I know MJ will soon have local #'s available, but school districts and that kinda look at ya funny when you give them a long distance # for a home phone # but I will now keep the GC number as my permenant number for this reason as we are teaching our kids ages 4 and 5 to remember our phone # and we just taught them our sunrocket and with GC "fingers crossed" we can keep this number forever..... if we move ect... get screwed by another voip (Teleblend)...... I will be keeping Teleblend but I like the idea of having a # to keep forever without porting and just forwarding so that's why I went with GC and if I can port my teleblend # to MJ I will cuz it's such an ez # ***-7777 so I hope they will port soon

reply to ImSeeker
I use a very simple setup for GC as well. The three things I like most about GC are: 1) Same phone number forever theory; 2) Voice mail for multiple numbers all in one place; and 3) One number to ring all my phones.

After the Sun imploded I just had GC forward to my cell phone and used Vosky with Skype for outgoing calls. I soon found out Skype isn't reliable enough for me and when I learned of Net2Phone's Voiceline service and their Sun implosion deal I jumped onboard. (I've been a net2phone customer for years. Before I learned of Voiceline I was planning on going with MJ as soon as they added more area codes.)

So now I'm back to normal, as I was before the Sun imploded. I still only give out my GC number, and it rings to my N2P and cell phone numbers. I have voice mail on N2P and the cell phone disabled so my voice mail all comes through GC. And since the GC I give out never changed, this whole thing was basically seemless to callers.

said by LisainNC:

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The number can be forwarded to GrandCentral, but GC doesn't relate the incoming caller ID with numbers in the address book

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said by LisainNC:

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I think GC is totally cool

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said by ice5428:

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Is there any way to setup Grandcentral to use a traditional answering machine?

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said by dpete5:

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I took a GC # for a local Salt Lake #

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reply to ImSeeker
Since I didn't use my sunrocket phone too much except for voicemail, grandcentral is turning out to replace it pretty well. I'm doing the grandcentral plus gizmoproject plan right now. I have free incoming calls, voicemail, and toll-free calling with no monthly fee. I added $10 to my gizmoproject account for callout minutes at 1.5 cpm. I modified the dialplan in my AC-211 ATA to map 911 to the 7 digit emergency number in my area. Since I have a cell phone, this is mainly to help in the odd case that somebody is visiting and dials 911. I am also putting labels on the phones with my address and phone number. The only problem with this whole scheme is that calling out via gizmoproject shows the gizmoproject number and not the grandcentral number on callerID. I could pay gizmoproject to remedy this, but I don't think it's a big deal for now.

what did you change to the dialplan to be able to map 911 to the emergency number?
I also am using gizmo project with grandcentral and the ac-211.

thanks

reply to ImSeeker
I use Grandcentral and Gizmoproject, I love the fact, from my address book in Grandcentral, I can click a name to call and I can take the call on my PC w/Gimzo for free, I got that tip from another poster here on BBR. I also just signed up for Yahoo messenger Phone out, I put $10 on it for the 1 cent calls to the US and overseas. So far the calls are clear.

reply to jwalker
This is my current dialplan string on my AC-211-SR
with gizmoproject:

(>#|1xxxxxxxxxx|p(411)18883733|r(911)18569831111|*x.T|xx.T|**)

It maps 411 to 1-888-free-411 by using prefixing (somebody else suggested that as a way of saving a few characters in the dialplan string). It maps 911 to the 11 digits of my local emergency call center. As I alluded to in my post above, the downside to this 911 method is that the call center does not automatically get my address and callback number. That's why I'm putting labels on the handsets in my house. I haven't tried for 7 or even 10 digit dialing yet, but it may be possible by using something like:
p([2-9]xxxxxx)1856
(my area code is 856).

I tried the prefix syntax for 7 digit dialing and it worked. I put it after the 411 and 911 stuff... I'm not certain how important the order is.

I simply use GC to forward to my VOIP provider as I have a local number where a friend of mine lives, so she can call me for free.

However the most interesting way to use Grandcentral is the way I've set it up for a friend of mine.

He's in Australia right now using Vonage and he has family in Toronto. He also has family in Texas.

I got him a local Texas number which forwards to his Toronto family as well as his Vonage number in Australia so both lines ring simultaneously. The only problem is that if his family in Texas is trying to call his family in Toronto and he picks it up first, that person has to call back to get the Toronto number.
--
"So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause."

Global_dev,

Thanks for that tip! Where can I get this cheatsheet, I'll forward it to my friend as this little problem was annoying him a bit.
--
"So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause."

reply to robbbbbbb
thanks for the info. ill try to set it up when i get home. i got the emergency number from my local police department.

reply to ImSeeker
Here's a question - I'd like a cool phone number, and with Grand Central, we are no longer tied to a specific area code. Sure, Grand Central only has a few numbers in each area, but is there any easy way to find the "cool" numbers without typing in every area code and every locale?

Sure, if there IS a way, a lot of cool numbers will be gone, but luckily what is cool to one person is not to another.

reply to redshift
The GrandCentral Pocket Guide:
»www.grandcentral.com/pdf/gcpocketguide.pdf

Thanks Natek

Does everyone who calls the grand central number get the same " Please state your name message"?
Is there anyway to get around that, I think it would be a pretty big shock/pain if my family had to tell the IVR their name everytime before it would actually dial me.

Clay