Written by tjchan on Friday, February 23, 2007

GrandCentral and Gizmo – A match made in heaven!

After hearing high praise about GrandCentral and Gizmo Project from Solsie, I decided I simply had to check it out for myself. What I found was a powerful, flexible, and convenient complimentary system which offers much more than meets the eye.

GrandCentral + Gizmo Project = Unlimited Free Phone to PC Calling

So first off, what is GrandCentral? GrandCentral is a call redirection service which forwards calls that it receives through your GrandCentral phone number to the phone number(s) of your choice. For example, if my GrandCentral phone number is 214-xxx-xxxx and someone were to call this number, GrandCentral would call my home phone, my cell phone, and my Gizmo account where I can conveniently answer where the call from whichever of those three locations that I wanted. GrandCentral will also forward any caller ID data available to the phone of your choice.

GrandCentral also has some very nice screening options such as ListenIn^TM which allows you to forward a caller to your voicemail box, listen to the message the caller is leaving, and then decide whether to interrupt and begin a conversation before they finish leaving a message. You can even record any phone calls.

GrandCentral promises free phone numbers for life even after the beta phase. So, with all that said, what else can I do with this service? I’ve been just salivating at the possibilities – I can have practically any number in another part of the United States. Most of my family is in Houston, so I decided to get a Houston (281) number and now it is just a local call for my family to call that Houston number have it get routed to my home! My family does the same thing but they give me a Dallas (214) number. Suddenly I now have free long distance to keep in touch with my family!

Also you can make unlimited United States domestic calls by adding a contact to the address book and then selecting to call them, in which you can specify another number to recieve the call. In my case, I just dial in my home number and GrandCentral calls me first. Then, when I answer it calls the other party and both sides can talk via their landlines.

Now, let’s add GrandCentral to the Gizmo Project, a voice over IP (voIP) solution which allows users to talk PC to PC or even PC to Landline and vice versa. When you sign up with the Gizmo Project, you receive a free (747) phone number. The Gizmo Project charges $35 / year for landline to PC capabilities with the ability to choose a custom number. Now, with GrandCentral, you can link your GrandCentral number to your Gizmo Project number effectively getting a $35 / year service for free with additional benefits of anonymity.