This is a bit less technical than my usual posts, but I've had the opportunity to test drive the closed beta of
Grand Central, and I have to say... It's features are quite incredible. In particular, I've lived without a land line phone for quite a few years now, and I have to admit; it's been a real step backwards in terms of quality of service. The cell network just isn't nearly as reliable as traditional copper has been.
Now, what I'm about to mention isn't a huge leap forward in reliability, but it at least dramatically increases the chances of reaching me and holding a clear conversation. Grand Central is basically a phone de-multiplexer, giving you a new phone number and ringing all of your existing phone numbers simultaneously when it's called. In addition, it works with
Gizmo Project, similar to Skype, allowing you to receive incoming telephone calls on your computer. Toss in a cheap pair of ear bud headphones, and you've got yourself a decent alternative to a land line telephone and a much nicer sounding replacement to a cell phone.
Grand central has a lot of other features, like warm transferring calls between any of your extensions. I was able to transfer a live conversation from my MacBook over to my cell phone, over to my office line, and back to my MacBook, all without dropping the call. Visual voice mail, call recording, and much more make this a really convenient service.
