Upgrading Grand Central to Google Voice
(VOICETALK.ORG) — All Grand Central users are being encouraged to migrate to Google Voice upon notification that their account is ready. This is being done in an orderly fashion and each individual is being notified via email and also with a notification on top of their Grand Central account upon login. It seems as if the notification goes out to the more frequent users than those that rarely use their accounts.
There are a few things you should be prepared for before migration especially if you are deeply entrenched into the Grand Central schematics.
Voicemail
All of your stored voicemail will be lost after the migration. So, if you need to save those recordings, then you are encouraged to do so.
Contacts
Make sure you go through your contacts and have them backed up elsewhere. If you’ve added your entire contact list to Grand Central, they will not be migrated to Google Voice. You might see your Gmail Contacts but you won’t have any phone numbers migrated over from Grand Central. You don’t have to perform this manually. Fortunately, there is a feature to export your Grand Central Address Book and Google Voice has a feature to import your contacts list.
User Interface (UI)
The Google Voice layout is vastly different than the Grand Central UI. Remember, this is designed by Google and not made for eye candy. It’ll take a little getting used to but one thing to keep in mind — it’s still in beta.
How to Get Free Unlimited Calls
(VOICETALK.ORG) — The phone companies are afraid. They should be. Google Voice will allow their customers to get free unlimited inbound and outbound calls domestically.
Mobile Phones
Many mobile phone services allow for a certain add-on plan that allow customers to call a few select numbers at an unlimited rate – basically free and unmetered (ie. myFaves, My Circle, Friends & Family, Pick 3). If you add your Google Voice number as one of your select “favorite” numbers, then any time you call Google Voice to make an outbound call (option 2), those minutes won’t be counted against you. Since you can use Google Voice to basically call anywhere, you will never have to worry about going over your allotted minutes.
Land Lines
For use with land lines, the same concept applies. You should always subscribe to the lowest available local calling plan. Any outbound calls should be made to your local Google Voice number, then press option 2 to make a call elsewhere. Of course, you’ll usually get unlimited inbound calls which is free with most plans.
Google Voice Talk Web Site Debut
(VOICETALK.ORG) — Welcome to Google Voice Talk — the site dedicated to the Google Voice service. I’ve been a member of Grand Central since August 7, 2007 just after it was purchased by Google. At the time, I just saw a discussion on a message board about this service, and made a public requested an invite which was fulfilled. From the buzz, I could tell the service had much potential. The service seemed to stagnate for a year with no new innovations until recently, when there were signs of life.
On March 12, 2009, Google announced that they’ve rebranded the service as Google Voice. Things started to work like calling out using your Google Voice number and they added additional features such as voicemail translated to text. Heck, I don’t even check my voicemail anymore, I just read the text. It’s that good. iPhone apps have also started to roll out making it seem more seamless. It’s an exciting time for early adopters and I’m glad to be in on the ground floor of this project.