That sucks! I hope they will change the terms.

Hasn’t google heard of Number Portability?

I would love to see the steam pouring out of the ears of someone who had a whol movie library they bought from Google and then a GrandCentral number that got changed besides.

Hello Duncan,

I posted last night a message on your GDrive blog http://www.techcrunch.com/2007...../#comments
regarding that I think Google is going downwards and this is yet another sign that Google really lost its mind. The user is clearly not in focus any more, see what they did with Google Video users.
I start thinking of using different products to send a message (Well, one is not enough;-) to Google that it is us, the USERS that make Google to what they are, but if they loose the spirit, they might be in trouble some day.

Duncan - this is what I commented on your post yesterday about. This was the news last week that might have accounted for the spike that you believe came from skype. This plus the fact that new invitations went out most likely accounted for the spike.

i think this only effects east coast users as the change of telephone company.

http://DeuceMania.com

Google is on a bit of roll lately.

Earlier in the month they were quasi-evil with their Adwords updates designed to extract the maximum profits from their advertisers under the guise of “helping them.”

However, with this move they seem to have abandoned the whole “this is for your own good” and cut to the chase by just bitch slapping their users.

Nicely done.

This isn’t just evil — it is pointless, lazy, and short-sighted. WTF Google?

@Martin - Google may not have the best interests of their customers in the case of Grand Central but I think there is a bigger picture to see in regards to the Google video situation. There seems to be a strong opinion about Google Video being a real loss and bad for the consumer but I think it is probably better for the consumer in the long run (Hopefully!).

I’ve blogged about it, Google stops Videos for Sale / Rent: A blessing in disguise?.

Sorry if it’s cheeky linking to my blog post, didn’t see the point in trying to write a comment explaining when I’ve already written it in my blog!

Interesting to see how this turns out; whether it’s limited instances or a mass-change. No one knows my GC number yet, but I picked it out and I like it. Getting a new one for no good reason would be a bummer.

Could someone list other services like Grand Central? GC isn’t allowing new users, but I would like to try out some of the features. Thanks.

Is this a surprise for anyone?

Well, I am in AZ and have not had an email like this. I hope it’s just number reissueing. Not sure why they would buy something and kill it. Hopefully an official press release soon.

I don’t see the usefulness of such a service as usually everyone has a number for life: the mobile’s number. I don’t even have a telephone anymore. I cancelled my fixed landline two years ago when the first “flatrate” 3G data tariff came out. How’s this any better than a mobile number?

“Is this a surprise for anyone?”

No. It doesn’t make it any less f’dup for those affected however.

I’m in Colorado, but have a DC number from Grand Central, which helps my business a lot. I haven’t gotten such a notice, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

I can see the lawsuits beginning right now:

‘Average number of customer calls’ x ‘Average revenue per sale’ = $ of lawsuit

It’ll be interesting to see if GC originally put in their terms the 8 day cancellation notice and number portability; interesting that the number portability law that was recently passed might only apply to landline/cellular carriers and not VOIP (or whatever GC is considered).

Thanks, Google, you’re giving other companies an opportunity to compete again thanks to this move and your recent Google Video gaffe

DO NO EVIL? What a crock of shit. You Google Fanboys(and girls) need to get a grip on business reality. Google doesn’t give a tinkers damn about users. All they care about is advertising revenue, even selling keywords to businesses and trademarks they don’t own the rights to. The sheer arrogance of Google will see their business start a downward spiral. The empire will tumble. it is just a matter of time. I don’t give a rip how much cash they have. They’d sell their grannies for a buck.

http://gigaom.com/2007/08/19/p...../#comments

They have an update there from Vincent Paquet, co-founder of GrandCentral.

“There are 434 users affected by this change and unfortunately we would have had the same issue had Google not acquired GrandCentral. One of our pre-acquisition underlying carriers stops providing services to certain areas and this does affect a few of our users. I understand those users’s frustration and share it. I know that no explanation will change this, but we have provided each of those users with an alternate number in the same area code and we’re happy to help, like in Judi’s case, to ease the pain of the transition when we can.”

Also an eye opener for me was http://www.mocaedu.com/mt/archives/000313.html
now i knw more about numer portability than i did before

I thought this was a beta service?

You can only keep a number for life if YOU own the number. We need a service that lets ME own my number so that if they are out of business at least I can keep my number. Any services like that>

Well that kind of stinks, doesn’t it.

I recommend that every single person who reads this — if you have a GC number like I do — write a note to GC support via the website. Let’s make our concerns known and the more, the better.

We’ve all had that kind of thing happen to us since The Bubble: Some new cool service that shut down after closing it’s doors, or was bought out by a company and went from being “Free for Life”, to monthly subscription.

2 Google services in a row is seriously going to hurt the trustworthiness of the Google brand, and their ability to get people to blindly sign up for their products. What if in 2 weeks, they shut down gmail? or started to charge for it?

HISTORY:

IBM -> IBM Compatible -> PC

Microsoft -> Netscape -> AOL -> Yahoo -> Google

Like Microsoft and the above, Google’s got piles of money to stay around for a long time, but I think these actions are the beginning of the end for the relevancy of Google.

Who’s next to dominate the public perception?

Beware of “Beta”

I’m sorry guys, but when a service says BETA in big letters on it’s main page, and it’s free– you should not be depending on it for the livelihood of your business. For your friends and family and casual use, yes. But they put the word BETA on there for a reason. Does it suck what happened? Yes. But no, this is not “the beginning of the end for the relevancy of Google.” They have a Beta Service, and the Beta Service acted like a Beta Service for a few select users. 99% of users have gotten more than their money’s worth out of GrandCentral.

I remember I had an old ‘700′ number from AT&T back around 1995. They promised the same thing. Seemed like a great idea to maintain ties after grad school. Was until they got rid of it: http://www.time.com/time/magaz.....hix-sphere

I thought GC was in beta this whole time. Is this not the case? Were customers paying money for the service?

Hidden in the terms of service “The GrandCentral Services are for personal, non-commercial usage. ” So it’s odd that they would pay for business cards.

I’ve got a GC number I don’t use a heck of a lot, and I’m not at all irritated by the number change. My number selection was largely arbitrary, and hopefully, the change opened up some Brooklyn digits. My number was in the Bronx.

They’ll pay for the visiting cards? How nice.

This is what separates Google from the “evil” companies. They are so thoughtful unlike the Microtards.

Seriously, Who does Google think they are????

There are some clear indications here that this move, in combination with Google’s previous stunt of cancelling users access to movies purchased LEGALLY through Google Video, takes Google down a road of a belief in supremacy. If Google thinks they can just mess about with customers they are in for a surprise.

The people who are generally quick to adopt and spread word of Google’s new services should from now on include a statement simply to pressure Google and let them know that these techsites (TechCrunch included!) do not condone their current practises.

Such a statement should read something like:
“Google’s new service (whenever they launch one or a new review is posted) looks “interesting” but users should be wary that the service may expire at any point in time without prior warning or extremely short notice. If used for business, note that you should not rely on this service exclusively. Google’s track record is rather fractured.”

Google you should be ashamed of yourself!

P.S. Google has an immense power in all things web related. They generate an immense knowlege from all the people who use their services which gives them a lot of leverage. Unfortunately, we all know of something “slightly” related: Knowledge is power. Power corrupts.

Google is retarded, they are crapping all over their brand image that is worth billions in order to save a few million bucks.

And honestly if you think about it…after adwords, Google had only a few successes. Most businesses they buy fizzle, most products they come out with are so basic that noone wants it(Notepad!…but wait its from Google so its equivelent to the second coming of christ!)

Everybody, thanks for your comments and I want to quickly reply to try to clear the air regarding this issue. I’ll post a full blog about this on the GrandCentral site in just a bit, but first I want to assure everybody that we are NOT disconnecting anyone’s service. Unfortunately we received word recently that one of our partners was stopping their service in part of the country and since that time we’ve been working to port those phone numbers to other partners. We’ve done this successfully for the vast majority of those users but unfortunately there were approximately 400 users whose numbers could not be ported (434 to be exact). As soon as we found out these users could not be ported to other partners, we contacted those users, set up an alternative GrandCentral number in the same area code for them, and gave them a reply email to request additional GrandCentral number choices. Vincent (our COO and Co-Founder) and I have been personally replying to these emails to help make this transition easier. This would have been these case whether or not we were acquired. We completely sympathize with any pain or disruption this might cause these users and will continue to work directly with them to help find a solution. I will post more on our blog shortly, but wanted to give you all a quick heads up.

Great. This just after I approved my ad in the Yellow Pages containing my GrandCentral number. I haven’t gotten that email yet, so maybe they’re just doing this for certain cities.

I didn’t get such a request to change numbers. I have been extremely happy with my GrandCentral account though and I would never complain about such a great and FREE service.

Patrick Grote: Try Callwave.com - it is similar with some different feature sets than Grand Central.

George Johnson - you’re 100% on the money.

1. It’s beta.
2. It’s free.
3. You pay peanuts you get monkeys.

If they had offered a premium service for $X per month and cut off THOSE numbers - then you’d have a legitimate gripe.

Having said that - here’s the more important thing we should all be asking: Craig - what exactly happened with your partners and what assurances can you provide that it won’t happen again? Who are these partners - knowing would help us understand why number portability wasn’t possible.

I’m in Texas, and I’ve not received such a notice. I’m wondering how large the pool of users actually is.

Regardless, there are a lot of whiners in the comments. Suck it up, kids. GrandCentral (in beta), like much of the internet, is free. You get what you pay for. And a lot of the time, what you get from Google is a superb user experience (e.g., Gmail, Google Reader). This ain’t the end of the world.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the problem is due to a phone company issue beyond Google’s control. You see, sometimes, entities you might view as all-powerful (your mom & dad, teachers, policemen, a web site operator) are actually hampered by familiar and frustrating limitations. It happens to everyone.

we were actually going to take a closer look at using grandcentral but will be waiting a while as they progress through beta at try it. The odd part for me is the lack of transparency regarding the issue. For all the talk of simplified communications and ending the pain of too many numbers it seems like they are adding a bit of hassle before hand. Hope they gets this sorted quickly though, it is a rather cool concept.

Lets review:

Google decides to discontinue Google Video, and REFUNDS ALL MONEY SPENT ON PURCHASED VIDEOS in the form of a store credit, when they had the option to just take the money and say too bad.

Google’s Grand Central’s partner discontinues providing the service in that area, and they work to transfer all of the numbers off that provider. 400 total numbers (a very small minority) could not be transfered, so Google is very willing to ease the transition to the new phone number, by paying for business cards, and possibly other stuff, if requested, even though said stuff violates the original TOS, they still pay.

HMMM! Google is evil!!!!! I wish Yahoo would be a little bit more evil like Google, cause when you lose with Google, it tends to be not that big of a loss and you get store credit, and they work with you to help ease any problems that they have. Google never claimed to be PERFECT, they claimed to attempt to do no evil, which it seems they are attempting to do. What exactly do you propose Google does in this situation that would be better? Yeah, the slogan (there before Google bought it) wasn’t the best choice.

Uhh…why are people running mission critical phone numbers through a beta service?

huh…. I thought Grand Central was a beta product? What knucklehead runs their business that way?

Duncan, that’s a pretty inflammatory headline for an relatively minor issue with minimal customer impact.

If you all will look a few comments up you have a reply from GrandCentral themselves…may want to reference it!

Thanks for setting the record straight, Craig. I’m really getting sick and tired of unfounded, sensationalized posts like this on TC. Please do your homework before you slam a company. Sheesh.

Umm… ok, people, calm down. Go take a look at http://www.grandcentral.com again, carefully. Do you see that little thing next to the logo. It says “beta.” Do you still remember what beta means? Look it up on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.....cycle#Beta And then remember that using beta software, or a beta site, makes you a beta user. And beta users, more often than not will be responsible for finding bugs, quirks, etc. Although this is not a bug, and more of an inconvenience, just remember that you are still a beta user and stop hating.

My grand central number is still working, yay!

It is strangely wrong for a company to promise life-long access to a resource that they haven’t secured life-long rights to.

Duncan, you just can’t allow yourself to run with this post, loaded with all its cynicism and snarkiness, without giving Google/GC a real chance to defend themselves. And comments don’t count. Show just a little restraint.

Kudos to Craig for checking in with an update and avoiding TC’s handling of the issue.

#42 Jake - What do you expect - Duncan was trained by Michael - he is the king of titles that don’t necessarily represent the story itself. Here we had 423 customers out of how many hundreds of thousands? And then no one was disconnected either. We could ask for a title change but I doubt it will happen and now that Craig from GC has commented, minimum the original article should be updated.

OK Craig,

You’ve given us a reason but no assurance that it wont happen again as commented by John Doerr.

For all those of you who are saying “this is beta, that should be expected.” I want you to imagine that your Gmail is wipped out and google posts an apology that reads: “A recent technical failure has caused some users’ mail to disappear. Unfortunately Google has no way of recovering those emails. As stated in our terms and conditions, Gmail is currently in beta for more than 3 years, but as a beta user, you should know that beta software is prone to be unstable.

Once again please accept our sincere apologies. Our engineers have tried everything to no avail.”

I dont know about those other Gmail users out there, but Gmail is NOT in beta to me. Success is a moving target for everyone and so to claim that beta is a legitimate reason for this unfortunate incidence at GrandCentral is simply out of context.

If GrandCentral was really in BETA how can they claim a “number for life”???

Google has/had such a great reputation - they could only go down from where they were. This is probably just the usual bureaucratic mediocrity that hits every organization.

While in beta, perhaps GC should consider re-evaluating their trademarked slogan of “One Number…for Life”

Unless the ellipsis represents a disclaimer of, “unless we want to change your number”

Google should just buy a CLEC and get it over with.

Brian @47 nails the controversy. Say what you like about beta and Google evil/good, etc., the simple fact beyond the regulatory limitations on number portability is that GC SAID “one number for life,” apparently without being able to back it up. Pretty simple, and it has nothing to do with beta-entitlement issues or any user-denigrating reasons that have been posted above.

The company promised, didn’t they, or is there maybe some fine print in the TOS that says “Psyche if you’re taking this seriously?”

I know that wannabe MBAs in the Web3.0beta world like to think that the business model is always right, but that’s not the case if you lie to your users.

Patrick,
We offer the same services as Grand Central, same technology actually, with voicemail, caller-id management, call forward by time of day and call screening, at http://www.masquenumber.com.

The Masque Numbers are real phone numbers, we made them disposable for people’s convenience, I think it’s more useful to have several numbers and to drop them when you want, for eBay, Craigslist.
But many of our customers are business customers, too, looking for a “phone for life”.

Difference? You’ll have to pay for your Masque Number tough, this is not a for-advertising-only service, but we do take care of our customers. There’s no free lunch. And we are self-funded, we have no investors or Google telling us what to do.

Fernando?
You’re right, we can also transfer your former numbers back to us. Just ask us, we’re happy to help!

- Del

Bad mojo for millions of people who have thrown their fortunes into the VOIP ring. When was the last time you picked up a land-line phone and heard silence? I cross-linked to this article at http://blog.innovators-network.org The Innovators Network is a non-profit dedicated to bringing technology to small businesses, venture capitalists, intellectual property experts, and entrepreneurs. Please visit us to help grow our community!

Best wishes for continued success,

Anthony Kuhn
Innovators Network

All kinds of beta services don’t deliver the services they are supposed to have…because they’re beta.

The problem really isn’t about GrandCentral dropping the numbers, but about people coming to rely so much on a service that is clearly beta that it causes their business problems.

I mean, you have your GrandCentral number on your business cards?!?!

As far as gmail goes, I wouldn’t tear Google a new one if they lost all my email because I realize it’s beta. Which is why I maintain backups of my emails. Relying exclusively on beta products for mission-critical applications is a mistake akin to relying on your hard drive to never die.

Giving out a new number to everyone you know is so ridiculous… especially when you have to constantly ask people to continue calling that new number because it’s easier for them to just call you back using the caller ID off your cell phone.

If you want enhanced voicemail for your cell phone similar to GrandCentral, check out YouMail.com and Callwave.com, both great services. For reference, this is an interview with YouMail’s CEO on this morning’s MSNBC TechWatch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET8fxQsWYGo

Cheers!

-Ken
http://www.youmail.com

Hmm. Beta or not if your slogan is “One number for life” and you can’t provide that then your beta product/service has failed. Perhaps a new slogan is in order. How about “One number for someone else’s life?” I mean SOMEONE dies everyday, right? Hedge your bet better with that one.

Its sad to see such harsh comments based on inaccurate information!

I am a Grandcentral user and want to let you know “its truly one number for life” and I plan to continue to use it.

I am a Techcrunch fan and wish you’ll verify your news before airing it as you reach so many fans like me.

This article misses the truth that the numbers being shifted are for one area code customers. They could have faced this inconvenience even i it was Grandcentral not Google.

But as Google, the slant of the article seems to be get more air!

I have no affiliation with Grandcentral as a company, plan to use them for life. They have been very decent in communicating even for user feedback, so my guess is that they will help transition their small number of users affected well.

I sure would be unhappy if my number vanished. This brings the truth of the interdepent way in which web solutions are built in the new Web2.0 Era.

I haven’t spoken to Grandcentral folks, but guess they lost some numbers through an underlying carrier.

Mike/Duncan: you can help the businesses whose numbers are changing by listing their old number and the new number here on techcrunch.

How sorry should we feel for people who take out ads or print business stationery incorporating phone numbers from beta-phase startups? It’s a half-step worse than using an email address given to you by an ISP. Even the Pope might approve of the ensuing Darwinian selection.

People realize that Bad Stuff happens to betas and startups. Despite this, on GigaOM it was reported that Google has offered to pay to re-print at least one GC customer’s business cards. For someone who had paid nothing to use the beta product version of a startup they bought a few weeks ago. That’s generous - no one should slight Google for this issue (plenty of other stuff to nail them on anyway).

I am extremely skeptical of the grandcentral service. I have not really given my number to anyone yet because at the end of the day, I won’t be paying for this service if I would have to buy my number at the end of the beta.

I asked grandcentral what exactly will be free and what won’t. Will the number itself be free forever? This is what they replied with…

”

Dear Avner,

Thank you for contacting us.

I apologize but we do not know what will be part of our Basic (Free) vs Premium Plans at this time. Our team is still working on the pricing and feature structure. Once this is set I am sure we will post it on our site.

”

I’m hoping that they won’t make us pay for the number itself.. Any thoughts on that Michael & team? Do you guys know if the number will be free itself through your sources?

Although “for life” sounds great in marketing circles, implementation is a tough cookie to crack because of all the external extenuating circumstances that a company must rely on for which it has no control in order to maintain the “for life” service. Should be switched to “as long as we can”

Who knows if people will even use a phone number in the future, I sure as hell don’t have one anymore… and I am not alone.

Jon

Patrick,
Why don’t you try YouMail at http://www.youmail.com
Their feature sets include checking voice mail online, indicvidual greetings for anyone that calls, forwarding voicemails via email or pubslishing the vociemail as a link.
They’ve been reliable and they’re free. they’re still in beta but fully functional.
btw: they have great killer pre-recorded greetings for their ditch-a-caller feature. fun stuff

yYeah, for “life” is more like : Until you only have a cell phone.
I think some of the other stuff makes it more interesting.
What i don’t get is that you give out a new number for people but you’re still calling from your cell, right?

I tried both Callwave and Youmail and ended up keeping Youmail. It was easy and hassle-free.
Once Google bought out GC it was off my radar. I think they’re sketchy as to their intentions and way too encompassing for my taste. I don’t want to live in a Google world!
Btw: my mom loves getting her personal calls and i end up not even picking up the phone anymore because all she wasnts to do is hera my personal calls to her.
Meanwhile i have this: http://login.youmail.com/login.....do?id=1111
a my “stop calling me” voicemail

So, its not as bad as it originally seemed, though I imagine GC will be asking themselves how they can avoid this from re-occurring in the future.

I dont have a business to shill for, so maybe my comment doesnt count. Heh, del, Ken, cristy and nicolas (#s 55, 58, 64, and 66), Im lookin at you!

People are trying to use this time to promote this negtive for G (for their own biz objectives), but i trust your little startups about 10% as much as GOOGle. Remember? They are traded on NASDAQ? You are clueless if you think I, as a GC user, give a flying f$%k that 434 people had an issue with a beta. Printed cards? Are you serious?

The closest service out there that’s offering a phoen numebr for life (AND enables you to keep a phone number you Already have) is Phone Number Bank: http://www.phonenumberbank.com
The service is provided by a regulated CLEC and is free to the first 1,000 customers - it just launched last month…

Check out “Phone Number Bank.”

http://www.phonenumberbank.com

They let you port them a number to them that they will house (or “bank” if you will), allowing you to REALLY hold on to you number for as long as you want. They ported my number quickly and the service works great.

You can also get a temporary number too:

http://www.numbr.com/

Here is a one number you’ll ever need! Call Jott! Sign up! It’s free! 1-877-568-8486

It seems to me that GrandCentral is not innovating much anymore.

Check out this blog post I wrote and let me know what you think…
http://www.nooozeguy.com/google-grand-central/

-Josh