GrandCentral, a phone management service that first launched in 2006 and was acquired by Google for $50+ million in 2007, hasn’t been in the news much lately. Other than a few good natured jabs at their marketing gimmicks and coverage of outages, that is. Get ready for that to change as the service prepares for a public launch under a new product name: Google Voice.
The 21 month delay between acquisition and relaunch was, unfortunately, expected. Like most Google acquisitions, the service has been rebuilt from the ground up, a lengthy process that has in the past taken an average of 16 months or so.
Now, though, Google is ready to fully launch Grand Central/Google Voice. Key new features have been added that make the service absolutely compelling (each is described below). The basic idea around GrandCentral is “one phone number for all your phones, for life.” Grand Central gives you one phone number that can access all your numbers, whether they be cell, home, mobile, and work numbers; the GrandCentral numbers stay the same, as many of these number change over the course of a user’s lifetime. Here’s our quick and dirty guide to using the old GrandCentral.
Most people have never used the service, because Google froze new accounts after the acquisition. The freeze isn’t being lifted yet (and we’ve heard there are tens of thousands of people on the wait list). But starting Thursday existing accounts are being given the option of switching to the new service and gett access to the new features. Over the next several weeks Google will begin to let new people in. Some people, impatient to try out the new service, have been paying as much as $650 on Ebay for an account.
The service was free and is still going to be free. Users can purchase credit (much like Skype) to make international calls at rates far below what they normally pay. GrandCentral will also remain solely a U.S. service.
New Features:
Google’s added new features and plugged some big holes that limited the original service. Some of the more useful and innovating new features (and see screenshots at end):
Text Messaging: Google wants people to use their Google Voice phone number exclusively (and in fact it’s the only way to use it properly). A problem with the original service – it didn’t allow text messaging, so you had to tell people your mobile number as well if you wanted to send and receive text messages with them. Now, Google Voice will accept text messages and forward them on to your mobile phone. You can respond to those messages as well. Google is using the existing Gateway technology (which is used by Google Chat) to power this feature.
Voicemail Transcription: Google also added a nifty transcription feature (which is using the same subscription service as Google 411) for voicemails. All voicemails are transcribed easily saved into the system and searchable. Users can add notes or tags to voicemails and each transcription details how confident Google is about the success of voice transcription; Google Voice highlights word in lighter color that they are not confident were subscribed properly. And transcription takes about 30 seconds to be seen in the system from the end of a voicemail. All in all, Google may have unkilled the dreaded voicemail.
Friend Settings: Google has added new settings that allow users to route calls from specific people straight to voicemail, or your mobile phone, etc, instead of having to state their name and then be forwarded accordingly.
New User Interface: The primary user interface for Google Voice is through your phone via an audio menu. But users can also log in to the website to administer the account and view activity. This interface has undergone a makeover – It now looks very much like a comprehensive Gmail inbox with tabs for Voicemail, SMS, Recorded calls, Placed calls, Received calls and Missed calls. And the Google Voice is easily integrated into the list of links to Google apps at the top left of each application. All SMS and transcribed voicemails are searchable and taggable, which is very useful and will change the way people interact with these messages. Google also says that full integration with Gmail is coming, but won’t say when. Personally, having all my email, SMS and transcribed voicemails in a single inbox could be life-changing. You can also respond to text messages from the interface and initiate phone calls, which then calls your designated phone and then the recipient.
Conference and International Calls: Google Voice also added a conference calling feature allowing conference calls of up to six participants and recording abilities. International calls can also be made through the system at very reasonable rates. For example, voice calls to France are $0.02 per minute, to France mobile phones $0.15 per minute, and to China $0.02 per minute. These rates are about the same as Skype’s international phone rates.
Our First Impression:
Google is finally bringing us the voice service that was promised back in 2006. With GrandCentral, you no longer have to wrestle with 3 or more phone numbers and multiple email and texting devices. You give out one phone number, administer it with a website or voice menu, and forward calls to various devices depending on who’s calling and when.
Google has also fixed most of the limitations with the original service. Outages are a thing of the past, they say, and there won’t be any further reassigning of phone numbers. The new SMS feature means you don’t have to give out your mobile phone separately. And the voicemail transcription and search feature is a great addition.
Still, users have to get over a big initial hurdle – getting all their friends to start using a new phone number instead of the old ones. Business cards are to be thrown out, new ones printed. Contact cards updated. Etc. There’s nothing Google can do to fix this problem.
But they can prove that the service is reliable. No dropped calls. No outages. Proper support even though its a free product. If they do that they can conceivably control the phone numbers for millions of people…and eventually find a way to monetize all that power.
We have 100 Google Voice accounts to give out to readers, but you must have a gmail account. If you’d like one, please send an email from your gmail account to techcrunch@gmail.com (note that this isn’t an account we check regularly) with the exact subject “Google Voice Account” – the first 100 will get an account invitation from Google. Update: We’ve now received several thousand email requests, so the 100 are gone.
About damn time
absolutely
TechFilipino
Love it
Google is late i do not know were you guys have been but http://www.bueno.com has it all already and been doing this for a long time.
Did anyone check the date of this article? March 11th? Are we talking about something that happened months ago or am I reading it wrongly?
@Check your date
No — Today starts letting Grand Central users to use it now. They are starting to roll it out to the general public today (6/25) but its a sloooow Google rollout.
This is just an article written up a couple of months ago stating what Google Voice is. I can’t wait til its out though.
I think that’s a gr8 news.
http://www.smartbloggerz.com
You forgot to mention the biggest limitation of all: For those of us who watch our over priced cell phone minutes closely, this service is not good. By using this number none of your in-network calling (i.e. free minutes) works any longer so all those minutes count towards your monthly total.
Most of my friends and family are on ATT (iPhone) so I can talk to them as long as I want. Because the Google # is outside of this, those minutes add up.
-Randall
That raises an interesting question – how do the major phone companies differentiate regular calls with ‘in-network’ calls? If they use caller ID information, this would still work because Grandcentral spoofs that. Otherwise, it is most likely possible to set your Grandcentral number as a home number that gets free calls (for something like a $5 fee) and turn off caller ID spoofing to make _all_ of your calls free.
Explain again… How are your OUTGOING calls free? You’re not calling your own GC # to call other people…
@ Badger – March 12th, 2009 at 8:36 am PDT : if an app like vocito for mac were made for a web/sms interface… but then you’d need to worry about text messages or mobile web…
Actually, I contacted GrandCentral about that a while back and they answered that calls you receive from mobile to mobile numbers will remain free [if you have a plan, obviously]. However calls you make to Grandcentral numbers will not be free per se…
for those of us with “my favorite 5″, we may be able to get a way with REALLY cheap cell phone service
This will not effect your in network minutes because those minutes are based on the phone number that comes to your phone. With this service you can choose if your Google voice number is displayed or if the callers phone number is displayed. I personally use this to my advantage with T-mobile top 5 on my G1 because I set my Google voice number to be displayed and set that number as one of my top 5 there for I now have unlimited calling with my phone as long as everyone calls my Google Voice number and I can make calls from my Google voice number with the internet browser or with a program called GV (Google voice) which works as long as I have internet on my phone. I know for a fact it works this way with t-mobile because my used minutes don’t go up, and I’m fairly sure that AT&T works the same way.
about damn time they got into my phone records too!
Funny thing is the G1 released an update for voice search awhile back. They might be using Google voice to improve the voice algo’s for search or they are just throwing up another service to log you into Google’s realm.
Once you’re in they have you. Beware.
OMG I’ve just watched all the videos on the Google Voice website. I really don’t understanding the hype around this useless service. Like:
1. Placing calls – it’s so cumbersome to place calls through the Google number. When I do so, they won’t even appear in my Dialled Calls! My dialled calls menu would just contain a list of Google Google Google. How stupid is that?
2. Answering calls – why do I need it if I have caller ID? Every single time someone calls me I need to hear these options? The integration is not a software/service one, it should be in the phone level e.g. “send to VM” option.
3. SMSs – I don’t get this at all and doesn’t seem useful. Same problem as bypassing the phone’s inbox complicated the user experience. I’m using Mobyko and even MobiComp/MS MyPhone looks more natural because all it does is backup your texts.
Overall, I can’t see this project picking up. Complete misunderstanding of how users interact with their phone’s defaults features like Caller ID, Dialed/missed calls lists, etc. The $50m would be written off. Comments welcomed.
3. What is there not to understand about texting? I can give this number out to someone and when they text it, it will come to my cell phone instead of just getting lost.
2. You can turn off the part where it requires you to confirm you want to pick up the call.
1. You assume that this is and will continue to be the only way to place calls.
Is there no room for advancement in your world? I’m excited for this – I have a Grand Central number but don’t use it much because of the texting thing. It’s nice to give out as a home number because I don’t answer it and can check the voicemail from anywhere and delete the telemarketer calls.
Maybe the Android phone will end up being the perfect way to tie together all these google services (gmail, google voice, google chat) with your contact list and phone.
I have a Grandcentral number and yes, any help to participate to the launch of the service in French?
Make sure you contact some great people at Talk Plus! They are connected to most of the operators and might be really a great partner. A name? Jeff!
Just thinking about how Deutsche Telekom and Orange France Telecom will be great partners for that service… available to work on it ASAP. Want to talk about it? Is Non Name Cafe a great place to talk?
The beauty of the service I am experiencing is that you can listen to your voice mail at the very end of your buzy day… just by reading your e-mails… in the plane… on the Champs Elysees… at Shorline… when you have 10 minutes to kill at No Name Cafe…waiting for Alex from LinkedIn or on the G shuttles…after your French class with B.
… need a US born and French citizen guy to work with you. Call me on my Google Voice at 408 893 0009. Steve
Excellent
YES! I have been waiting for this for a long time. I’ve even tried alternative services (like PhoneFusion) but none have really fit the bill.
I’ve been on the waiting list for a long time. Hope I’m one of the first 100
I am waiting to get an account for soooo long.. please please please invite me.
thankx
LOVE IT!
hi how are you today my friend
sasun my aunt had a baby and his name is mason tyler mirrtt are you adone
Love it!
Necessary! From what I can tell, you can do a basic version of this with Skype, using their business services… ?
The screen shots look great. I love the Google look. I’ve had a GrandCentral account for a while now, hopefully they switch me over soon.
Looks good. Would be fun trying this out.
Has anybody gotten their invitation yet?
I’ve got a Grand Central account, are we able to access the new version yet?
Awesome…I hope I’m one of the first 100!
How much is the service going to cost though?
No way they can continue to keep the old GrandCentral features + voicemail transcription + SMS free for end-users….right?
“Some people, impatient to try out the new service, have been paying as much as $650 on Ebay for an account.”
Check ANY of the Grand Central ebay sellers’ feedback. NONE of them has actually sold ANY GC #’s.
I sold one for $100.
People are absolutely crazy to pay so much money for the latest technology.
Heck I remember quite a lot of gmail accounts being sold via eBay back when it was very early and ‘invite only’…
This craziness is nothing a prolonged and deep recession couldn’t solve.
Yeah especially when I’ve had it for free for about a year now! wish I would have reserved some invites to sell on Ebay however I had no idea they were going to turn off the invites.
This looks great! I use skype a lot so I am interested to see the difference between the two.
Can’t I port my mobile phone number to Google Voice?
Question – is this of any use whatsoever to people who only have one phone number? I only have a cell phone – no home phone, no work phone. I’m not sure the transcription stuff would be that handy when I always have my cell on me anyway. Thoughts?
If you cancel your service with your Cell Phone Operator you lose your number.
Wherease if you subscribe to this service, and it’s free, you can keep the number forever.
Not with portability services these days. Just get another cell and keep the same number.
Does that work 100% of the time? I know a lot of people who have had issues and have had to get a new number.
not true
If you drop your cellphone in the toilet, or if it gets run over by a bus while crossing the road, you can quickly use the web interface to redirect your calls to another phone of your choice. You don’t have to give them a new number, not plead with your cellphone provider to give you a replacement phone ASAP. As an added bonus you don’t have to explain to your friends you dropped your phone in the shitter.
If the phone was in your pocket when it got run over by the bus, then it is a different story.
Well there are many advantages to this service, I to only have a cell t-mobile G1 which I use in conjunction with this service all the time! with the t-mo top 5 I put my GV number in as one of my top 5 and instantly I have unlimited calling in the US! and with the addition of the sms feature I’ll have unlimited texts as well. Granted this is a little more tasking than making a normal phone call or text..its really not that tasking you just need internet on your phone. There are several other features to this service that were removed from the original Grand Central service which included options to change your dial tone..ie when people call you the ring sound they hear in the phone. So you can be sure that Google is not done adding features to this service and it has a long way to go yet before everyone will want to use it, so you should just jump on the band wagon right now before they start charging for this service!…don’t buy it on ebay just wait for them to release it to the public.
I guess I have been one of the lucky one. I have had a GrandCentral account for over a year now. I absolutely love it. I can’t wait for the new changes
There is a login screen for Google Voice (https://www.goo...ce=grandcentral) however neither my existing GMail or GrandCentral username/password work on it.
I wonder will it be available in Canada.
You’ve been able to set up a US # that would ring a Canadian # (or #s) for FREE.
Similarly, you could dial Can. #s from GC for FREE.
This is HUGELY valuable in Canada’s (ridiculously!) expensive mobile phone mkt. It means you can call the States, and/or long distance in Can., from your cell phone, for “free,” as in no long distance charges, only airtime. $.75 / min. calls to the States become free assuming you’ve got the airtime….
I’m just afraid they may start considering Canada international. That would be Very Bad….
Give it a year or so, Canada won’t be international…nor will Mexico.
I’m a Grandcentral member, and have just been prompted to Upgrade to Google Voice.
“Great!” Thinks I, and hits the upgrade button, only to get the message “Google Voice is not available in your country”.
Well, that sucks, thinks I. And now I can’t use my Grandcentral account either, as it’s been “Upgraded” (And so is only available for viewing old voicemails).
Google Epic Fail.
same problem here
although I can still make calls and all the GC calls still go through to my Canadian cell… but all the settings are gone, since I can’t access Google Voice in Canada
it costs .75/min to call the US from Canada? how can that be?
If you live in canada and attempted to upgrade your service from GC to GV, you can’t access GC. However, if you can go over to US and login to GV and activate your account, you should be able to login to GV from Canada. Nice thing to have if you travel back and forth to US like me…
This is the kind of reporting we love from you, TechCrunch!
@Jeff Not really reporting. This comes from a Press Release from Google with 12 AM EST embargo.
Email sent. Thanks!
Can’t wait for the new UI. Finally!!!
Yes! This is good.
Sweet.
How Do I get one? Is it by invite only?
As a constant whiner, I have to bring up the international rates issue.
http://www.vona...3W1#commentForm
Vonage lets me call long distance all I want for a flat rate of $30
I have a very dear person I communicate with in China, and others around the world, and I can not be charged arbitrary metered tolls.
I had the $5 a month international plan on T-Mobile and I finally got a $230 cell bill last december because of their “reduced” international rates after I paid a $5 a month premium for that rate.
Metered long distance and metered Advertisements on adwords is unacceptable. The true holy destroyer of Google will have flat rate Vonage style international calling and flat monthly rate advertisements.
but Google Voice wont have that $30 a month charge that Vonage has. Plus, Vonage has no where near the features that GoogleVoice does. They are really in two different leagues.
Those low rates posted are to draw you in. Once you’re in then they hit you with all sorts of bullsh1t fees.
Flat rate is the only way.
A flat rate adwords, and flat rate EC2 and S3 would be a hit too.
Metering was 2000-2009
Umetered usage will be 2010-2020.
Tons of services that used to be metered in the last half of the century are now unmetered.
Here is proof
http://picasawe...156520990083474
Hit the magifying glass and view the image at full resolution in the iframe.
You will see. If you have any good number of friends overseas in Russia or China, or Japan or whatever, metered calling does not serve you well.
Only vonage can support that at $30 per month. Once I started using vonage instead of TMobile and Skpe I saved tons of money.
I don’t think GC with Google will save me money like that.
I would like to see unmetered Adwords too. Unmetered is the shiznit. Unmetered gigabit bandwidth too. Metering is for losers.
Unmetered ad words is the stupidest idea ever…
Techcrunch ads are unmetered.
http://www.tech....com/advertise/
Albeit too expensive.
Take all the garbage advertising inventory on the internet AKA social networking and run adverts on them all unmetered.
Stack a whole bunch of $49 2Us together and let people run Hadoop mapreduce tasks and Linux images. Run a PATA to SATA connector and fill them with 1.5TB hard drives
surpluscomputers.com/348176/rackable-systems-dual-xeon-2.66ghz.html
The metering is letting these guys buy jumbo jets. It’s marketing.
or you could just do a free video/voice chat via ichat/gmail/skype etc. If you’re calling a friend, I’m not sure why anyone would use a mobile phone or land line to call internationally. Obviously urgent and business related calls and calls to unfamiliar people are a different story.
Grand Central/Google Voice + Rebtel = free international calling
add in t-mobile myFaves and you don’t even use cell phone minutes.
How are you not using cell minutes?
Your myFaves won’t do you a bit of good. Every person you call still has a separate number.
to place a call using GrandCentral/Google Voice you receive a call on the number you chose
Double call connect sucks @ss.
Vonage is freedom where you get to use your phone as an actual phone while keeping in touch with friends in China, Japan and all over the world.
I would rather use my cell locally and stay within the minutes and just use Vonage for international long distance with the world plan @ $30
I make more international calls for friends and business than 90% of Tech Crunch users.
This is the most winning paradigm I have found. Skype is just annoying, and so is GC.
$30 for unmetered world is the best I’ve found.
BTW, I found $499 unmetered 15MBPS
http://calpop.c...colocation.html
in Los Angeles
You can buy 100MBPS more for $1000/month
calpop.com/bandwidth.html
I’m probably going to end up doing this.
Gigabit would have been nice.
I see a future without metering.
115MBPS unmetered burstable ~= $35 a day
Google, Amazon are charging 1000X that.
Is “vocito” part of this or disappearing?
i have 2 grand centrral accounts, both for sale. make bids and i will get back to the highest bidder. paypal accepted.
$5 and do i get to pick the number?
Sent an email to you… Hopefully I will be in top 100 to get an invite from you… Thx in advance.
I want one too!
sounds like skype. i still dont know how one number will be able to distinguish a personal or business call by just one incoming number. i just started using skype and find it very efficient.
TelLocator.com – phone home
Thank God! Just last week I was asking Ooma if they could port my GC number. You did, however, miss the number 1 problem with GC.. it’s painful to use and check messages on the iPhone.
With transcription that shouldn’t be a problem anymore – assuming they send you the transcription by email (?) you can forward it to your cell by SMS.
This is absolutely gigantic. Google, might be the first company to bring the promise of unified communication to everyone, and for free.
I am so. super. excited for this to launch!!
only thing missing is FAX. Once offered game over
I don’t understand why fax machines are still used in today’s time, there are much more economically sound alternatives.
Awesome. It’s about time
Well, I sent an e-mail, but based on the amount of response above, I doubt I’m in the first 100. We’ll see though, might get lucky. Looks awesome though, can’t wait until I can try it!
This is great news. I wonder when it will available in my country, Malaysia..
Finally.
sounds great … but unless they fixed the show-stopping must-press-1-to-take-a-call issue, it’s still a fatally flawed product. I love GC, have been using it for about 18 months now – but the fact that it’s impossible to use hands-free is a serious flaw. (and if your handset is locked and you answer calls via bluetooth, by the time you enter the unlock code in order to reveal the keypad, you’ve already lost the call to voicemail. iPhone+GC users, you know what I’m talking about.)
Smile cause they already thought of that.
“Google Voice eliminates some of the annoyances of its predecessor. You can, if you wish, turn off that “press 1, press 2” option, so when the phone rings, you can just pick it up and start talking.”
http://tinyurl.com/al3×97
that’s the best news I’ve heard in some time
thanks for the tip; GrandCentral^WGoogle Voice should be entirely transparent now and I can forget what my direct cell number is at all.
Sounds great and the fax addition would be perfection.
Can TC have some sort of an icon that it puts into headlines, say a US flag, that lets the rest of the world know that the service you are covering is unavailable to us?
Would save me time and avoid disappointment.
Great idea.
Very cool product. Been using the older version for a year. Good stuff
This looks pretty exciting.
Of course my stinking gmail account is froze up for some reason and it wont let me send an email out!!!
This sounds like Google Voice will *almost* be ready to replace my primary phone number. What about making outgoing calls? If I dial someone from my cell phone, will they see my cell number, or my Google Voice number? It will be even more confusing for family and friends to enter one phone number to call me at, but receive calls from another.
Thats probably the most thoughtful comment I have seen
Agreed. I’ve been using GC for a while and this the biggest annoyance. People you call will see your actual cell / home phone number and not GC number. They ask why can’t I just call the number that’s in my call log?
If you have an iPhone check out grand dialer. Its an extra step but will provide what you are looking for.
When you make a call using the Click2Call feature on GrandCentral, the recipient’s CallerID will display your GrandCentral number – not the actual number you are calling from.
agreed. this is a huge obstacle and really threatens the usefulness of the entire project.
Scott,
You will probably be happy to hear that there are multiple ways to place a call with your Google Voice number showing up on the other persons caller id. Google made a simple video to explain: http://www.yout...h?v=sHIWUw6cf1U
Mark,
Thanks for the link, that video is very helpful! I was aware of the web interface, but didn’t know it was possible to dial a number by calling Google Voice and dialing.
Of course, this still isn’t an optimal solution– it requires memorizing a lot of phone numbers, or some tedious navigation through phone menus. I would like to have something of an “extension” system where you can save numbers in your phone as Google’s number first, and then your friend’s number as an extension. That would bring us back to a one-click dial method.
Or even better, some sort of dialer-proxy… does that exist for mobile phones?
As an early user of GrandCentral, I have been nothing but happy.
I use the GC number as my work# and am able to screen, record and use voice-mail for my business clients. It’s great to hear it’s finally being released and Google is adding new features.
Hope the quality and access won’t be affected by the large number of new users who’ll be joining in.
Wow, this is a surprise – I thought they had left GrandCentral for dead.
I have a GrandCentral number for my business and although it works, its pretty limited and not well supported.
Now it’s good to know they are committed to improving this service!
Have you tried RingCentral? It’s built for business users and has all of GC’s functionality and more (like faxing, VoIP, professional phone greetings, multiple extensions) etc…
RingCentral’s customer service is beyond bad. They’ve double charged me several times, and I’ve yet to get any of it taken off despite calling them more than once (and getting lots of promises). Its only a few $$$ and I’m afraid to do a chargeback in case they cancel my service, but I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone else.
I do use ringcentral, and while their tech support ranges from excellent to unavailable (they will call you back if you leave a message) on the whole I’ve found them to be an excellent bargain, $10 month for a vanity 888 toll-free #, incoming and outgoing faxes, the ability to schedule faxes is a huge help to me for billing customers automatically. Now if they would enable me to schedule emails that way, that would be great, but I understand their reluctance to engage in feature creep, and I have come up with a workaround using a palm treo program called notify them that will schedule sms messages, which I can then set up a gmail filter that will automatically send an email to a pre-specified email address, so that’s not an urgent need.
One experience I had with them in the very beginning that set the tone and ensured that I would stick with them through whatever growing pains they might experience as a young company is that their tech support people actually approach problems with the attitude of; “how can we help this customer” rather than; a larger more established companies’ attitude, which tends toward; “Our policies don’t allow us to do this or that, no matter how common sensical this or that may be, and I’m not even gonna ask my boss to make an exception for you or send the message up the corporate ladder that this is what our customers want and are asking for (or placing you on hold and pretending to do same).”
Larger companies take note; this is why small, customer service oriented upstarts are eating your lunch and using minimal resources to do so.
The actual issue; the mp3/wav (I forget which) of voicemails they would email to me was encoded at 13kbps, which a) I don’t even know how they did that, I’ve only ever seen even numbers as options for encoding when I’ve recorded audio, and my palm treo was unable to play them.
I called tech support, explained the problem and that while I loved the featureset they offered, this was a deal-killer for me if I had to use my computer to hear voicemails every time.
I further explained that there are millions of palm treo users who will have the same problem, who are exactly their target market, so I didn’t understand why they would want to lock themselves out of this market. ( I suspect the reason for the decision to use 13kbps as encoding rate was a balance of voice quality to audio filesize, or maybe outside of the U.S. 13kbps is common?)
The woman I spoke with couldn’t help me, but later that day I was stunned to receive a call back from a tech support person to inform me that the problem was solved, they had changed their encoding in response to my request.
If this is what the internet and a slow economy brings, then I will happily accept that silver lining.
Also, I learned long ago not to piss off receiptionists, secretaries, waiters, and tech support people if you want results / good food etc. Just a thought.
People who want things like Faxing. Try http://www.goog...=suggestions.cs