4 ms·

One phone number for all your phones, for life. I already have that. It's called a cellphone.

snprbob86 18y ago
I'm not sure why this was downvoted. Negative tone? I mean, he really does have a point. I'm interested in some of the other features (such as voice mail transcripts and advanced call routing), but the singular phone number issue was never a problem for me: my only phone has been my cell phone. I'd suspect a lot of young people are in the same boat.
- aneesh 18y ago
  While I'm sure it's more useful with multiple numbers, I've gotten a lot out of it having just one number. It gives me a second number that I can give out to folks who I don't want to give out my primary number to. It gives you much more flexibility: you can block certain numbers, forward to calls to voicemail, forward to other phones, record calls, make calls & listen to voicemails online, etc. There's plenty of utility even if you have a single phone.
pieter 18y ago
I don't get it... I'd rather prefer unlimited phone numbers for some of my phones. What if you give your phone number to the wrong people? They'll keep calling you. You might be able to filter out some, but they can always call from another number (think phone spam). I'd rather have the option to generate new phone numbers and give one number to each person / 'community'. Then if I quit my job I can just filter away all people calling me on my job number. That's also why people use multiple email addresses, or plus addressing.
- Xichekolas 18y ago
  Except your standard 10 digit phone number scheme only allows 10 billion numbers... which isn't exactly a big enough space to allow you to generate new phone numbers whenever you want. The idea is kind of cool though... like generating one-time-use credit card numbers for dodgy e-commerce sites.
- robotrout 18y ago
  I've been on Grand Central for a couple of years, I think. It has a feature where I can blacklist phone numbers. You even have a choice to play a "number disconnected" message to those callers. I have some head hunters from florida (I'm in Oregon) that got me in their database and wouldn't quit calling me. They now get the "number disconnected" message.
mhb 18y ago
I keep hearing people say this, but the actual voice quality (you know the reason to use a phone) on cell phones still sucks a lot of the time. I hate when someone calls me from their cell phone.
calambrac 18y ago
Solving the multiple phone problem by forcing yourself to have only one phone is like solving a rubik's cube by painting all the squares one color. It kind of misses the point. Also: if this were a story about the ipod in 2001, would your comment have been 'I already have that. It's called a cd player'?
- jorgeortiz85 18y ago
  No, on all counts. Phone numbers used to be a problem because phone numbers were tied to phone lines which in turn were tied to copper. If you wanted to be reached at home or at work you had to take different copper and thus different phone numbers. Phone lines are no longer tied to copper, and phone numbers are (sort of) no longer tied to phone lines. My cellphone takes my phone line with me anywhere I go, and if I switch cellphone providers I can take my phone number with me. I haven't had a home landline for almost 6 years now (granted, four of those were spent in college) and most people I know that are my age (I'm 24) also do not have landlines. The first thing I do to any work phone is to put it on permanent call forward to my cellphone. There really is no longer a need for multiple phones. Thinking multiple phones is still a problem in the age of cellphones is like saying, "How do I solve the problem of needing to carry around hundreds of CDs and a CD player to listen to the music I want?" in the age of the iPod. The sibling comments that argue for multiple phone numbers, on the other hand, have a point. But they should all still go to my cellphone. To be fair to Grand Central, they partially support this feature. It's just layered on with a bunch of other crap I don't care for.
  - calambrac 18y ago
    Are you seriously saying you think there aren't any legitimate situations where a person would want more than a single physical phone? You've never lived or worked in a building with terrible cell phone reception, had a dead battery but still really needed people to be able to get a hold of you, had your phone stolen, or had your simcard go bad? But the multiple phone number management thing, that's really just a marketing hook, the easiest possible sell for the mass market right now, isn't it? This service provides all of the features you could want when managing voice communications, completely independent from a physical device. I mean, really, why even have a phone at all? Just plug into your voice service however you damn well please, that's the actual story here.

I'm not sure why this was downvoted. Negative tone? I mean, he really does have a point. I'm interested in some of the other features (such as voice mail transcripts and advanced call routing), but the singular phone number issue was never a problem for me: my only phone has been my cell phone. I'd suspect a lot of young people are in the same boat.

aneesh 18y ago
While I'm sure it's more useful with multiple numbers, I've gotten a lot out of it having just one number. It gives me a second number that I can give out to folks who I don't want to give out my primary number to. It gives you much more flexibility: you can block certain numbers, forward to calls to voicemail, forward to other phones, record calls, make calls & listen to voicemails online, etc. There's plenty of utility even if you have a single phone.

pieter 18y ago

I don't get it... I'd rather prefer unlimited phone numbers for some of my phones. What if you give your phone number to the wrong people? They'll keep calling you. You might be able to filter out some, but they can always call from another number (think phone spam). I'd rather have the option to generate new phone numbers and give one number to each person / 'community'. Then if I quit my job I can just filter away all people calling me on my job number. That's also why people use multiple email addresses, or plus addressing.

Xichekolas 18y ago
Except your standard 10 digit phone number scheme only allows 10 billion numbers... which isn't exactly a big enough space to allow you to generate new phone numbers whenever you want. The idea is kind of cool though... like generating one-time-use credit card numbers for dodgy e-commerce sites.
robotrout 18y ago
I've been on Grand Central for a couple of years, I think. It has a feature where I can blacklist phone numbers. You even have a choice to play a "number disconnected" message to those callers. I have some head hunters from florida (I'm in Oregon) that got me in their database and wouldn't quit calling me. They now get the "number disconnected" message.

mhb 18y ago

I keep hearing people say this, but the actual voice quality (you know the reason to use a phone) on cell phones still sucks a lot of the time. I hate when someone calls me from their cell phone.

calambrac 18y ago

Solving the multiple phone problem by forcing yourself to have only one phone is like solving a rubik's cube by painting all the squares one color. It kind of misses the point. Also: if this were a story about the ipod in 2001, would your comment have been 'I already have that. It's called a cd player'?

jorgeortiz85 18y ago
No, on all counts. Phone numbers used to be a problem because phone numbers were tied to phone lines which in turn were tied to copper. If you wanted to be reached at home or at work you had to take different copper and thus different phone numbers. Phone lines are no longer tied to copper, and phone numbers are (sort of) no longer tied to phone lines. My cellphone takes my phone line with me anywhere I go, and if I switch cellphone providers I can take my phone number with me. I haven't had a home landline for almost 6 years now (granted, four of those were spent in college) and most people I know that are my age (I'm 24) also do not have landlines. The first thing I do to any work phone is to put it on permanent call forward to my cellphone. There really is no longer a need for multiple phones. Thinking multiple phones is still a problem in the age of cellphones is like saying, "How do I solve the problem of needing to carry around hundreds of CDs and a CD player to listen to the music I want?" in the age of the iPod. The sibling comments that argue for multiple phone numbers, on the other hand, have a point. But they should all still go to my cellphone. To be fair to Grand Central, they partially support this feature. It's just layered on with a bunch of other crap I don't care for.
- calambrac 18y ago
  Are you seriously saying you think there aren't any legitimate situations where a person would want more than a single physical phone? You've never lived or worked in a building with terrible cell phone reception, had a dead battery but still really needed people to be able to get a hold of you, had your phone stolen, or had your simcard go bad? But the multiple phone number management thing, that's really just a marketing hook, the easiest possible sell for the mass market right now, isn't it? This service provides all of the features you could want when managing voice communications, completely independent from a physical device. I mean, really, why even have a phone at all? Just plug into your voice service however you damn well please, that's the actual story here.