It's already active as of April if you had a previous account with GrandCentral. They've polished the interface some and added some features like transcription

It's already active as of April if you had a previous account with GrandCentral. They've polished the interface some and added some features like transcription which I don't believe was available (at least not in the free version of GC). The 2 main reasons I see using it are: 1) As a one to many phone number that lets people dial your home, work, cell numbers simultaneously. 2) As a filter so you won't get unwanted calls at inconvenient times ie recruiter cold calls during work hours. There's more, but these are the 2 ways I used it before Google basically let the service die so it could be absorbed and reworked. In order to keep your original phone number still secret you currently have to have Google connect you and the number you want to call. I can see this being handled by a dialer app on the iPhone or seamlessly on an android phone in the future. There's no cost for US only calls.