Comments on: Open Thread: What's Your Phone Strategy?

By: AriseeIsoto

AriseeIsoto — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:53:12 +0000

Last week I was surfing the Internet just as every day. I checked my facebook profile,
bought some songs on iTunes, googled here and there…. and suddenly a thread on some
freebie forum caught my attention.
I read it completely, and tried the method described in it. It worked!

http://amateur-match-adult-dating.blogspot.com/

By: iphone man

iphone man — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:13:31 +0000

I try to manage my entire world on the iPhone. And it works fairly well. The key is the visual voicemail. I forwarded my office phone to my iPhone and let it pick up all the voicemail. I wish my iPhone could support multiple phone numbers though. I have seen that one other phones.

By: David Pappas

David Pappas — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:02:25 +0000

GrandCentral is definitely a big part of my strategy. I run a small midwest tournament and three months a year I get phone calls like no one’s business.

The single GrandCentral number gets posted on the tournament web site and then I have the tournament pay for a disposable cell phone during that time period. The calls are redirected to the cell phone and I protect my personal numbers and finances from the influx of calls.

My second line of defense on voice communications is Call Wave. It’s one of a bunch of similar services but what I like about it is the voice to text service.

I work for a company that requires the use of Exchange and Outlook and I use Covey’s plugin for that tool as my single repository for tasks/notes/appointments. I’ve got CallWave and GrandCentral set up to forward call receipts to my work account. If I need to retain them I do so within that account.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:19:18 +0000

GrandCentral in two cities for all business calls.
Inbound calls go to:
1. Biz mobile
2. Gizmoproject SIP # on win32 desktop and osx laptop
3. Wife’s mobile for family, friends

GC web to make free outbound calls via Gizmo from desktop

Linksys PAP2 ATA will soon be enabled to send GC calls to our wireless (old landline) phones

Probably turn on Callcentric or similar service for a bucket of SIP minutes to then use the wireless phones.

I’ve found that when you have guests over and they need to use the phone it’s odd to direct them to a mobile or a desktop with headset. The old wireless phones are useful for that.

Part of this discussion needs to include emergency 911 service.
Do you have a sticker on all mobiles with your local emergency 7 digit phone # on it. Calling 911 from mobile gets you highway patrol in California, no good if you are getting robbed.

So when you set anything up, just like with backup solutions, think in terms of worst case scenario – what do I grab to dial 911 in an emergency?

By: emalyse

emalyse — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:27:46 +0000

For me in the UK (where Grand central is not, as yet available) I’ve been using a Sip based set up (hardware and software) which routes and forwards various DID numbers to wherever I am if need be.I’m not much of a mobile phone user preferring to route phone calls to a real person when I can’t answer or don’t want to be disturbed and occasional use of remote desktop access when out and about.Most info I need access to is web based.

By: Jason Duerr

Jason Duerr — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:13:23 +0000

Most of the time I’m funneling everything to my cell.

My Grand Central number rings both my cell and the Vonage line in my studio. The Vonage # is for my toll free number and fax. It also rings my cell.

My phone syncs with the address book on my macbook which then syncs with Plaxo so I have contact info stored redundantly and avilable online and offline as well as from my desktop machines.

I’ve always hoped that Vonage would step things up a bit and do some of the things that GC does, but no dice so far. :)

By: Eric Boehnisch-Volkmann

Eric Boehnisch-Volkmann — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:20:40 +0000

At the moment I am using SkypeIn for the office but will switch to GrandCentral as soon as it reaches Germany. Otherwise I am using both the flatrate landline as well as my mobile phone. I sync addresses as well as to-dos (from OmniFocus) and calendar items to the SonyEricsson K750i and it just works fine most of the time.

By: Khürt Williams

Khürt Williams — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:32:22 +0000

GrandCentral for everyone except family. Cell phone for me and the wife to receive calls directed to us through GrandCentral. Cable company VoIP for the home.

By: Susanne Bullo

Susanne Bullo — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:20:52 +0000

I use GrandCentral largely due to having several numbers – 3 cell phoned kids, 1 cell of my own, 1 home number and 1 business number. GrandCentral lets me assign specific people to specific phones which is great. The other really great thing about GrandCentral is there’s one number for all – and we’re gearing up to move homes in the next 8 or 9 months. We won’t have to give out new numbers at all. Just the one assigned to GrandCentral!

I also use Skype for all business related calling or conferencing. This allows me to keep track of time spent on these tasks.

By: rossgoodman

rossgoodman — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:13:13 +0000

Personally I am forced to use Exchange and outlook for my work.
It is simpler for me to also include my personal contacts and my personal calendar into outlook too and simply mark it as personal.

I use a windows mobile based phone so synchronising all of this information is easy.

I then use http://www.Plaxo.com to synchronise outlook with my Yahoo/MSN/Google accounts.

I am currently evaluating http://www.RememberTheMilk.com for my personal tasks, getting them out of outlook. This is looking good so far.

Ross
http://www.RossGoodman.com