I completely agree with your point that what is interesting is the shift in focus from the number being tied to a device/location vs. the number being tied to you. That is in fact what makes it interesting, and what continues to prove that the evolution of the network is the focus on the individual rather than the technology or the service.

But if I may suggest, the difference you point out in the services is rather subtle.

If I understand, GrandCentral will take an incoming call to your virtual number and let you decide how, when, where and whether to deliver it. It can go to my home land-line, my cell, my office, my voice mail, all of the above at the same time or in sequence or none of the above, and the decision can be based on who is calling, when they are calling, etc.

My VoicePulse service (not new…>4 years old now) does exactly the same thing, including e-mail notification of voice mail (to SMS also) . There are probably a few variations on the theme which might make a big difference to some people.

Here is the key difference as far as I can see. You are exactly right in your statement that the number I have from VoicePulse is tied to a box that sits on my home network. There’s a physical phone attached to that box. Having the calls just go to that phone is one of the options.

Other than ringing that physical phone, all of the other options are available even if I take the device off my network and hide it in a closet.

GrandCentral, if I understand it, resides entirely in “the cloud,” meaning there’s nothing on my network, and no requirement that I even have a network.

That can be a big advantage if you don’t have a network, or don’t really want to futz with a box at all.

The reason I signed up for the VoicePulse number (over Vonage, 8×8 and other early VoIP providers) was exactly the ability to make my number mine as opposed to my box’s.

Though JT points out another big advantage of GrandCentral – the price (Free) as opposed to the monthly fee I pay VoicePulse for the priveledge.

So now that I’ve bored you with the details, I think the key issue with something like GrandCentral is that it’s good…very good, in fact, but I can’t see anything so new or different about it that would cause me to consider switching.

All that said, there is one thing that (AFAIK) none of the VoIP or GrandCentral-like providers do that would truly attach my phone number to me in the way that my e-mail is attached to me. (possible exception: Jajah – I don’t know if they do). That is:

When I call someone from any device, anywhere, anytime, the return caller ID shows up as my contact number.

This requires some network tricks, but it’s the way e-mail works, and when someone gets that done with a good service, then I’ll swtich also.

I wonder, thought, how is this different from the same services I have been using from VoicePulse (a small VoIP provider) for the last 3-4 years? They do what used to be called “call hunt” (ringing all my phones simultaneously or in sequence), different rings for different callers, automatic send-to-voicemail for selected callers, etc. etc. etc.?

And many of the smaller VoIP providers do similar things. I don’t see value in this over and above what’s already there, just a new entrant. I am wondering what this community thinks.

But I’ll also add that I’d love to add voice IM, web conferencing, etc. to my “voice connection” – I’d really just like to be able to talk to whoever I choose whenever and whereever and from whatever device I choose…this is still a few years off….

Cheers,
Dean
P.S. If you have no idea what Asterisk is…wake up snapperhead and go to http://www.asterisk.org or you can go to my website for a 60 second overview http://www.cognation.net/asterisk