First, the disclaimer. I have set this up for myself and it all seems to be working without any issues. I couldn’t find this to be in direct violation of AT&T’s Terms of Service (though I understand it may be for the likes of T-Mobile, and possibly other carriers as well). That said, it is definitely a loophole that is probably not smiled-upon by AT&T — and probably a big reason that there was a huge hullabaloo over Google Voice being booted from the App Store last summer. On the other hand, to have the A-List feature, you have to be paying for a certain rate plan anyway, so AT&T will be getting a guaranteed chunk of cash from you each month anyway. Consider yourself edukated, and proceed at your own discretion.

Set It Up

Okay, now let’s begin. You’ll first need to make sure you’ve got the option to use A-List, based on your AT&T rate plan. Here are the qualifying factors, direct from AT&T’s webpage:

• Individual plans 900+ minutes ($59.99 and over) per month
• FamilyTalk plans 1400+ minutes ($89.99 and over) per month
  qualify for A-List

And when you sign up for the A-List feature, here’s what you get:

• No extra charge with your qualifying plan
• Add up to 5 numbers on your individual plan
• Add up to 10 numbers on your FamilyTalk plan
• Add any domestic number, on any network – including landline numbers
• Calls to and from your A-List numbers are not charged against your rate

If you qualify, but aren’t yet using A-List, log into your AT&T Wireless account and go to “Manage Features.” Under the Shared features, you should find the $0.00 option for A-List. Choose that and update your features. After doing so, you’ll have the opportunity to populate your five to 10 numbers (dependent upon your rate plan). This is where you’ll enter your Google Voice number (if you have one, that is).

Obviously the other key here, is to have the Google Voice service. If you’re lacking in this department, don’t despair (we won’t judge you). The good news is, there are options: You can either let Google know you’d like an invite one day, or ask current users who may have up to three invites to share. Unfortunately I’m all out, or you — my favorite TAB readers — would be in luck.

Because Google Voice functions as a forwarding service, the numbers that may be calling you can potentially come through to your phone directly, and unless those numbers are on your A-List, they’ll be counting against your minutes. To avoid this, you’ll need to go into your Google Voice Settings page. On the ‘Calls’ tab, look for the ‘Caller ID (in)’ section. Make sure that “Display my Google Voice number” is selected, and then save your changes. Doing this ensures that any call in or out of Google Voice (to your cell phone) is covered by AT&T on your A-List. Otherwise those calls will be from an arbitrary number that was transfered to you.

The key to success with this setup is using Google Voice for as much of your calling as possible. That means getting the word out to those who call you too. Lifehacker has some good tips for making this transition, if you’re ready to commit. Ideally, you can access either the Google Voice webpage from the browser on your phone, or you have access to the Google Voice app which is only available to Jailbroken iPhones. (Though fear not, our very own Chris Ryan has given some solid tips for getting the most out of Google Voice, regardless of your phone situation.)

When you initiate a call using Google Voice (whichever flavor of access you opt for), the service first rings your phone, and then connects that call on your phone to the number you wanted to dial, so from an A-List perspective, it’s your Google Voice number that’s performing the call.

So that’s about it. There’s not a whole lot to it, but rather, more about connecting the dots. I think it’s a fair solution too. AT&T is guaranteed to get $200 out of my family each month, and with the huge pool of roll over minutes we’ve got built up, it’s not likely we’ll ever have an overage anyway, so we’re all happy at the end of the day. Good luck getting yours setup, and enjoy the free calls.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: How Google Voice Could Change Communication

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1. You can use your GrandCentral number to send and receive SMS messages, and have them forwarded to your current wireless phone. You can send messages from the mobile or from the phone.
2. Make phone calls using the web or your mobile/landline phone.
3. You can get transcripts for voicemails left on Google Voice. These transcripts, based on internal Google technology currently being used by GOOG-411 service, can be sent to you via SMS.
4. Create conference calls by dragging phone numbers onto existing calls. This will be useful for small businesses and web workers.
5. Free calls to all U.S. numbers. You can make international calls but that will cost you, depending on the country you are dialing.

The original GrandCentral features, such as voicemail screening and personalized greetings, are still available. Your voicemails can be emailed to you as attachments. Just as a warning, the upgrade to Google Voice won’t allow you to take your GrandCentral address book with you, since the new system uses Google Contacts. In addition, the service doesn’t work with those of you who have Google Apps accounts; you’ll need Gmail accounts. Lastly, they make you use Google Checkout to pay for international minutes. No thanks — I am happy paying with PayPal and/or credit cards.

At the time of the launch of the service, Vincent Paquet & Craig Walker, co-founders of the company had outlined this vision in a conversation back in 2006. With Google Voice, GrandCentral is truly becoming “one number for life.”

Bottom line: The Google folks upgraded my account, and after some heartburn, I got it working. As part of its new life as Google Voice, the GrandCentral web site has been redesigned to resemble Gmail, which I like mostly because, like many of you, I have become used to the sparse user interface. The SMS, voicemail and transcription services worked as advertised. The upgrades are truly worth the wait, and I have no hesitation in recommending this service to one and all.

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