The Competition for Your Number Heats Up

It used to be that your phone number only defined your location, as it was assigned based on your physical address. If you weren’t at that address, you missed the call. With cell phones your phone number was defined by your device. You could stick that device and your number in your pocket and take it with you.

Now the paradigm is changing once again and like an email address, those digits can now define you, not the technology. It doesn’t matter what device you use to actually have your conversation…landline, cell phone, computer. Your choice. You pick a local phone number simply to accommodate folks who are still doing things the old way.

A number of web applications have sprung up to help guide our move away from device-centered communication. It’s an evolution process beyond standard VoIP (Vonage, Lingo, OptimumVoice, etc.). Those services use new-ish technology to use traditional telephones in traditional ways. The shape of what’s to come breaks the phone number free from previous device-centered barriers. We’re not “there yet” as most of these services are beta and buggy. Only play right now if you’re an early-adopter type and mobility and flexibility are higher priorities that reliability and call quality. The promise is what makes this space interesting for web workers.
GrandCentral has kicked it up a notch with their new mobile interface. Their Flash-heavy desktop site is replaced by a light easy-to-navigate HTML version on mobile browsers. If a phone can play an MP3 file (older Blackberrys may be left out), you can skim your entire inbox of voicemail and play back messages on the fly in whatever order you choose. This is an improvement over the CallWave product mentioned a couple of weeks ago, since this interface is available right from the mobile phone. GrandCentral has added a premium (2.5 cents per minute) click-to-call feature so calls placed from the mobile interface will have the GrandCentral number as the caller ID. They are also teasing that you can forward your mobile carrier’s voicemail to GrandCentral so you don’t have to check two voicemail systems from your phone if folks still use your mobile number.

Masque Number provides a more disposable phone number that allows you to pre-screen your calls, forward to the number(s) of your choice and change voicemail based on the time of day. You can post your phone number on your website, or give it out freely without worry. Give folks you’re nervous about a phone number just for them. Drop it any time and you don’t have to let everyone else know you’ve changed phone numbers yet again. Pricing is on a monthly basis based on the quantity of phone numbers you “own” and you can throw out numbers at any time without penalty.

Skype offers a SkypeIn phone number for $38 per year (US$). Combine with a SkypeOut plan so you can forward your Skype number when you’re away from your computer. Gizmo offers a similar service.

At this point, Grand Central is the company to watch. Is it time to tell all your friends your new phone number and reprint your business cards? Probably not. These services are just getting off the ground. Outages are to be expected, and it remains to be seen if there is enough profit here for these companies to stay afloat. If you sign up and hate the service, retaining your new phone number with a different service or carrier may not be possible. In the meantime, if you are willing to take the chance, it’s nice to give out a phone number that literally has your name on it.

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