Friday, February 22, 2008

Receive Calls from Your Blog

Usually when I log into Blogger, I don't scroll down past all my blogs to read the Blogger Buzz. Luckily Lady Banana does. She posted today that she was getting excited about the announcement of GrandCentral, which allows you to receive calls and post voicemail with your blog. Then they went and told her that it was only available in the US. (insert sad face here)

I'm sorry it didn't work for Lady Banana, but I'm really glad she mentioned it. If she hadn't posted I might never have noticed. I went ahead and signed up. From what I can tell, this will make it possible for anyone to call me at no cost to them. Think about that - free long distance! And I don't have to give out my phone number. I set it up to call my home phone, added the WebCall button to the sidebar, and Cory and I tested it. Actually, I did it all and handed him the phone. It was easy - I just clicked the button, entered his name and my cell phone number. Then I clickeded again, and GrandCentral called my cell phone. When Cory picked it up, it connected the call with the home phone, and it started to ring. When I picked the phone up, it told me I had a call from Cory, and I could connect, send the call to voice mail, and some other options. I just hit 1 to accept the call and talked to him.

I'm excited about this because I've got unlimited long distance, but I'm horrible, horrible, horrible about picking up the phone and calling anyone. I like talking when someone calls me, and now they can because it won't cost them to do it.

If you've got friends or family you'd like to be able to call you without long distance charges, GrandCentral is worth a look. It's new, so there might be a few kinks, but your number stays private, and there are all kinds of extra features - like call screening, voicemail, and call forwarding. It's currently in private beta test, but Google is letting bloggers go ahead and sign up now - probably because they know bloggers are good ones for giving feedback. Once you sign up, you can also invite 10 of your friends so they can sign up, too.

I really ought to find a clock to put by my call button - just so people are aware of what time it is where I am. I'd hate to get a call in the middle of the night just because someone wants to play with my brand new call button. I wonder if there's an option to send all calls straight to voicemail at bedtime?

7 comments:

  1. I saw that on blogger but havn't tried it. I am guessing you don't have to have long distant service. We don't have long distant on our business phone so i am wondering if it will work.?

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  2. I saw that on blogger but havn't tried it. I am guessing you don't have to have long distant service. We don't have long distant on our business phone so i am wondering if it will work.?

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  3. Just in the U.S? That sucks...I live in Canada.

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