Vonage account expiring soon - other options?

February 4, 2009 9:06 AM

Is there any way to currently join GrandCentral? If not, please read inside explanation and suggest other options.

I've had a Vonage number for about three years. Recently, I decided I was paying too much and purchased a MagicJack which has been working great for outgoing calls - the MagicJack has a separate phone number. I have about another month until my Vonage plan expires and I lose that phone number, so I'm trying to get everything set up so I can give friends/family a new number when that time comes.

The only catch is I'd like my new number to be a reliable one that won't change for some time (if I'm going to go to all the work of sending it out to everyone). I thought GrandCentral sounded neat because I could have it forward to my cell, or MagicJack, etc. and it may be more configurable, but I can't get an account there - they're not accepting new users. (Are they?)

What inexpensive option would you recommend for my situation? I thought about getting a number at the Gizmo Project and forwarding that to MagicJack, but there is a small monthly fee PLUS per minute fees for forwarding. Ideally, I'd like a service that is free, or nearly free. Bonus points if I can port my current Vonage number to said service!

I doubt I've explained this well enough, so please don't hesitate to ask questions for clarification.

Thanks!

posted by siclik to technology (14 comments total)

I cannot issue any invitations from my GrandCentral account, unfortunately, so the answer to your first question would appear to be "No."

Googling "like grandcentral" turns up a hit for http://www.toktumi.com/, which looks like it's $15/month.

Also in the Google results are other possibilities, but I am not familiar with any of them.
posted by kalessin at 9:16 AM on February 4

I just reviewed my GrandCentral account and while the "Help" section redirects you to Google's forum page about account setup, the home page only has a "reserve a number for me" option and I am not given any invitations to send out to anyone. I know Google has had GrandCentral for a while because they bought it months after GrandCentral was in Beta, but I have not heard of when they are releasing account creations.
posted by penguingrl at 9:20 AM on February 4

have you considered skype's online number? subscriptions are pretty cheap, you get voicemail and can forward your calls to any number.
posted by lia at 9:21 AM on February 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

Here's the problem - vonage owns your vonage number, majicjack owns your MJ number, and in the end Google will own your GC number. Aside from GC's other drawbacks (and there are many), the only way that you can be assured to be able to keep your number for a while is to obtain it through avenues that fall under number portability rules. That means a land line or a cell phone. Once you bite that bullet, you can take that number with you no matter where you go.

Here's what I'd do. I'd get a land line, and build a little Asterisk box. You can set asterisk to forward your calls via SIP to any other VoIP phone you want. If you want to forward it to another physical phone, you can buy time from a VoIP gateway. A land line with no options and no long distance provide is quite cheap.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 9:25 AM on February 4

You can port numbers away from Vonage.
posted by zsazsa at 9:32 AM on February 4

zsazsa, word 'round the net is that they can but sometimes they won't. They're not required to, as they're not a regulated carrier.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 9:41 AM on February 4

Since it sounds like GrandCentral is out of the question, the most realistic option seems to be getting a new number from Skype and paying them less than $5/mo. to forward for me. Of course, the Asterisk box would be the most configurable, but a land line here is more than $15/mo. plus the cost of building the server - wouldn't make much sense since I'm trying to save money.

This way, if MagicJack goes belly-up or the device just breaks one day, I guess I can forward all calls to my cell.

GrandCentral would have been the free approach, but it sounds like Skype will be the next best thing unless anyone else has a better suggestion.
posted by siclik at 9:48 AM on February 4

I would go ahead and fill out GrandCentral's "reserve a number for me" form, that is how I got my GrandCentral account. And I got it within a day or two of filling the form out.

Admittedly, that was about a year ago when they were still handing out invitations, so they were looser with giving out accounts. But still, it's worth a shot, what do you have to lose?

I hope Google keeps the service going. I use it all the time and love it, it will be a major pain if Google shuts it down as the rumors say.
posted by icebourg at 10:04 AM on February 4

Rumors about GrandCentral actually say it will not be shut down.
posted by GuyZero at 10:12 AM on February 4

@icebourg

I reserved a number last fall at GrandCentral, so that's taken care of. I've just been waiting it out but my Vonage plan will expire at the end of the month and I doubt I'll get to sign up before then.

So I guess I was looking for other options since GC appears to be hopeless. Skype seems to be the most economical alternative.
posted by siclik at 10:17 AM on February 4

Last time I checked, blogger account holders get an account with Grandcentral now. That's how I got mine.
posted by mynameisluka at 10:47 AM on February 4

Oh crap, no longer available.
posted by mynameisluka at 10:48 AM on February 4

"Here's the problem - vonage owns your vonage number, majicjack owns your MJ number, and in the end Google will own your GC number. Aside from GC's other drawbacks (and there are many), the only way that you can be assured to be able to keep your number for a while is to obtain it through avenues that fall under number portability rules. That means a land line or a cell phone. Once you bite that bullet, you can take that number with you no matter where you go."

that's actually not true. there are quite a few companies selling grandcentral-like services who allow customers to port numbers in and out. i'm quite familiar with this because i work for one of them. ;) we allow customers to port their numbers under any circumstance so long as their bill has been paid. we also regularly port numbers away from vonage so i know for a fact that vonage does allow that.

the problem you're more likely to run into is that there is some time and effort involved in porting a number so companies like skype that run very low cost services are rarely motivated to bother with that. it isn't cost effective to pay someone hourly to manage the porting of numbers unless the customer's signing up for a service that generates enough revenue to warrant it. it's likely that skype neither allows numbers to be ported in nor allows their numbers to be ported out.

the company i work for has been selling a service that's similar to grandcentral for about 10 years but it's neither free nor nearly free, so unless you feel like paying ~$15/month it won't help ;) it's geared more for businesses although there are some people who use it for personal calls. if you can't find anything else, though, feel free to send me a mefi message. i work in sales and can swing deals for the mefites =]
posted by groovinkim at 5:57 PM on February 4

MajicJack is currently working on allowing you to port a number over to them; meanwhile, you can just buy the cheapest Vonage account and aim your current number at the MJ number and you're in business, and if/when MJ does allow you to port it in, do so and your off and running.

Virgin will sell you a cell phone CHEAP and allow you to port the number over to the cell, but you cannot forward form them. Let it roll to vioce mail and call back on MJ phone. I think that 1010 cell phone will let you forward and the calling is less expensive per minute but it's more money per month; I think you've got to use fifteen bucks a month, I think that Virgin doesn't have a monthly set amount that you have to either use or lose.
posted by dancestoblue at 12:09 AM on February 5