Grand Central alternatives?

April 2, 2008 1:10 PM

I need suggestions for a Google Grand Central alternative. Namely a telephone web app that lets me have use of a local number. No VOIP suggestions, please.

I like what Google Grand Central can do, but my wife is concerned about how big Google is getting, and prefers we use an alternative. Fair enough. We just want a "last phone number we'll ever need" type thing that forwards to any number we pick, with some web-based voicemail and call filtering abilities (including being able to block Out Of Area calls and stuff like that).

I use Kall8 for my business, which would be perfect, but unfortunately they have no local numbers for our area code.

I saw this MeFi thread which hit the nail square on the head, but the OP got a Grand Central invite and that squelched the discussion.

Any ideas? Google is bringing up far too much noise, unfortunately.

posted by mr. creosote to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

I don't know of any alternatives. There used to be Netzero PrivatePhone, but it appears they just closed shop. The flip side to the "google is getting too big" argument is that a company could not have enough resources to stay open and you'll get shafted.
posted by sharkfu at 1:28 PM on April 2, 2008

sharkfu is right - google being big is actually a pro. only downside i see is it isnt going to stay free forever (i assume).
posted by joshgray at 1:36 PM on April 2, 2008

Would you rather get the "last phone number you'll ever need" from:

- Google, that's going to stick around for the foreseeable future and has an excellent track record about not taking its users' data hostage

- A smaller company that may fold in 6 months
posted by qvtqht at 2:08 PM on April 2, 2008

But what about privacy?
posted by ooklala at 5:21 PM on May 9, 2008