Fox McCloud
Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2007
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- 4,726
Or those who want to save a buck, love "techie" things, etc.
Anyway, no doubt your monthly phone bill (if you have one) gets on your nerves....well, how would you like to not have one, at all? (Assuming you have broadband, that is).
And here I present before you, Grand Central and Gizmo.
Grand Central (owned by Google) currently gives you free American telephone numbers....they also offer call forwarding and free outgoing calls when you use their "click2call" (to any number in the US).
Gizmo, on the opposite end of the spectrum is a stand-alone based application (Grand Central is all web-based) that operates on open SIP standards.
Well, if you purchase an ATA (a VoIP box such as a Linksys PAP2T-NA) and configure it properly with your Gizmo account, you have the potential for free unlimited calling.
A little while ago Grand Central offered call forwarding to only a few programs/providers. Later, they offered call forwarding to (surprise!) Gizmo.
Therefore, if you use Grand Central's click2call to call someone, it'll forward your call to your Gizmo account (which is now housed on your ATA), which forwards it to the phone connected to the ATA, thus making your phone ring. You pick up the phone, and you'll hear the other phone ringing; if the other person picks up, they'll both be talking to each other, for free (unless the person gets charged for incoming calls).
the catch? None, monetarily (Grand Central is technically operating at a loss of profit...but, being owned by Google, they can afford it, for now). The catch is the "click2call" which has to be initiated from Grand Central's web-page. (you can't dial out with your handset, like you normally would). The other issue (though fixable), is that you have to press "1" in order for the call to be picked up...but this can be, apparently (so I've heard), simulated with an Asterisk PBX system.
The only investment would be your ATA...unless you just want to forward all your calls to your Gizmo stand-alone client (personally, I wouldn't)....this'll run you...oh...around $50-$70, give or take a little.
Oh, that reminds me; you can have 2 Grand Central numbers forwarded to the same Gizmo SIP address...therefore, if you have a friend in California that calls you a lot, you could get a California number, but you also wanted a local number for the State you lived in, you could get one for that too.
The old adage "there is no such thing as a free lunch" does apply here, as the service is free for you, but not for Google.
Also, this is only half of the coin. Just recently (like, this week or so), Gizmo launched a new, amazing service. Basically, if it's possible for your POTS or Cellphone call to be routed via VoIP, then a person using Gizmo can call them for free. Now there's the only issue with this one (always an issue
)--not very many numbers qualify for this yet...only about 11% of America's telephone numbers. The other minor issue with this, is that you have to dial the prefix "0101" before dialing the 10 digit phone number...though, I don't see people complaining about it. I was fortunate enough that my own and a couple of other people's telephone numbers were inside this network. I tested it out myself, and the voice quality was surprisingly good (and I have an unstable, mediocre latency EVDO connection).
So, to summarize; you can get free unlimited calling in the US with Grand Central+Gizmo, but you have to use the web application to "dial-out" for free (no handset). That said, if you have a few contacts that are in the lucky 11%, then you can use the handset to call them directly.
I have not personally tried out Grand Central+Gizmo...but I have tried out Gizmo's "back door" calling that they have implemented, and I can assure you that it does work, and that it is free.
There's not a 100% guarantee that Grand Central will offer their "click2call" for free in the future, but there aren't any indicators that they will be doing it any time soon....and Gizmo charging? They have it in their best interest not to charge at this point (not saying they wouldn't). It probably won't be around "forever", but...at the same time, you never know.
links:
http://www.gizmoproject.com/
http://gizmo5.com/pc/backdoor
http://www.grandcentral.com/
I just love Free Market competition...I can just about imagine how much this drives POTS operators batty.
edit:
directly from Grand Central's website:
http://blog.grandcentral.com/?p=122
who knows how long they'll be in beta though....GoogleTalk (a more direct product of Google) has been around for a while now, and it's still in beta.
Anyway, no doubt your monthly phone bill (if you have one) gets on your nerves....well, how would you like to not have one, at all? (Assuming you have broadband, that is).
And here I present before you, Grand Central and Gizmo.
Grand Central (owned by Google) currently gives you free American telephone numbers....they also offer call forwarding and free outgoing calls when you use their "click2call" (to any number in the US).
Gizmo, on the opposite end of the spectrum is a stand-alone based application (Grand Central is all web-based) that operates on open SIP standards.
Well, if you purchase an ATA (a VoIP box such as a Linksys PAP2T-NA) and configure it properly with your Gizmo account, you have the potential for free unlimited calling.
A little while ago Grand Central offered call forwarding to only a few programs/providers. Later, they offered call forwarding to (surprise!) Gizmo.
Therefore, if you use Grand Central's click2call to call someone, it'll forward your call to your Gizmo account (which is now housed on your ATA), which forwards it to the phone connected to the ATA, thus making your phone ring. You pick up the phone, and you'll hear the other phone ringing; if the other person picks up, they'll both be talking to each other, for free (unless the person gets charged for incoming calls).
the catch? None, monetarily (Grand Central is technically operating at a loss of profit...but, being owned by Google, they can afford it, for now). The catch is the "click2call" which has to be initiated from Grand Central's web-page. (you can't dial out with your handset, like you normally would). The other issue (though fixable), is that you have to press "1" in order for the call to be picked up...but this can be, apparently (so I've heard), simulated with an Asterisk PBX system.
The only investment would be your ATA...unless you just want to forward all your calls to your Gizmo stand-alone client (personally, I wouldn't)....this'll run you...oh...around $50-$70, give or take a little.
Oh, that reminds me; you can have 2 Grand Central numbers forwarded to the same Gizmo SIP address...therefore, if you have a friend in California that calls you a lot, you could get a California number, but you also wanted a local number for the State you lived in, you could get one for that too.
The old adage "there is no such thing as a free lunch" does apply here, as the service is free for you, but not for Google.
Also, this is only half of the coin. Just recently (like, this week or so), Gizmo launched a new, amazing service. Basically, if it's possible for your POTS or Cellphone call to be routed via VoIP, then a person using Gizmo can call them for free. Now there's the only issue with this one (always an issue
)--not very many numbers qualify for this yet...only about 11% of America's telephone numbers. The other minor issue with this, is that you have to dial the prefix "0101" before dialing the 10 digit phone number...though, I don't see people complaining about it. I was fortunate enough that my own and a couple of other people's telephone numbers were inside this network. I tested it out myself, and the voice quality was surprisingly good (and I have an unstable, mediocre latency EVDO connection). So, to summarize; you can get free unlimited calling in the US with Grand Central+Gizmo, but you have to use the web application to "dial-out" for free (no handset). That said, if you have a few contacts that are in the lucky 11%, then you can use the handset to call them directly.
I have not personally tried out Grand Central+Gizmo...but I have tried out Gizmo's "back door" calling that they have implemented, and I can assure you that it does work, and that it is free.
There's not a 100% guarantee that Grand Central will offer their "click2call" for free in the future, but there aren't any indicators that they will be doing it any time soon....and Gizmo charging? They have it in their best interest not to charge at this point (not saying they wouldn't). It probably won't be around "forever", but...at the same time, you never know.
links:
http://www.gizmoproject.com/
http://gizmo5.com/pc/backdoor
http://www.grandcentral.com/
I just love Free Market competition...I can just about imagine how much this drives POTS operators batty.
edit:
directly from Grand Central's website:
http://blog.grandcentral.com/?p=122
who knows how long they'll be in beta though....GoogleTalk (a more direct product of Google) has been around for a while now, and it's still in beta.
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