Mad Money Machine

Moving from Skype to GrandCentral Voicemail

So Skype emails me and wants another $60 for my phone number for a year. Bah! The way I figure it, this is not just the "Information Age" but the "Free Information Age." I mentioned on show 141 that I was probably not going to pay. Well, leave it to a listener to remind me of a better (free) way. RalfX called on Skype (actually a Skype-to-Skype call too, so I didn’t need the incoming phone number) to say that he wrote a blog post on five ways to get a free phone number . I read it and was reminded that a long time ago I set up a GrandCentral number. I never used it because I already had too many phone numbers in my life. Well, now that I have one fewer number, I can add this one back in. 571-366-7121. Call it and leave a voicemail.

I noticed one feature that GrandCentral has that Skype does not: the ability to DOWNLOAD the audio file! No longer do I have to go through hoops rigging up some audio hijack software to play and record the Skype message. Nice. I also like the fact that I get emailed immediately upon receiving a voicemail. I don’t have to have an application running on my computer to get the voice message too.

Maybe someday I will merge all my numbers to this one number, once I really get my contacts put in there correctly. It supposedly allows you to allow calls through from people you know while routing others to voicemail.