Open Thread: What’s Your Phone Strategy?
February 14th, 2008 (11:00am) Mike Gunderloy 10 Comments
Despite our common ground on the web, many web workers still depend heavily on the telephone. It can be the easiest way to get a quick bit of feedback, and the only way to quickly contact clients who are not out on the cutting edge of social networks. Underneath the veneer of maps, web browsing, music playing, and games, our telephones are still largely about connecting to people by voice.
But there are many ways to skin the telephonic cat these days. How do you keep your personal phone book up to date, manage messages, and integrate your old-fashioned voice chatting into your newfangled web life? Have you gone the Grand Central route to centralize everything? Are you a fan of using Skype’s services for worldwide access and desktop integration? Do you synch everything to your iPhone and let that sexy device handle the details for you? Or are there new phone-management services and sites that you think we should be covering? Here’s your chance to share tips for making the best modern use of this old-fashioned instrument.
10 Comments Post your own comment
Jon Moss says: February 14th, 2008 11:43am
At the moment I’m using Skype Out for all calls to landlines and have a Skype in number for my office - works very well.
Mobile wise, iPhone and syncing with the Macs.
As to Grand Central - waiting for it to arrive in the UK and then will give it a go!
rossgoodman says: February 14th, 2008 2:13pm
Personally I am forced to use Exchange and outlook for my work.
It is simpler for me to also include my personal contacts and my personal calendar into outlook too and simply mark it as personal.
I use a windows mobile based phone so synchronising all of this information is easy.
I then use http://www.Plaxo.com to synchronise outlook with my Yahoo/MSN/Google accounts.
I am currently evaluating http://www.RememberTheMilk.com for my personal tasks, getting them out of outlook. This is looking good so far.
Ross
http://www.RossGoodman.com
Susanne Bullo says: February 14th, 2008 2:20pm
I use GrandCentral largely due to having several numbers - 3 cell phoned kids, 1 cell of my own, 1 home number and 1 business number. GrandCentral lets me assign specific people to specific phones which is great. The other really great thing about GrandCentral is there’s one number for all - and we’re gearing up to move homes in the next 8 or 9 months. We won’t have to give out new numbers at all. Just the one assigned to GrandCentral!
I also use Skype for all business related calling or conferencing. This allows me to keep track of time spent on these tasks.
Khürt Williams says: February 14th, 2008 3:32pm
GrandCentral for everyone except family. Cell phone for me and the wife to receive calls directed to us through GrandCentral. Cable company VoIP for the home.
Eric Boehnisch-Volkmann says: February 14th, 2008 10:20pm
At the moment I am using SkypeIn for the office but will switch to GrandCentral as soon as it reaches Germany. Otherwise I am using both the flatrate landline as well as my mobile phone. I sync addresses as well as to-dos (from OmniFocus) and calendar items to the SonyEricsson K750i and it just works fine most of the time.
Jason Duerr says: February 15th, 2008 2:13am
Most of the time I’m funneling everything to my cell.
My Grand Central number rings both my cell and the Vonage line in my studio. The Vonage # is for my toll free number and fax. It also rings my cell.
My phone syncs with the address book on my macbook which then syncs with Plaxo so I have contact info stored redundantly and avilable online and offline as well as from my desktop machines.
I’ve always hoped that Vonage would step things up a bit and do some of the things that GC does, but no dice so far. :)
emalyse says: February 15th, 2008 3:27am
For me in the UK (where Grand central is not, as yet available) I’ve been using a Sip based set up (hardware and software) which routes and forwards various DID numbers to wherever I am if need be.I’m not much of a mobile phone user preferring to route phone calls to a real person when I can’t answer or don’t want to be disturbed and occasional use of remote desktop access when out and about.Most info I need access to is web based.
Mark says: February 15th, 2008 8:19am
GrandCentral in two cities for all business calls.
Inbound calls go to:
1. Biz mobile
2. Gizmoproject SIP # on win32 desktop and osx laptop
3. Wife’s mobile for family, friends
GC web to make free outbound calls via Gizmo from desktop
Linksys PAP2 ATA will soon be enabled to send GC calls to our wireless (old landline) phones
Probably turn on Callcentric or similar service for a bucket of SIP minutes to then use the wireless phones.
I’ve found that when you have guests over and they need to use the phone it’s odd to direct them to a mobile or a desktop with headset. The old wireless phones are useful for that.
Part of this discussion needs to include emergency 911 service.
Do you have a sticker on all mobiles with your local emergency 7 digit phone # on it. Calling 911 from mobile gets you highway patrol in California, no good if you are getting robbed.
So when you set anything up, just like with backup solutions, think in terms of worst case scenario - what do I grab to dial 911 in an emergency?
David Pappas says: February 17th, 2008 7:02am
GrandCentral is definitely a big part of my strategy. I run a small midwest tournament and three months a year I get phone calls like no one’s business.
The single GrandCentral number gets posted on the tournament web site and then I have the tournament pay for a disposable cell phone during that time period. The calls are redirected to the cell phone and I protect my personal numbers and finances from the influx of calls.
My second line of defense on voice communications is Call Wave. It’s one of a bunch of similar services but what I like about it is the voice to text service.
I work for a company that requires the use of Exchange and Outlook and I use Covey’s plugin for that tool as my single repository for tasks/notes/appointments. I’ve got CallWave and GrandCentral set up to forward call receipts to my work account. If I need to retain them I do so within that account.
iphone man says: February 21st, 2008 10:13pm
I try to manage my entire world on the iPhone. And it works fairly well. The key is the visual voicemail. I forwarded my office phone to my iPhone and let it pick up all the voicemail. I wish my iPhone could support multiple phone numbers though. I have seen that one other phones.