VoIPPlanet published this article last month but I missed it somehow. Anyway, they discuss Vumber which, as near as I can tell, is GrandCentral with fewer features for $4.99/month.
Both GC and Vumber let you customize the handling of individual numbers — including always sending a call from a particular number straight to voicemail or even playing a “Not in service” message. GrandCentral lets you ring multiple phones and, to a certain extent, even customize which inbound calls ring which numbers; Vumber only rings one number. When a call comes in, you can request that GC show you DID (so you know it’s coming from GC) or the caller’s ID; Vumber always shows the original caller’s ID. When you answer your phone, GC lets you select to take the call, send the call to voicemail, send the call to voicemail and listen in or send the call to SPAM; Vumber lets you take the call or send it to voicemail. They share other features and differ on yet others but I’ll stop there. Email me if you want more details.
Why would you choose Vumber over GrandCentral? GC is owned by Google so it’s probably fairly safe to believe it’ll be around for a while. Call quality is good to excellent and outbound calls through GC are free so the only reason I can think of for going with Vumber is that you’d want to go with a commercial provider. Think about it.
FYI, I’ve been with GrandCentral for almost a year, now, and, while I have a few complaints, I’m incredibly well satisfied with their service. Yes, I’d pay $5/month for it.
Update, Feb. 19, 2008: Got an email from the folks at Vumber with the explanation that their service is really about privacy and the speed of setup — from your control panel you can change, add and delete vumbers; with GC, you’ve got one number and you’re stuck with it. Vumber says number set up is “immediate”. Of course, I didn’t give the whole story on Vumber.com. For that, you should really go to their site and check them out.