Yeah, I was one of the many unlucky folks who were directly effected by SunRocket's collapse. I lost my two separate phone numbers, my unrestricted VoIP line, and a host of features that cost me pennies. I was shocked and devastated at the abruptness of the their collapse, but I followed the normal procedure: called my credit card corporation, declined SunRocket renewal costs, reported the "little," mishap to the FCC, and used my (backup) land line until I could find an alternative.

It took me about a month, but I finally found the alternative! While many former SunRocket customers got sucked in the vortex of competitor offers (Nuvio, TeleBlend, Packet8, etc.), I decided to try my luck with GrandCentral & the Gizmo Project (both relatively new web start-ups that seem to be doing well). The greatest part is the [current] price: free! To give you a quick introduction, GrandCentral is the recently purchased (by Google) web start-up that offers user-programmable call features & routing, along with a local number to call your own. The Gizmo Project (not associated with the conventional SunRocket "Gizmo," hardware) provides telecommunication using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) standard(s) and IM features using the Jabber platform. Although the software itself is closed-source (proprietary), the "free incoming calls" is what really makes this service shine.

 You don't have to own a SunRocket Gizmo to complete this setup, but the interactive tutorial focuses on re-programming the Gizmo hardware for use with the Gizmo Project's SIP server(s). If you choose to utilize the software, just sign up for accounts on both sites and verify your workstation has audio inputs (for a mic) and audio outputs (for a headset and/or speakers). Use GrandCentral's administrative interface to point your new local number at your Gizmo Project account, and whatever other numbers you'd like to ring, and leave the Gizmo Project client running on your workstation to accept incoming calls.

Outgoing calls are not free through the Gizmo Project client; however, utilizing GrandCentral's "Click2Call," feature provides free outgoing communication through your client application or any active phone.

Check out a full demonstration that covers Gizmo re-configuration and GrandCentral setting changes.