One could still go through the motions and reserve a number via the homepage but even if one reserved a number, there was no guarantee that the service would ever open back up, though anyone that had an invitation to the service and hadn’t used it when the service’s public beta closed could still sign up.

There were still some of these invitations floating around the net, but buying them on ebay for a few hundred dollars just didn’t seem like a good idea especially since there were also rumors of the service being closed.

Well, it looks like me signing up for a reserved number so long ago has paid off. Google officially opened up Grand Central, rebranded as Google Voice, and are gradually sending invitations out to those that signed up for a reserved number.

I assume they are taking them in groups based on first come first serve, and if I am getting an invite based on my signup over a year ago, anyone signing up today could be waiting quite a while.

But the service is well worth the wait!

• Some of the awesome features include ringing all phones, or specific phones on a schedule you define when someone calls your Google Voice number.
• Voicemail left for your GV number is transcribed and emailed to you in plain text!
• Gmail contacts automatically imported to Google Voice
• Free SMS from the web (yea its already included with Gmail but the interface for GV is much better than Gmails)
• The list goes on and on, if only I could erase any memory of my real phone number and replaced it with my GV #

For me, for many reasons, this service will get its fair share of use from me.

If you havent already signed up for Google Voice, you better get in line, but I would not pass up an opportunity to get a number in your area code, or get a number in general for this incredible and one of a kind service.