Google Purchases Web Phone Service

Google said yesterday that it had bought GrandCentral Communications, acquiring a service that lets people use a single number for all their phones.

Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

GrandCentral users can also create a single mailbox, accessible over the Internet, for all their phone messages, Google said on its Web site.

Users register their phones and can set all or some of them to ring based on who is calling.

GrandCentral, based in Fremont, Calif., was founded in 2005 by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet, two executives who worked for Dialpad Communications, a Web phone company that was acquired by Yahoo in 2005.

“GrandCentral’s technology fits well into Google’s efforts to provide services that enhance the collaborative exchange of information between our users,” said Google, which is based in Mountain View, Calif.

GrandCentral’s investors include Minor Ventures, a venture capital firm in San Francisco, according to its Web site.