Google announced yesterday that voice calls made through Google Voice (GV) to phones in USA and Canada will be free in 2012. Low rates for calls to other countries are available.
GV is a Voice Over IP service introduced by Google in 2009. There are GV applications for PC, Mac, and Linux computers. GV apps are also available for Android, Blackberry and iOS devices.
GV has lots of nifty features. One feature I like is that voice messages are automatically transcribed into text, so you can read your voice mail as well as listen to it. Once transcribed, you can search through your voice mail for a particular word or phrase. Read about other features of GV here http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html
One convenient way to make a Google Voice call is through the interface provided in GMail. This program was introduced in August 2011. With Gmail you can use Google Voice without signing up for a full Google Voice account. However, the recipient of the call will see your call as coming from a number in Escondido, CA. So you might want to sign up for a GV number of your own.
Here's the August announcement describing the GMail service
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/call-phones-from-gmail.html
Here's another web page that explains how the service works, and has a link to download the browser plug-in that adds the service to Gmail. Once the plugin is installed, you have to fire up your Gmail account, and log in to Google Chat.
http://support.google.com/chat/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=187614
This service works on your Windows, MacOS or Linux desktop or laptop. There is no Gmail voice service for tablets yet. There are reports that Gmail voice calls work on netbooks that run Google Chrome OS, but I don't see that confirmed by Google.
GV is a Voice Over IP service introduced by Google in 2009. There are GV applications for PC, Mac, and Linux computers. GV apps are also available for Android, Blackberry and iOS devices.
GV has lots of nifty features. One feature I like is that voice messages are automatically transcribed into text, so you can read your voice mail as well as listen to it. Once transcribed, you can search through your voice mail for a particular word or phrase. Read about other features of GV here http://www.google.com/googlevoice/about.html
One convenient way to make a Google Voice call is through the interface provided in GMail. This program was introduced in August 2011. With Gmail you can use Google Voice without signing up for a full Google Voice account. However, the recipient of the call will see your call as coming from a number in Escondido, CA. So you might want to sign up for a GV number of your own.
Here's the August announcement describing the GMail service
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/call-phones-from-gmail.html
Here's another web page that explains how the service works, and has a link to download the browser plug-in that adds the service to Gmail. Once the plugin is installed, you have to fire up your Gmail account, and log in to Google Chat.
http://support.google.com/chat/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=187614
This service works on your Windows, MacOS or Linux desktop or laptop. There is no Gmail voice service for tablets yet. There are reports that Gmail voice calls work on netbooks that run Google Chrome OS, but I don't see that confirmed by Google.
