Make Free Phone Calls from Within Gmail

Call phones from within Gmail

_{Screenshot by Melanie Pinola}

The ever-innovating Google has just recently added another new feature to Gmail: the ability to make free calls within the U.S. and Canada (and to other countries at pretty low rates) directly from your email account. This integration of Google Voice, Google's free VoIP service, with the Gmail system makes it more convenient to place and receive online phone calls, since if you are a Gmail user, you probably have all your contacts' information in the service already. Now rather than going to Google Voice, you just need to have your Gmail window open.

If you don't already see a "call phone" link under the Chat sidebar, it should be coming to you soon. I gave it a try by calling myself and found the process pretty easy (my cell phone showed the incoming call as being from my Google Voice number). There was, however, a strange echo of everything I said to myself on the call reverberating through the computer's speakers, so further testing is still needed. You can also install a video chat plugin to do video calling too.

I can see this being a really convenient service for remote workers to make calls over Wi-Fi, for example, from their laptops at Starbucks or, while traveling, you can log into your Gmail from a rented computer at an Internet cafe and make cheap international calls from there. Unfortunately, the Google-Voice-in-Gmail probably won't work on your mobile phone browser...yet...

According to Google, the domestic calling should be free for at least the rest of the year. See more at Google's Gmail Voice page. For more Google tips, tricks, or news, visit About's Google site.