Aug 3

Written by:
8/3/2011 8:11 PM 

Gmail is a preferred email application of many. Gmail can be used to send emails or chat with friends. This integration of email and IM at one location created a revolution making instant messaging an integral part of email applications. Taking the cue, Yahoo and Live both integrated chats in their email applications at a later time.

Gmail then went on to include VoIP integration in email application with ability to make calls to traditional phones and mobiles. However, this was only available in US and Canada. Google has now extended this capability to countries outside of US and Canada. The best thing about this service is the price. Now, if you have friends and family in US and you want to reach them on their phones, you can do so at a very low rate of USD 0.01/ min or 50 p / min. This is cheaper than a local call that you make in India. Call to any Indian landline or mobile can be made at ~ Re 1/ min.

So, how do you do it? It is pretty simple. Just login to your Gmail a/c and check the right column. You should see a "Call phone" link as highlighted below.


Click on that link to open up the phone interface. Dial the required no. including the country code (for India it is +91). We tried calling our mobile phone no. from this interface and the call really came through! The call came from a US no: +1-415-343-5407. So, the call is being placed from a US no.

More details here: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/calling-from-gmail-now-in-38-languages.html 

Call rates for all countries can be found here: https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/rates 

By Indian Laws, you can't really terminate a VoIP connection on any Indian PSTN line. Google has been able to circumvent this law somehow. We wonder how long would this go unnoticed. Till that happens, enjoy the service!