I have been using GMail since April of 2004. I think it was a great change from the usual email programs and online services, I was used to.
I have used GMail voice chat and video chat, I even had video conferencing through that GMail feature. The caveat was, all parties needed to be near a computer.
But now all those have changed, you can call any number directly from your GMail Browser Tab (Yes I have a permanent GMail tab on my my desktop(s) ) as seen below.
Calls within USA and to Canada are free at the moment and the rest of the world is accessed for very low rates, just like the Google Voice. You can compare the rates for all the countries here, if you wanted to and you will notice that Google have worked hard to keep them low. We tried Japan mobile for one fourth of what AT&T charges us for a landline call. The call experience was alright. Would I use it again, yes, my partner already added credit through Google Voice and I already have Google Voice credit.
For people like us, who already have a Google Voice number, the out going calls will show as if they are coming from the Google number. If you decided to, you can also receive your Google Voice calls through GMail as well, it is pretty simple;
To receive calls in Gmail:If you wish to edit the settings for this forwarding phone, click the Edit button. You can disable Gmail as a forwarding phone simply by unchecking the box next to Google Chat.
- Make at least one outbound call from Gmail.
- In Google Voice, navigate to Voice settings under the Settings link.
- In the Phones tab, click the check box next to Google Chat.
(Official instructions)All in all Google is going somewhere with all this and yes, I want Google to have AT&T' lunch. Now do you want Google Voice on your iPhones Steve?
