Make Phone Calls from Gmail

Posted on August 29, 2010 at 5:44 am

This past week has been an interesting one for Gmail users. Many users are reporting the email service is sending outgoing emails to recipients multiple times—annoying non-Gmail users throughout the Web.

While there is no official fix for this problem yet, Gmail is offering a brand new feature: the ability to make phone calls from within Gmail with only speakers and a microphone required.

Gmail users may have noticed a new icon in their chat box. Along with friend’s names and online statuses, a green phone appears with the words Call Phone.

gmail icon

Clicking this icon summons a menu with a telephone keypad. Enter any telephone number throughout the world, then click Call. Use your computer’s microphone to talk to whomever answers your call.

phone

Calls made to the USA and Canada are free—at least until the end of 2010. Prices for calls to other countries vary, but most are far cheaper than most long distance providers and cell phone companies charge. The highest price on the list is Immarset (a British satellite phone company) at $6.90 per minute.

immarsat

Nearly every country on Google’s list costs less than fifty cents per minute.

rates

Paying for calls is easy. Click the down arrow next to your balance, then choose add credits. From there, you can use a credit card to add money to your account.

add credit

We had to install a small driver to use the program, which took just a couple minutes. Our test call was from the United States to our home landline. It was very easy to hear the person on the landline from the computer, but our built-in computer microphone picked up every sound in the room, not just our voice. Thus, this service will work best with a headset, noise-cancelling microphone.

Those lucky enough to have Google Voice numbers can now receive calls from within Gmail. Video chat is also available.

» Filed Under Google Software/Tips

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Comments

4 Responses to “Make Phone Calls from Gmail”

  1. N said on : August 29th, 2010 at 11:20 pm

    Hi,
    I had made a call yesterday to US, I can listen voice from another party but my voice is not going through there, even I’ve check my mic, its working fine.
    Any idea ?


  2. Katie said on : September 14th, 2010 at 7:49 am

    Did you try changing browsers? When I tested it, I used Chrome.


  3. bob darbee said on : October 25th, 2010 at 11:06 am

    i hear the person I called via Gmail, but they cannot hear me! I’m guessing there is something wrong with my computer or setup?


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  1. See Important Emails First with Gmail Priority Inbox Says:

    [...] last week’s addition of phone features within Gmail, we really did not expect to see anything brand new from the Gmail development team for at least a [...]

    September 2nd, 2010 at 5:27 am
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