Well I was doing some research yesterday, and although this might be common knowledge I thought I would share what I found with TV.

In my line of work I have to make calls to America, landlines and mobiles, and I used to use Skype. They don't have bad rates, although there is also a connection fee per call I believe.

Well all of that has been blown out of the water now - for me at least.

1. Get yourself an American Proxy/IP that allows you to log into Gmail - basically you need HTTPS/Socks. These are available for free, you just need to know where to look.

(I'll let you search for this yourself lest I fall foul of TV's rules - Google is your friend. If you don't know what Google is - GOOGLE IT!)

2. Create yourself a new Gmail account with said IP.

3. Login and wait for the page to completely load.

4. You will notice that on the left-handside navigation bar at the bottom of the page, there is an option called "Call". Enter a US number in here and Gmail will prompt you to accept their telephony settings.

5. Re-enter the number, dial it, et viola, free calls to America/Canada until they suspend this service.

Alright, you need to find the IP first, but once you have, you're golden and saving a fortune if you need to call USA/Canda.

Google state that the reason they are offering this free service to US/Canadian numbers is they want to be a force to rival Skype and that people using their call facilites to other countries around the globe will easily help them recoup any lost amounts to US numbers.

The Skype killer perhaps? I for one think that the quality of the call was better than Skype's. Test for yourself and see what you think.

Happy free calls!

Edited September 7, 201015 yr by ManInSurat

ManinSurit

That is great to know. I got a Google phone number a little while ago, the one number that you can forward to any of your other numbers, home, cell, work etc.. The thing that bothered me about it was that they would email you your voice mails in typed format. I do not remember but I believe they will also do it for any call that you record, which you can do with their service. I figured that Google already knew enough about me from every time I used their search engine. But the price that they charge for the service you mentioned sounds good.

If they start to charge for this service, you might want to consider a MagicJack. I have a couple of them and I think that they are great. The negative thing about MagicJack is that there is an initial charge, it is not much, but it is a charge. I believe that the cost of the unit is about $40.00 USD and then $20.00 USD a year for unlimited calls to US and Canada. I also believe that there is a discount if you purchase 5 years of service when you firrst purchase your unit. The other negative is that you have to purchase it in the USA. Either have a friend go to Best Buy, Radio Shack someplace like that and buy it and send it to you or you can order it online and have it mailed to a friend that can forward it to you. That is the hardest part of using one in Thailand.

The good things about them is that once you purchase a year of service there is no more charges for calls to or from the US or Canada. You have a US phone number that rings where ever you are. You use a regular phone with it or you can use your computers microphone and speakers. They have a very cheap rate for calling internationally. When my wife and I travel abroad we can call back to Thailand Mobile phones for a couple of cents a minute. You can also pick the area code and prefix of your MJ number. So if you want a NYC or LAX number it is no problem.

If your google VOIP doesn't work out look into the MagicJack. I have been very happy with mine and I have a friend spending time in London using one and they are also very impressed with it. No I don't sell them or have stock in the company. Just a very happy customer.

ManinSurit

That is great to know. I got a Google phone number a little while ago, the one number that you can forward to any of your other numbers, home, cell, work etc.. The thing that bothered me about it was that they would email you your voice mails in typed format. I do not remember but I believe they will also do it for any call that you record, which you can do with their service. I figured that Google already knew enough about me from every time I used their search engine. But the price that they charge for the service you mentioned sounds good.

Thanks for this heads up mate. I'll have a look at it when I get a chance. I don't mind paying an upfront fee for something if it really delivers.

For the time being the above method is perfect, as I can get HTTPS/Socks proxies with ease.

When Gmail alters it stance on this, MagicJack might come in very handy!

:jap:

Some more info/details on Gmail phone: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/call-phones-from-gmail.html

Good VOIP info, but please beware of trying to use just any proxy in trying to get a US-based IP address, as use of proxies is illegal "if" used for illegal activities. I'm not implying using Gmail phone outside the US illegal...it just "some" activities done through proxies (that can come and go quickly many times), is illegal/scam attempts. Proxies can be unsafe as they can cache your user names and passwords and then take over your accounts. Just beware of proxy use.

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