Google Voice Now Available In Thailand. $0.01 Per Minute From Thai To Usa And Canada

[BB1950]

Your 4th guess just went out the window BB. Back home in Lamphun with TOT and it's working fine. My original thought that it's a slow roll out is the one I'm sticking with ... Cheers and hope it's on soon for you whatever the case is.

Oh well.... Let's hope you are right. I would like to get away from Skype.

Thanks for the update. :jap:

In the meantime, it would be nice if other TV members started reporting were it's started working for them and on which providers.

Edited August 21, 2011 by BB1950

[blakegeee]

I also use True and its working for me (for a week or so). I signed up for Gmail here in Chiang Mai about 6 months ago. A couple months ago it worked for me for a few days but then never again after restarting the computer one day. Now its back and its been over a week. Have restarted the computer (Mac) and its still there. I hope it stays this time although I don't really use it much anyways. Its just nice to have it when needed in case something comes up.

[taxout]

There are two different Google services.

There's Google Talk:

http://www.google.com/talk/

And there's Google Voice:

http://www.google.com/voice

They aren't the same.

While the OP's headed his post "Google Voice," it seems to be Google Talk that's available outside the U.S., but not Google Voice. Thus the confusion here. On Google Voice, for example, you get a free U.S. phone number which can receive voicemails, which are delivered as both text and sound files to your email account.

[happysanook]

taxout is correct. I tried to change topic heading, but couldn't. i assumed interested parties would figure it out by context of the thread. aplogize BB1950 if it was understood as Google Voice, the service which gives you a phone number and answering machine etc...

when downloading the Talk plugin it says "Google Video and Voice" as the heading. Adding to that, google Talk tech is "VoIP" "VOICE over IP" making it even more confusing for some.

Regardless, here is an article about Google making Talk international... Happened first week of August.

http://www.zdnet.com...ernational/1319

Excerpt: "This new VoIP service isn't available everywhere yet. Google hasn't announced which countries will get it first. Instead, Lebeau simply said, "We're rolling out this feature over the next few days, so if it's available in your country you'll see a little green phone icon show up at the top of your chat list and you'll be ready to make calls (you'll need to install the voice and video plug-in if you haven't already)."

Edited August 23, 2011 by happysanook

[BB1950]

taxout is correct. I tried to change topic heading, but couldn't. i assumed interested parties would figure it out by context of the thread. aplogize BB1950 if it was understood as Google Voice, the service which gives you a phone number and answering machine etc...

when downloading the Talk plugin it says "Google Video and Voice" as the heading. Adding to that, google Talk tech is "VoIP" "VOICE over IP" making it even more confusing for some.

Regardless, here is an article about Google making Talk international... Happened first week of August.

http://www.zdnet.com...ernational/1319

Excerpt: "This new VoIP service isn't available everywhere yet. Google hasn't announced which countries will get it first. Instead, Lebeau simply said, "We're rolling out this feature over the next few days, so if it's available in your country you'll see a little green phone icon show up at the top of your chat list and you'll be ready to make calls (you'll need to install the voice and video plug-in if you haven't already)."

I've been aware of the difference all along. I pointed it out that both are not available in post #7 of this thread.

Neither are available for me, nor am I offered a 'US phone number and answering machine' function in my Google Talk application. .

So apology not necessary.

I believe it's precisely that article, the variations of this blog, and the few people who have been able to use it; that has contributed to the confusion stating it is available throughout Thailand, where it clearly isn't yet.

We'll see what the next few months have to offer.

Edited August 23, 2011 by BB1950

[FarangBuddha]

I'm in Cambodia this week and when I opened my G-mail here I see and am able to the Google Voice calling feature after downloading the plug-in and adding $10 to my account thru Google Check-out. Calls back to Thailand show as .03 per minute and to to the USA are $.01 per minute. I tested it and it works fine with decent voice quality using the hotel's Wi-Fi network. Funny thing is that as of a week or so ago, the service was not showing up when I sign into my Google Mail while at home in Thailand.

One thing...you Google Mail has to be set to newest display settings (not Classic view for slower data networks) in order for the feature to be accessible (if it available in your country).

Edited August 23, 2011 by FarangBuddha

[BB1950]

One thing...you Google Mail has to be set to newest display settings (not Classic view for slower data networks) in order for the feature to be accessible (if it available in your country).

Where is this setting exactly located in the Mail settings? I don't see it. I've looked under all the tabs for Gmail settings.

[FarangBuddha]

One thing...you Google Mail has to be set to newest display settings (not Classic view for slower data networks) in order for the feature to be accessible (if it available in your country).

Where is this setting exactly located in the Mail settings? I don't see it. I've looked under all the tabs for Gmail settings.

Yeah... sometimes Google likes to make their product interfaces so "clean" you can't find any of the controls. By default, G-Mail is set to the latest version; however, during the few seconds it takes to load, it will display a link/hyper-text to switch to "classic" if there is a slow network connection. The latest version has a much more cluttered/busy appearance than Classic. Also, I think if you see the "chat" function towards the bottom left of the screen under your folders then you are using the new version.

There may also be a setting you can change but I can't find it either.

Edited August 23, 2011 by FarangBuddha

[happysanook]

One thing...you Google Mail has to be set to newest display settings (not Classic view for slower data networks) in order for the feature to be accessible (if it available in your country).

Where is this setting exactly located in the Mail settings? I don't see it. I've looked under all the tabs for Gmail settings.

There is no setting for this. It will automatically set it to standard unless you have a browser that can't support standard Gmail or you're on a very slow connection, which I'm guessing isn't the case.

assume you have the plugin installed....

Is the "Call Phones" option available under Settings -> Chat...?

It's still available to me, and on several different networks. Home, at my buddy's place, and at on the local school's network as well....

[BB1950]

One thing...you Google Mail has to be set to newest display settings (not Classic view for slower data networks) in order for the feature to be accessible (if it available in your country).

Where is this setting exactly located in the Mail settings? I don't see it. I've looked under all the tabs for Gmail settings.

There is no setting for this. It will automatically set it to standard unless you have a browser that can't support standard Gmail or you're on a very slow connection, which I'm guessing isn't the case.

assume you have the plugin installed....

Is the "Call Phones" option available under Settings -> Chat...?

It's still available to me, and on several different networks. Home, at my buddy's place, and at on the local school's network as well....

As mentioned before, I do have the plugin installed but no call phones option under chat. Also still get the 'not available in your area' message.

[BB1950]

happysanook, I want you to notice the difference between your Chat Settings and my Chat Settings

This is your Chat Settings:

Notice the area I highlighted in the Call Phones area. You will notice for Default Country it says "United States". Something has obviously been done so that Google thinks you are/were in the United States.

This is my Chat Settings:

Notice that there is no Call Phones area. Also note that I do have the plugin installed.

All I can say is be thankful you have the chat feature, as it is not officially available in Thailand yet.

:

[BB1950]

I'm in Cambodia this week and when I opened my G-mail here I see and am able to the Google Voice calling feature after downloading the plug-in and adding $10 to my account thru Google Check-out. Calls back to Thailand show as .03 per minute and to to the USA are $.01 per minute. I tested it and it works fine with decent voice quality using the hotel's Wi-Fi network. Funny thing is that as of a week or so ago, the service was not showing up when I sign into my Google Mail while at home in Thailand.

If you notice the not supported list which I posted earlier. Only Thailand and Vietnam are the only two countries listed in Southeast Asia that are not supported. Therefore it should work in Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, and Malaysia.

[Pib]

The Call icon still does not appear for me...I'm on True in Bangkok...and I do have the required add-ons loaded (and reloaded), using English language setting, etc...etc...etc. But if I turn on my VPN which gives me a U.S. IP address the Call icon appears.

I think (my guess) for some people in Thailand, Google is somehow misidentifying your IP address as a non-Thailand/authorized IP address or some other glitch in the Google system; and for other folks like me Google is correctly identifying the IP address as being in Thailand.

Edited August 29, 2011 by Pib

[bklyn2bkk]

happysanook, I want you to notice the difference between your Chat Settings and my Chat Settings

This is your Chat Settings:

Notice the area I highlighted in the Call Phones area. You will notice for Default Country it says "United States". Something has obviously been done so that Google thinks you are/were in the United States.

This is my Chat Settings:

Notice that there is no Call Phones area. Also note that I do have the plugin installed.

All I can say is be thankful you have the chat feature, as it is not officially available in Thailand yet.

:

Just wanted to add that I too am able to use the "Call Phone" feature in Google Chat. Just moved to Bangkok a month ago, with ADSL service from 3BB in my condo. I was also able to access it via a hotel Wifi network in Pattaya two weeks ago. I wanted to reference something that BB1950 pointed out. Under my Chat Settings, in the Call Phones section, the Default Country is set to United States. This possibly may make the difference in whether the feature is available to you or not.

I got my Gmail account years ago when it was still in testing and one needed an invitation. I also have a Google+ account, which I recently received an invitation for. As well, the "Call Phone" feature was working for me in the US prior to moving to Bangkok. And to top it all off, Goggle was gracious enough to give me $0.10 of credit to start me off with. I have made a couple of quick calls to the US ($0.01 per minute) and quality seems fine.

[Pib]

My country location is set to the United States also...makes no difference for me....no Call/Voice function and when separately trying the Call/Voice function from the main Google web site it comes up with the message which basically says it's not offered to my area yet. That is, it's seeing my IP address is in Thailand. But as mentioned earlier, turn on my VPN to get a US IP address and the Call/Voice function appears in my Gmail menu and if clicking the Call/Voice icon from the Google main web site it also works.

I still think it's just a misidentified IP address thing for the folks in Thailand who are able to use the Call/Voice function without VPN being activated.

[happysanook]

The Call icon still does not appear for me...I'm on True in Bangkok...and I do have the required add-ons loaded (and reloaded), using English language setting, etc...etc...etc. But if I turn on my VPN which gives me a U.S. IP address the Call icon appears.

I think (my guess) for some people in Thailand, Google is somehow misidentifying your IP address as a non-Thailand/authorized IP address or some other glitch in the Google system; and for other folks like me Google is correctly identifying the IP address as being in Thailand.

I've been on 3 different networks. A school 75km outside chiang mai. My room in Lamphun and my friend's guest house in CM. I don't believe it's an IP thing.

This came up for me the same week they announced they were opening it up to other countries. I'll stick to my slow roll-out guess. It's not at all untypical and every other suggestion seems to have been ruled out.

BB1950, I see the difference, and you're off the mark. The "default country" is the setting for the default dialing out to country, not the country where residing/gmail time zone.

Edited August 29, 2011 by happysanook

[Pib]

The Call icon still does not appear for me...I'm on True in Bangkok...and I do have the required add-ons loaded (and reloaded), using English language setting, etc...etc...etc. But if I turn on my VPN which gives me a U.S. IP address the Call icon appears.

I think (my guess) for some people in Thailand, Google is somehow misidentifying your IP address as a non-Thailand/authorized IP address or some other glitch in the Google system; and for other folks like me Google is correctly identifying the IP address as being in Thailand.

I've been on 3 different networks. A school 75km outside chiang mai. My room in Lamphun and my friend's guest house in CM. I don't believe it's an IP thing.

This came up for me the same week they announced they were opening it up to other countries. I'll stick to my slow roll-out guess. It's not at all untypical and every other suggestion seems to have been ruled out.

BB1950, I see the difference, and you're off the mark. The "default country" is the setting for the default dialing out to country, not the country where residing/gmail time zone.

I still say it's an IP address thing. Google specially states that Thailand is one of the countries that the Call function is not available to yet. But obviously some people in Thailand are lucky enough for the Call function to appear. And when I try to use the Call function on my True package here in Bangkok I get below thumbnail notice, and I've got all my gmail/google settings to location in U.S., English (US) language, add-ins loaded (and reloaded...even says I have Talk Plug-in Ver 2.2.2.0 and Talk Plug-in Video Accelerator V 0.1.44.9 loaded), etc....etc....etc. But activate my VPN which gives me a U.S. IP address and the Call icon appears & works.

Since I'm not seeing a lot of people in Thailand saying "Hey, I've now got Google Talk" I'm guessing a small percentage of lucky people are having the Call icon appear for them for whatever reason. I seriously doubt all the different setting suggestions as Location in U.S. English language settings, etc., really have much (or anything) to do with whether the Call function appears or not....I'm guessing it's pretty much an IP address thing just like the notice below directly infers/tells me (unless I activate my VPN to get my U.S. IP address). Glad it's working for some people in Thailand without using VPN/an authorized Call fucntion IP address.

:

[happysanook]

The Call icon still does not appear for me...I'm on True in Bangkok...and I do have the required add-ons loaded (and reloaded), using English language setting, etc...etc...etc. But if I turn on my VPN which gives me a U.S. IP address the Call icon appears.

I think (my guess) for some people in Thailand, Google is somehow misidentifying your IP address as a non-Thailand/authorized IP address or some other glitch in the Google system; and for other folks like me Google is correctly identifying the IP address as being in Thailand.

I've been on 3 different networks. A school 75km outside chiang mai. My room in Lamphun and my friend's guest house in CM. I don't believe it's an IP thing.

This came up for me the same week they announced they were opening it up to other countries. I'll stick to my slow roll-out guess. It's not at all untypical and every other suggestion seems to have been ruled out.

BB1950, I see the difference, and you're off the mark. The "default country" is the setting for the default dialing out to country, not the country where residing/gmail time zone.

I still say it's an IP address thing. Google specially states that Thailand is one of the countries that the Call function is not available to yet. But obviously some people in Thailand are lucky enough for the Call function to appear. And when I try to use the Call function on my True package here in Bangkok I get below thumbnail notice, and I've got all my gmail/google settings to location in U.S., English (US) language, add-ins loaded (and reloaded...even says I have Talk Plug-in Ver 2.2.2.0 and Talk Plug-in Video Accelerator V 0.1.44.9 loaded), etc....etc....etc. But activate my VPN which gives me a U.S. IP address and the Call icon appears & works.

Since I'm not seeing a lot of people in Thailand saying "Hey, I've now got Google Talk" I'm guessing a small percentage of lucky people are having the Call icon appear for them for whatever reason. I seriously doubt all the different setting suggestions as Location in U.S. English language settings, etc., really have much (or anything) to do with whether the Call function appears or not....I'm guessing it's pretty much an IP address thing just like the notice below directly infers/tells me (unless I activate my VPN to get my U.S. IP address). Glad it's working for some people in Thailand without using VPN/an authorized Call fucntion IP address.

:

They're not going to show Thailand has it when they're doing a slow roll out. Everyone in Thailand who's not on the roll out will be like <deleted>? Why don't I have it. And google will be bombarded with emails/calls/complaints etc...

Yes, the setting has nothing to do with whether or not you get the option to call out. The settings as shown in the graphic won't even be there until it's allowed on your account. The location setting in the graphic is the DEFAULT DIALING OUT TO country. Nothing to do with current location.

Again , I've been on THREE different networks w/o any sort of VPN, and it's working fine on all of them, so it's NOT an IP address thing.

[Pib]

How are they going to "unrestrict" the function to all people in Thailand (a.k.a., provide the Call function to folks in Thailand) unless Google uses (unrestricts) IP addresses for Thailand-based ISPs? What is the unique feature that identifies a person logging-on from Thailand (or any country)? I can only think of the IP address as the unique feature.

It's just like when I try to pull my free annual credit reports from U.S. Federal Trade Commision credit report sponsored website of www.annualcreditreport.com. Unless I have my VPN turned on which gives me a U.S. IP address, I get the message of "The AnnualCreditReport.com website is not currently available at your location." I get this message on my True plan and when I was on a TOT plan and JI-NET plan. But turn on my VPN which gives me a U.S. IP address and I can reach the site and pull the free credit reports. When reading up on the issue, it's because the www.annualcreditreport.com web site restricts access to only U.S. IP addresses. Bank of America does the same thing when trying to order they SafePass card online.

For Google to provide this telephone/VOIP-type service to any country they have to comply with that's country's laws/regulations/get some kind of permission...l expect Google is still working that.

But like I said, I'm glad some people are getting the Call icon/function without having to use VPN due to slow rollout, IP address issue, or whatever. Cheers.

[happysanook]

How are they going to "unrestrict" the function to all people in Thailand (a.k.a., provide the Call function to folks in Thailand) unless Google uses (unrestricts) IP addresses for Thailand-based ISPs? What is the unique feature that identifies a person logging-on from Thailand (or any country)? I can only think of the IP address as the unique feature.

Yes, the IP identifies your location, but have you forgotten about user ID and password as a unique identifier in the equation? The answer is simple. I'm sure the code is a bit more complicated, but here's EXAMPLE logic: "if user & test location = allowed, then enable: else disable". When they open it to all of Thailand they'll more or less simply take out the first variable.

I understand what you're saying about the VPN and credit report/BOA, but it's irrelevant... I'm not using a VPN and I've been on 3 DIFFERENT ISP's in 2 different cities... If you can explain that and still fit it to the IP theory, would love to hear it (other than calling me a liar about using a VPN..haha...)

Cheers

[Wavefloater]

For those who are using it, how much is the connection fee each time you call? I can't find it anywhere on their web sites.

I've used Yahoo Voice happily for years from Thailand to NA at a rate of 1.8 - 1.9 cents per minute with a connection fee of 3.5 cents.

[happysanook]

For those who are using it, how much is the connection fee each time you call? I can't find it anywhere on their web sites.

I've used Yahoo Voice happily for years from Thailand to NA at a rate of 1.8 - 1.9 cents per minute with a connection fee of 3.5 cents.

No connection fee... Here is the rate table:

https://www.google.com/voice/rates?hl=en

[Wavefloater]

For those who are using it, how much is the connection fee each time you call? I can't find it anywhere on their web sites.

I've used Yahoo Voice happily for years from Thailand to NA at a rate of 1.8 - 1.9 cents per minute with a connection fee of 3.5 cents.

No connection fee... Here is the rate table:

https://www.google.c...ice/rates?hl=en

Edited September 1, 2011 by Wavefloater

[Wavefloater]

For those who are using it, how much is the connection fee each time you call? I can't find it anywhere on their web sites.

I've used Yahoo Voice happily for years from Thailand to NA at a rate of 1.8 - 1.9 cents per minute with a connection fee of 3.5 cents.

No connection fee... Here is the rate table:

https://www.google.c...ice/rates?hl=en

Thanks for your reply.

When I looked at the rates, I saw "+ connection fee" but now see that they're only reminding us that the competition has connection fees - not Google.

Yahoo started the same way -- 1 cent to any NA numbers and no connection fee, so it'll be interesting to see how long Google keeps these introductory prices.

Edited September 1, 2011 by Wavefloater