Gmail is going Skype: adding telephone calls to its popular Gmail email application, and tying them together with its Google Voice app.
Since 2005, Gmail users have been able to talk to each other using their computer’s microphone and speakers. (The service was called, appropriately, Google Talk.) But there was no way to call a landline or cellphone.
Now there is. To make a call, click “Call Phone,” in the Chat tab of Gmail. A telephone keypad will appear. Dial the number on the screen, and make calls to your friends using your computer’s microphone.
Calls to the U.S. and Canada are free for at least the rest of the year, Google says. Calls to other countries are billed at rates starting at two cents a minute. The rates will be similar to rival calling service Skype, which is partially owned by EBay.
As with all new Google products, if this doesn’t show up in your Gmail right away, don’t be surprised. Google is rolling out the feature to users “over the next few days.”
To make it work, you need to download Google’s voice and video plug-in. The app is only available in the U.S.
The new service works in conjunction with Google Voice, the company’s phone forwarding and voicemail service. Google Voice members can choose “computer” as another option as a place to receive calls. Your computer will ring, as well as the phones. (To get your computer to ring, you’ll need a Google Voice phone number — pick one up at voice.google.com.)
The laptop option, “has been a lifesaver at my house,” says Craig Walker, a Google Voice product manager, who has been testing the app. “I have terrible cell coverage at home, so when an inbound call comes in, I answer on my computer, and get great reception.”
Google Voice also allows users to forward calls to multiple numbers, and provides an online voicemail service.
Google won’t say how many people are using Google Voice, but Walker says it’s “very, very popular.”
