Google has been busy enhancing the offerings in Gmail. A new free service by the name of Voice in Gmail was has been slowly rolling out to users. This new feature will allow Gmail users to make free local calls to cell phones and landline phones.
Right now, the service works in the U.S. and Canada. Canadians need to have their language settings set to English-US for the feature to appear. Once this setting is in place, the call button appears on the left side of users Gmail screens.
This service will let money conscious users make free phone calls to cell phones and landline phones anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. The key here is that this service is free until the end of this year. Those looking to make calls that go a bit further can use the service as well, but expect to pay varying fees on that call.
Like all Google services, Voice in Gmail also brings in Google Voice. Those users with Google Voice accounts can receive calls to your Google Voice number directly in Gmail. Call quality for this integration will not be as great as landline use, but should be more than adequate to discuss the intricacies of a fine tea house.
Voice in Gmail is not a replacement for Google Voice. These are two distinct services with unique features. They just happen to sound a like. Google Voice will continue the one number for all phone devices. This service has grown since it was released, and only continues to get better. Users might expect a bigger integration of Voice in Gmail with Google Voice.
Voice in Gmail may seem a bit useless when you think of other services like Skype. The big deal here is that this is another free service from Google that comes integrated with a wide range of their existing products. Whether this is enough to take over the Internet telephony marketplace is yet to be seen.
This entry was posted on Friday, August 27th, 2010 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
