Google Voice

rolf

I gotta let you in on this one guys :-) Before Google voice I used to buy crappy callback cards, or even expensive "kalam" cards, or skype to a GPRS connection... (with a 8 second roundtrip), or intimate midnight conversations with the phone operators on 100 (maybe the least useful job in the world)...
Now I installed Google Voice, and I call from right within gmail, and I'm speaking to an Italian mobile number, for 2 cents a minute! The voice quality is great, it's stable, and doesn't require the other party to have any internet connectivity and/or software installed.
The cost kinda surprises me, because the rates on this page:
https://www.google.com/voice/rates
say that Italian mobile phones cost about 20 cents a minute, and the land lines are 2 cents a minute... I'm not gonna complain though! Yeah some country stay expensive, like Dubai... but overall I think it's the best way to place international calls (AFAIK) especially towards developed countries.

Bassem

Do you know if it accepts Lebanese credit cards? Or say, prepaid Internet cards like the ones available with Fransabank?

rolf

Yep I recharged it using a credit card issued in Lebanon, but obviously it has to be a credit card that works internationally. I don't think those who are limited to Lebanon will work. I don't know about prepaid either. But why not get a real one? You can open accounts with low funds at Bank Med I think, if that's the problem.

Xsever

I live in Canada and it is saying it is not available in my country.

Do you have a US account or do they track IP or what is the catch here?

rolf

Calls within (and to?) the US are free, AFAIK, and it says on the rate page: Canada: $0.00... I assumed that to be free too. They probably get your location from your IP. I'm surprised it's not available in Canada.
I have a regular gmail.com account.

TheIlluminative

Yeah It's really Great. I called my friends they were surprised because my number was 017 lol :P

Flakk

Okay i just signed in with my gmail account and it says

Google Voice is not available in your country.
Thanks for visiting Google Voice. We're not yet open for users outside the US, but are planning to expand our service to additional countries in the future.

samer

You need to sign-up within the US (hint: proxy). You can then use it wherever you want.

crazy

You don't need to setup google voice to call from gmail. Just put in the language settings English (US), and voila you get the "call phone" functionality on your gmail inbox near the chatbox. You won't be able to call using your smartphone with google voice installed on it, but you can make phone calls using your browser.

But if you really want google voice, than a US proxy is your friend.

rolf

samer wroteYou need to sign-up within the US (hint: proxy). You can then use it wherever you want.

That's very weird... I'm using it directly and never had a any problem like that, I signed up to Google and Gmail ages ago, from Lebanon.

Maybe we're talking about different things.

rolf

Well, the rates for the mobile number I was calling went up today from 2 cents a minute to 21 cents a minute, which are the rates which were advertised on their website. During the transition I was unable to call that number for a short time. Now I have to call a fixed line to enjoy the super-low tariff (2c/min).
It seems someone at Google made an oops, and I took advantage of it!
Apparently Google Voice is still kinda beta, which makes me wonder why they don't plaster "Beta" all over the place, like they usually do, now that there have good reasons to do so...

TheIlluminative

rofl, when I use google Voice I see my modem going crazy :p does it consume a lot of traffic?