Gmail Phone Calls Official, Call Rates Pretty Low

Earlier today we told you about Google planning to offer phone calls through Google Talk in Gmail and now Google has officially announced that users will . As I had said, this feature is tightly integrated with Google Voice and is offering free phone calls in U.S and Canada, at least till the rest of the year.

Gmail Phone Call

Calling rates to several countries are pretty low, for example calling India using Gmail would cost you 6 cents per minute to both landlines and mobile phones, calling to UK is about 2cents. This is on par or a bit higher than several calling cards available in the United States. You will find all the calling rates at this page.

Google will use your Google Voice account number as the outbound caller ID. You can also receive calls made to your Google Voice number within Gmail after following these instructions. You will need to install a voice and video plugin for your browser, which can be downloaded from http://gmail.com/call. 

The new calling button is integrated into Google Chat, and users can click on "Call phone" at the top of the chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name from your Google contacts.  This feature will be rolled out to US based Gmail users in the next few days.

Gmail Phone Calls

Update: I got to try this feature out in my account and it worked pretty well. I tried calling my own number and several others and the voice quality was excellent.

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Keith Dsouza

I am the editor-in-chief and owner of Techie Buzz. I love coding and have contributed to several open source projects in the past. You can know more about me and my projects by visiting my Personal Website.I am also a social networking enthusiast and can be found active on twitter, you can follow Keith on twitter @keithdsouza. You can click on my name to visit my Google+ profile.

  • Tim

    I installed the plug in but I am not seeing the “phone call” option in my gmail screen (my language is set to English)

    • @ Tim

      This has now been rolled out to everyone in the U.S. If you don’t see the feature yet, try logging out of Gmail and signing back in.

      source: Official Google blog

      • Tyson

        must log out first…..

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  • gurdeep

    I have downloaded the google voice& video setup but don’t know how to use it…..can anyone tell me hw to make free call to us & canada?

  • Priyanka

    is this feature not working in india??

    • @Priyanka – No this feature is not available in India right now

  • ritesh

    when will this feature be available in india?

    • @ritesh – This feature might not be available in India in near future, however, there is a chance that Google might add Gmail Phone Calls in India after few weeks or months

  • Rick

    Is there a connection fee for overseas calls?

    • @Rick – Calls to US and Canada from US is free. If you want to call outside these two countries, you might have to pay a call charge.

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  • Wayne

    I have a Dell Inspiron laptop with Windows 7 and signed into your phone system. Works well and I can call out with great voice quality but no one can hear me. Do I need a special microphone and if so what do you reccomend and where do I get one ?

  • Nikki

    I have a google voice phone number and currently am in the US.
    Will this setup work when I go to Afghanistan? I will have the same laptop as I have been using.

    • @Nikki – I was able to use the Google Voice to call US when I was in UK, it did work when I tried, however, you might want to check if they charge you or not before placing longer calls.

      • Nikki

        @Keith- okay, thanks. So just so I’m understanding for sure, I set this up completely, and people can dial my Google phone number and reach me as long as I’m signed into my account? Since my Google phone number is a continental US number, people calling won’t be charged international rates even though I’m actually sitting in AF?

        Thanks for clarity.

  • syamklal

    gmail call phone feature didn’t work in india.what will i do?

  • Paula

    Can you tell me how much per minute a call to Fiji would be?

  • Jelena

    Can you please tell me when am calling from Macedonia to America, does the american phone pay for the call?

    • @Jelena – Yes, the incoming calls in America are not free so they will be charged minutes for the call duration

  • girish

    I have been using Google phone for some time now. Recently, every call I have tried including my own home number failes with the message “was not available for a phone call.”

    I am not able to find any help on it on the web. Help!

  • frank lukich

    when I was offered gmail phone I do not recall your ad saying it was free for only a limited time and after that everything transferred to Skype. the sites I visited tonight said the free phone would expire at the end of 2011. I tried to make a call to my daughter in new york tonight and it transferred my attempt for a free gmail call to skype. this is only august. why is gmail phone dead?
    frank