Gmail U.S. and Canada Phone Calls Remain Free in 2013

News
By Wolfgang Gruener
published

A late Christmas present from Google: Gmail voice calls within the U.S. and Canada will remain free of charge.

The Gmail feature extensions  was launched in August 2010 and is based on VoIP technology Google acquired when it purchased Gizmo5 in 2009.

Now in its third free year, there have been several rumors - backed by patent filings - that Google may support the voice calling feature via ads, but it seems that this will not be the case for now. International calling rates range from $0.02 per minute, for example to Australia and Denmark (landline), to $2.00 per minute to Antarctica and $6.90 per minute when calling Inmarsat satellite phones.

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Wolfgang Gruener
5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • netwired
    Cool, This is actually a good service. I've used it for a while.
    Reply
  • $2 a min seems fairly priced to call an Emperor Penguin in Antarctica.
    Reply
  • Onihikage
    I wonder if people use this to make calls from their Android phones?

    The future is clear - all we need is a data plan. Now if only someone would wise up and start billing as such.
    Reply
  • g00fysmiley
    OnihikageI wonder if people use this to make calls from their Android phones?The future is clear - all we need is a data plan. Now if only someone would wise up and start billing as such.
    why do you think most places in the US did away with unlimited data?

    people were just using skype to avoid using thier allocated min.
    Reply
  • jonjonjon
    g00fysmileywhy do you think most places in the US did away with unlimited data?people were just using skype to avoid using thier allocated min.never going to happen. as long as the phone company controls the phone/data they will find a way to prevent that from happening. just like cable tv. as long as comcast owns the isp they will make sure that google or apple tv doesn't push them out of the tv business.
    Reply