Google Phone Service - taking over a bit more of the world...

[The Gorn]

Google Gmail now has a voice phone service. You can literally make calls from your PC to a phone that has a phone number (in other words, it's not a PC to PC service like Skype.)

The voice stuff is listed under "Chat" at the bottom on the left sidebar of the main page in Gmail.

In Windows, you install a small application that the browser launches for you when you select phone calls.

I just tried it.  I called my office phone. The call went right through. The PC user uses the speakers and the microphone.  The caller ID on the called phone says "Unknown Caller" with some arbitrary local phone number shown.

This was pretty easy, and it's free to call the US and Canada.

[Slinky]

I just installed the Android app for Google Voice on my phone. It lets me use Google Voice instead of using my cell minutes. As far as I know, the calls will be free until the end of 2010.

It's too bad that they haven't roll this out to Google Apps. This could save money on business calls.

[DG9]

Installed firefox plugin and using the service (Google Voice) on my computer, works pretty good off of the laptop mic.  Order a headset on ebay today and I imagine the quality will bump up.   Nice!

[The Gorn]

This stuff is scary for a tech business owner. There is almost no room out there for some paid communication services.

[DG9]

Has google made an internet "burn phone" available via this service?