Gadgets and VoIP

Google Voice to Provide Free Telephone Calls Through 2011

Google Voice is one of my favorite applications. I use this telephone service several times a day. It has transformed the method I use for phone calls.

With Google Voice, there is no hardware to purchase and no new telephone equipment required. You can use it with or without a computer. The voice calls are never sent to your computer so you don't have to wear headphones or anything like that. You simply use the normal telephone(s) you already have.

Google had originally announced that all outgoing calls to US and Canadian telephone numbers would be free of charge until the end of this year. However, today Google announced the company is extending free calls through all of 2011.

Virtual Numbers: Comparing Phone.com and Google Voice

To anyone looking for a virtual phone number, free would seem better than $4.88 per month. Virtual numbers have no permanent connections to specific physical phone lines. They simply receive calls and forward them to numbers that are connected to real phone lines. Users can go online and change the forwarding numbers merely by typing them in. That means, among other things, that people can keep the same numbers when they change jobs or move, and can have calls reach them at different numbers when they travel. The free version in question comes from Google Voice, the $4.88 one is Phone.com's new offering. While free is always good, the Phone.com service might prove better for some.

You can read more at: http://www.voip-news.com/feature/virtual-numbers-phonedotcom-googlevoice-042909/.