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Make Free VoIP Calls from Google Voice [How To]

Posted on August 31, 2009
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Google Voice is great, but it isn’t an entirely free voice-over-internet service if you have to pay a phone bill to use it. With a few tweaks, though, you can talk to anyone on-the-cheap through Skype, or entirely for free with Gizmo.

Since we’re extremely cheap, we’ll start out with the Gizmo/Google Voice 1/2 combo, since you can use it to place and receive calls without spending a dime. If you’re particularly partial to Skype, we’ll demonstrate how you can integrate Gizmo, Voice, and Skype for cheaper Skype calls after we demonstrate how to get everything up and running with Gizmo.

What you’ll need

  • A comfortable headset: Mine’s a $30, USB-or-analog model I grabbed off the shelf at Target. If you plan to do some serious talking from in front of your monitor, read up on what works best for your ears and head.
  • Free Google Voice account: If you haven’t already requested an invite, do so now. They’re still dishing them out first-come, first-served style, and the line gets longer every time someone writes an article about the service (ahem).
  • Free Gizmo5 account: It’s a free virtual phone service that Google Voice officially supports and connects to. If you’re more of a Skype person, we’ll show you a relatively cheap solution for hooking up Gizmo to Skype.
  • Broadband net connection: Because you’re doing a good deal of data transfer and service forwarding, you’ll want a pretty good pipe for phone calls that won’t make you wish for your cell phone.

Hooking up Voice and Gizmo

Once you’ve finished signing up for Gizmo and Google Voice, head to my.gizmo5.com, and log yourself in if necessary. Hit the “My” link in the upper-right corner to get to your settings page. The first box asks you to enter your Google Voice number and turn Google Voice calling on, which you should definitely do. That routes all outbound Gizmo calls through Voice, eliminating the need to buy credits for those outbound calls.

Three rows down, under the “Account Overview” section, copy your SIP Number, which you won’t need to memorize, or even use, except this one time. Head over to Google Voice, click the Settings link, then Phones, and paste that SIP number into the “Number” field. Give your Gizmo account a name like, say, Gizmo, then set the “Phone Type” to Gizmo. By default, your Gizmo/VoIP phone will always “ring” whenever someone calls your Google Voice number from any phone. I find that to be just fine, since “ringing” that phone doesn’t really affect any of your other phones, and I don’t leave my computer on at all times with the speakers at full blast. If you only want your virtual phone to ring at certain times on certain days, go ahead and tweak those settings in Voice, then hit Save.

Got those headphones handy? Plug them in, usually through a USB port or the dual red/green mic/speakers ports on your computer. Check that the headphones are picking up sounds and that the microphone is enabled in your system’s volume settings. Want to test out your Voice/Gizmo capabilities? Head to gizmocall.com, then sign in with your Gizmo username. Hit the “Test” button for an echo test of your headset and connection. To try out an actual call, call your Google Voice number from a standard cell or landline phone you have handy, or open up Google Voice’s site in another browser tab and make a call to a phone number that won’t mind getting it.

It’s worth noting that since you’re using a VoIP service through another VoIP service’s routers, it’s fair to expect a bit of call lag. I haven’t noticed an audible difference between using Google Voice on my cellphone and through Gizmo but, then again, I’ve had seemingly worse lag experiences overall with Voice than others I’ve complained about it to. Your mileage will almost certainly vary, but if you’ve got an ultra-important phone interview for a job, consider stepping away from your headset. Otherwise, it probably works just fine for normal conversations.

Calling tools

If all went well between Voice and Gizmo, you’ve got a few options for making and receiving free calls through your headset with Voice and Gizmo:

  • The GizmoCall.com site: You can keep the page itself loaded in your browser, or click the “Open in separate window” link to keep it separate from your browsing work. When it first opens, your Flash plug-in will ask for access to your microphone and speakers, which you should grant and hit “Remember” to avoid future prompts.

    Want to reduce browser tab necessities and make Gizmo even more convenient? Check out Google Voice Tricks’ write-up on embedding Gizmo’s gadget into Gmail.

  • Gizmo software: Available for download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, Gizmo the application is very similar to Skype, sitting in the system tray and popping up an alert window when a new call is coming in. It also tracks your VoIP calling separate from your Google Voice account, which can be helpful for client billing or other purposes. If you’re planning to keep Gizmo open to accept calls, you’ll probably want to import your contacts into it to recognize callers. You can only import an Outlook-formatted file into Gizmo, but that’s one of the formats most contact managers (Google, Apple Mail, etc.) can export to.
  • Google Voice site: You’ll still need to have some kind of Gizmo notifier running to receive calls, but Google Voice’s own site is pretty handy for making calls. Load up the site (or keep it loaded as a permatab), hit “c” to make a call, type in a contact name or phone number, then select your Gizmo number as the caller. Google will ring you at Gizmo, and once you pick up, the call starts ringing through to the intended receiver.

Forwarding to Skype

If you’re already set up with a Skype name and lots of contacts and you’d prefer to keep Skype as your go-to VoIP app, you can get Google Voice and Gizmo to route calls to Skype for notably less money than Skype charges for its call-out service. Alternately, if you only need to make the occasional Skype call and don’t want to bother installing software and getting a user account, Gizmo and Google are available there, too.

Gizmo explains all the potential uses and ins and outs at its OpenSky page, and also lists pricing. You can make free calls to Skype names and forward your Voice/Gizmo calls to Skype for anywhere from 1-5 minutes, depending on server load—fine for quick "Call me back" or "Here's the deal" messages, but not conversations. OpenSky claims a $20/year price for basically unlimited calling of up to 2 hours per call. We don't do a lot of Skype out calling, but that seems like a pretty good deal.

Whether you're going the free short call route or paying for some OpenSky credit, setting up a Voice-to-Gizmo-to-Skype connection is fairly easy. Head to your Gizmo5 settings page again, then head to the "Forwarding Gizmo5 Calls" section. Set Gizmo to forward all calls to Skype, then fill in your Skype username. That's it—when someone rings your Voice number, if you've got Voice configured to ring you at Gizmo, then you'll actually be rung up at Skype. The last thing you'll need to do is enable Skype to accept calls from anonymous callers—kind of a pain, but necessary, because Gizmo routes your calls through different Skype names from time to time.

That’s the starting point for integrating free (or very cheap) VoIP with Google Voice, but with such open, geeky services, we’re sure there’s a lot more that can be done. Post up your questions, suggestions, and neat hacks in the comments.




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Record and Transcribe Notes for Yourself with Google Voice [Notes]

Posted on August 27, 2009
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In our first Lifehacker Wishlist, we came up with five wanted features in Google Voice, including an easy way to record and transcribe notes for yourself. Mark Stout suggests a Voice settings tweak to fulfill that wish.

Stout’s method involves setting up a special group in Voice’s caller settings for yourself (dubbed “Special Transcription” in his case), adding your cell phone number as the only member, setting up a very short greeting for that group, then setting the “Direct access to voicemail” question to No. He calls his own Voice number, records a memo, and it’s transcribed and sent to him via email. If you rely on listening to your voicemail over your phone, this makes pressing the “#” key during your uber-short greeting somewhat tricky. Then again, if you’re cool with Voice’s mostly-okay transcription, you likely don’t listen to your voicemail all that often.

Hit the link for Mark’s full run-through, and leave your own methods for recording an audio note to self, with Google Voice or without, in the comments.






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Generate Google Voice Speed Dial Bookmarks for Your iPhone [IPhone]

Posted on August 4, 2009
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Apple may have made some poor decisions about Google Voice on the iPhone, but if you still want a bit of handy integration between your iPhone and Google Voice, the Google Voice Speed Dial Bookmarklet generator is worth a look.

Just point your phone to www.ironicsans.com/gv/, follow the instructions there (you have to do a little digging in your Voice account to get the proper credentials for the bookmarklet to work), then enter in your Google Voice code (obtained above), your iPhone number, and the number of the person you’d like to call.

At that point you’ll hit Generate, then the tool will dish out a few more instructions you’ll need to follow. Once all’s said and done, you’ll have a quick-dial bookmark in mobile Safari that you can hit to speed dial specific contacts (faster than going through the mobile GV site as it is at the moment).

Frankly, it’s pretty convoluted and hardly even useful compared to what we could get if Apple hadn’t rejected the official Google Voice app, but kudos to the author for a clever idea.





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3jam Is Like Google Voice with Number Portability and Skype Support [Telephony]

Posted on July 31, 2009
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Google Voice has been been making a splash among early adopters, but if you’re looking for an alternative with many of the same features plus a couple of extras, take a look at 3jam.

(Click the image above for a closer look.)

3jam isn't an altogether new service—it used to be primarily a text messaging service—but its Google Voice-like features are. Like Voice, 3jam rings all your phones from one number, gives you access to your call history and SMS history, offers (visual) voicemail online, and more. Unlike Google Voice, 3jam also supports forwarding your calls to Skype, AOL, or Yahoo Messenger. It also lets you port your current number into 3jam for easy transition—something that's not (yet) available with Google Voice.

What’s more, 3jam isn’t in an invite-only beta. The catch: 3jam costs, at minimum, $5/month. That’s not terrible considering what they offer, but in light of Google Voice’s free offering, not all that many folks would be that excited at the notion of ponying up cash for 3jam. Then again, if features like Skype or IM ringing are particularly important to you (say you want to save some cell minutes), 3jam may have a leg up on Voice.

On the other hand, 3jam doesn’t currently have all of Google Voices features, like call filtering. If anyone has given it a try, let’s hear your experience with 3jam in the comments.





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“Gizmo Voice” Moves to Beta, Changes Outbound Call Rules [VoIP]

Posted on July 31, 2009
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We’d previously mentioned that the Gizmo VOIP calling service was integrating Google Voice numbers and allowing for free outbound calls. Gizmo has since launched a Gizmo Voice site to help set up Giz/Google mashup systems, but made a notable change—the first three minutes of any outbound call are free, but after that is generally $.02 per minute in the U.S. Still, those already through Google Voice's invite process can use their Voice home pages to connect a call, so it's incoming to a Gizmo account, for free. Thanks to many commenters and emailer Kevin for the tip.





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Bad Apple: An Argument Against Buying an iPhone [Rants]

Posted on July 28, 2009
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Apple just rejected the Google Voice iPhone application from App Store distribution, the most recent in a long line of questionable moves, and the message is clear: If you want a device that won’t lock you out of innovation, skip the iPhone.

Photo by rore.

Lest We Forget

There’s no question that this brilliant little piece of hardware has sparked a revolution in the world of mobile computing and cellphones, and, likewise, there’s no question that consumers have benefited from that. I’ve been a believer in the iPhone from the start (hell, I even co-wrote a book on the stupid thing), but despite all the missteps Apple has made along the way, it always at least seemed plausible that they were holding out on apps or making unpopular decisions with some sort of good reason. (That was probably always willful ignorance, and Apple’s culture of secrecy just makes it that much easier to assume there’s some Very Special Reason for their bad decisions.) Still, I’ve never regretted buying an iPhone until now.

Refusing Competition

Over the course of the day, most people have speculated that Google Voice was rejected from the App Store at AT&T's behest. The reason? Apple's official line is that Google Voice duplicates features already on the iPhone—namely the Phone and Messages app. Of course, none of that holds water, considering the App Store is already full of alternate SMS apps and apps like Skype that sport a telephone dialer.

So what separates Google Voice from the other, already-approved tools that offer similar features to the iPhone's default apps? As far as we can tell, the main issue is competition. AT&T doesn't see Joe Schmoe's SMS Big Keyboard Deluxe (it's a real app) as much of a threat to the colossal ripoff that is text messaging, for example, but people may actually want to use Google Voice.

From another angle, Apple only seems concerned with duplication of features if an application competes with an app that they already made. If you're competing with another non-default third-party application, you can go and duplicate all you want (hence the oft-cited Fart apps). Still, if a Google Voice app actually does duplicate the functions of the telephone/SMS applications that ship with the iPhone, I want to know how I can use my iPhone to check my Google Voice inbox, send messages via Google Voice, or get my voicemails transcribed with what Apple and AT&T are offering. And do not send me to a crappy iPhone 1.0 webapp.

The real problem, then, is that Google Voice, and all it offers, is actually much better than what AT&T offers.

Forget About Innovation

It's unfortunate, of course, because Google Voice doesn't actually stop anyone from using AT&T. It's not a VoIP app (yet), so you still need AT&T for it to work at all. Again, it simply improves on what the iPhone already has. It would actually make AT&T—and the iPhone—better. From my perspective as a consumer, that in turn makes the iPhone a much more attractive device. Since it's been rejected on the iPhone but approved for Android phones and BlackBerrys, that in turn makes both of those devices that much more attractive.

Sure you can switch carriers if you're not happy—as long as you're willing to empty your pockets to drop out of your contract. That's always been the case. But Apple/AT&T have never sent such a clear message in the past about just how restrictive they'll get if they feel threatened by an application. Those of us who were once excited at the seemingly limitless potential of the App Store now know where we stand.

Apple would like you to believe that the goals of the App Store approval process are lofty ones—that they're only approving innovative apps and that the only reason they don't approve apps is to protect you from bad software or, horror of horrors, confusion. Because god knows it’d be confusing as hell to use a better phone application than what came with the phone. Meanwhile, thank god we can pass our time with iWet T-Shirts (borderline NSFW).

It’s All About the Software

As far as I’m concerned, there’s two things that set the iPhone apart from its competition: 1) It’s got great hardware, and 2) It’s got the most third-party applications.

The first issue is a hurdle for other phone providers/phone manufacturers to figure out; some already have matched the iPhone’s hardware (as far as its guts go, the iPhone and the Palm Pre aren’t all that different) and others will eventually.

The second is where Apple is really asking for it. The more alienated developers feel—especially good developers who're trying to build something new and innovative (as opposed to those looking to join the Fart app gravy train)—the less time they're going to spend playing iPhone App Store roulette. Which means that if you want a phone where you can expect some real innovation, you should probably skip the iPhone.

Isn’t This a Bit Familiar?

The iPhone is a full-on computer in your pocket, and in many ways is more capable than your regular old PC. Imagine, if you can, that Microsoft tried dictating what browser you had to use on Windows. Oh right, that happened. Except they didn’t refuse to allow you to use any other browser just because it duplicated the features of their default browser. And as Wired points out, Apple is inviting all kinds of regulation with this kind of mindset. And it hasn’t just been about Google Voice:

Apple and AT&T are living dangerously though. Apple has also forced video services like Slingbox to cripple their applications because of purported concerns over data usage, while approving ones from paying partners (e.g. Major League Baseball) that would put more strain on a network than Slingbox's would.

If the iPhone's default applications were better than those submitted by Google or by some other third-party developer, then people would use them. If not, then that's a sign that they need to make them better—not a red flag that they should start pulling apps left and right from the App Store because of "duplication."

Why You Should Care

At the end of the day, this isn't simply a Google Voice/iPhone problem—it's a concern for everyone, iPhone owner or not, with an interest in the latest and greatest crop of smartphones. Google's Android OS may be open source, but that doesn’t mean they’re above pulling apps when pressured by carriers. Right now the non-iPhone manufacturers and carriers are much more willing to allow anything on their platform because, frankly, they’re desperate to get some of the attention the iPhone already has. That doesn’t mean that’ll always be the case.

Every now and then, we like to go on grumpy, long-winded, opinionated rants. We’re far from the definitive voice, and your feelings may differ, so feel free to air your thoughts in the comments.





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GV Mobile Available for Free on Cydia [Downloads]

Posted on July 28, 2009
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iPhone/iPod touch: Yesterday tech site TechCrunch reported that Apple blocked an official Google Voice app from the App Store; meanwhile, they also kicked unofficial versions (like previously mentioned GV Mobile) out the door. But you can still get GV Mobile for free.

The catch: You’ve got to be willing to jailbreak your iPhone. Why? Because Apple is demonstrating that they're perfectly happy locking out any application or tool that will improve your iPhone experience in ways that don't gel with their corporate synergy. (Yeah, we said corporate synergy—nice work, Apple.)

The developer of the recently kicked-out-of-the-App-Store GV Mobile has decided to go ahead and release GV Mobile for free rather than let his work go to waste (it should show up in Cydia sometime today or tomorrow). It's a small consolation that you can now get this unofficial app via Cydia on a jailbroken iPhone—especially since we'd really kill to see what the official Google Voice app from Apple would have looked like—but it's better than nothing. Guess that's one more reason for us to keep on jailbreaking our iPhones.

Wow [Sean Kovacs]





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How to SMS with Google Voice from Any Mobile Phone [Google Voice Tip]

Posted on July 17, 2009
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Just because you don’t have an Android phone or BlackBerry (or even, unofficially, an iPhone) doesn’t mean you can’t text from your cellphone using your Google Voice number. In fact, you can use Google Voice SMS capabilities on any phone.

Even if you do have an Android phone, BlackBerry, or iPhone, you can still use this method to use the native SMS app on it. It’s an inconvenient kluge, but it works.

First, log into Google Voice and configure it to forward text messages to your cell phone. When someone sends a text message to your Google Voice number, you’ll receive the text on your phone–but not from the recipient’s phone number. Instead, it will be a 406 number you’ve never seen before, with the person’s name preceding the message (as pictured here). Add that number to your recipient’s address book entry as “Other” or a custom label (like “GV SMS”). Each one of your text recipients will have a different 406 number.

From there on in, if you SMS that 406 number, your recipient will receive text messages from you—and it will look like they're coming from your Google Voice number. Their replies to any messages you send to that number will go back to your Google Voice number and come to you via the 406–meaning, your recipient never sees the 406 number. Like I said, it's a kluge, but it works.

We already mentioned this tip in our guide to easing your transition to Google Voice, but it’s an important feature worth repeating.

Smarterware is Lifehacker editor emeritus Gina Trapani’s new home away from ‘hacker. To get all of the latest from Smarterware, be sure to subscribe to the Smarterware RSS feed. For more, check out Gina’s weekly Smarterware feature here on Lifehacker.





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