Google provides free phone calls from GMail to anywhere in North America. (reasonable rates for overseas)

Cyrus (+1)  and Lifehacker pointed out that Gmail has now allowed phone calls to be placed straight from Gmail.

Google announces it here (along with a cute video)

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/call-phones-from-gmail.html

I thought you would like to know about this. Here is an overview. 

http://www.google.com/chat/voice/

Rates

Free calls anywhere in North America till Dec 31^st, fair rates elsewhere.

http://www.google.com/chat/voice/compare.html

https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/rates

Review

• I used it for 2 hours yesterday and the quality was very very clear. :-)
• It is super easy. 
• It will dial people from your Google contacts list (accessed through Gmail)
• It integrates with your Google voice account if you have one. (calling credit, history, google voice # on caller ID etc.)

Requirements

• You need a Gmail account. (free fast good)
• It requires a browser plug-in that you would otherwise install for using Google chat’s “voice-chat” feature.
• It requires a speaker/headphones and microphone
• (um and an Internet connection)

Use

• In Gmail on the left were you see “chat” and your friends below your status;
• Rather than clicking on a person and starting a chat,
• you click “call phones” and it presents you with a keypad.
• Type the number you want 604-555-1212 etc… and it starts ringing
• OR type a contact from your gmail contacts.

UPDATE: Gmail has extended free North American phone calls for all of 2011.  Thank you Gmail.  I know this is one of many factors causing my friends to consider giving up their home phones.

Enjoy! I hope this saves you money and helps you connect with the people that matter to you.

Cheers, Greg

My Best Cell Phone Tips and Tricks

Get 411 for any business listing without paying.
Instead of paying your cell phone provider $1 or $2. Try Goog-411 Put 1-800-4664-411 on your speed-dial and use their voice recognition to find business listings in your area. In my experience the voice recognition is acceptable as long as someone isn't trying to talk to you at the same time. The listings tend to be useful although where they get their listings isn't exactly clear and some businesses don't appear. The good news is that most do return correct information. Advantages include:

• Handsfree dialing while in traffic
• No cost for the service
• Free connection to the listing anywhere in North America (so if you lookup a business in another state/province, that long distance call doesn't cost any more than a call to the 1-800 number)

More info here: http://www.google.com/goog411/

Use handsfree dialing via a Bluetooth headset

Today's bluetooth "handsfree headsets" are a completely different experience than the disappointing "handsfree" headsets that came with your phone when you first purchased it. I remember my disappointment when I first learned that my cell phone's "handsfree" headset consisted of half a pair of stereo earbuds (with a microphone). My disappointment turned to irritation as I would shoulder-check in traffic and the wire would pull the earphone out of my ear. Today's bluetooth headsets make dialing as easy as scratching your ear.

Do make sure you get a headset that is comfortable on your ear (it should not fly off when you rapidly shoulder check). Pay special attention to the noise and echo cancellation features. (The issue is that the people you talk to can hear an echo which degrades their listening experience.)

It is possible to get a decent bluetooth headset for $30 CAD, but consider the sets with better echo cancellation.

One nice bonus with phones which support voice dialing from your address book like the Blackberry Curve and Blackberry Bold is that dialing a number while driving is as simple as touching the headset on your ear and telling the phone who you want to call.

Power Managment Tips to Save your batteries

Despite battery advances, more features using data from the cell network means more radio transmission and often shorter battery life (before your next charge). By making a few changes you can stretch your battery life to double or better;

• Start by adjusting the screen brightness so it is only as bright as you need it to read clearly. Some phones auto adjust brightness for the ambient light to save power.
• Configure your ringtone profiles to not use vibrate unless you need a vibrate only option. The electric motors used in the vibrator function use more power than a speaker playing a ringtone.
• If your phone supports it schedule an "auto-on" and "auto-off" time when your phone will turn itself on our off on weekdays and weekends. Mine turns on at 6AM and off at 10PM weekdays.
• If you have an older phone, ensure your phone is set to use digital mode when possible rather than analog, this way it will use less power.
• If you use bluetooth, turn it off whenever you are not actively using the bluetooth as this second radio transmitter (after the cellular radio) uses a significant amount of power. Consider assigning a 'quick access' key to enable and disable your bluetooth for fast access.
• Try speaking in a squeaky high pitched voice as high pitches require less power to transmit. Nah, just kidding that last one is a complete lie I just threw in for fun.

Text Safely

Pull over or wait for a red light to type in addresses or text messages. Texting and driving while tempting is probably the most dangerous thing you can do while driving.

Use web enabled applications to extend your phone's functionality

Google Mobile tops my list of useful applications, you can get started at http://www.google.com/mobile with;

• Search (including voice search which allows you to just ask google your query)
• Gmail meaning all of your contacts and emails are handy
• Google Maps (which supports GPS if you have it, but will work fine using cell tower triangulation)

Quick Access to;

• Google News
• Google Docs
• Google Calendar
• Google Reader
• more...

Customize your ring tones for subtlety

Subtle ringtones can allow you to answer your phone before people bust you for leaving your ringer on.

If you are 30 or under, consider an ultrasonic ringtone. The idea is that as humans age they lose their ability to hear very high pitch noises, so it is possible if you are the youngest person in the room that you might be the only one who can hear your phone ringing. (very subtle, and apparently something high school teachers are having "trouble" monitoring.) Find some here: http://www.ultrasonic-ringtones.com/ (via LifeHacker). Or record your own subtle ringtone (tapping, a snap noise, water running) something that doesn't sound like a "normal ringtone."

Make use of free digital transcription

Option A

Use your existing voicemail to record "notes to self" for later retrieval. When working on a difficult problem, apart from the benefit of talking out ideas, having the ability to capture an idea verbatim is very helpful when you find yourself between home and office with nothing to write on.

Option B

Use free services like dial2do which allow you to call, record a message, and have them transcribe the message and email it to you. Frequently I phone dial2do, say reminder, and dictate what I need to pick up at the store while I'm driving. In the store I just open up my gmail and there is my shopping list.

Max out your speed dial list

Speed dial is faster and safer than using your address book. Make sure that you have numbers handy that you might need in a hurry.

• Add the local traffic radio station because often not only can you report traffic, you can ask them what is going on and get an answer faster than by listening to the radio.
• Add your local "commercial vehicle enforcement" tip line to report those scary truck drivers and perhaps save a life
• If you travel through several communities on your commute, add local emergency services for each community
• consider the "city engineering" departments for flooding / wires down and other road related hazzards you will encounter.
• Add your work's general number so that you can hit the voice recognition engine and voice dial anyone in your company. (or let the receptionist connect you which is safer than you looking them up in your address book while driving)
• Last but not least, add your home number so you can let your spouse or roommate know when you'll be home for dinner.

OK, so that rounds out the list of my best cell phone tips and tricks. Let me know what your tips are in the comments section.

Cheers,

Greg.

Free long distance telephone calls

I don’t like being taken advantage of. When I pay $0.10 cents a minute for a long distance call and my friends tell me that they only pay $0.035 per minute I recognize that their phone company still makes a profit and that my phone company is extracting a $0.065 stupidity tax from me for sticking with their dumb prices. For years there have been programs to let you talk from computer to computer, but it required 2 people being at their computers at the same time, running special software… well that doesn’t sound as convenient as the phone, and who wants to leave their computer running all the time?

Skype and Jajah let you make long distance calls for free or low cost.

My friend Dan King introduced me to SKYPE. He had friends in the UK and wanted to call them from Canada but without the ridiculous long distance charges the local phone company would charge. The critical difference with Skype was a service they offer which allows you to make calls to conventional phones. It is called SkypeOut, and it costs about $0.03 cents CAD per minute. Definately a better price than the one offered by local phone companies.

The Skype website says:

“Skype is a little piece of software that lets you talk over the Internet to anyone in the world for free.”

SkypeIn is a phone number your friends can call. You answer in Skype.

Use SkypeOut to call from Skype to traditional landlines or mobiles.

JAJAH - The Difference - The Benefits

Jajah lets you make phone calls for free...

• There is no download and no software


• You don’t need a headset


• You don’t need a broadband connection


• You are using your existing phone (landline or mobile) and so is the person you are calling


• You are not stuck to your computer


• You can call your friends for free - no matter if they are online or not

JAJAH is all about simplicity! Enter the phone number you want to call at www.jajah.com, press call: Your phone will ring - your friend’s phone will ring - start talking! It’s what you’re used to, it’s simple, it’s free and it just works!

I think that is a simple and convincing explanation. I’ll add an explanation that if you want to call anyone who is not “registered”, you pay them $0.025 per minute (much like Skype) When you sign up they give you $3.75 credit. They don’t want your credit card or any other payment until you use up your credit and want to make a call that costs. If you call someone else who is registered, there is no charge.

Clearly this could be the same method Skype is using (with more limitations) give free calls to build up a clientelle, then introduce nominal fees.

What I like about this approach is the freedom from software. There is nothing to go wrong on your PC, just use your browser, use your phone, you are done.

Every now and then there is poor quality, just hang up and try again. The quality is normally equal to that of a conventional phone line (nobody knows the difference)

I’ve suspected that Skype,Jajah and others are able to purchase Voip services from somewhere and I’m determined to find out how this works, so I can buy at wholesale and not retail. I see that voip-info.org has lots of information, that asteriks is a free pbx, that trixbox is a linux distribution to run your own PBX, that most ADSL internet providers offer “naked DSL” (no phone service, only ADSL), that les.net is highly recommended and acanac.ca seems to have an echo on the line for everyone I talk to.