Topic 'Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned' in forum 'VOIP Tech Chat' - dslreports.com

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 21:31:42 EDT

PX Eliezer posted : Interesting, I had never heard of Loomis, thanks. :)

Let's not forget Charles Proteus Steinmetz for AC power, though.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 20:52:16 EDT

garys_2k posted :

said by PX Eliezer:

In our world, Tesla [should] be more prominent than Edison, just as Philo T. Farnsworth and separately Allen DuMont [should] each be more prominent than David Sarnoff....

Eh, Tesla, he's received his due, the basic unit of magnetism is named after him (and there are no "Edison" units). As for contributions, I personally think that Mahlon Loomis is the most overlooked genius of A.C. power -- Tesla was a patent w***e that stole plenty of others' thunder.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:37:50 EDT

chrisrow posted : I mean it was a general comparison, I basically am saying, Open & Free can help mankind in a nutshell. lol

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 13:34:04 EDT

PX Eliezer posted : I don't fully agree with your description of Tesla, but it surely would be good for people to learn about him.

»www.unmuseum.org/tesla.htm
»theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

--------------------------

At the end of the fine film [After the Fox] Peter Sellers exclaims "My god...the wrong man has escaped!"

In our world, Tesla [should] be more prominent than Edison, just as Philo T. Farnsworth and separately Allen DuMont [should] each be more prominent than David Sarnoff....

But it seems that how the meal is presented gets more attention than how good the meal is....

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 12:35:14 EDT

chrisrow posted : back in time a man named tesla tried to give away free things such as electricity he was made an out cast and shunned, than he died and took a lot of cool tech to the grave. now in history you have people trying to help out mankind and make needful services that we all need and make them free or close to it than you have Gov trying to step in and say no. its time we take a stand. all the restriction is holding us back as a society. a perfect example is to look at it like this, Gov mad they want money and to regulate, they say its hurting the industry, my thing is if over time a lot of services became free yes it might ruin the profits of one man but it will put profits and money into new hands and that to me is a good thing. it all boils down to ppl just trying to protect the wealth and greed they have amassed over the years. well i think its time that things change, how about letting us the avg person having a chance to do for our selfs. if we did not have to pay into all this Gov BS than we would be better off. all regulation does is serve mans profits but it does not open up the world. I remember a time I used to have 2000$ cell phone bills sometimes, now thats a thing of the past, the Gov would have you believe that this is not a good thing, I see it different, I see it like now I have 2000 more $ a month to invest in other things and to better my life. has tech grows and gets bigger and better( or should I say smaller and better) things will become more easy and cheeper ( I hope) and thats good for mankind bad for some industries , but the industries its bad for have no effect on me. in this transparent world there is no turning back once People Like Google,skype etc etc prove to the world you do not need to pay for calling in the traditional way people will not want to go back(cats out of the bag) you can not now come in as a Gov and try to regulate and add on unnecessary fees & than try to tel us the people that the fees are needed to keep the service running.
in short VoIP providers are the future & free/cheep ( at least for personal use) will be the normal. I heard the only reason Google voice has not fully rolled out in Canada us because of Gov regulations and the fact that they do not want people to get such a good and needed service for free. I guess only time will tell.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 21:07:02 EDT

PX Eliezer posted :

said by VoIPNewbieLA :

I am trying to unlock my Lingo iAN-20ex to use it with google voice.

You can't use it with Google Voice, you would need something like an Obi-brand ATA to use with Google Voice.

You might be able to unlock it for use with SIP-friendly BYOD providers such as CallCentric, Voip.MS, CallWithUs, Future Nino, Anveo, etc. But it won't be easy and in any event you should start a new thread (new topic).

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:39:10 EDT

anon posted : Hi, I think it's been a few years since the last posting on this topic so hoping someone in the know might see this, but I am trying to unlock my Lingo iAN-20ex to use it with google voice. (Apologies if this is the wrong thread.) I am a newbie and assume this is possible but need lots of hand holding! I've seen the other posts and can do a hard reset but the listed supervisor passwords to unlock the adapter don't seem to work any more. Many thanks in advance for any help!

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 04:50:24 EDT

sarahportman posted : Google Voice is a separate product of Google and I think there is no official announcement if they are going to make it free for 2013 like they did last year.

I think with no further announcement from the main page, I think there is no worries.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:37:22 EDT

PX Eliezer posted :

said by NotTheMama:

Is Generalissimo Franco still dead? ;)

Unfortunately, lots of the younger folk won't get the reference.

I was talking to someone who was 30 years old and had never heard of "Hogan's Heroes". I don't mean that she had never seen an episode, but rather never even heard of it.

---------------------------

As far as GoogleVoice:

On one hand, I think that they were trying to keep options open.

OTOH, there has been so much confusion and mis-statement (such as the Forbes article) that they would be skinned alive for starting to charge for GV at this point.

So we'll never know what they really had in mind....

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:08:39 EDT

NotTheMama posted : Is Generalissimo Franco still dead? ;)

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:16:19 EDT

garys_2k posted : So, is it still working and still free?

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 19:32:42 EDT

gweidenh posted : You can make calls by:

1) Using the softphone built into the Gmail interface
2) Using Google Hangouts call phone function
3) Initiating a call from the Google Voice webpage
4) Calling your Google Voice number from one of your forwarding phones
5) Using the Google Voice smartphone app to initiate calls

All of these methods use the exact same calling rates and billing methods. Account credit comes out of your Google Voice credit.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 17:54:14 EDT

NotTheMama posted : You know what we should do... first, list all of the methods available for making direct calls using a Google Voice number--subdivided between those that require signing in to Gmail Voice/Chat/Talk and those that don't; and then we can try to estimate what percentage of the total calls that might be for each. (Maybe the latter percentage is so small that Google doesn't care about it?)
--
"...but ya doesn't hasta call me Johnson!"

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 16:24:30 EDT

PX Eliezer posted :

said by dafoneguy:

Google Voice made the announcement on the Gmail Blog this year instead of the Google Voice Blog for whatever reason. ?? It is confirmed that Google Voice is free for 2013 on the Gmail Blog.

Sorry, it's not confirmed at all. :)

As has been repeatedly said above, that announcement refers to GMail Voice, not to Google Voice.

In the previous years, both programs (which have different histories, different blogs, different forums, different staff) were each mentioned by name. This year only one was mentioned.

said by dafoneguy:

There is also an article from Forbes about the announcement.

Unfortunately, Forbes makes mistakes too. They clearly don't understand the distinction between GMv and GV. Their knowledge of VoIP probably doesn't extend much beyond Skype and Vonage.

Hey, even the New York Times makes mistakes. They publish corrections almost every day.

This issue is not settled at all.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 15:49:41 EDT

dafoneguy posted : Google Voice made the announcement on the Gmail Blog this year instead of the Google Voice Blog for whatever reason. ?? It is confirmed that Google Voice is free for 2013 on the Gmail Blog.

»gmailblog.blogspot.com/

There is also an article from Forbes about the announcement.

»www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/201···ndustry/

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 15:01:09 EDT

andre2 posted : That's just a link to the Gmail post, with its title repeated (and the problem is with the text in the post, which suggests that it only applies to Gmail). There's still no post in the GV blog.

Edit: Though I suppose the fact that it's a GV twitter account is significant. They should still post it to the GV blog, though, since that's what they've used in the past.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:20:10 EDT

WhyADuck posted : I edited my original post to reflect this:

This tweet from the Google Voice Twitter account seems to indicate that this also applies to Google Voice:

@googlevoice: Free calling within the US and Canada through 2013 »ow.ly/gnSmQ

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 22:23:54 EDT

PX Eliezer posted : GMail Voice would be a poor substitute for Google Voice.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 22:09:20 EDT

NotTheMama posted : It already uses Gmail Chat.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 21:58:51 EDT

neftv posted : I wonder if Google will move Google Voice users to just use Gmail Voice and do away with Google Voice. What will happen to all the Obi-Hai devices will they be able to reconfigure them to use Gmail Voice?

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 21:34:17 EDT

rsriram22 posted : atleast groove IP is thinking that google voice will be free -- »www.facebook.com/pages/GrooVe-IP···74886558

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 21:01:48 EDT

andre2 posted :

said by PX Eliezer:

Ah, but last year (and I think the prior one as well) the post in the GMail blog was re-copied to the GoogleVoice blog.

That's not been the case here.

And there was a post on the GV blog (regarding Santa calls) just a week ago, so it's not being neglected, and they must know a lot more people care about the 2013 announcement (or lack thereof).

»googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/201···066.html

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:06:26 EDT

NotTheMama posted : Yeah, I know. My GrandCentral account/number was "converted" to Google Voice.

Yep, I receive calls at the cell phone number specified in my Google Voice settings all the time. (None of them are "direct" though.)
--
"...but ya doesn't hasta call me Johnson!"

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:57:01 EDT

Arne Bolen posted :

said by NotTheMama:

Just wondering... does "Google Voice" even exist as a product outside of being a feature of Gmail?

Yes, Google Voice is a separate product.

GrandCentral was founded in 2005 and acquired by Google on July 2, 2007, for US$95 million. Google relaunched the company as Google Voice on March 11, 2009.

said by NotTheMama:

(Does anyone actually make/take direct calls without having to sign into their Gmail account first?)

There is no need to be logged into a GMail account to receive direct calls.
--
My VoIP News

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:41:42 EDT

NotTheMama posted : I did say you don't have to use it. I didn't say you couldn't use another, non-Gmail address.
--
"...but ya doesn't hasta call me Johnson!"

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:08:35 EDT

ConstantineM posted : Not every Google account includes Gmail. It's a fact; check it up.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:06:03 EDT

NotTheMama posted : Every Google account includes Gmail. Those contacts in Google Voice are Gmail contacts. You may or may not use Google's Gmail [web] interface, but it's still there.
--
"...but ya doesn't hasta call me Johnson!"

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:55:41 EDT

ConstantineM posted : I have a Google Voice account without having Gmail; so, yes, it exists; but probably more on the side compared to Gmail. After all, they aren't getting any money from it, apart from what is basically already offered through Gmail already.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:51:29 EDT

NotTheMama posted : Just wondering... does "Google Voice" even exist as a product outside of being a feature of Gmail? (Does anyone actually make/take direct calls without having to sign into their Gmail account first?)
--
"...but ya doesn't hasta call me Johnson!"

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:41:14 EDT

PX Eliezer posted : Ah, but last year (and I think the prior one as well) the post in the GMail blog was re-copied to the GoogleVoice blog.

That's not been the case here.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:40:52 EDT

ConstantineM posted : How can they offer free Google Voice for a whole year if the government can make up weird rules at any time to require them to start contributing to various federal telco funds?

I may guess that Google Voice will always be free until some bureaucrat may decide that Google isn't paying their share into various telco funds.

Their comment about not wanting to be providing any kind of phone service together with Google Fiber says it all, IMHO.

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:31:41 EDT

NotTheMama posted :

said by WhyADuck:

The post is in the Official Gmail Blog...

Same as last year, same as with other not-specifically-Gmail "products" (Calendar, for example).
--
"...but ya doesn't hasta call me Johnson!"

Re: Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 18:01:03 EDT

PX Eliezer posted : Thanks for the info, and for an excellent post and headline. :)

Gmail: Free calls in 2013, Google Voice not mentioned

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 17:49:53 EDT

WhyADuck posted : If you happened to catch Google's announcement today, what was missing was any specific mention of Google Voice. The post is in the Official Gmail Blog, so it definitely applies to Gmail, but what about Google Voice? Was it just an oversight that they didn't mention it, or are they planning on doing something different this year?

Here are links to a couple of posts on the subject:
Google Extends Free Gmail Voice Calls In The U.S. And Canada Through 2013
News flash: The announcement we’ve been waiting for from Google — sort of

If anyone from Google happens to read this, it would be nice to have a clarification as to whether Google Voice will also remain free through 2013. Either way, we very much appreciate the free calls!

EDIT: This tweet from the Google Voice Twitter account seems to indicate that this also applies to Google Voice:

@googlevoice: Free calling within the US and Canada through 2013 »ow.ly/gnSmQ