BAM! It was only a matter of time before google stuck its hand in the phone markets and now, prepare to gawk! Google Voice is giving free calls to the USA and Canada at the moment, got relatives or friends over there? You’re sorted!
But what about everywhere else? Well you have to pay a tiny-weeny amount to call there, which varies on country and if its a mobile or landline. Heres a list of the rates: https://www.google.com/voice/rates
Now because Google loves Ireland (boy does it), here are the Irish rates:
| Ireland | $0.02 (0.0157435 EUR) |
|---|---|
| Ireland – Mobile | $0.19 (0.149530 EUR) |
| Ireland – Universal Access | $0.17 (0.133790 EUR) |
its a mere freakin’ 2 cent to call a landline in Ireland! Even better, it seems Google give you a full free $0.10 to play with when you sign up or start using voice!
Now how do you use Google Voice and avail of this awesomeness? Hop over to gmail.com, login or sign up, once you’re logged in, on the left hand sidebar, there’ll be a section entitled “Chat”, click that mofo, a it will dropdown to reveal the voice option, you’ll have to install a plugin first and restart your browser, after that go back to the Chat option in gmail, click it again, click the Voice button and on the right hand side of the window the dial pad will pad will appear and HEY PRESTO, you’re prank calling businesses in the states for free! I tested it out and rang a GameStop in Torronto, froze and hung up when they actually picked up! So yeah it works! Also if you upgrade, you also get all neat features like sending texts or SMS’s to phones, a voicemail, a custom number so people can ring you and more!
This kind of technology is called VOIP or ‘Voice over Internet Protocol’, its for transferring voice or audio over the internet, through a gateway and to a phone. For a long time Skype and other companies were doing this, so really its nothing new, but free calls to the USA and Canada is BIG!
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This is why robots are gonna destroy us….