Reach out and touch some one through Gmail

Does anyone know why we continue to pay hundreds of dollars for phone service?

Consider: Google launched an Internet-based calling service in August. Anyone with a U.S.-based Gmail account, compatible operating system, speakers and a microphone can make and receive phone calls from their inbox, Courtney Banks reports in The Wall Street Journal.

Gmail calling works best with a free Google Voice account, which assigns you a phone number that links to all your other lines – work, home or mobile. It acts like a personal switchboard operator, allowing you to decide which phone will ring when someone dials your Google number. Without Google Voice, you can only place outgoing calls through Gmail. 

"I could choose whether to answer the call on my computer or on my cell phone, and transfer calls between the two by pressing the star key," Ms. Banks writes. "For example, if I was chatting while walking into the house, I could switch the phone to my computer, and switch back if I had to leave. For technical reasons, call transfer only works for incoming calls."

Gmail calling with Google voice is versatile, because it can handle calls to your other phones. For the moment, it's also cheaper for certain types of calls. On Skype, computer-to-computer calls are free. But calling a phone costs 2.3 cents a minute to the U.S. and many other countries, or 2.99 a month for unlimited calls to the U.S. and Canada. On Gmail, all outgoing calls to U.S. and Canadian numbers and all incoming calls are free, through at least the end of the year. Charges for calls to international numbers cost from 2 cents a minute to landlines in much of Europe and Asia, to 99 cents a minute to Cuba.

Did anyone say free?