It's no surprise that Google has extended this service, since it just added it to Google+ Hangouts two weeks ago. Google has made several changes to Gmail chat to unify it with Google+, and this voice calling extends the reach of Gmail and Google+ to vastly more users.

In the meantime, Google brought the same free voice calling feature into Google+ video Hangouts. Google is putting hooks into its new social world everywhere it can, and free voice calling is a powerful one. Existing users can reach more people, and those they call will get the pitch, "I'm calling you from my email!" It's a clever way for Google to extend the reach of its services.

Have you ever made a voice call from a Google Web service before?

The company has just announced that Google Voice will be fully integrated with Sprint. This means that all Sprint phones and all Sprint users will be able to tap into Google Voice's features without needing a special app.

Google Voice will also replace Sprint's voicemail service, enabling customers to receive the (often hilariously inaccurate) transcribed voicemail messages online, via email or text.

Today's partnership may be good news for Sprint users. But it's also good news for Sprint. The company unveiled the new Nexus S 4G today, and all of this helps give the carrier some ammo as it makes its case to customers that it's a viable alternative to Verizon and the soon-to-be-merged AT&T/T-Mobile. If nothing else, Sprint is sure looking like the carrier of choice for Google.

Since Google Voice dropped its Canadian service in in 2009, there have been no free virtual phone options to customers and businesses in that country. and TellFi, which also offers service in the U.S., has stepped in to fill that gap.

But it isn't simply a matter of offering more business-oriented features. TellFi boasts better support and better quality phone calls too.

TellFi's offer of free service is only available for Canadian numbers. This includes one local number (chosen from any available number with any Canadian area code) and one year's free service. Upgrades (with their associated fees) are available so that businesses can add additional features like toll-free numbers and multiple extensions.

TellFi launched its service in late February, and in the words of co-founder Jason Corwin the company was "flooded with new Canadian users, so we decided to give away TellFi free to everyone in Canada."

Google officially announced today that, for a one-time $20 fee, Google Voice users could move their mobile phone number over to the service. The move was rumored when Engadget first noticed the feature's availability last week, but Google said that it was only a test and that it planned to offer the feature to all users in the near future.

According to some, porting your phone number over to the service can be an experience not unlike an LSD trip gone awry. If you want to avoid this, Google offers a few tips on how to make it an easy and smooth transition.

To this point, Google suggests that you contact your carrier prior to initiating the porting process and set up a second mobile number and service. "As soon as this second number is added to your account," the company explains, "go to voice.google.com, click on Settings, and under Phones add this new, second number as a forwarding phone." If you're an SMS-addict, also take note that Google warns that you can experience "disruptions in sending and receiving text messages for up to 3 business days."

Now that you've been fairly warned about some pre-steps you might want to take, how do you make the switch?

1. Go to Google Voice, click Settings in the upper right corner and choose Voice Settings from the drop-down menu.
2. You'll see your Google Voice number in the middle of the window with a link to "Change / Port". Click on it.
3. Fill out all the forms and you're done.

So, the actual porting process is simple. Currently, the feature is only available to existing Google Voice users and to mobile numbers, not landlines.

Before you make the final leap, you might consider Danny Sullivan's tale of Google Voice use for the past six months. According to Sullivan, the service provides a much more seamless experience on Android than iPhone. He also says that text messages can come in "very delayed" and that their integration into the phone is not complete, even on the Android side of things.

What do you think? Does it sound worth it to you?

Although Google Voice has become a popular VOIP service for some users, particularly with its ability to transcribe messages, it has always seemed like a supplement rather than a replacement for a "real" phone number. That's because, in no small part, you couldn't ever port your phone number over to the Google account. Instead you had to set up a new Google Voice number and then construct a system of forwarding calls to it.

"Huge," was the initial reaction from lots of folks. And on the surface, indeed, this is a big deal, something that Google Voice users have long desired, and arguably the purpose behind the service - the ability to have one number that can "ring" and record all your phone calls. But after the news broke, Google contacted Engadget and others saying that this was only a test and only an option for some users, although it does "plan to offer this feature to all users in the near future."

For those who had their hearts lifted by the promise of moving a well-loved phone number to Google Voice, it looks like you'll have to wait a bit longer. And arguably, you should use some caution before shelling out the $20.

After all, Google is not a mobile phone service provider. Porting your number effectively ends your current service, and there may be some early termination fees for doing so. Furthermore, without a phone service provider, those ten digits won't work - ported or not.

Of course, Google could pursue that option, but that seems to be significantly further down the road than just the option to port your number. And if Google can do that - lets us cancel our old phone line, move our number, and have cheap calls, free text messaging, and decent transcription - then yes, that would indeed be huge.

According to Google product manager Marcus Foster, the newest version of Google Voice has hit the shelves and it "lets you use all the features of the app on these devices, such as sending and receiving free text messages - except, of course, make cellular calls."

Moving past this point, however, Foster writes that you can basically play operator with your devices, initiating phone calls with any of your other devices with a "Click2Call" feature. "Simply click any 'Call' button in the Google Voice app on your iPod or iPad and then select which of your phones you want to ring. Google Voice will call your phone and then connect your call."

Beyond bringing Google Voice to the iPad and iPod Touch, the new version also comes with a few other bells and whistles:

• When you enable Push Notifications, we will automatically disable Text forwarding for you, so you won't receive multiple notifications.
• Want some quiet time? You can send all callers straight to voicemail by turning on Do not disturb in the Settings tab.
• We made it easier for you to place calls from the address book by adding a dedicated Contacts button to the Dialer tab.
• Sending text messages is now more streamlined since you don't need to press the OK button anymore.

Now, it's not that we really want to hold the iPad up to our face to make a phone call, but we have to wonder why the "of course" and where the restriction lies in keeping us from using your iPod Touch as a phone using Google Voice. After all, you can use Skype on both of these devices to make phone calls, so why not Google Voice?

We got in touch with Google to ask why this was an "of course" but we haven't yet heard back. We'll update the story as soon as we do.

Update: We got in touch with a Google spokesperson and they told us that it came down to the simple fact that Google Voice doesn't do voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) and that neither the iPod Touch or iPad come equipped with cellular chips for voice call functionality.

In the meantime, you can download the new version and use your iPad to tell your regular phone to make a phone call.

The Google Voice app allows users to make cheap international calls from their iPhones and send free text messages to any U.S. number. Just like the HTML5 web app Google debuted earlier this year, you can also see your voicemail transcriptions in the app. In addition, the native app now allows for push notifications when you receive a new voicemail or text message.

The new app also features Google's Direct Access Numbers, which make connecting calls through the company's VoIP system just as fast as dialing directly from your phone. In earlier versions of Google Voice, the system would actually call you back and then connect the call after you picked up. Now, your phone will just call a central number and connect the call immediately. Sadly, though, these calls take you out of the Google Voice app and back into your native phone app.

At present, the feature is only available on Nokia devices, but the company says iPhone and Android support is on the way "soon." As for the prices, calls start at only 1c/minute in many locations, making it often a low-cost alternative to Skype, whose SkypeOut rates start at 2.3c/minute, according to its "pay per minute" pricing page.

Like competitor Skype, the new FringOut option doesn't exist as a separate, downloadable application, but rather as a feature within the Fring app already available - it's only a matter of updating the application to the latest version, if you already have it installed. Once up-and-running, you can sign up for FringOut from within the app itself or from the regular website here.

To use the feature, you simply select your contact from Fring's buddy list and dial.

At present, only Nokia S60 (Symbian) devices are supported, but iPhone and Android support is in the works, although no exact dates have been announced.

Fring vs. The Rest

According to the company's CEO, Avi Shechter, Fring has "tens of millions" of users, which makes it a small-time competitor to Skype, which touts up to 23 million people online at peak times using its software, but has a total of 124 million registered users as of June 30, 2010.

Fring also competes with Google's Voice service, which was added as a new feature within Gmail just last month, with calls to the U.S. and Canada starting at 0.2c/minute.

The interesting thing about Fring's "how low can you go" rates for its new FringOut service is the timing of its launch. Only weeks ago, Skype announced it had filed for its first Initial Public Offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Now, to compete with Fring, Skype may be forced to lower its rates in return, which could quickly cut into what is, for now, its main revenue stream. Skype, however, is aware that SkypeOut can't be its only source of income going forward. In its IPO filing, the company noted that it would develop new monetization models, including advertising, gaming and virtual gifts.

]]> Discuss]]> http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/fring_launches_fringout_takes_on_skype_with_cheap_calls.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/fring_launches_fringout_takes_on_skype_with_cheap_calls.php Mobile Mon, 20 Sep 2010 08:30:51 -0800 Sarah Perez Earlier this morning, we reported that Google was testing a web-based telephony service inside Gmail. As it turns out, Google actually just officially announced this feature. If you are a Gmail user in the U.S., you can now make free Web-based phone calls to any phone in the U.S. and Canada right from the Gmail interface. You can also make International calls for fees starting at $0.02 per minute.

To use this new feature, you will have to install the Google Talk plugin, which is available here for Windows, Mac and Linux. Google plans to roll this functionality out over the next few days, so it might be a bit before you see it in your Gmail account. In addition, Google Apps accounts won't have access to this feature yet.

If you are a Google voice user, your Google Voice number will appear as the outbound called ID number on calls made from Gmail. You can also opt to receive inbound Google Voice calls from inside the GMail interface.

Gmail users were already able to initiative VoIP and video calls with other Gmail users, but the added telephony feature and integration with Google Voice makes this feature far more useful. You can now, for example, simply initiate a call by simply clicking on a phone number in an email signature.

Gmail is Now a Full-Blown Communications Suite

Google is clearly trying to position Gmail as more than just an email client. With the launch of a better contacts manager earlier this month and the addition of these new telephony features, Gmail is now becoming more of a full-blown communications suite than just a place to manage email.

Google Voice gives you a new phone number that can ring all of your landline and mobile phones simultaneously and provides automatic voicemail transcriptions. In addition, Google Voice offers free calls and text messages in the U.S. and Canada, as well as cheap international calls.

The service is based on GrandCentral, a service that Google acquired in July 2007. Last November, Google also acquired Skype competitor Gizmo5, though the company hasn't integrated any of Gizmo5's functionality into Google Voice yet. In the long run, though, Google Voice could easily morph into a full-blown competitor to Skype.

A number of other services, including the newly launched Phonebooth.com and Ribbit have launched Google Voice competitors with very similar features, though Google's name recognition and ability to integrate this telephony service into its other products gives Google a competitive advantage.

Our Favorite Features

If you are not familiar with Google Voice, here are some of our favorite features:

• transcribed voicemails: whenever somebody leaves a voicemail, Google Voice will transcribe the message as best it can (this only works for English right now). These transcripts are then forwarded to your email account and you can also opt to receive an SMS notification.
• listening in to voicemails: whenever you receive a call and decide to let it go to voicemail, you can also choose to listen in and even pick up the call if it turns out to be an important message. This feels just like the old days when answering machines with tapes were still a novelty.
• call screening: one neat option in Google Voice is the ability to screen calls. If you activate this feature, callers will be prompted to leave their name once they call, and once you pick up the phone, Google Voice will play the name back and you can choose whether you want the call to go to voicemail or actually speak to this person. You can opt to let all unknown callers who are not in your Google address book go through this procedure or just those calls from callers who have blocked their caller ID.
• recording calls: at any time during a call, you can press 4 and the call will be recorded. This only works for calls you receive on your phone for now, and doesn't work for outgoing calls.
• conference calls: just ask participants to call your Google Voice number and as more callers arrive, you can just conference them in - this works for up to 4 callers.
• switching phones: if you want to switch phones during a call (say you took a call on your landline and decide you want to take a walk and continue the call on your cell), just press * and all your other phones will ring again and you can continue the conversation on any othe rphone.
• SMS: you can send and receive text messages from your Google Voice account and web interface
• integration with Google Contacts
• it just works: the call quality is good, we didn't experience any outages during the last few months, and calls aren't dropped. Google Voice does what it says it does, and it does it well.

If you are not familiar with Google Voice, have a look at this series of videos that explains how to set Google Voice up and use it.

Oddly enough, Google still hasn't opened up Google Voice to a wider public. When Google opened up Google Voice for all U.S. military personnel, we speculated that this was a move to garner some free publicity ahead of a larger public launch. This public launch never happened, however.

While Google is waiting, new competitors like Phonebooth.com and British Telecom's Ribbit have been able to establish a reputation for themselves by providing more fully featured services geared towards individuals and small business.

Unfortunately, this feature isn't being switched on automatically - Google Voice users will have to make the adjustments themselves. To enable it, you'll need to open the Google Voice settings on your phone and touch Refresh and notification. Doing so will automatically disable SMS forwarding to your phone, too, so you won't receive duplicate notifications.

Also included in the update is a new pop-up bar that appears when you tap a contact's photo. From here, you can quickly respond via voicemail, email or IM.

Google Voice: Not There Yet?

Despite this obviously welcome advance for the Google Voice app on Android handsets, some are still questioning why the service hasn't been better integrated with the mobile operating system itself. Only days ago, tech guru and founder of O'Reilly Media, Tim O'Reilly, posted on Google's new service, Buzz: "What's with Google Voice as a second-class citizen on Android?"

He cites a few examples of improvements that he believes should be made specifically regarding the app's voicemail feature. "There's no link to [voicemail] from the phone app, even if it's installed, so you have to use the old-fashioned voice mail, or else check it in a separate application," he notes. "Phone numbers that are left in messages are not clickable dial links when the message is transcribed."

Soon after, dozens of commenters chimed in, some with their own gripes, mentioning issues with transcriptions and making calls. However, more were actually sticking up for the service than complaining.

Anecdotally, we've heard stories from Google Voice users who've complained about minor issues that, on their own, don't seem like "make it or break it" bugs. But they can be irksome enough that some of these users aren't making a full transition from phone-based calls, texts and voicemail over to the VoIP application. That may change in the future as Google pushes out more updates and bug fixes...at least we hope it will.

In the meantime, at least some people are having fun with the service's issues. For example, over on the Facebook page ****GoogleVoiceSaid, mimicked after the Twitter account with a similar name, users share the worst (and funniest) translations Google Voice has created. An example post: "This is or you need the hello. Yeah for hello hello at." Sounds like voice recognition still has a ways to go.

A Free VOIP Service that Will Grow With You

Starting today, Phonebooth will offer a free service geared towards individuals. The company also announced the general availability of its $20/month/user option, which offers a fully featured phone system in the cloud. One of the advantages of using Phonebooth over similar services like Google Voice or Grasshopper is that the company allows users to upgrade their phone system over time. Once your company outgrows Phonebooth's basic plan, you can easily switch to a higher-end phone system (Phonebooth on Demand) with hardware IP-based phones.

Phonebooth's users will be able to choose local numbers from virtually everywhere in the U.S. (the service us U.S.). Sadly, though, there is no way to make your Phonebooth number appear on the caller ID for outgoing calls from your landline or cell phone. Phonebooth doesn't currently offer any mobile apps, though the company told us earlier today that mobile apps are definitely on Phonebooth's roadmap.

Contact Plus Widget

In addition to the free VOIP service, Phonebooth is also launching a new widget for small businesses - Contact Us Plus - that allows potential customers to use Phonebooth's VOIP service to initiate a call right from the website. In addition to initiating phone calls, the Phonebooth widget can also feature additional contact info (Twitter account, email etc.), as well as your address and a map. Phonebooth's users can also opt to show phone numbers for different departments in their company in the widget.

Some of us on the team are proud Android users but most of us are still using iPhones. I just discovered how incredibly effective the Genius recommendations on the phone can be, so I've been going nuts downloading new apps. Here are the ones our staff is most excited about this month.

Here are the ten apps we discovered this month and are most excited about.

• Siri - A semantic smart virtual personal assistant, chosen by Frederic Lardinois. "Siri is one of the most ambitious mobile services we have seen in the last few years. Imagine if you could just talk to you phone and tell it to call you a taxi, reserve a table at your favorite restaurant or tell you what the weather in New York City will be like tomorrow," we wrote in our review.
• OboPay - A mobile payment app, chosen by Dana Oshiro. Lots of big companies are putting millions of dollars behind this startup that they believe could be the future of money transfers on the go.
• Google Voice Mobile Web App - An HTML5 mobile web app for Google Voice, chosen by Richard MacManus. When this app launched at the end of January, we ran a poll asking readers if it was good enough to use as a phone. 65% said it was. A month later, Richard still feels that way.
• iFitness - A mobile fitness app, picked by Richard, who wrote 2 weeks ago: "Described as 'a personal trainer for your iPhone,' the app lists over 260 exercises. It has text and photographic instructions for all of those exercises, with video for 100 of them... iFitness features exercise logging and graphing. In addition it has 12 routines for various goals; including weight loss, strength, golf program, and more. The app also allows you to create your own custom workout."
• Data Logger from Pachube - An "Internet of Things" feed tracker, chosen by Richard. Pachube is an open source platform enabling developers to connect sensor data to the Web. We covered it in depth this Fall.
• iWriteWords - A much celebrated app to help kids learn to write, chosen by RWW's Production Editor Abraham Hyatt.
• Gowalla - A design-centric location based social network, chosen by me, Marshall Kirkpatrick. I wrote about Gowalla in depth yesterday. I love it, I just with there were more people in Portland that were using it.
• Etsy Adict - An awesome 3rd party iPhone app for browsing Etsy listings. I love this app! I regularly spend hours strolling through listings for ceramic and fiber arts items. If you're not familiar with the wildly popular site Etsy, check out this coverage of the company. The app is built on top of a Mashery-powered API and (disclosure) Mashery is a sponsor of ReadWriteWeb.
• SitbyUs - A mobile web app I reviewed last week and am really excited to use. It's a seat-level check-in system for SXSW. It will tell you in which rooms and what sections your Twitter friends are sitting, so you can find them after a panel, etc.
• Guardian iPhone App - This daily news app is the best I've ever seen. It's fantastic. It's like $5 but it's worth it, if only to see how they made it. But it's lots of fun to use too. If you like this kind of thing, see also the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) app.

Those are our favorite new iPhone apps, what are yours? Stay tuned for next month's selections.

HTML5 makes for a relatively nice experience, with its local caching for speed and its responsive interface, but there are some things about the Google Voice web app that just don't feel quite right. It's hard to know which of its problems are just oversights to be fixed and which of them are rooted in the fact that it's a web app. What do you think, is an HTML5 telephony app good enough? Or does your phone need to, you know, be on your phone?

It was less than a year ago that Gmail was first available in HTML5 on the iPhone. Now there's a heated debate about whether the future for mobile apps is in the browser like this or whether native apps will still reign supreme.

What do you think? Is the new Google Voice in HTML5 good enough for you to use and like? Let us know in our poll below. RSS readers can click through to respond and view responses.