his past week has been an interesting one for Gmail users. Many users are reporting the email service is sending outgoing emails to recipients multiple times—annoying non-Gmail users throughout the Web.
While there is no official fix for this problem yet, Gmail is offering a brand new feature: the ability to make phone calls from within Gmail with only speakers and a microphone required.
Gmail users may have noticed a new icon in their chat box. Along with friend’s names and online statuses, a green phone appears with the words Call Phone.
Clicking this icon summons a menu with a telephone keypad. Enter any telephone number throughout the world, then click Call. Use your computer’s microphone to talk to whomever answers your call.
Calls made to the USA and Canada are free—at least until the end of 2010. Prices for calls to other countries vary, but most are far cheaper than most long distance providers and cell phone companies charge. The highest price on the list is Immarset (a British satellite phone company) at $6.90 per minute.
Nearly every country on Google’s list costs less than fifty cents per minute.
Paying for calls is easy. Click the down arrow next to your balance, then choose add credits. From there, you can use a credit card to add money to your account.
We had to install a small driver to use the program, which took just a couple minutes. Our test call was from the United States to our home landline. It was very easy to hear the person on the landline from the computer, but our built-in computer microphone picked up every sound in the room, not just our voice. Thus, this service will work best with a headset, noise-cancelling microphone.
Those lucky enough to have Google Voice numbers can now receive calls from within Gmail. Video chat is also available.
Source by : online-tech-tips
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