by Leo Zheng, OnSIP

If you're a Gmail user, then I'm sure you've noticed by now the new "Call Phone" option sitting in your Gchat buddy list. A few weeks ago when this add-on was first released, the story was being covered by pretty much anyone even remotely interested in IP communications. In fact, I spent a good part of that morning reading the predictions and theories regarding Google's motives from leading analysts and VoIP experts (probably not the best use of my time). Now that the majority of the buzz has died down, let's take a look at the feature, and test out how well it actually works.

The add-on itself is very cool, but nothing extraordinarily innovative. All it really does is turn your email inbox into another user agent for the Google Voice service. If you currently do not have a Google Voice account, then you'll only be able to make outbound calls. Google will assign you a completely random number-I believe the first time I tried to make a call, it assigned me a number in California, even though I'm located in New York City.

If you're looking to be able to receive calls in Gchat (and for a little more control), I would highly suggest signing up for Google Voice. For those of you completely unfamiliar with Google Voice, think of it as a call forwarding service. You pick out a Google phone number to link to the different phones in your life. When someone dials your Google number, the call is forwarded to where you want it to go based on your Google Voice settings. To receive calls in Gmail, you would want to forward calls to your Google Chat window.

For a couple of days, I made it a point to use Gmail (with a headset of course) to call my coworkers just to see how it measured up against my deskphone and the many softphones that I have installed on my laptop. Overall call quality was not bad-I would say that it's about on par with a regular phone call, if not a little better. It is nowhere near the high definition audio I get on my Polycom phone, but I can't complain too much seeing as how I was using a free user agent with free service (at least until the of the year). I also suspect that people on the other end of the line suffered more than I did. In one instance, I tried using Gmail for an hour-long conference call and while I could hear everyone just fine, one person said they couldn't hear me at all. There were also times when the call would mysteriously drop at around 30 minutes in.

Sometimes after a call ends, you'll get a little rating window that asks you about the overall call quality. I think it's a hopeful sign that Google is at least taking in feedback and perhaps even using it to improve this service.

Currently you can only make and answer calls from the Gmail window, and integration with existing Google services is a little weak/nonexistent. While this is nowhere near a Skype-killer at the moment, you can bet that Google will soon be analyzing the exorbitant amounts of data they get from this to plan their next move, whatever that may be. If anything, Google is again throwing IP communications into the limelight and that's a good thing whichever way you look at it.

Leo Zheng manages the tech lab at OnSIP. In his role, Zheng tracks new developments in VoIP hardware and software, utilizing the combined expertise of the team to test and review the latest SIP user agents, whether it be a desktop phone or a mobile SIP client. He currently runs OnSIP VoIP phone reviews, a VoIP hardware resource center for both OnSIP customers and non-customers alike. In addition to being featured in FierceVoIP, Zheng has also been featured on TMCnet.

Speaking of Google's perceived VoIP dominance, the first 24 hours of the new VoIP calling service was quite a show of force. According to Mashable, Google connected one million calls in the first 24 hours of being live.

The one million calls were apparently all of the free variety connecting calls within the US or Canada. Google says that they will keep such calls free for the rest of the year with no indication of how that pricing structure will change after the deadline. The first one million calls was a clear indication of the power of Google's product launching capabilities and with over 176 million users by last count (back in 2009!). Google's Gmail service has put VoIP calling on the screens of many more users.

For more:
- read the post

Related news:
Google VoIP goes live, but it still has a few tricks up its sleeves
Google VoIP goes live in your Gmail
Frost & Sullivan: Google moving into UCC

Starting yesterday, Gmail users can call any phone right from Gmail. The new service is integrated into the web-based email client and enables to call anywhere in the US and Canada for free and get low rates for other countries.

After a little mix of rumor and denial earlier this week, Google has made the launch of their Google Voice Calls live. CNET, earlier this week, had reported spotting some testing being done by Google in their GMail inbox which the Internet search company denied. The denials were of course just a way to prolong the announcement they were already planning.

In typical Google fashion, the new call feature that is embedded with GMail for Google Voice users was announced on the Google Voice Blog with an accompanying silly video to explain the service. The video begins with cavemen throwing rocks at each other as an earlier form of communication and chronicles through the centuries the various advances in telephony finally culminating in an office worker using GMail to call their friend and interrupt their vacation on the beach. (Wait, is this progress? Perhaps the worker should have been using GMail calls to ask for a vacation or something rather than show that the service will be integral in ending all future beach relaxation! Poor marketing choice!)

The new call service will allow users to take calls to their Google Voice number right from their GMail inbox or even opt to listen to the Voicemail as it's left. A new link to 'Call Phone' is available with a pop-up number pad where users can type a phone number or the name of a person in their contacts. The calls to the U.S. and Canada are free at least until the end of the year with calls overseas being offered at a competitive VoIP call rate.

The service is supposed to be rolled out to all GMail users over the next couple days so look for it in your chat box even if you are not a Google Voice user.

For more:
- read the CNET coverage
- read the Google Voice blog
- check out the GMail calls video

Related news:
Frost & Sullivan: Google moving into UCC
The Rise of Google's Enterprise Empire
Google Voice: Now for everyone
Rumor Mill: Google testing Voice integration in Gmail

Check out this video from Google announcing their new Google Voice calls within GMail: